Captain Ilbery learnt his craft of seamanship under a very hard task master Captain J Fowler master of the barque Joshua which carried immigrants to Australia. The Barque Joshua was built at Brideport for Messrs J.Prowse &Company of Liverpool and under the old measurement was rated at 804 tons.
Article from a Welsh newspaper 1909.
The Waratah's Captain. \
Cardiff shares an interest in the fate of the missing liner Waratah. Captain Ilbery the skipper of the missing ship is an old friend of Captain Fowler, who was formerly superintendent of the Bute Sailors home home at Cardiff, and now resides at 178 Kings road. The friendship started in 1855, when Captain Fowler as master of the old sailing ship Joshua, took on Ilbery as a raw liverpool lad, and during the twelve years they were associated together on the same vessels the Joshua and the Normahal the missing captain worked his way up from apprentice boy to chief officer. In 1868 he was appointed captain of the tea clipper Mikado, which was owned by Mr. William Lund of Glasgow, and he remained in that gentleman's service for a period of forty years, the only mishap or accident he ever experienced being a collision with a Norwegian steamer during thick fog in the channel. Captain Fowler speaks very highly of Captain Ilbery as "a thorough good fellow and a good navigator, who was well up to his profession as a sailor". He was a man of about seventy years of age, and on the last occasion he visited Cardiff,Viz., about twenty two years ago, last June, he spent a good deal of his time ashore. During Captain Ilbery's first voyage in the Mikado he was presented by the American Government with a valuable chronometer gold watch for saving a crew from their waterlogged ship, and on another occasion he rescued a Dutch crew who had lost their ship in the Indian Ocean, and had been several days in an open boat when picked up by Captain Ilbery. Captain Ilbery used to correspond regularly with his old captain at Cardiff, the last letter he wrote to him being from Adelaide in June last, It was the captain's intention to retire from service at the end of this voyage, and to hand over the control of the vessel to Captain W.G. Lingham,who also spent his apprenticeship with Captain Fowler.
The Sailors Home in Cardiff which Capt Fowler was the head of when he retired from the sea.
Captain Ilbery and Captain Lingham were great friends from the old days with Lingham also joining the Blue Anchor line as a second officer. He was second mate on the ss Riverina when she ran aground near Point Hicks on the Victorian coast in Australia in 1890 becoming a total wreck. William Lund gave him his first command the ss Hubbuck in 1894, his longest command with that company was with the Wilcannia which lasted 8 years until she was sold to the P&O Company in 1910 after the Waratah went missing and the company finally folded up. Had this not have happened he would have been the next master of the Waratah when Captain Ilbery retired. Captain Lingham was famous in his own right as was Captain Ilbery. He commanded the the new ss Ballarat of the P&O company on her maiden voyage from London to Australia carrying 1,101 passengers and set a record of 37.5 days to Adelaide.
The record breaking ss Ballarat .
Captain Lingham went on to command other sister ships to the Ballarat namely the the Beltana in which he made his 51st trip to Australia. His London residence was at 1 Calervale Road Clapham S.W. He was also a lifelong member and a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society.
A smart middle aged looking Captain Ilbery.
Captain Ilbery and Captain Lingham were great friends from the old days with Lingham also joining the Blue Anchor line as a second officer. He was second mate on the ss Riverina when she ran aground near Point Hicks on the Victorian coast in Australia in 1890 becoming a total wreck. William Lund gave him his first command the ss Hubbuck in 1894, his longest command with that company was with the Wilcannia which lasted 8 years until she was sold to the P&O Company in 1910 after the Waratah went missing and the company finally folded up. Had this not have happened he would have been the next master of the Waratah when Captain Ilbery retired. Captain Lingham was famous in his own right as was Captain Ilbery. He commanded the the new ss Ballarat of the P&O company on her maiden voyage from London to Australia carrying 1,101 passengers and set a record of 37.5 days to Adelaide.
The record breaking ss Ballarat .
Captain Lingham went on to command other sister ships to the Ballarat namely the the Beltana in which he made his 51st trip to Australia. His London residence was at 1 Calervale Road Clapham S.W. He was also a lifelong member and a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society.
A smart middle aged looking Captain Ilbery.
