Who is William Smith?

by Sue Wyatt1

He is my great great grandfather ..

William Henry Smith

Robert Edward Smith

Irene Ellen Gertrude Smith

Robert Wyatt

Sue Wyatt2

How did I find out about him?

Looking through the archives for images and found this one of a Captain William Smith.

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How do I know that is him?

My grandmother said that was her grandfather who was dark because he had been on the whaling boats too long.

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Intrigued!!

Whaling now this sounds interesting.I wonder what else I can find out about him.Dark fellow - maybe aboriginal?Where would I find the info?

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Smith folder

Inside was a typed page giving details of William’s time as captain of the whale boat Marie Laure. Included dates of voyages and amount of whale oil collected.

Where had someone found this information?

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Part of the typed pageWilliam SMITH was listed as Master of the ship Marie Laure, 328 tons, Port of Registry Hobart, owner William SHERWIN, from 18 September

1877 until 9 June 1884.

Departure Hobart Town Cargo – whaling grounds Arrival Hobart Town

8 October 1877 sperm oil 19 April 1879

May 1879 55 tons oil 13 January 1881

2 March 1881 61 tons oil 14 August 1882

September 1882 60 tons oil 22 May 1884

These records are found at MB 2/33/59, MB 2/39/36, MB 2/39/37 and MB 2/39/38 at the Archives Office of Tasmania.

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Master of a ship

Surely he would need some type of qualification to be captain or master of a ship?

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Crew agreements

● Signatures of each crew member – both Christian and Surname in full

● Age when signing agreement

● Place of birth – can be any of these city/town/country/state

● Ship in which he last served and port the ship belonged to

● Place and date of discharge from that ship

● Place and date of entry onto this ship

● In what capacity they will serve

● Time when he should be on board – usually at once or a date given

● Wages per month or voyage

● Lay – black oil, sperm oil, whalebone

● Amount of wages advanced

● Amount of monthly allotment

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Ships he crewed on

● Venus● Offley● Grecian/Friends/Frances?● Calypso● Prince Regent● Flying Childers

no agreements found so not verified yet

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Waterwitch

1860-1861 SeamanWaterwitch at New Wharf, Lenna in backgroundBuilt at McGregor's Slipyard, Hobart 1820 as a gun brig and named Falcon ; converted to a barque in Sydney c. 1842 ; registered in Hobart 1860 ; broken up 1899

Crowther - photographs (Stack)CRO.PHOTO CS 288

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Maid of Erin

1860 2nd mate1864-1866 2nd mate1866-1870 chief mate1870-1873 master

Crowther - photographs (Stack)CRO.PHOTO CS 102

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Short time on board

Highlander 1861-1862 2nd mate

Southern Cross1862-1863 3rd mate

Allport LibraryStore 8STORE CONSERVATION (DE-FRAME)

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Othello, Flying Childers

1873-1876Chief mate

1876-1877Chief mate

The capture of a sperm whale in the Pacific Ocean, 1835. Engraved, printed and coloured by J. Hill, from a sketch by Cornelius B. Hulsart. Hulton Archive/Getty Images

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Marie Laure

1877-1884 Master Seaman’s Work BoxOnce owned by Captain William Smith, this seaman’s work box was used to carry his papers and personal effects.

The work box was passed to his daughter, Maryanne, and later to his great granddaughter, Phyllis McDermott and finally to Phyllis’ son, Kim McDermott, in August, 2002.

The whales teeth were taken from the jaw of a sperm whale on 8th July 1883 and presented to Maryanne Smith, daughter of Captain William Smith, master of the whaling ship, Marie Laurie (Pronounced Maria Lowery), on her 1st birthday.

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Captain Smith’s family

Married in September 1874 to Sarah Ann Tedman in Hobart.There were ten known children: James Henry (1876) and Mary Ann(1878) were the eldest.

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Q&A time

Do you have any questions or perhaps some suggestions of where I could take my research further.

Thanks for listening and reading.

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