Register (Adelaide, SA : 1901 - 1929), Saturday 13 May 1922, page 12


THE ADELAIDE STEAMSHIP COMPANY

SHIPPING MEMORIES. 1.— By A. T. Saunders. The excellent article in The Register of 44/1/22 rives a good and correct account of the Adelaide Steamship Company, but it does not, and does not pretend to, go to the actual origin of the concern. The father of the company was Capt. John Ralph Hansford Ward (known as Hansford Ward), who was bom at Abbotsbury, near Weymouth, Dorset, England. November 1817; and arrived here 27/9/1839 per Lady Lilford. Capt. Ward was a rugged man with individuality and force of character, and perhaps, therefore, was not a good mixer,' as the Americans put it. He set-tled at Glenelg, and became one of Mr. John Anthony's boat's crew. The Re-gister records that (18/8/1840) Hansford Ward, custom house boatman at Glenelg, was married at Adelaide by the Rev. C. B. Howard to Jane Best, eldest daughter; of Mr. Best; Hindmarsh. —A Dealer in Fish.— , On June 15, 1841. Capt. Lipson wrote to Mr. Robert Gouger about the breaking up of the customs establishment at GIenelg, This evidently was done, and the boatmen discharged. Capt. Ward then turned his attention to the fishing business, and The Register- (20/11/41) contains the advertise-ment of H. Ward & Co. ('down with mo-nopolies') proprietors of oyster and cray fish-boats, &«., &c. Capt. Ward was in-terested in this trade for about 10 years. He also ran the Glenelg Hotel from 1846 to 1850. In The Register 9/10/50 he ad-vertised to launch a 20-ton cutter in front of this hotel.

—A. Stroke of Luck.--In 1853 a fine little brig from. Calcutta, owned by Adelaide men, was stranded in a furious gale (10/9/1853) near Glenelg. She was forced up so high that the Cal cutta cargo was taken out of by bul-lock drays at low tide. Capt. Ward bought, the Punch as she lay, and by ano-ther stroke of luck, on Tuesday, 20/12/1853, there was a very high tide, and he got the Punch off, and had her towed to Port Ade-laide. Capt. Ward traded with her for some time, then took her to Singapore, and sold her. Capt. Dowsett. in the Yatala had not long discovered Port Augusta and a trade to that place began. Capt Ward bought the schooners Alice Martin and Waitemata, and ran them from Port Ade-laide to Port Augusta and other ports. The Waitemata was known as "the weighty matter,' and is so named in Capt. Ward's obituary (17/2/1903). She was to become famous as the vessel. in which "Bully" Hayes escaped from Adelaide early in 1858. -—Bigger Ventures — An enterprising American named Joseph Darwent arrived here about 1850 in con-nection with a proposed private railway from Adelaide to Port Adelaide and the North Arm, a project which failed. Dar-went Stilling, & Co. associated themselves with Capt. Hansford Ward, and he went to Melbourne and bought the iron screw steamer Marion (124 tons), which vessel he commanded till 1860. He then induced Elder, Stirling, & Co. to join the combina-tion, and went to Glasgow to build the iron screw steamer Lubra. which vesssel (21/6/61) arrived under sail as a three-masted schooner. As Capt. Ward did not hold a ship master's certificate for over-seas voyages, his relative, Capt. Orchard, came here as master of the Lubra. After commanding the steamer Kangaroo and the Ashburton the latter became master of the pioneer Adelaide wool ship, Pekina (owned by Thomas Elder and W. W. Hughes). This happened on the death of Capt. Malcom, who was a brother-in-law to one or all of the Elders. The Marion was not the first ship to steam into Spencer's Gulf, but she was the first re-gular trader and the very first steamer to enter Port Augusta. The wooden paddle steamship Juno (362 tons, Capt. Kirsopp) left Port Adelaide for Port Lincoln (4/12/1848); but put back, as the passen-gers had given the firemen too much grog. She eventually arrived at Port Lincoln, and returned to Port Adelaide 14/12/1848. The Iron Prince, screw steamer of about 100 tons, was chartered by Younghusband and Capt. Cadell in 1854, and made a voyage or two from Port Adelaide to Hummock Harbour (as Port Germein was then called) in connection with the Mount Remarkable special survey. —Capt. McCoy.— When Capt. Ward left the Marion for the Lubra, Capt. Alexander McCoy be-came master of the Marion, and from that time until his death was connected with the Port Adelaide steamboats. He had been a corporal in the mounted police. As a mariner he was master of or connected with several sailing vessels, such as the Gem (cutter), Gulnare and Crinoline (schooners), , Engelbert (three-masted schooner), and Maid of the Yarra (steamer). He had been master of steamers, on the Murray River, and took the Leichhardt to Java. On a Sunday, with Rev. Mr. Jeffries on board, the Marion (Capt. McCoy) was wrecked on Southern Yorke's Peninsula (Register, 14/7/1862). Beeby & Dunstan in 1865 owned the flour mill in Grenfell street— now Milne & Co.'s -and had bought a small three-masted screw steamer, named the Kangaroo. Beeby and Dunstan died within about a week of each other (Register, 4/8/65), and so the Kangaroo was sold. Corbin, Lamb, John Yeo. and others bought and ran her in the coasting trade, with John Yeo as master, but ultimately she was bought by Capt. Ward's combination (about 8/7/1867). and put into the Spencer's Gulf trade. The old steamship Royal Shepherd (244 tons) was bought in Melbourne, and arrived in Port Adelaide 9/1/65. She ran principally in the Spencer's Gulf trade, but also to other parts of this State and to Melbourne. Joseph Stilling died (Register, 31/8/63), and Capt. Ward and the steamers were more closely connected with 'Elder, Smith & Co.,' as the firm became when Mr. Stirling retired. Others had their eyes on the Port Augusta trade, and in 1862 the screw iron steamship Coorong was built, and duly arrived in Port Adelaide. She did not, however, go into the coasting trade., —Competitors.— Philip Levi & Co.. were. also interested in Port Augusta, and in 1864 the paddle iron steamer Goolwa was built, and arrived at Port Adelaide under sail. Capt. Parfitt of the P. & O. Northam, had ar-ranged for her building, and Capt. William Davidson took command of her on arrival. Apparently there was some idea of running her to Goolwa, and Capt. Davidson had brought Cadell's Lady Augusta from Syd-ney and through the Murray Mouth to Goolwa. Capt. Davidson's eldest daughter was on board, and was the first white female person to enter the Murray from the sea. Miss Davidson is alive, and re-sides in this State. The Goolwa ran to Port Augusta for a short while, and was a failure. The Lubra, Kangaroo, and Royal Shepherd had little or no opposition for many years. Capt. Howes ran the iron screw steamer Black Diamond for a short time, till in 1872 she was wrecked— on the Walrus Rock, I fancy. —Port Augusta Telegraph Line.— Darwent & Dalwood had taken a con-tract in connection with building the over land telgraph line to Port Darwin, which resulted in litigation and loss, and The Register (2/10/71 and 3/10/71) records the auction of Darwent's shares in the Aldinga, Coorong, Royal Shep-herd, Kangaroo, Lubra, Engelbert, and Saint Magnus. Not long afterward was the death of John Newman, who had been Port Adelaide agent for Darwent, and the steamers mentioned. Capt. Hansford Ward sold out of the steamers, and bought the barques Wodonga and Phoenix. He afterwards ac-quired the Day Dawn, the mate of which vessel, under Capt. J. R. H. Ward, jun., was the renowned sea novelist, Frank Bul-len. In 1874 the owners of the Lubra Kangaroo, and Royal Shepherd sent Capt Joseph Hay, son-in-law of Mr. Fletcher, of Fletchers Slip, to England to build a steamer for the trade, and on 14/3/75 he arrived with the Flinders, which sailed for Melbourne in charge of Capt. McCoy ??/4/75. After a few voyages she went into the coasting trade, in charge of Capt. T. W. Lockyer, of the Carl, Strathmore, and Kangaroo. The Adelaide Steamship Company was evidently formed about ? June 1876, and owned the Flinders, Lubra, Kangaroo, and Royal Shepherd. You say you've worn this hat three years said the hatter. 'Wonderful! It looks like new.' 'Yes, three years I've worn it, said the customer. 'Once 1 had it reblocked, twice I got it cleaned, and once I changed it in a restaurant for brand new one.'*