The Prospero of Jersey

The property had been the home of a well-known Jersey sea captain and ship owner, George Malzard (1818-1893), and the figurehead is reputed to be from his vessel the Prospero (Image below,the figurehead – possibly carved by James Alexander).

According to an entry for 20 September 1862 in the Jersey Shipping Register, the Prospero was a 198-ton brig built in FC Clarke’s yard at West Park in St Helier.

The vessel’s launch was scheduled to take place on 26 August, but it juddered to a halt halfway down the slip. The problem was caused by people who were in the habit of swimming in the area of Clarke’s shipyard and using the beams of the launch cradle to jump into the sea. Sand from their feet fell onto the greased slip below, which meant that the whole thing had to be cleaned down and re-greased before the vessel could be successfully put into the water. As the newspaper said: ‘This carelessness was sufficient to cause the builder great inconvenience for (they) have cost Mr Clarke the salaries for an extra day’s work for about 100 men.’

The vessel was described in the newspaper as a 259-ton brig, bound for the Mexican trade and to be commanded by the owner himself. The Nouvelle Chronique of 30 August reported that the vessel was to be taken around to St Helier harbour to be rigged and it was hoped that it would leave the Island in mid-September bound for Liverpool, where the Prospero would take on cargo. There must have been some delay, as it finally cleared St Helier on 8 October. And plans had been changed because the destination was Swansea, arriving there three days later. By the end of the year, Island newspapers reported the Prospero was in the Brazilian ports of Fernambuca and Paraibo.

This first voyage ended in Jersey on 20 April 1863, when the Prospero arrived back in St Helier from the German port of Bremen. Within a fortnight, Malzard was back at sea and once again traded between Wales, South America and Europe, before returning to Jersey in October.

It was the Prospero’s third voyage that ensured it would be remembered in the Island, for in December of 1863 the vessel left Jersey for London where it was loaded material and equipment to build a wharf and a floating dock in the Peruvian river port of Iquitos – 2,000 miles up the Amazon. Including the captain, Malzard, the Prospero had a crew of ten – 24-year-old John Osment of St Helier was mate, the captain’s nephew, William R Malzard, also aged 24, was bosun and the youngest member of the crew was 15-year-old Philip A Le Couteur of St Peter. Two other ships also loaded cargo for Iquitos at the same time – the Teresa and the Arica.

This part of South America was experiencing an economic boom because of the exploitation of rubber trees. In late January 1864, the ships reached the Brazilian port of Pará (the modern-day city of Belém) on the southern shore of Maraja Island in the Amazon delta, 60 miles from the Atlantic. Here they were met by two Peruvian naval vessels, the 500-ton paddle steamer Pastaza and her sister ship the Morona. The Prospero was to be towed upriver by the Pastaza and the Teresa by the Morona. The convoy was expected to cover between 100 to 150 miles a day and the journey was expected to take four to five weeks.

As the journey upstream progressed, the nature of the river changed and there was a greater chance of running aground and a greater level of discomfort caused by the heat, mosquitoes and sand flies. This affected the crew and tempers frayed; ‘Benjamin Godfray, one of my able seamen got swearing, and became saucy when I had to interfere,’ the log recorded. By the time the Prospero reached Iquitos on February 26, a third of the crew were sick, the mate was ill with pains in his chest and Malzard was suffering from dysentery. The cargo was offloaded and the Prospero made her way downriver, but Malzard‘s illness caused him to stop writing his log. The last entry was on 6 March.

The Prospero continued trading, and in late June, left the Caribbean island of St Vincent bound for London, returning to St Helier on 8 August.

George Malzard was obviously keen to prosper and following three voyages on the South American trade route he decided to test the waters of the Far East – China was opening up and Australia offered opportunities. On 27 August 1864, less than three weeks after returning from the Americas, the Prospero cleared for Rockhampton, Queensland. However, poor health forced Malzard to hand over command to Captain John Le Couteur, and on 15 October the Prospero left London bound for Australia, never to return. Malzard’s family continued to serve onboard, with his nephew, William, as mate and his 19-year-old son, George, as crew.

Image: Captain George Malzard (1818-1893)

Records from New South Wales show that on 26 February 1866, the Prospero arrived in Sydney from “Foo Chow Foo” in China. It was about this time that Malzard empowered James Robin, a merchant and shipping agent in Port Adelaide, South Australia, to sell the ship if a buyer could be found. The certificate of sale instructed Robin ‘to sell the ship for not less than £3,200 at any port in Australia within 12 months’. In May 1867, the Prospero’s registry was moved to London, probably in a move to avoid paying the owner’s contributions into the Jersey Merchant Seamen’s Benefit Fund. However, the vessel continued to be insured in the Island with the Jersey Mutual Insurance Society until 1869, when Malzard moved his business to Jersey Lloyd’s Insurance Society.

The Prospero was finally sold to Joseph Storm of Adelaide for £3,000 in late 1869 and her registry closed in London on 7 January 1870. Used on the Australian coastal trade, records show the ship running between the port of Warrnambool, which served the agricultural hinterland of the State of Victoria, and Sydney. In 1876, it was registered to Mr P Pridmore of Adelaide. The Mercantile Navy List of 1922 has the Prospero registered in Sydney, New South Wales, to Charles G Warburton of Ryrmont, and this is repeated as late as the 1930s.

Image below: The Prospero entering Sydney Harbour, 1903 (courtesy Queensland State Library)