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Tasmanian Seafarers' Memorial
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Thomas J W Stafford (1863)
The plaque reads ...
Thomas J.W. Stafford
Merchant sea captain
Born 1815
Yorkshire England
Sailed Cape Barren Is. to Launceston
to report wreck of Sch 'Native Youth"
off Goose Is. Bass Strait 22.11.1863.
Went missing at sea on return voyage
presumed drowned about 25.11.1863
Captain Thomas James Wood Stafford was living on Cape Barren Island in November 1863 when the schooner Native Youth carrying stores to the Strait's lighthouses struck a submerged reef and sank. All aboard landed safely and elected to row to Hobart, some 300 miles away, in the schooner's 18 foot boat. They arrived exhausted after a 7 day passage. Meanwhile news of the wreck was taken to Launceston by Thomas Stafford. He went missing on his return trip and was believed drowned in the notorious Bass Strait waters.
Thomas had once captained merchant vessels from London to Australia, making the first round voyage in the barque Warrior London-Melbourne-London in 10 months 15 days. Thomas' son Henry Cohen Stafford was a lighthouse keeper in and around Bass Strait for many years between 1884 to the early 1900's.