William Yabsley (2 February 1812 – 21 January 1880) was an Australian mixed farmer, shipbuilder and shipowner. Yabsley was born in

Plympton Plympton is a suburb of the city of Plymouth in Devon, England. It is in origin an ancient Stannary, stannary town. It was an important trading centre for locally mined tin, and a seaport before the River Plym silted up and trade moved down riv ...

, now a suburb of

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, England, on 2 February 1812 to John Yabsley and his wife Agnes nee Elliot. In 1833, he became an apprentice shipwright in Devonport at the Royal Dockyard. In February 1837, he entered the navy as a carpenters mate and was assigned to HMS ''

Beagle The Beagle is a small breed of scent hound, similar in appearance to the much larger foxhound. The beagle was developed primarily for hunting rabbit or hare, known as beagling. Possessing a great sense of smell and superior tracking inst ...

'' on its voyage to Australia, starting on 4 July 1837, under the command of Captain John Wickham. The vessel arrived Sydney in August 1838 where Yabsley deserted the ship. His wife joined him in 1840. About that year, he began to build his first ship, the ''Providence''. He died by drowning falling overboard into the

Richmond River The Richmond River is a river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may ...

between Lismore and Coraki helping to drive a boat during a flood at sea.

References

Australian Anglicans Australian people of English descent 1812 births 1880 deaths {{Australia-bio-stub

See also

References