# Sophia Joakim and Waif



## mmjhtb (May 29, 2013)

Hello all,

I'm trying to find out about an ancestor 

John Henry Tucker Brown born Dartmouth 1848

Family legend says he was:-

"Skipper of 
Sophia Joachim - A fully rigged 3-masts.
A barque called WAIF he brought from Cape of Good Hope to England in record time, beating the steam ship of the day."

From another part of the family a different legend:-

"Captain of TeaClipper, Holder of crossing records Possibly involved in Tea races from Foochow in india in 1866, arriving 20 minutes before the Taeping."

I have researched the Sophia Joakim (1048748 built Pile Sunderland 1864 wrecked off Madagascar May 1879 & towed to Mauritius) but cannot find any mention of him as Captain. The captains I have found are Thompson & Emmett. The owners I have found are 
Machertich Joakim of Calcutta
Alexander Howden of London
Philip Bennett of London

There was a Waif (51339) from Brixham owned by Vittery, and this could tie in with his being from Devon and having grandparents who were shipwrights & from Brixham.

From articles I have read of the Tea Clipper races I don't think he was captain of any of the winning ships, but could have been on the crew, perhaps.

Can anybody add anything? I am aware of crew list agreements existing in Nova Scotia, but that sounds expensive, especially as I don't know what years to look for.

I have pulled together a history of Sophia Joakim mainly from newspaper articles (Shipping section of newspapers is very useful and the Australian site TROVE is free) 

Date Port Capt Owner	
1864 Sunderland Joakim, Calcutta	
Launch (see article)
1869 Demarara ? Joakim	
Carrying immigants from Calcutta, report from Colonial office about high mortality rates on this & several other immigrant ships. 
15 Nov 1870 Bombay ? 
From London
27 Jan 1875 Otago Thompson 
Arrived 
Apr 16 1875 Adelaide D Thompson 
From Port Chalmers March 24
Apr 1875	Adelaide 
Arrived from New Zealand – to load with grain - this drove up the price of wheat further.
22 May 1875	Adelaide 
The Sophia Joakim has at length taken orders, and on Friday morning, May 21, made sail bound for Port Pirie, where she will load for London.
1875 29 Jun	Port Pirie	D Thompson 40,800 bushels wheat 2 tons flour bound for London
9 Nov 1875	London 
Arrived From Melbourne
Jan 1876	Dungeness 
Went aground
Aug 1876	Sydney Arrived

Aug 29 1876	Australia	Emmett 
For Calcutta in ballast (From Australian town & country journal 2 sep)
4 Jul 1878	Soderham	Henry Emmett	For Adelaide
28 Dec 1878	Adelaide Emmett Fr Soderham Stream
27 Jan 1879	Adelaide Loading wheat for UK & Continent
May 1879 Tamatave Madagascar	Henry Emmett
Dismasted and dumped 90 tons of cargo (wheat) ex Adelaide for UK. Later towed to Mauritius to unload remaining cargo & for repairs.
Last heard of in Mauritius - no evidence that she sailed again, believed scrapped.

If anyone can add information or suggest any other lines of research I would be very grateful.


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