Bp Skippers Over

60 Years

By Supercargo

The interest shown in the

group photographs of former

Burns Philp shipmasters, pub

lished in the PIM of April and

June, encourages me to supply

a more extended history of the

men who captained the BP ships

half a century ago, and helped

carry Australian trade and the

Australian flag into so many

Islands ports.

PROBABLY, I am the only man alive today who knew all the captains shown in that photo graph, except Donaldson and Weatherall—but Captain Maclnnes may have been shipmates with many of them.

I start when James Burns intro duced his own steamers to the Western Pacific, in 1895-6.

I personally knew everyone of these men:

"Hurricane Jack" Williams

Captain John Williams (“Hurri cane Jack”) was in January, 1896, appointed master of the ss Titus , an iron steamer built on the Clyde in 1869 and which, for the previous 10 years, had been running between Melbourne and Sydney. BP bought her and sent her on her first trip to British New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and the New Hebrides.

Captain Williams commanded most of the early Burns Philp steamers, right up to the time of his death. In the beginning of 1907 he was sent to England to bring out the new steamer Makambo. He opened the Singapore trade for BP with the Moresby in 1902, and his last ship was the Mataram.

Incidentally, I believe the Mataram was the first steamer to be fitted with wireless in Australia —the job was done by Rev. Father Shaw of the Sacred Heart Mission, in Feb ruary, 1911.

In 1893, before he joined BP, Captain Williams lost the schooner Borough Bell on the Ballona Shoals.

He had with him, that trip, his eldest son, John Williams who, from 1916 until the Japanese came into World War 11, was manager of the Nippon Yusen Kaisha (for which Burns Philp were the Australasian ag john Williams' youngest son ER.

Williams, is one of the best known racehorse-owners in Sydney. E. R.

(Continued on page 95)

ns was for a short time an nt to A. F. Hayes, who was » supercargo in the Marshalls. ther of the Carpenters &in Carpenter, of Costa Rica fame, arrived in Sydney longkong in May, 1898, in the Christensen which he had sent to buy. Her name was id to Moresby. This vessel ards saw service in every of Islands to which BP traded, yas torpedoed in the Med lean In 1916. tain Carpenter also brought ambare from Liverpool, arriv- Sydney March 27, 1900. tain Carpenter is a notable also because his son Walter late Sir Walter Randolph titer) founded the now very torporation of W. R. Carpenter Ltd. tain William Voy was a well i BP commander. He formerly master of the Cloncurry vraith McEacharn Line). He utward bound to Calcutta on er 31, 1901, when he ran into overic, of the Howard Smith at Sydney Heads. He lost his cate for six months. Burns gave him a 2nd mate’s job on Isabel (March, 1902) under in John Gordon Hitchfield, ►. Voy was promoted to r in 1902. He at different commanded the Ysabel, Titus, o, Malaita, Induna, Makambo, Toresby. His last vessel was the ni, which he commanded for years. He lost her on Mellish in March, 1923, itain C. S. Millington, when it knew him, was 2nd mate i Titus under Captain Bibbling, }2. In 1908 he was master of ambo. He finally left the Com to become a pilot. During 1 War II he always brought in L quatania and berthed her at d 7 Woolloomooloo. He sub ntly became pilot for the oil Is coming into Botany Bay, Sydney Harbour Trust as d control of Botany.

Murdered by Japs

ptain Isaac Handley was 2nd of the Ysabel in the Marshall d run in 1910. When that ship

was lost in the Marshalls he was given command of the beautiful 215-ton schooner Louise J. Kenny, in the Gilbert inter-island service. He careened her in Tarawa lagoon; but she opened up her seams and remained there. He subsequently was given command of the barquentine Volador, which BP chartered for two voyages to the Gilberts.

He then commanded the Tambo in the Gilberts and the Muniara in the Marshalls. The Muniara was wrecked at Ebon, in the Marshalls, and Handley did great work in saving practically all her gear, which was brought to Sydney in the Moresby. Roy Waddell, the

present Superintendent Engineer for BP, was 3rd engineer of the Muniara on that trip When Handley retired, he lived at Betio, Tarawa. He disliked the Japanese and used to collect all the information he could about their war activities in the Marshalls where he had many friends. When war came and the Japanese seized Tarawa, that brave old man was murdered by them. Handley was in command of the Induna when the Germans took her at Jaluit in 1914.

Captain T. Williams (Taffy* in October, 1896, was appointed master of the Ysabel which Burns Philp bought from the German New

a Company, and sent on her rip to New Britain, New Ire and German New Guinea, tain D. J. Williams (Taffy) nd mate of the Muniara in and subsequently served as • of the Malaita and Makambo. tain Cyril Williams (the first i the group picture, next to in Wetherall) was Ist mate of indini under Captain Voy and iubsequently Master of the a and other vessels. He is ive. any Men of Many Parts ;ain Webster was mate of the a, in the Marshalls, and ards Master of the Munidra he Moresby in the Sydney t and Marshall trunk service, iristmas Eve, 1914, he read In iglish paper of the death of •other, killed in France. He liately resigned from BPs, got md of the Berlin (a German r which had been seized) took ) London, enlisted, and was in France in 1915 or 1916. :ain Hillman, who came from USN, was mate under Legge ,e Ysabel in the Thursday -New Guinea run. He was one e many masters who corn id the Tambo and other ;. He took the Morinda on her rip in 1913 and remained in r some years. iain Norman Smith was 3rd of the Mindini in 1914, and 'terwards commander of most : ships in the New Hebrides Dlomon services. Later, he was tner in Hay & Smith, well l marine surveyors in the He was killed by falling down itch of a vessel, tain Rothery was mate of the da when she took the first rcements to Rabaul in 1915. is master of several BP ships lad the Montoro for a long tain Charles W. Todd took he Titus in April, 1898, and . in all the services of the any. His last ship, I think, be Guthrie, on the Singapore n 1907. He lost the Mambare ato in 1902. tain Fred Gambrill, 2nd mate e Muniara about 1908, was i command of the Matunga, i 1912 he was made master of uthrie, shortly before she was ;o G. S. Yuill. He went over ills with the Guthrie. He sub itly commanded the Changte fter the war was awarded OBE. low lives in retirement in use. itain J. Maclnnes joined the ira as 2nd mate in the Gilbert ice service. He subsequently man d e d the Mindoro, the sa, the Moresby and the nga. He now resides in Bris-

Captain Griffith Ivor Griffiths served as mate in the Muniara, In duna and Matunga. Later, he com manded some of them. He was for many years a Sydney pilot, and died in 1958.

Lovable Man

Captain S. G. Green, a very lovable man, was Marine Superin tendent. In April, 1889, he was superintendent of the E & A, and asked to go back to sea for further service. He took the Guthrie, then a new ship. Some years later he was again Marine Superintendent, and transferred to Burns Philp.

Captain Donaldson arrived in Sydney in 1913 as Master of the Morinda, from Scotland. He com manded the Matunga when she was captured by the Germans in 1915.

He commanded the Marella for many years.

Captain Wetherall’s first com mand with the Co. was the Tambo in 1904. He subsequently com manded several of the Co.’s steamers —three on their maiden voyages—the Makambo, Matunga and Marsina.

Captain Alex Robinson assumed command of Titus in the Gilberts in 1905. He also commanded the Tambo and Malaita. He was a “windjammer” master and the Co. made great use of him in (I think) 1917, when Mr. Mitchell went to America to buy some large schooners for their copra trade.

Captain A. Auland, who was in command of Malaita in 1906, sub sequently had his own stevedoring company in Sydney.

Captain John Legge was Master of Ysabel when she was lost at Namu, in the Marshalls. He was afterwards Master of the Fatshan running from Hongkong up the West River for some 600 miles. He re tired to Vaucluse, and about 1950 went back to Northern Ireland.

Captain Sam Mortimer came to the Co. from the Canadian Pacific Line, and joined the Tambo as mate with Voy. He became Master of Guthrie, then Mataram.

Captain “Micky” Wilson, when Captain John Williams was sent to London in 1907 to bring out the Makambo, was given command of Airlie. He in 1912 became Master of the Montoro on her first trip (1912). He became a Torres Strait F. J. Bolydon, RNR, took command of the Tambo, 1902, on her first voyage under the BP flag. He originally joined the fleet as 3rd officer of the Moresby. He was very well known in New Guinea, Solomons and New Hebrides. After retiring, he ran a nautical school in 1903, took over the Ovatau when bought for the Solomons run. He was mate of the Ysabel, in the Marshalls when she was lost at Namu in June, 190 |- Captain A. E. Dabelle came into

!o. as Master of Guthrie when -as purchased from the E & A He only made two or three es before joining Torres Strait service. )tain Robert Ross Cable was s old Scottish sailor who had commanding schooners running e Solomons, Gilberts, etc., for ars before coming to the Co. lad been employed by the d Heart Mission as master of Maris Stella, Pacific Islands any and On Chong. He was the Co. for many years. >tain Fred J. Dillamore corn ed the Ysabel on that memor voyage when she broke her aft shortly after leaving ;own. He sailed her to Red- Bay, Papua, where En r Snowdon put in a new tail and the vessel continued her :e. )tain Charles Bibbing was ir of Titus when she took inery for the Pacific Cable I to Norfolk Is. in 1902. His command was the Mataram.