Hansford Ward

John Ralph Hansford Ward (November 1817 – 17 February 1903), invariably known as Hansford Ward or Captain Ward, was a ship's captain in South Australia, who figures prominently in the pre-history of the Adelaide Steamship Company. A son, also named John Ralph Hansford Ward (8 April 1852 – ) but known as John R. H. Ward, was also a ship's captain.

History

Ward was born at Abbotsbury, Dorset, and emigrated to South Australia aboard Lady Lilford, arriving in September 1839. He settled at Glenelg, and gained employment under Thomas Lipson

In 1841 the customs facility at Glenelg was disbanded, and Ward turned to fishing. He founded H. Ward & Co., proprietors of oyster and cray fishing boats, in which business he was involved for about ten years. He also ran the Glenelg Hotel from 1846 to 1850. before the cream of Adelaide society. The ceremony was held to coincide with the launch of the township of Glenelg, whose proprietors included William Finke, Osmond Gilles (for whom the boat was named), H. R. Wigley (father of W. R. Wigley) and Mathew Smith. The ceremony became a fiasco after a downpour turned the ground to a particularly slippery species of mud, and the boat refused to be launched when the tide did not rise to the height expected, and had to be postponed. O.G. was the first boat of any size to be built in South Australia; her first master F. Finney.

Ward purchased the cutter in 1850 and enlarged her to 27 tons burthen, and from January 1851 to May 1854 he was plying her between Adelaide, what is now the Fleurieu Peninsula, Kangaroo Island and Yorke Peninsula, delivering supplies and returning with wheat and wool.

On 19 May 1854 O.G. left Port Adelaide for Yankalilla and Rapid Bay, Captain Reid in command. After weighing anchor at Yankalilla on the afternoon of 23 May, the wind began to blow hard and increased to a heavy gale. The cutter was very light, having discharged nearly all her cargo, and Captain Reid found it impossible to prevent her from driving ashore, so let go his anchor as a last resort, but the cutter dragged anchor and soon foundered on the rocks at Poole's Flat, about 2km north of Second Valley. Captain and crew took to the boat, and with some difficulty ran her up a creek and there were no deaths. The ship was a total wreck; her burthen was only 20 tons, and therefore uninsured and Captain Reid's loss was estimated at over £300. The site of the wreck was later known as Cutter Flat in recognition of the event.

Brig Punch Punch, 150 tons, was a fine little brig owned by Adelaide businessmen Thomas Allen, George Henry Fox, Barnett, and others. Allen was in April 1853 deposed as captain by the majority of owners, and replaced with Sayers, to Allen's disgust, as he had no faith in Sayers' seamanship.

On the morning of 10 September 1853 a gale blew up and she was pushed on-shore and stranded on the beach near Glenelg, though she suffered little damage. She was unloaded by bullock dray but remained stuck fast and could not be freed from the sand. On 20 September Ward purchased the brig "as is where is" for £250. He rigged a series of empty water barrels under her hull and waited for the next "king tide", which occurred on 20 December 1853, when she was without incident towed out to sea and around to Port Adelaide. Ward traded with her to India, Java, and Eastern settlements. until 1856, when he sold her in Singapore.

Schooners In May 1852 Captain Dowsett in the Government schooner Yatala discovered Port Augusta. In 1856 Ward bought the schooners Alice Martin (previously Flying Eagle) son-in-law of Henry Fletcher (shipwright) (1820–1912), of Fletcher's "Dunnikier" Slip, to England to commission a new steamer, and in March 1875 brought back the Flinders, that went into the coasting trade, in charge of Capt. T. W. Lockyer (c. 1836–1898). The Adelaide Steamship Company was arguably formed about June 1876, and among its assets were the Flinders, Lubra, Kangaroo, and Royal Shepherd. John Ward skippered her for nine years, then in July 1886 after loading a cargo of railway sleepers at Quindalup, Western Australia a storm came up and blew her onto the shore, where she was wrecked. John Ward returned to Adelaide as chief officer of Collingrove, and shortly after was appointed captain of the Persian Empire plying between Melbourne and San Francisco.

Other activities For 21 years he was a licensed marine surveyor at Port Adelaide, but relinquished that occupation because of failing health around 1900. on Pekina, They had a home in Newcastle street, Rosatala ward, Port Adelaide.

His brother Richard Porter Ward (c. 1823 – 25 March 1898) was captain of barques Bosphorus 1867–1870, Wodonga 1873–1875, and Phoenix 1876–1884. He had several daughters including: Mary Louisa Ward ( – 1949) married William Henry Saunders (1852 – 26 June 1928) in 1876. He was town clerk of Port Adelaide and brother of amateur historian A. T. Saunders.