Dead Men's Tales (1) John Smith
On browsing the Register for 1858, one entry caught my eye due to its more expansive than usual explanation as to the cause of death, i.e. lost on a mountain. However, on noticing that the man’s name was the ubiquitous “John Smith” I thought he would be impossible to research but I was swiftly proved wrong.
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| Entry shows John Smith of the vessel Derwentwater, ex London on 7 August 1857, was due £7.6s.1d. in wages. |
In particular, this research document by Maria Grist fleshes out the whole sad story.
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| Smith's Monument, copyright Tas Trails |
Looking into the genealogical resources and with his common name I am unable to confirm with any certainty which John Smith he is born around 1821. His last known address was in Queen Square, Bristol.
The research document doesn't tell us where John undertook his medical training or the reason for him seeking out the position as the ship’s surgeon for the immigrant ship Derwentwater in 1857.
Derwentwater was a wooden barque of around 500 tons built in 1852 at Sunderland by W. Harkess & Son, for shipping owners, Richardsons of London. (There are a number of individuals with this surname involved in shipping during this era, but which company owned this vessel is difficult to establish.)
This vessel brought many immigrants from England to Australia and New Zealand during the 1850s and 1860s, principally under a Captain Richard Wrankmore (more on him later!)
On arrival in Hobart, John Smith appears to have either made new local friends, or perhaps caught up with old ones. He was also a Mason and the special links forged through Freemasonry often gave men useful introductions to each other in all corners of the world. Together this group decided to tackle the climb to the top of Mount Wellington.
Although it was the middle of the Australian summer, the mountain is always unpredictable weather-wise, with its sudden mists and changes in temperature, and snow is common. In 1848, the first ice house was built by convict labour on the mountain. In these crude buildings snow was compacted into ice and then transported down to Hobart by pack horse. The mountain is notorious for its rocky surfaces and shifting boulders that still make hiking a challenge with dangers for the unwary. Added to this, is that even in the mid-1850s, escaped convicts and other lawless individuals had hide-outs among its nooks and crannies. It was not a hike for the faint-hearted or those whose health was less than robust.
That someone went to a great deal of trouble to erect this monument to John Smith in this rocky and lonely environment shows that he must have had loyal and wealthy friends in Tasmania who did not want his sad demise to be forgotten.
One wonders what happened to the image of the lady, the lock of hair and two letters that were found in his possession and mentioned in the inquest. Unfortunately, the details of the letters were not shared with the general public, so one can only speculate as to their content.
Where did the mementoes end up? Were they sent back to his family in Bristol, or did they remain in Tasmania? Thereby hangs another tale.
Fabulous photos on this blog showing the environment that the luckless John Smith was lost in.
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| Copyright, Czeching Out of Here |
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