Captain William Smith

Meeting the cousins

Miss W. Smith ,

If you have been reading my other posts recently, you will know that I have been in touch with some unknown SMITH cousins. Well, yesterday I went to their house for a visit and chat. I was going to do an interview, but then felt maybe just a general get to know each other would be better – maybe organize a more formal interview on particular topics later.

Alanna was the organizer of the records. She has the whole tree on ancestry.com which I will need to check out. She has included all the source information as well as photos. She is in contact with lots of other cousins who I know nothing about.

Glenn was the holder of knowledge. He had some great stories passed down to him mainly from Uncle Jack or Bomber as the family called him. Glenn had met my grandmother, his aunt Rene, quite often and remembered her peroxided hair very well and the fact that she rarely drank which did not sit well with her younger brothers and sisters who enjoyed drinking together.

Glenn had lots of copies of information from books, land plans especially at Cockle Creek and Oyster Cove, had addresses from using electoral rolls and photos from other cousins. He had also collected a lot of information on the whaling ship Marie Laure, which William SMITH had captained or crewed on for many years.

Overall a great afternoon – arrived about 1.45pm when I next looked at my watch it was 5.30pm  Time to head home and ponder the knowledge gained from visiting my now known cousins.

Getting ready to research

Miss W. Family History Course, Smith, Tedman , ,
William SMITH and family

So I have now looked through the filing cabinet, folders, computer program to find everything I already have on William SMITH and his family. I have decided to put together two folders. There will be some duplicate items in them.

The first folder will be a storyline of William SMITH from his birth in 1840 through to his death in 1913. Included in this will be all his whaling journeys, marriage, family life and birth of children through to his death and burial. This is what I will be aiming to add to as my major research in the family history course.

The second folder will be about William SMITH and Sarah Ann TEDMAN family. Again lots of births, marriages and death with a separate pocket for each child born to them.

Readers: Are there any repositories and records you would recommend I search to find information about Captain William SMITH, master mariner?

 

Who is William Smith?

Miss W. Family History Course, Smith , ,

William SMITH is my great great grandfather but from his application for a Master Mariners certificate he was born in the Navigator Islands in 1840. Therefore he should have a Samoan sounding name.

 

Master Mariner certificate

 

Here is a scan of Master Mariner PDF to see it enlarged.

I have also seen it mentioned in a book which is a secondary source 1

Captain William Smith arrived in Tasmania in an open boat (from who knows where) and sailed up the Derwent into the waiting arms of officialdom. He was accepted and given the name “Smith”.

I am going through the Marine Board shipping log records at the moment trying to find when he first had his name changed to William SMITH. But I am stuck on the boat name between Offley and Calypso in the certificate above.  They are all whaling boats so far always in and out of Hobart.

Shipping logs are a great primary source as it is filled in when a sailor agrees to serve on board a ship. Information included is:

  • 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

Readers:  Can anyone using the PDF work out a possible boat name for me?

  1. Poulson, Bruce. Recherche Bay: A Short History. Southport Tas.  Southport Community Centre, 2004. Print. ↩