Volume III - ElectricCanadian.com

IAPTAIN w. H. SMITH, F.R.G.S.,M.M.S. A., Lieutenant. R.N.R.,"S> chairman of the Board ofExaminers of Masters and Mates, commissionerfor enquiring into wrecks anda nautical advisor to the DominionGovernment, was born in 1837, at Broadstairs,Kent, England. His parentswere John Samuel and Charlotte (Day)Smith. His father was a commanderin the Royal Navy, served on boardH.M.S. "Minotaur" as amidshipmanat the battle of Trafalgar, in 1805, waswounded by a Spanish bullet, and receiveda special pension. Capt. Smithwas educated at the Grammar School,Canterbury, and the NavalSchool, Greenwich. He hasbeen to sea from his youth.Was in the GovernmentTransport Service duringthe Crimean War, and recentlycommodore of theAllan Line fleet and incommand of the '' Parisian "when she made the memorablevoyage from ToryIsland to Belle Isle in 4days, 17 hours and 10 minutes.He has crossed theAtlantic several hundredtimes, and has had manypassengers of note with him.His ship was anchored withthe combined fleets of England,France and Turkey,off Sebastopol, and he sailedwith them to Odessa.Proceeded to Kinburn withsealed orders, and laid thebuoys for the fleet, waspresent at the bombardmentof Kinburn Forts,and interpreted for theGeneral when he surrendered.Capt. Smith was inthe Redan two days afterit was taken, and beforebeing occupied by the British he was;also present at other engagements. Heis a Fellow of the Royal GeographicalSociety of England, member of theCouncil of the Mercantile Marine Associationof Liverpool, and a memberof the Nova Scotia Institute of NaturalScience. He belongs to the Churchof England, and is lay-reader in theParish of Sackville, N.S. He marriedin 1874, Marion Becker Thomas,daughter of the Rev. Lewis F. Thomas,B.A., formerly Chaplain to the Earlof Galloway and son of General SirLewis Thomas. His family consistsof five sous and three daughters.