Captain James Renton Watters – The Truth
by Robyn Watters
Captain James Renton Watters
Born: 14 October 1838, Longhope, Orkney, Scotland [1]
Died: 4 February 1919, Prahran, Melbourne [2]
Captain James Renton Watters, master mariner, settled in Port Melbourne and surrounds in 1875, bringing his Cockney bride with him. Ancestral pride swelled his reputation as a capable and adventurous seafarer but The Truth newspaper filled me in on his character.
For those of us who remember it, ‘dirt’ and gossip were dished up by The Truth on a weekly basis and Melbourne devoured it. I was therefore mightily disappointed to learn that my great grandfather Captain Watters not only featured in it but was labelled as “dismal” and a “wicked man”.[3]
Captain Watters regularly sailed from Melbourne to Westport Bar and Harbour, New Zealand in the three-masted schooner, the Alma. He possibly did have a girl in every port though. Looking further at the man I discovered he falsified his age on his marriage certificate obviously keen to hide the 19-year age gap from his bride Eliza Titter.[4]
Captain Watters and Eliza went on to have 8 children. The electoral rolls provide a very clear picture of their life as they moved endlessly around Port Melbourne and adjoining inner Melbourne suburbs, presumably mainly rental properties. After the birth of their last child, Robert Frederick Watters (my grandfather, Bob senior), Captain Watters and Eliza parted ways. By 1903 Captain Watters is listed in the electoral roll as “off Nott Street” and by 1912, Eliza is living at 102 Ingles Street, Port Melbourne and she is a shopkeeper.[5] Eliza raised their surviving 7 children as a single mother. We know Captain Watters had contact with his family though through the lurid Truth newspaper article.
In 1918, aged 79, Captain Watters brought a magistrate’s court claim against his daughter Ethel. He claimed that the hedge clippers and clothing he left at her house were either gone or had been used by another party. “When his drawers were handed to him, he noticed that someone had BEEN WEARING THEM, as they were all worn out at the crutch.” The frenzied allegations were whipped up by his girlfriend of the moment praying on a demented, elderly man. Furthermore, he claimed that his wife Eliza was a prostitute and disowned two of his daughters, Ethel and Jane. Some of the goods said to be missing were owned by the Red Cross, indicating that charity had been extended to the Watters’ family. Wife Eliza had also suffered domestic violence at the hands of Captain Watters. The article, in typical Truth style, was sensational and quite hilarious in parts but presumably not for the Watters’ family at the time.
Captain Watters died the following year. His estranged wife Eliza had the grace to place a death notice in the paper saying that his earthly remains were at 102 Ingles Street which was her abode.[6]
Captain Watters was obviously a part of the Port Melbourne maritime scene and would have commanded respect in that aspect of his life though. His other foibles were often public and shameful for the Watters’ family.
Whatever the gossip, this old salt would have been a personality of Port Melbourne and to the end described himself as a master of the seas.
You can read more about the Watters family in A Modern Woman from Garden City.
[1] Birth record for James Renton Watters, born 14 October 1838, Ancestry.com.au, Scotland, Select Births and Baptisms 1564-1950, FHL Film Number: 990517.
[2] Death Certificate for James Renton Watters, died 4 February 1919, Registry Births Deaths and Marriages, Victoria, 3529/1919.
[3] ‘Grey but Gay’, The Truth, 21 September 1918 page 7.
[4] Marriage Certificate for James Renton Watters and Eliza Ann Titter, married 12 November 1874, New Zealand, 1874/52/2683.
[5] Victoria Electoral Rolls, 1903 Melbourne Ports, Port Melbourne; Victoria Electoral Rolls, 1912, Melbourne Ports, Port Melbourne.
[6] ‘Family Notices’, The Argus, 6 February 1919.
