Capt. Frederick Bracegirdle

Obituary

VETERAN SHIPMASTER DEATH OF CAPTAIN BRACEGIRDLE.

Captain Frederick Bracegirdle, one of the oldest and most highly esteemed ship-masters of Sydney, died yesterday at his residence, Kalkoura, East Balmain, at the age of 85 years.

The late Captain Bracegirdle, who was born in Surrey, England, in the year 1831, left London in 1819 in the Samuel Enderby for Hobart. Prior to this he was in the P. and O. Company's Ariel, which ran from Plymouth to Gibraltar, Malta, and Alexandria.

Between the years 1849 and 1865 he sailed in many well-known ships. Including the Amazon, La Hogue, Abyssinian, Light of the Age, and the barques Fancy and Fanny Fisher, trading to Amoy, Mauritius, Bombay, Kurrachee, Calcutta, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and the West Indies.

In October, 1866, he left Sydney in the Kalkoura, of the Panama Mail Company, making seven voyages between Sydney, Panama, and Wellington.

In 1869 Captain Bracegirdle entered the coastal trade with the Clarence and Richmond River Company. He made 658 voyages to the northern rivers, and, in 1884 left the service of the company to accept the position of Assistant Harbour Master in Sydney, retiring in 1901, on attaining the ago limit in the service.

Altogether the veteran captain sailed about 998,780 miles. He was a familiar figure at the annual meetings of the N.S.W. League of Ancient Mariners, when he was nearly always in the company of his friend, Captain J. Banks. The ages of these two veteran ship-masters totalled 171 years.

The late Captain Bracegirdle leaves a widow, two sons, and a daughter. The sons are Mr. F. W. Bracegirdle, of Neutral Bay, and Commander L. S. Bracegirdle, R.A.N., who is now at the front in command of the First Royal Australian Naval Bridging Train. Commander Bracegirdle was recently mentionedin despatches by Sir Ian Hamilton for services at Gallipoli. The daughter is Mrs. A. B. Watkins, wife of Flight Lieut. A. B. Watkins, of the Royal Naval Air Service, and is now In England.

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW 1842 - 1954), Thursday 24 February 1916, page 8

Captain Bracegirdle's log books

A partial transcript from the lost books.

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nswclare/biohistory/frederickbrac...