The Shipwrights

…A shipwright is a ships carpenter who helps build, launch and repair wooden vessels. A professionally trained shipwright, however, can work with anything from small boats to large naval vessels.

In the 1800’s a shipwright would have crafted a bow, hull, keel, masts, and the ribs of the ship or boat by using tools such as an adze and a draw-knife. Fitting wood decking, cutting & bevelling shores for dry docking of ships was also part of the trade. They were very proud and specific about their craft. At sea they were responsible for ship stability including the securing of cargo and for loading and accounting of freshwater as well as fire-fighting and damage control. Generally a very busy man even on modern ships and I would guess extremely busy in the days of sail.

At that time the fishing industry was at its height, when pilchards were landed and cured here, and cured fish of many types, as well as wheat, barley, oats, cheese and minerals were being exported. A considerable variety of goods was also imported from Ireland, France, Wales, Scandinavia and Russia. Shipments of copper ore were made to Bristol and slates were also exported, many of them from the nearby Camel quarry.

Padstow in the 1860s was also a busy port for passengers emigrating to Canada, in particular to Quebec, which gave Padstow shipbuilders access to Canadian timber, some of which was carried in the same ships on return journeys.

By the 19th century a number of ship-building yards had been established along the banks and in the shallow creeks of the Camel river at Padstow.

Fig. 2 The Pub in Padstow

There were 5 ship-building companies in Padstow called John Cowl and Sons, Rawl, Stribley, Tredwen  and Willmett. It is not known which yard that William was employed but it could possibly have been with the the Rawl or Willment yard.

The Willmett’s shipbuilding activities ended in Padstow in 1867 with the building of the schooner Amanda and William was listed 4 years later, as living in Cardiff, Wales in the 1871 census. In all, the Willmetts built fifteen ships at Padstow between 1861 and 1867.

William married Margaret Huskisson Stubington of Soberton, Hampshire, England which could suggest that William went to the Portsmouth Dockyard looking for employment prior to Wales.

William and Margaret raised 9 children, the first was born in Hampshire and the next eight were all born in Cardiff, Wales.

In Cardiff in1839, the Bute West Dock was built followed by East dock in 1855. The Roath Basin was dug in1874 followed by Roath Dock in 1887. This is probably where William worked as he was living in Roath in 1881. In this modern dockyard, each shipwright undertook work anywhere in workshops, aboard ships or in any associated buildings, structures, or equipment.

Their work included manufacture, erection, repairs & alteration to ships structures, ships plating and welding. Installation of ventilation trunking systems, thermal & sound insulation, and the fitting out of compartments including the laying of deck coverings.

Fig. 3 Padstow Harbour circa 1900

Samuel Fradd was born on 03 Apr 1853 in Padstow, Cornwall, England (Christened 17 May 1853). He lived in Padstow, Cornwall, England between 1861 and 1871. He lived in 15 Dumbarton Street, Portsea, Hampshire, England in 1881 (He was living with his sister and brother-in-law Mary and David Hart). He married Mary Jane Thorne on 02 Apr 1882 where they lived in Portsea, Hampshire, England up until 1901 when they moved to Portsmouth, Hampshire, England in 1901. He died in 1931 having sired some craftsman. 

Fig, 4 1901 Census Record

THE SHIPWRIGHTS

Samuel Fradd, Shipwright, Hampshire, Portsmouth 1891; Alfred Fradd Naval Shipwright, Hampshire, Portsmouth 1891; Gary Kenneth Fradd, Shipwright, Sydney,1983

Edith Maude Fradd 1893

 

Fig. 1 Edith Maude Fradd

 

Edith Maude Hill was born on 01 Jun 1895 in Lower Broughton, South Australia, Australia to Herbert Abraham Hill and Ada Edith Mathews.

She married Herbert William Fradd on 14 Oct 1914 in Residence of Herbert Abraham Hill, Laura District, Clare and raised a family of 8 children, 5 in Laura and 3 in Crystal Brook. Herbert was listed as living on West Terrace in Laura, South Australia with the occupation of a Farm Labourer and he was also a shearer.



Fig 2. Page from Longfellows Birthday Book

Edith and Herbert raised 8 children; four boys and 4 girls. Herbert married Edith Maud Hill of Clare on the 14^th October in 1914;  they lived in an old stone house on a big block in Stanley Street, Crystal Brook and prior to that, lived in Laura, South Australia. Edith went by the name of Edie and is the maternal grandmother of Gary Kenneth Fradd.

Apparently she called all of her sons by the nickname "Joe" and all of her daughters by the nickname of "Fan". This was an oddity that perplexed her daughter in law Hilda Joy who remarked to me that both Herbert William and Edie would use the "Joe" and "Fan" terminology and yet each still seem to understand which individual they were talking about.

Editors note: This must have worked on Mum because she would quite often call me Joe as would Dad.
Edith's husband Herbert William Fradd died on the 19th March 1955; over 12 months before his grandson Gary Kenneth was born.

Fig.3 Surprise Birthday Guest List

J Parker (Hilda Joy Parker) was present above at a surprise birthday party. She married Edith's youngest son Kenneth Maxwell Fradd one year later; father of Edith and Herbert's grandson Gary. Edith Maud died on 17 Jan 1966 in Crystal Brook, South Australia, Australia when he was 12 years old. He remembered her moving into a house off of Gadd Avenue and weekly visits to the Fradds in Lyons Street Crystal Brook.



Richard Fradd 1878



Richard Fradd was born about 1878 in St Mawgan in Pydar, Cornwall, England.  Richard was born to Josiah and Grace Williams; and was one of 9 siblings. He is the 2nd cousin 3 times removed of Gary Kenneth Fradd. St Mawgan in Pydar lies in and about the beautiful Vale of Lanherne.
Settlements dating from the Bronze Age and the Iron Age have been excavated in various parts of the parish. The village of St Mawgan can probably be said to date from the arrival, in the 6th Century, of the Welsh missionary, Meugan or Mawgan at what is now Mawgan Porth.

Fig 1. Richard Fradd circa 1900

Census records show that Richard was aged 23 and employed as a masons labourer in Cornwall in1901, and then as a miner in 1903 in Cape town, South Africa. 
His brother Francis David a Copper Miner also left Southampton for the Cape in 1902.
I suspect they were both caught up in the gold rush. 
Richard travelled all over the world as a miner in the early 1900's.

The steamship SS Galeka delivered him and many others from Southampton to the Cape in 1903. Of all of the trades, they were predominantly miners.

Fig.2 Taken in South Africa -Back Row, third from left

She served on the South Africa route until the First World War when she was used by the UK as a troop transport, carrying troops of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps to the Gallipoli Campaign. Galeka was then refitted as a hospital ship with accommodation for 366 wounded passengers. On 28 October 1916 she hit a mine laid by the German U-boat UC-26.The ship was the last vessel to enter service before the merge between the Union and Castle shipping lines.

 

Fig.3 Attestation Paper

Richards Casualty Form - Active Service show that he attested oath aged 38 years and 1 month on the 25th February 1916 where he was mobilized to the Army Reserve, into

the11th Battalion, 3 months later onto the 53rd (Young Soldier) Battalion. Up to 27 October 1917, this was known as 95th Young Soldier Battalion and had no regimental affiliation. Before that it had been 11th (Reserve) Battalion of the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry.
A basic recruit training unit based at Chisledon, it was part of 22nd Reserve Brigade. On 31 October 1917 when that Brigade was broken up it went to 8th Reserve Brigade at Larkhill.

In 1916 when conscription was first introduced for the British Army, the existing regimental system could not cope with the large influx of recruits. By January 1916, when conscription was introduced, 2.6 million men had already volunteered for service, a further 2.3 million were conscripted before the end of the war; by the end of 1918, the army had reached its peak strength of four million men. To train the recruits from 1916 onwards twenty-six reserve brigades were raised, with an official complement of over 208,500 soldiers.

Fig.4 Richard Fradd Circa 1916

After the war, Richard settled back in Trevarrian, Cornwall before he died on 29 Sep 1934 in Mawgan Porth, St Mawgan-In-Pydar, leaving effects and £710 to his wife Alice.

They have 1 sibling a daughter; Agnes Margaret shown listed in the 1939 Census.

1939 Census, Fradd Household

Croydon C.B., Surrey, England 

Agnes M Murray (Fradd) 1923

Alice Fradd and 1 more person are on this record.