Win some, lose some!

My second post today, but I may need to correct some things I have said following my work today!

First the win! I think I can now confirm that the ketch Magnet, that was listed under Ephraim Ward in the vessel register was almost certainly owned by William Ward. You may remember that I was skeptical that Ephraim would own the vessel aged one year or less! Searching the newspaper archives for references to the 'ketch Magnet, I found the following advertisement:

27 May 1857 

LOST between Market Wharf and Post Office, a fifty (£50) pound cheque on Commercial Bank, drawn by John Booth in favour of William Ward, dated May 26. Any one returning the same to GEORGE RICKETS master of the ketch Magnet; or to JOHN BOOTH, foot of Erskine Street, will be rewarded. Payment being stopped at the Bank.  

Then in 1861, John Booth advertises the Magnet for sale.

I don't suggest that this is proof, but it certainly fits the theory that William owned the Magnet. This lost cheque would probably be one of a series of payments made for Booth to buy the Magnet from William (it would have been worth several hundred pounds I think - Midshipman sold for £367 in 1853).

I also discovered that the Magnet was lost on a voyage from Ulladulla in August 1875, at which time she was owned by Mr Brooks of Hawkesbury River.

But with the win, comes a loss. I had previously found an 18-ton cutter named Matilda registered to W. Ward on a list of vessels belonging to the Port of Sydney in 1847. 'Ward' was also listed as the master on 21 voyages between 1843 and 1847. But my interpretation is contradicted by by the newspaper archives:

• 28 January 1847: On Tuesday evening two men named respectively, William Stevens and Adam Mossman, who had been left in charge of the cutter Matilda, lying at the Market Wharf were given into the custody of the police by John Ward, master of that vessel, charged with stealing £7 out of his box in the cabin. 
• 29 December 1849: Loss of the Cutter Matilda. — The Matilda, belonging to the master, Mr. Ward, was totally wrecked at Camden Haven on the 18th instant. [Camden Haven is Port Macquarie today.]

The first item suggests that the master I thought was William was probably John and the second item clearly suggests that the master was also the owner. There are other advertisements and news items that make it clear that there was another cutter named Matilda but William was not the owner of that one either.

Above is an extract of that 1847 list, and you can see that it is confusing. There is a 20-ton schooner named Matilda, built at Brisbane Water in 1843 and owned by Eason and Ballantyne. The next line is a 16-ton schooner named Matilda, built at Pitt Town in 1842 and owned by W. Ward. Then 11 lines below is a third Matilda, this time an 18-ton cutter, also built at Pitt Town in 1842 and also owned by W. Ward. 

I don't know what to make of it all. I even did some extra searching for the schooner Matilda, and ran into more confusion with schooners called Matilda Jane and Jessie Matilda. And John Ward's name comes up in association with the schooners as well.

I already knew that John Ward owned vessels that operated in Brisbane Water and the Hawkesbury and as far as I can determine, he was not a relation. William and Catherine's son John was not born until 1857 - well after these events.

The upshot of it all is that I will regretfully exclude the Matilda from the list of William Ward's vessels, but I will continue to search for the other vessels mentioned in Joan Taylor's history of the family.

More time on things maritime

This week I continued down a bit of a rabbit hole looking into William Ward's shipping activities. I am amazed at how much information can be teased from the resources available online, particularly the newspaper archives available from the National Library of Australia through their 'Trove' website (trove.nla.gov.au).

Most of the information that I have found is from the 1840s and 1850s. The 1840's newspapers in particular give quite detailed information about the arrivals and departures of coastal trading vessels. They would usually list the name of the vessel, its cargo capacity (tons), the type of vessel, the surname of the Master, the port of origin and the cargo. By 1852 the number of arrivals and departures has grown to a level where from February 1852 the newspapers stop giving this level of detail and just report the name of the vessels that arrived on a given day.

 

The clipping right is from the Sydney Morning Herald on 11 March 1846 (pg 2) and shows vessels arriving in Sydney the previous day. William Ward's cutter Traveller's Bride arrived from the Patterson carrying grain and wool. The Master was David Brown. I gleaned his first name from advertisements that were placed for each sailing.

Traveller's Bride did a regular run to the Paterson River between 1843 and mid-1846 when she switched to carrying coal from Newcastle. There is a book about the sailing vessels that served Patterson, and Traveller's Bride is covered, so I have ordered a copy!

Traveller's Bride was described as a cutter. This means she was rigged with a single mast mounted roughly in the middle of the vessel. She had a rated capacity of 30 tons, meaning she had about 3,000 square feet of cargo space. After she switched to coal, she routinely carried 40 tons and I found one voyage where she carried 45 tons.

Some of William's other vessels were ketches. A ketch has two masts, with the rear mast (mizzen mast) smaller that the main mast and placed midway between the main mast and the rudder post. A schooner has the smaller mast in front, or masts of the same size and a yawl has a smaller rear mast placed towards the back of the vessel.

Whether it was good luck or good management I do not know, but William seemed to have a good safety record with his vessels. The shipping columns regularly report the loss of coastal traders. I saw a report of one of William's ships being sighted well out to sea after a big storm. The other ship had to give her the correct course for Sydney. This probably indicates that the Masters of these small coastal traders were not highly skilled navigators!

The danger of the trade is well illustrated by the fate of one of William's vessels some 5 years after he sold her. Her master, James Tyrrell, told the story in the Empire (Sydney newspaper) on 15 September 1857 (page 5):

Sir-With reference to a paragraph which appears in your issue or this morning, relative to the wreck of the Midshipman, ketch, I beg to acquaint you that the above vessel, accompanied by the Uncle Tom, ketch, passed the outward portion of the Bar of Brisbane Water on Tuesday last, about half-past 2 p.m., the Uncle Tom being ahead ; and when nearly past all danger a sea struck the Midshipman on the port quarter, and carried her on to a sand spit before she could answer her helm - - in which position she remained until about half-past ten at night, when she began to break up. Were it not for the Intrepidity and great exertions of Mr. Twigley, the master of the Uncle Tom, the whole of the crew and passengers, consisting of ten persons, must have perished.

They remained about ten hours on board before Mr. Twigley's boat could reach the vessel, which he succeeded at last in doing, and rescuing them from a watery grave. The Midshipman had a cargo about the value of £120. I have had the charge of several vessels trading on the coast for the last thirteen years past with-out meeting with any accident before the present. It has been the first, and I hope it will be the last. 

I am, Sir,Your obedient servant., James Tyrrell

There are limits to what you can find on Trove. I have found it best to search for combinations of words, or phrases, but it becomes difficult with common words. Searching for 'Ward' is a nightmare, because there are so many words that contain 'ward'. It is also difficult when there are several vessels with the same name, which was the case with William's cutter Matilda. There was also a schooner with that name built at Brisbane Water and also a British Brig arriving from time to time.

If anyone is interested, I found most of the information using Trove's advanced search:

• For voyages of Travellers Bride, I entered 'Coasters Inwards' in the 'All of these words' box and 'Travellers Bride"  in the 'Phrase' box.
• I entered 'Coasters Inwards' in the 'All of these words' box as above, but entered 'Matilda, 16, Ward' in the 'Phrase' box to find voyages of the Matilda where William was the Master. Note that later shipping reports omit the size of the vessel, so you have to modify the phrase to 'Matilda, Ward' to see the later voyages.
• For general information about the Midshipman, I entered 'Ketch Midshipman' in the 'Phrase' box You can then filter the results advertising or articles using the check boxes in the right column. Note including the word 'ketch' largely excludes the mentions of people who are midshipmen por the midshipman rank generally.

You can use similar tricks for the other vessels and types of entries, but it can be a frustrating process! The secret is to search broadly, then modify the terms once you start to find some relevant information.

I am writing up my findings about William's vessels as a detailed research document, which I can then summarise in the final story about William and Catherine. I will publish these research notes on my website when complete.

 

William Ward, Mariner

When William Ward Married Catherine Mitchell in 1837, William gave his calling as 'Master Mariner' and his place of abode as 'Near the Heads'. How William transformed himself from a chimney sweep and convict labourer into a Master Mariner in a period of 12 years will probably remain a mystery, but there is no doubt in my mind that William's maritime ventures were an important part of his business success.

At least one researcher has assumed that 'Near the Heads' meant that William lived aboard a ship, but it is more likely that it was a shortened form of 'Near the heads of Brisbane Water', that is Killcare.

But there can be no confusion that 'Master Mariner' implies that William was in charge of at least one ship. In her book about the ship builders of Brisbane Water, Gwen Dundon says that most Master Mariners were indentured to a recognised master before being examined by a group of ship's captains. I cannot imagine that William had the time or resources to undertake a lengthy apprenticeship, but it seems to me that some of the early settlers took the title informally, because they were captaining ships.

Joan Taylor quotes Mrs Ethel Ward, wife of Pat Ward (Manasseh's son Laurence Ward was always known as Pat) saying that William owned vessels named Jane, Sophia Jane, Traveller, Traveller’s Bride and The Little Traveller.  I have not been able to find any other mentions of these vessels, except for Traveller's Bride.

Gwen Dundon confirms that William owned Traveller's Bride, a 30-ton cutter. She also records William Ward as the owner of Midshipman, a 26-ton ketch. Both of these vessels were built at Brisbane Water in 1840 and 1851 respectively. Two lists of vessels belonging in Sydney also have William Ward as the owner of Matilda, an 18-ton cutter built at Pitt Town in 1842.

I also spotted a 17-ton cutter named Magnet, built at Brisbane Water and registered to Ephraim Mitchell  Ward, William's son. This was built in 1847 and is listed in the 1849 list of Sydney vessels, with the owner as 'E.M. Ward) This is a puzzle, because Ephraim was only born in 1847! I suspect that this was another of William's ships and he registered it under his infant son's name for some reason.

There is no doubt that William Captained his ships on a regular basis. The Shipping columns in the Sydney papers routinely listed the 'Coasters' arriving and departing from Sydney and they often show the size, master and cargo. The voyages of the Matilda, Midshipman and Magnet all show the master as 'Ward' at some point, but he also employed other men to Captain his ships. He was shown as the Master of the Matilda on many voyages in 1843 and 1844, so he was probably a full-time Mariner at that time. He resumes command for multiple voyages in 1847.

William was the master of the Magnet on her first voyage in 1848, but then seems to have handed over to other Captains. That pattern in repeated for the Midshipman in 1851.

William's ships serve the coastal trade including from Brisbane Water, the Hawkesbury, Newcastle, Paterson and possibly also Wollongong and the south coast. In the early 1840's the cargo includes agricultural produce and building materials. Produce included maize, wheat, potatoes, and wool. Building materials included sawn timber (hardwood and cedar), shingles, posts, laths, palings and shell (used for making lime). By the end of the 1940's the most common cargo is coal.

Joan Taylor said that William's trading extended to Norfolk Island and that he returned with Norfolk Island pine seedlings. Some of these were planted near Dr. Paul’s residence in Gosford and became a landmark for many years. I have not been able to find further evidence of the Norfolk Island voyages, and this would have required a greater degree of navigation skill than the limited coastal trade.

Two interesting resources I found this week:

• The Shipbulders of Brisbane Water NSW by Gwen Dundon, self-published in1994. This is a high quality book, well written and easy to use. It is well indexed and gives details of the individual vessels, their builders and owners. The book also includes several pages of memories provided by Allen Ward (son of Pat and great-granson of William). This book was among my late mother's books.
• In the Old Days – Reminiscences of Brisbane Water District by William Ward's son Ephraim, writing as ‘Bora Bora’. This was published in the Woy Woy Herald in 1922. The copy I have was re-published in the Gosford Times (link to copy on Trove), but I am not confident that it is a full reprint and it may be missing some important parts of the story. I have also loaded a text version of the article on my website - see wardkemp.com look under resource documents for 1922-ward-ephraim-memories.

Indigenous history

In my last post I mentioned the story that Billy Fawkner, also known as 'King Billy', was a trusted servant of the Ward family and 'helped raise the children'. In following up this story, I became aware that the History Department of Newcastle University is researching the indigenous history of the Central Coast. I sent off an email to see if they had any further information on the relationship between the Ward family and Billy Fawkner and I am now in contact with the person who has done the research on Billy Fawkner. He seems very happy to be in contact with our family and would be very interested to hear about any family stories about the Aboriginal people.

If anyone has stories to contribute, please let me know. I can either pass the stories along, or put you directly in touch with Ryan (my contact)

I have already sent him the few stories our Dad told us, including the following:

One of the Ward women was having a difficult childbirth (Dad said it was 'Grandma Ward', but it is not likely to be Madeline in my opinion). The Aboriginal women arrived and ushered all the men away. They took the mother down to a nearby creek and supervised a water birth in the creek. The baby and mother both survived.

I discussed this with one of my cousins at a family gathering yesterday and she said she had heard the same story, but not that it was one of the Ward women.

And this story:

There was an extended drought and the entrance to the coastal lakes became choked with sand. The catch of fish in the lakes fell dramatically and the Aboriginal people who depended heavily on the fishing were on the verge of starvation. Manasseh rode out to their camp and supplied them with flour and taught them top make damper so they could survive.

Billy Fawkner died in 1874 or 75 and was widely reported as the last of the coastal Darkinjung people. Manasseh would have been only 24 when Billy died. The story refers to a group of people, so must have been some years before Billy died. I suspect that it was more likely in William's time, if it occurred at all. 

This story also seems a little paternalistic, to me at least. The Aboriginal people were well versed in the use of flour from native seeds and routinely made damper-like cakes and I see no reason that the Darkinjung people would have been any different. They also used a range of food sources, so the idea of dependance on only fish does not quite ring true to me. Perhaps they had already lost access to much of their traditional country and that is why they became so dependant on fish from the lakes.

I also found a rambling article from the Australian Town Country Journal, Sydney.  Published in 1875 in two parts, this article presents Henry Kendall's thoughts on Brisbane Water and includes several mentions of Billy Fawkner, including an account of his death by drowning at Terrigal. The link below should take you to a page on the National Library's 'Trove' website with links to the two parts of the article. The first part seems also to have appeared in the Evening News.

• Arcadia at our Gates by Henry Kendall

The author is given as just 'HK', but the Gosford Times refers to the article 50 years later and that reference confirms the author as Henry.

I was a bit disappointed that Henry did not mention our William Ward in his recounting of the history of the district. We know from other sources that Henry and William were well known to each other and also have records that William settled Killcare well before many of the men mentioned. I wonder why he left his friend out of the story?

Some people think that Billy Falkner was the inspiration for Henry Kendall's poem The Last of His Tribe which was first published in 1864. The idea that Billy Fawkner and his contemporaries were the last of the Darkinjung people is rightly challenged today by their descendants, many of whom still live on the Central Coast today. I am sure some would doubt just how much connection today's generation have with their Darkinjung ancestors – to them I say that their connection is almost exactly the same as our connection to William Ward!

Don't forget to let me know if you have any family stories, particularly about the indigenous people. Post a message in the 'Manasseh's Mob' facebook page or send me an email.