| Notes |
- William Garrard and Emma Chaplin were married at the Tackett Street Meeting House in Ipswich UK in 1846. They went on to live at 207 Lower Orwell Street Ipswich, next door to William's family. Lower Orwell Street must have been one of the poorer streets in Ipswich, as it was described in books as having an open sewer down the middle.
William was a Shipwright in Suffolk England and at the Summer Assizes at Ipswich in 1858 was found guilty of stealing 90 yards of sailcloth and 92 yards of rope. He pleaded guilty and sentenced to 6 years transportation to Australia - 4 years for stealing and 2 years for receiving. William's son Zachariah was also sentenced
William arrived in WA on the Norwood, an 849 ton ship built at Sunderland in 1854. The Norwood was employed twice as a convict transport for Western Australia and left Portland, England on March 16, 1862 bound for the Swan River Colony. She carried the twenty fifth of 37 shipments of male convicts destined for Western Australia. On this voyage the Norwood took 85 days and arrived in Fremantle on June 9, 1862 with 92 passengers and 290 convicts.
Garrard was described as being semi literate, aged 40, 5' 8 3/4" tall, light brown hair, grey eyes, round face, fair complexion and stout build with scars on the thumb of his left hand. His behaviour on the voyage was described as excellent.
On 11 July 1862 he was granted a Ticket of Leave on the recommendation of the Surgeon Superintendant of the Norwood on account of his good behaviour on on the voyage from England. The recommendation contained special mention for "extra exertions at a fire at the Comptroller General's Office". After William received a conditional pardon on 16 March 1864, he brought his wife and 4 children to join him in Australia. They arrived on the Strathmore on 12 June 1864. Sometime after this William Garrard built the cutter Albatross from timbers taken from the ship African which was lost in Champion Bay, WA, 1863. During it's construction William employed 9 ticket of leave boatbuilders. In 1868 during the rescue operation of a whaler, the Albatross was caught in a storm and was lost. Only 2 crew members survived, the remainder, including William Garrard, perished.
The following is extracted from "They Kept This State Afloat: The Boat and Ship Builders of Western Australia 1829 - 1929.
GARRARD, William, of Geraldton
He was born in England in 1822 and went to sea as a ship's carpenter. By the time he was 37 he had married and he and his wife had four children He was then caught receiving stolen goods and went to trial at Ipswich in 1859. He was found guilty and was sentenced to six years transportation
After a couple of years in the hulks he was put aboard the convict transport Norwood and sailed for the Swan River Colony arriving at Fremantle on the 9/6/1862, (No.6306).
His ticket-of-leave was granted on 11/7/1862. He applied to bring his wife and children out to the Colony and after they had arrived he received his conditional pardon and the family moved to Geraldton.
In 1863 the ship African hit a reef south-west of Geraldton and the Master managed to beach her near the town. When the vessel was inspected by the surveyor she was condemned and the hull and cargo was sold at auction.
After the hull was purchased it was broken up and the timbers taken to Williams yard where he set about the construction of three vessels. To achieve this he employed up to nine ticket-of-leave men as carpenters and boat builders.
The three vessels were the Mary Ann, with Daniel Chapman as partner, the Lass of Geraldton and the Albatross.
The first of these, the Mary Ann, was a two masted schooner of 33 tons, (O/No.36551), her length was 42 feet, breadth 17 feet and depth 7 feet. She was built for George Shenton in 1864 and after a relatively short life was reported as having been broken up in December 1872. See also entrv for Daniel Chapman.
The second vessel built was the Lass of Geraldton also a two masted schooner of 37 tons. Her dimensions were 60 x 16 x 7 feet. She was launched in 1865 and her official number was 52231. She too was built for George Shenton and his partner in Geraldton, Charles Crowther.
At her launching the Inquirer newspaper described her as "a very smart looking craft, a regular clipper in appearance".
On 25/3/1867 she set out from Fremantle for Bunbury. Henry O'Grady was the Captain and she had five crew members and two passengers aboard, including the pioneer merchant, mine owner and part owner of the vessel, George Shenton. At about 1 P.M. on the same day, she became unmanageable during a squall, heeling right over and finally capsizing. Four crewmen and the two passengers were lost in the disaster. The incident occurred about 12 miles south of the mouth of the Murray River.
The third vessel to be completed was the Albatross and she was launched in 1867. She was 18 tons burden and was only licensed to operate within the harbour limits of Geraldton.
She was built for the purpose of carrying cargo, such as ore from the mines and produce out to the ships anchored in the harbour of Champion Bay.
On the 15/6/1868 strong westerly winds drove the two masted schooner Sea Bird, O/No.36555, of 40 tons and the Twinkling Star, another two masted schooner, O/No.49320, of 59 tons ashore at Port Irwin, now Dongara.
The Government Resident at Geraldton chartered the Albatross and sent her down to the scene of the disaster with carpenters and salvage equipment to attempt to refloat them. On the 24th of June this was accomplished and the Albatross sailed from Port Irwin for Geraldton. As well as her normal crew she had on board members of Mr Bateman's whaling crew. The Sea Bird sailed in company to reach Geraldton, but the weather, blowing hard from the North West, prevented her making headway, so she turned back.
The Albatross pressed on but on reaching Point Moore the Captain found it impossible to round up for the harbour so she too turned back. When she was about a mile offshore, opposite the mouth of the Irwin River, a huge sea rolled on board and swamped her. The masts went by the board and the deck was swept clean. The passengers were washed off the now battered hulk into the boiling surf.
The hull of the vessel was then rolled over and over in the swells and surge until it grounded on the bar at the mouth of the river. Seven men and a woman were drowned including William Garrard himself. Only three men were able to survive by making it to the shore.
William and his wife had bought a block of land in Geraldton and they had built their cottage there. It was at Lot 118 in Marine Terrace. After his death Mrs Garrard ran a boarding house in Geraldton for many years. Their only son, also William, was aboard the schooner Gem when she was lost with all hands off Rottnest Island in 1876.
References:
Dictionary of West Australians, Erickson.
Unfinished Voyages, Vol 2, Henderson.
WA. Almanac, 1865 to 1868.
Register of British Ships, Australian Archives.
Inquirer newspaper.
Colonial Secretaries Records.
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1821 - 1868 (47 years)
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