The two earned enough to work only in the mornings; they spent the afternoons drinking, then slept off the effects under the cart.
[1] Crisp was one of the earliest settlers in Nelson and trained the first pair of bullocks used as draught animals in the area.
In June 1843, Crisp decided to renounce alcohol and visited Saunders at 4 a.m. to sign the temperance pledge.
[1] He died in Nelson on 2 September 1901, aged 93, after injuring his back in a fall,[2] and was given a public funeral.
His headstone is inscribed: "Erected by the Nelson citizens in memory of Ben Crisp who was the children's friend".