Captain James Jones Sale

(1848-1933)

Captain James Jones Sale started his life as a whaler and later became a Master Mariner on the south coast of WA. He was a member of John Forrest’s exploratory expedition of 1870. As pilot on the schooner Adur, he carried provisions to points along the coast during the famous Perth- Adelaide expedition.

Around the 1830’s John Sale, James’s father, a member of the 96th Regiment in Ireland,  was sent to Tasmania (Van Diemen’s Land) to guard 450 convict prisoners. He also worked on Norfolk Island, in Sydney, Fremantle, and then finally Albany, where he was pensioned off and decided to stay.

James Sale was born in Albany: 

“I never saw my father. He died in 1848- six weeks before I was born.” (reference)

His mother remarried soon after- to Peter Covert, an engineer who built many of the bridges in Albany. James attended the first Government school in Albany, which was held in the first Institute, a small building, behind the Freemasons' Hotel.

He began work as a store-keeper and then became interested in sailing. At age 15 JJ Sale drove a mail coach from Albany to Perth for Thomas Chipper’s service. It took up to two weeks (reference) (reference)

In 1865 James has his first whaling trip on one of William Sherratt’s whalers from Albany. A humpback whale damaged the ship just before it was killed and another boat had to tow it back to the whaling station at Cheyne’s Beach… (reference)

In 1870 Sale was the pilot for the ‘Adur’ during the Forrest expedition around the Great Australian Bight. (reference) Since Eyre's hasty trip on foot along the coast from the head of the Great Australian Bight to Albany on King George Sound in 1840 nobody had reached Western Australia except by ship. John Forrest was appointed leader of the party, with six men and sixteen horses. They left Perth on 30 March 1870 and reached Adelaide on 27 August. It was the first west-to-east crossing of Western Australia by land, and it showed that a telegraph line could readily be erected along the coastline. (reference)

The Adur was used to land supplies for the expedition at Esperance, Israelite Bay and Eucla. The ship was built entirely of Jarrah, in Perth, by Gabriel Adams at a site where the Swan Brewery now stands. The captain was Richard B Waugh. James joined the ship at Albany. After the Eucla supply the ship returned to Fremantle and later became a pearler in the NW.

“Port Eucla, July 5, 1870.To  Mr. Gabriel Adams, owner of schooner Adur, Eucla Harbor- SIR, The Charter Party of the schooner Adur (your vessel) has been carried out entirely to my satisfaction and it is with much pleasure I hasten to forward this to you. Also allow me through you to convey to the crew my thanks for the assistance rendered me on shore not including their ordinary work on board. I have the honor to be, Sir, Your obedient servant, JOHN FORREST, Leader of Expedition”. (reference)

See 1870 Report on Forrest’s expedition from Fowler’s Bay (reference)

In 1871 JJ Sale helped Miss Helen Trimmer (wife of the Native Protector) transport 15 Aboriginal schoolchildren from Albany to Perth. The children were from the Albany school ‘for the education of native children’ under the principalship of Mr Camfield. The children were transported in 2 large vans belonging to Mr Tom Chipper and accommodated at a cottage near the orphanage at 108 Adelaide Terrace, and later in a mission building built near Bishop’s House on Mount’s Bay Road... (reference) (reference)  (reference) 

On the 18 July 1877 James married Mary Emily Barrett in Gawler, South Australia, where he stayed living until 1890. (reference) 

In 1878 JJ Sale and Alfred Eastwood bought a chaff business in Gawler. (reference) Despite some disputes over non-payment of chaff (reference) the business grew (reference) but by Dec 1880 the Sale and Eastwood partnership dissolved and James carried on as the sole proprietor. (reference) In July 1883 the business became insolvent (reference) and in 1885 James sold his house. (reference) In January 1887 Sale began working for Gilbert & Co chaff Mills (reference) and by September 1887 Sale was manager of Gilbert & Co. when a fire broke out at the mill and an inquest was held. (reference) In 1887 JJ Sale wrote a letter to the local paper about a police scandal (reference) and in 1888 was is a witness in an advert for ‘soothing powder’ for children (reference). After another fire at the Mill JJ Sale decided to leave Gawler and advised that all debts to be sent to his lawyer. (reference)

In 1890 The Sales moved back to Albany, where James soon departed on a sealing voyage to the “Eastern Islands” (reference) and began trading around Albany on the schooner Lucy. (reference) In 1895 Capt Sale was in charge of the steamer ship Wyallah for its inaugural mail run between Eucla, Esperance and Albany. (reference)

In April 1896 JJ Sale became Captain of the McGregor steamship and successfully maintained the mail run associated with it (reference) but 1896 soon became a bad year for him:

Firstly in 1896 there was a mutiny on the Steamer: 

“SAILORS CHARGED WITH ATTEMPTED MURDER. Joseph Atkinson and Patrick Falney were charged at the Esperance Police Court with attempting to stab Captain Sale, of the Macgregor, on the high seas on April 22; also with attempting to murder the mate. Captain James Sale deposed that at 9.30 p.m. on the 22nd instant he asked McArthur, the second officer, where was the watch on deck? Witness told him to call them. Atkinson came on deck, and Falney was insolent and wanted to argue... (reference)

The two attackers were found guilty of ‘wounding with intent’. (reference)

Then on 22 September 1896 Sale was suspended as captain of the McGregor and Police tried to remove him from the ship: 

“On the deck the scene was an exciting one. Captain Sales refused to move from the bridge, the passengers crowded around and the scene in the moonlight was most dramatic. The man at the wheel shouted "Go for them, Jimmy" at the same time seizing Sergeant McAtee by the throat. The Sergeant retaliated and soon had the man in irons. A long palaver ensued, and ultimately Captain Sales decided to proceed with the steamer as a passenger. The cause of the trouble is unknown, as the agents of the steamer declined to give any information. (reference)

Finally Sale was blamed by Capt Cockroft for the wreck of the Swift in Oct 1896, after giving advice on how to sail into Twilight Cove, Israelite Bay. (reference)(reference)

In 1897 Sale becomes pilot of the SS Framnes, taking timber from Busselton to Esperance for the extension of the Esperance Jetty (reference), was engaged as a pilot on HMS Waterwitch for a marine survey expedition in Esperance Harbour (reference) As a Master Mariner, in Nov 1899, Sale felt he had the experience to advise on the Mary Ann Harbour debate... (reference)

In 1899 Sale was living in Fremantle. He organised a concert at the Sailors’ Rest and in 1900 became chairman of the Sailors’ Rest. (reference)

By January 1901 Sale was appointed Captain of the Harbour Tug Black-Eyed Susan and was working on building the Fremantle Harbour, under C Y O’Connor. Six months later he and two other captains were dismissed without notice or reason by the Fremantle Harbour Works Board. (reference) James recovered quickly and in October 1901 was again working at transporting timber from Bunbury to Hopetoun on the cutter ‘Laughing Wave’ for the construction of the new jetty (reference) and delivering timber to Geraldton and Carnarvon (reference)

From 1902-1910 his family lived at 143 Glyde Street (now no. 81), East Fremantle, moving to no 147 Glyde St (now no. 83) in 1911, where he stayed until 1915.

In November 1902  as Captain of the Laughing Wave, Sale reported ‘foul ground’ north of the Abrolhos Islands and the Navy was sent to survey. (reference)

In June 1903 Sale returned to Esperance to research the guano deposits on surrounding islands. (reference) His report on the guano of Esperance Islands was favourably reported by the Minister for Mines (reference) and in August 1904 he checked reports of  oil deposits in Esperance Bay. (reference)

In November 1904 - JJ Sale was elected to East Fremantle municipality West Ward (reference) which position he only held for a year. (reference)

Mar 1905 The funeral of the late Mr. A. Griffiths, engineer in the Railway Department, took place on Saturday afternoon… The chief mourners were Mrs Griffiths (widow), Mrs Dibben (mother), Mrs McCallum (sister), Captain Sale (father-in-law), Mrs Sale (mother-in-law), Messrs. J, T, G, and W Sale (brothers-in-law).. .(reference)

In 1906 William Angwin challenged JJ Holmes on election results, in an East Fremantle court case which examined which voters were in East Fremantle during the election. According to a local health inspector and rate collector, James Sale had ‘left the state’ in Sep 1905. (reference). However he had only gone to the Eastern States for a month.

In December 1908 JJ Sale was appointed an agent for Messrs Sandover of Perth (reference), selling farm machinery, which he continued to do when he moved to Narrogin (reference) In 1910 where he became a Justice of the Peace for the Williams district. (reference)

In 1911 Sale represented the Narrogin Branch of the Liberal League at a Perth conference (reference) and addressed a meeting of electors in Narrogin as an independent:

“Captain Sale, who was greeted with applause, in opening, repudiated any suggestion that the Liberal League were defraying any of his expenses… He was an Independent and had before him portions of the policy of each party. Some he was in accord with whilst others, which he considered were not for the good of the people as a whole, he disagreed with…”(reference)

In 1912 Capt Sale departed Narrogin:

After a period of useful citizenship, during which he strove in many ways to be of service to the community, Captain J. J. Sale departed from our midst on Tuesday last. Modest and unassuming to the last, the genial captain did not make the date of his intended departure known until the last moment, consequently the townspeople were debarred from according him that public honor which his past services on their behalf warranted. However, his most intimate friends, especially those with whom he had been associated with as a justice of the peace, readily responded to the invitation of the Clerk of Courts (Mr. A. H. Morrell) to meet at the Hordern Hotel on the morning of the Captain's departure in order to show some slight evidence at least that he was not leaving the town unhonored. (reference).

Sale returned to lived in Glyde St, East Fremantle until 1918, when he moved to 145 Cambridge St, Leederville (reference)

1920 At the age of 72 JJ Sales set off on another adventure:

‘’Sealing in the Recherche Archipelago. An enterprise of considerable public interest will he initiated this or next week, having for its object the exploitation of the seal skin and oil industry of the Recherche Archipelago, on the south coast of this State. A party, under the command of Captain James Sale, a well-known master mariner, of Western Australia, has the matter in hand. The party, fully equipped and numbering six in all, will leave Fremantle in the fishing smack Kia Ora… ‘’(reference)

In January 1926 JJ Sales was

“gently forced right into the retiring chair by his employers (Messrs Louis Dreyfus and Co). Recognising his past services… his firm have generously retired him on a life pension of his salary, with a cosy office and an injunction "Come and go when you like." (reference)

JJ Sales wrote much about his remarkable life in his Albany Memoirs, which were published in 1936; Memories 1 (reference), Memories 2 (reference), Memories 3 (reference). In 1927 he gave his version of the murder of Patsy Fitzgerald in Albany- a 6 yr old killed by older boys. His murder was blamed on local Aborigines (and their cannibalistic behaviour) but Sales refuted the story (reference)

On  7th Feb 1933, the remarkable adventurer Captain James Jones Sale died aged 85. (reference)

1950 Death on November 13, at her late residence, 145 Cambridge street, West Leederville, Mary Emily Sale, dearly beloved wife of the late Captain James Jones Sale, loved mother of Eva (Mrs. Kingswood), Jim (dec), Trave, Gill, Harold, Will and Vic, fond mother-in-law of Ted (dec), May, Grace, Sylvia and Gwen, loved grandmother of 11 grandchildren, ten great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild: aged 93 years. (reference)

Researched by Mark Jardine for www.streetsofeastfreo 2019