The Windsor Castle at Brisbane in 1877, Capt. James Ratcliffe Smith, and the Jaap, Matthews and Fowles families of Queensland

I am compiling an account of shipping at Brisbane in the 1870’s based around an unpublished letter written by my great grand-uncle in 1877 that deals in some 3,000 words with the experiences of the cabin passengers in boarding the Windsor Castle in Moreton Bay roadstead for the passage to Britain. The experience extended over three days and involved more than a dozen individuals. The accidental drowning of a seaman is also recorded.

The account includes a full transcription of the letter, information about the several ships named, a discussion of the context of Queensland shipping at the time and identifies all the individuals named and their relationships to each other.

Central to the tale was Jennie Jaap (1849-1896), the recent widow of Dr John Jaap, born Jane Maria Fowles (var. Jennie Mary) who travelled to Britain on the Windsor Castle. (My great grand-uncle who wrote the letter was married to Jennie Jaap’s sister.) Indications are that all Jaaps and Matthews and most Fowles families in Queensland in the19^th century and early 20^th centuries were closely inter-related although there also appear to have been unrelated Fowles families there. Jennie Jaap’s three Jaap stepchildren returned to Scotland on the 1877/78 passage. I would like to hear from anyone descended from any of these families as it is likely that we can exchange information to mutual advantage.

Researching what happened to the individuals after the events described in the letter revealed an unexpected twist as it transpires that Jennie Jaap developed a romantic attachment to the Windsor Castle’s first mate James Ratcliffe Smith (born London c.1847) on the passage to Britain, married him on his return to Brisbane and accompanied him to Britain on a subsequent passage. It was quite common for captain’s wives to accompany them on sailing ships but this may be a rare instance of a mate’s wife accompanying her husband with official blessing. She settled in Brisbane with the couple’s child and her children by her previous (Jaap) marriage and died there in 1896. It does not appear from what I have been able to piece together of Smith’s maritime career in the 1880’s and 1890’s that the couple could have seen much, if anything, of each other after about 1882.

James Ratcliffe Smith had already obtained his Master’s certificate by 1876 but did not obtain a command until 1891 after many further voyages in both sail and steam as mate. He was lost at sea as Master of the ss Port Melbourne, posted missing in the North Atlantic in1899. A fairly complete record has been compiled of Smith’s voyaging from 1876 until his death.

The couple’s child appears on her mother’s 1896 death certificate as Florence Anna Maud Smith aged 16 even though the Queensland birth registration indexes for 1880 list her as Ethel Evelyn Ratcliffe Smith. Smith’s probate documents identify Florence Anna (Annie) Maud Smith as his only heir. At least two of Smith’s brothers (William Jalland Smith and Charles James Hardy Smith) outlived him but declined guardianship of their niece. Smith’s address on the probate was that of his shipping company’s office. I have not identified a marriage of Florence Smith in Queensland but it is likely that she had descendants who are invited to contact me for further information.

To return to Maritime menu click here