What is Captain William Smith’s Samoan name?
What ships did he serve on before 1876 and what was his role onboard?
What dates were these whaling voyages?
What was life like on these whaling trips?
Primary Sources: (P)
- Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office (TAHO), MB2/62/2 p116, application for certificate of service as master of foreign going ship
- Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office (TAHO), MB 2/33/1/250 Maid of Erin, crew agreement
- Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office (TAHO), MB 2/33/1/310 Othello, crew agreement
- Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office (TAHO), MB 2/33/1/374 Southern Cross, crew agreement
- Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office (TAHO), MB2/33/1/194 Highlander, crew agreement
- Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office (TAHO), MB 2/33/1/417 Waterwitch, crew agreement
- Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office (TAHO), MB2/33/1/146 Flying Childers, crew agreement
- Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office (TAHO), MB2/33/1/333 Prince Regent, crew agreement
- Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office (TAHO), MB 2/33/1/54 Calypso, crew agreement
- Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office (TAHO), MB2/33/1/403 Venus, crew agreement
- Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office (TAHO), MB2/33/1/301 Offley , crew agreement
- Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office (TAHO), MB2/33/1/170 Grecian, crew agreement
- Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office (TAHO), CUS36/1/403 Offley, shipping clearance
- Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office (TAHO), CUS36/1/88 Calypso, shipping clearance
- Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office (TAHO), CUS36/1/431 Prince Regent, shipping clearance
- Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office (TAHO), CUS36/1/213 Flying Childers, shipping clearance
- Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office (TAHO), CUS36/1/354 Maid of Erin, shipping clearance
- National Library Australia (NLA), 1870 ‘SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE.’, The Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 – 1954), 13 December, p. 2, viewed 13 February, 2014, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8875274
- LINC Hobart, W.L.Crowther Collection, Log book of the barque Water Witch on a whaling voyage, John McArthur master, commencing March 17th 1860 – January 24th 1861 : [Incomplete] (Book), Logs Box 13, viewed 5 February 2015
- National Library Australia (NLA), 1860 ‘[No heading].’, The Hobart Town Daily Mercury (Tas. : 1858 – 1860), 1 March, p. 2, viewed 7 February, 2015, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page1555352
Secondary Sources: (S)
- Philp, JE. 1936, Whaling ways of Hobart Town, Walch, TL R 639.22 PHI
- Nicholson, Ian Hawkins. 1990, Log of logs : a catalogue of logs, journals, shipboard diaries, letters, and all forms of voyage narratives, 1788 to 1988, for Australia and New Zealand and surrounding oceans / by Ian Nicholson The Author jointly with the Australian Association for Maritime History Yaroomba, Q. [i.e. Qld.]
- Poulson, Bruce. 2004, Recherche Bay : a short history, Southport Community Centre, Southport, Tas
Biographical Report
This research was about the early years of the life of my great great grandfather William Smith. In 1876, he applied for a certificate of service as master of a foreign going ship.(P1) On this document William noted that he had had ongoing service in the whaling trade since 1852. He also mentioned he was born in the Navigator Islands on 25 March 1840.
The application was the starting point and the most useful source used to complete the research aims. On it was noted the names of all ships he had served on prior to his captaincy on Marie Laure on 18 September 1877. By deciphering these names, a chronological timeline of his whaling voyages between 1852 and 1876 was created.
The next step was to look for the crew agreements as these would give the dates he left a voyage on one ship and began another on a different ship. The crew agreements also gave his role onboard and the names of the captains which were later used to search Trove for related newspaper articles.
Using the Tasmanian Archives search database, some shipping clearance documents were found for the earlier voyages but, unfortunately, these gave a nil return and did not fill in any gaps left from the crew agreements (P13-P17).
Below is a table outlining the information found using the crew agreements (P2-P12). It was disappointing that agreements for the earlier voyages were not found, as hopefully, one of those sources would have given his Samoan name.
On board ship | Left ship | Ship | Role on board | Captain | Source |
Venus | MB2/33/1/403 1856-1878 | ||||
Offley | MB2/33/1/301 1856-1879 | ||||
Grecian/Frances/Friends?? | MB2/33/1/170 1857-1864 | ||||
25 Jan 1858 | Calypso | Seaman | McFARLANE | MB 2/33/1/54 1856-1863 | |
Prince Regent | MB2/33/1/333 | ||||
Flying Childers | MB2/33/1/146 | ||||
Mar 1860 | Maid of Erin | 2nd mate | REYNOLDS | MB 2/33/1/250 | |
15 Mar 1860 | 16 Feb 1861 | Waterwitch | Seaman | MB 2/33/1/417 | |
23 Feb 1861 | Apr 1862 | Highlander | 2nd mate | Henry EDMONDS | MB2/33/1/194 |
24 May 1862 | Southern Cross | 3rd mate | William MANSFIELD | MB 2/33/1/374 | |
5 Jan 1864 | 28 Dec 1866 | Maid of Erin | 2nd mate | Henry EDMONDS | MB 2/33/1/250 |
28 Dec 1866 | 31 Jan 1868 | Maid of Erin | Chief mate | William GAFFEN | MB 2/33/1/250 |
16 Oct 1868 | Apr 1870 | Maid of Erin | Chief mate | Thomas SHELTON | MB 2/33/1/250 |
9 Apr 1870 | 12 Dec 1870 | Maid of Erin | Master | William SMITH | MB 2/33/1/250 |
2 Jan 1871 | 26 Oct 1871 | Maid of Erin | Master | William SMITH | MB 2/33/1/250 |
May 1873 | Maid of Erin | Master | William SMITH | MB 2/33/1/250 | |
15 Jul 1873 | 1874 | Othello | Chief Mate | Edward COPPING | MB 2/33/1/310 |
2 Nov 1874 | 6 Jun 1876 | Othello | Chief mate | Edward COPPING | MB 2/33/1/310 |
16 Jun 1876 | Sep 1877 | Flying Childers | Chief mate | MB2/33/1/146 |
From reading the log of the Water Witch in 1860, life on board the whale boats seemed very boring until a whale was sighted. Then it was all crew ready for lowering the boats, giving chase to the whale, bringing it alongside the vessel ready to start cutting, flensing and trying out the whale over the next couple of days (P19). Other jobs mentioned in the logbook were knitting yarns, making mats and collecting yams from the islands visited. Most whaling voyages were for eighteen months but the vessels would come into port earlier if they had to offload their whale oil.
One great instance of danger came from a report where Captain Smith took on board the crew of the ship Victoria which wrecked at Port Davey (P18) Wrecks were often caused by bad weather and the chains to the anchors breaking.
William Smith was also involved in a disagreement between crew and Captain Reynolds while on board the Maid of Erin as second mate in 1859. Many of the crew refused to work due to intoxication of the captain when giving orders. This was followed by a court case (P20).
Images were found of four ships he crewed on – Flying Childers, Waterwitch, Marie Laure and Othello(S1). Permission will be needed to publish these images on a public blog.
Conclusion
From the above research, finding documents to help with putting together a chronological timeline of whaling voyages is not easy unless you know what information is found in the various repositories around Australia. Searching further afield than crew agreements and shipping clearances in Tasmania will be the next step.
The National Library of Australia, in particular Trove, is a fantastic resource for fleshing out a story with what life was like during a whaling voyage. Many of the shipping notices only mention the name of the vessel, the captain and how much oil has been brought into port.
The W.L Crowther Collection at LINC Hobart also held many sources regarding whaling in Tasmania, including log books of voyages and books.
Further research will be done looking at Ian Nicholson’s suggestions from Log of logs (S2) This will include logs of voyages that are available and references to further documents.
The Pacific Manuscripts Bureau has also been mentioned as a possible repository to search for further clues to William’s life as a whaler in the 1850’s and 1860’s.
In conclusion, particularly relating to William SMITH’s Samoan name, is that records are needed to get back to the first whaling vessel he registered on, and hope he registered with his Samoan name. Or maybe he arrived in Hobart Town before 1852 in the open boat as mentioned by Poulson (S3) and was given the name William SMITH before he started whaling.
Readers: Do you think I have covered what was needed for this final assignment?