Daniel Woodriff
Background
Daniel Woodriff (Woodriffe) was naval agent on the Kitty (1792), which carried convicts and stores to New South Wales. With the outbreak of war, he took on significant responsibility as an agent of transports, and from around 1800, he was appointed as the superintendent of a prison holding French prisoners of war. In 1803, he had command of 'HMS Calcutta', a ship of 1,200 tons, which carried more than 300 convicts to a new colony that was to be founded at Port Phillip under David Collins.
His career provides clear evidence that the men who became naval agents were not in any sense inferior officers, but rather men whose interests and skills lay in logistics and management rather than the command of fighting vessels.
- Gary L. Sturgess, 17 March 2016
Chronology
Woodriff was born on 17 November 1756, the son of John Woodriff, of Deptford, Kent, England, shipwright and carpenter's mate who died probably in 1761. His brother Allen was carpenter in H.M.S. Centaur. (Australian Dictionary of Biography)
When six, he joined H.M.S. Ludlow Castle as servant to his uncle George Woodriff, master gunner. In December 1767 he was admitted to the Royal Hospital School at Greenwich, and in 1770 was apprenticed to John White, a captain engaged in the Jamaica trade. (ADB)
In 1778 he was impressed into the navy. After two years’ service in the North Sea he was transferred to the Britannia guardship and in 1782 commissioned lieutenant. He then commanded the Dependence, used for evacuating Loyalists from South Carolina and Georgia. After eleven years service on the American Station and in the West Indies, during which he married the daughter of a Loyalist who had been killed in the American war, he returned to England. (ADB)
13 February 1786 – Lieutenant Woodriff, of the Dependence Galley, St Mary’s, East Florida, wrote to the Victualling Board concerning a bill. (TNA ADM111/106, 29 May 1786)
Early 1787 – HM Galley Dependence, which had been commanded by Woodriff, was put out of commission at Jamaica, and he returned to England as a passenger in the Bull Dog Sloop. (Pay during this period dealt with in Admiralty to Navy Board, 9 May 1787, TNA ADM/A/2818)
1787 – Already Lieutenant Woodriff was a Naval Agent. (TNA ADM106/2624) [Was Woodriff serving in this position in North America, or is the ADB slightly out in its dates?]
9 May 1787 – The Admiralty directed the Navy Board to cause Lieutenant Daniel Woodriff to be paid by bill an allowance equal to his pay as Lieutenant of the Dependence Galley from the day she was put out of commission at Jamaica to the time of his arrival in England in board the Bull Dog Sloop. (TNA ADM3/103)
4 May 1789 – Lieut. Daniel Woodriff, commander of the Endymion at Spithead, directed to proceed to Cork to receive on board the 24th Regiment of Foot and convey them to Quebec and there to take on board the 53rd Regiment and bring them to England. (TNA ADM2/119/53)
(See also TNA ADM106/2630 for Woodriff’s dealings with the Navy Board in relation to the Endymion throughout 1789.)
1 September 1789 – The Navy Board passed to the Admiralty a receipt by Woodriff (commander of the Endymion) for a flat boat he supplied to the storekeeper general at Quebec at the request of Lord Dorchester for the use of the army in Canada. He had also brought home four people who could not otherwise have secured a passage.
15 October 1789 – The Admiralty in response to the Navy Board letter of 1 September, directing that an account of the value of the flat boat be transmitted to the Treasury to solicit repayment, and they were to allow the victualling of the four persons brought home in the Endymion. The Navy Board directed the Portsmouth officers to send an account of the value of the boat. (NMM ADM/A/2826)
19 March 1790 – Woodriff, still in command of the Endymion, directed to receive on board the 22nd Regiment of Foot together with servants, women and baggage, and taken them to Cork, and having disembarked them, receive the 47th Regiment of Foot and proceed with them to Halifax in Nova Scotia and there receive on board the 54th Regiment of Foot, with whom he was to return to England. (TNA ADM2/119/417)
1 August 1789 to 6 October 1790 – The Navy Board issued bills covering the cost of a servant to Woodriffe on board the Endymion during this period. (TN ADM18/120, p.14)
September 1790 – The Endymion was wrecked on Turks Island. (TNA ADM18/120, p.33)
28 December 1791 – The Navy Board wrote to the Admiralty recommending Lieut. Woodriffe to go out in the Kitty as Agent. (TNA ADM106/2639)
29 December 1791 – The Admiralty approved the appointment of Daniel Woodriffe as Agent. (TNA ADM106/2640, 3 January 1792)
2 January 1792 – Some kind of warrant was issued to Daniel Woodriff. (TNA ADM106/2640, 4 January)
3 January 1792 – The Navy Board directed that a warrant be issued for Daniel Woodriff. A copy of the Admiralty’s letter approving the appointment was sent to Mr Davies. (TNA ADM106/2640)
4 January 1792 – The following order was given to Woodriff:
"In addition to our warrant of 2nd inst., these are to direct and require you to see that the convicts are kept clean and their clothes shifted as often as circumstances will admit and that their full ration of provisions is issued to them and in case of your putting into port in want of refreshments for the sick you are to purchase the same on the best and cheapest terms and draw upon us for the amount, taking care not to exceed the sum of 1/3 per day for each person and that you do not remain longer in port than is absolutely necessary, but make the best of your way to Port Jackson and on your arrival there to follow such orders as you may receive from Governor Phillip for your further proceedings and in the prosecution of this business you are to use every dispatch so that the public may have the full benefit of this vessel for the time she may be employed." (TNA ADM106/2640)
8 February 1792 – Woodriff advised the Board that she had relocated to Woolwich. (TNA ADM107/2640, 9 February)
10 February 1792 – Woodriff advised the Board that he had received the convicts on board. (TNA ADM106/2640, 11 February)
11 February 1792 – The Board instructed Woodriff to proceed without a moment’s loss of time and to make the best of his way to New South Wales. He was to be sent copies of the accounts of provisions, stores and clothing put on board for the use of the convicts during their passage and he was to see that that which remained unissued was delivered to the order of the Governor upon arrival. (TNA ADM106/2640)
29 February 1792 – She sailed from the Downs. (Lloyd’s List, 2.3.92) She was forced back due to a leak in her raft port.
3 March 1792 – Woodriff to Board concerning a leak he had found. (TNA ADM106/2640)
5 March 1792 – Admiralty to Navy Board. Enclosing a letter from Vice Admiral Roddam reporting she had just put into Spithead, having received some damage. Also enclosing a letter from Woodriff requesting that they may be made good, and that she might be provided with water and fresh beef for the convicts. To give orders thereon. (TNA ADM116/2119)
- Mr Stephens (Admiralty) sent the Board a letter written by Woodriff to Admiral Roddam respecting damage the ship had received and desiring fresh beef for the convicts. (TNA ADM106/2640, 6 March)
6 March 1792 – The Board acquainted Woodriff of the orders that had been given and explaining that he should have applied to them and not to the Admiral. (TNA ADM106/2640)
8 March 1792 – Woodriff wrote to the Navy Board, apparently concerned about the security of the convicts. (TNA ADM106/2640, 12 March)
12 March 1792 – The Navy Board responded to Woodriff:
"Acquaint him that as the Master of the Kitty transport has given security for landing the convicts he alone is accountable and therefore should have the charge of them, but it is his duty to see that they are properly treated and that they have their proper rations, are kept clean as much as their circumstances will admit, agreeably to his instructions." (TNA ADM106/2640)
Saturday 17 March 1792 – In the night, eight convicts escaped. Six of them were retaken by 27 March at Fareham, near Gosport. (Times, 27 March 1792)
Eight of her ten male convicts escaped. Of the two men who did remain, the one was a brick-maker and the other a joiner. (David Collins, An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales [1798], Sydney: A.H. & A.W. Reed, 1975, Vol.1, p.206)
18 March 1792 – Woodriff says it was in the early morning of this day, so presumably in the very early hours. (TNA HO42/20/130)
19 March 1792 – The Navy Board learned of the escape from Woodriff. Navy Board wrote to Treasury advising that eight of the male convicts had escaped. Lieut. Woodriff, the Agent on board had applied to the commanding officer of the troops and taken every other measure in his power to apprehend them. (TNA ADM106/2640; TNA T1/702/241; TNA HO35/12)
21 March 1792 – The Navy Board advised Woodriffe that the Master of the Kitty would sail with the first fair wind and he was not to lose a moment in getting her to sea. If any of the convicts were retaken, the Master would of course receive them on board, as he is answerable for them but the ship was not to wait for them. (TNA ADM106/2640)
- Woodriffe reported that the troops had returned from the pursuit of the convicts, without success. (TNA ADM106/2640, 22 March)
23 March TNA – Daniel Woodriff to Scrope Bernard (Home Office), in response to his letter of the previous day which desired him to transmit the names of the convicts who has escaped. He had sent the names to the Navy Board and supposed they would send him a copy. Herewith a list:
Thomas Rositer - 21 years - Newgate John Heyton - 23 - Ditto William Allen - 38 - Newgate George Simpson - Woolwich John Lock Elijah Blanford Edward Nash Thomas Willdey (TNA HO42/20/130)
29 March 1792 – Woodriffe submitted another receipt for fresh provisions, which the Board accepted on the 2nd of April. (TNA ADM106/2641, 2 April)
6 April 1792 – The Kitty sailed from Portsmouth. (Lloyd’s List, 10.4.92; Ship’s Protest, NSW State Archives, 5/1162, p.9)
Woodriff appears to have been particularly diligent, and a significant number of his communications regarding the preparation of the ship survive. On the voyage, he made frequent requests for more sail, which were ignored by the Master. And at Rio de Janeiro he lodged a complaint about the leisurely pace of the repairs.
18 November 1792 – She arrived at Port Jackson with three of the female convicts having died. (Collins, Vol.1, p.206)
Collins wrote:
"Government had put on board the Kitty a naval agent, Lieutenant Daniel Woodriff, for the purpose of seeing that no unnecessary delays were made in the voyage, and that the convicts on board were not oppressed by the master or his people. This officer, on his arrival, stated to the governor his opinion that the master had not made the best of his way, and that he had remained longer in the port of Rio de Janeiro than there could possibly be occasion for. He likewise stated several disagreements which had occurred between him and the master, and in which the latter seemed to think very lightly of the authority of a naval agent on board his ship." (Collins, Vol.1, p.207)
Woodriff was also charged with making a report on the colony’s naval defences. (ADB)
5 February 1794 – Lieutenant Woodriff wrote to the Navy Board, advising them of his arrival at Cork. He described a very tedious passage of eight months. They had stopped at Cork for provisions since they had not enough for another day. He enclosed a list of the passengers and the ship’s company, and a Master’s bill for victualling and fitting at Rio de Janeiro. (TNA T1/728/128-129)
Early 1794 – On his return, Woodriff was apparently sent to America with the Mentor, Mary and Oeconomy transports, from Antwerp to Flushing. (Treasury Minutes, 31 July 1794, TNA T29/67/114)
1794-97 – He was promoted commander, served off the coast of Flanders and from 1795 to 1797 acted as resident agent for the Transport Board at Southampton and Lynn. He received the personal thanks of the commander-in-chief for his work in evacuating the British troops from the Low Countries. (ADB)
- Woodriff was actively employed by the Transport Board as a Naval Agent during the early stages of the war with France. (See TNA ADM106/2649 and later)
22 January 1794 – Captain Schank to the Transport Board. He sent Lieutenant Woodriffe, who would give them information concerning the stores remaining in Holland. He could not close the letter without recommending him to their protection, as well for the good of HM Service as well to do justice to so deserving an officer, ‘whose service, if not made known to you before, has not met with what he deserved, and I hesitate not to say I could not have succeeded in that arduous & complicated service without his clear and manly assistance and if you wish to employ an officer on any service of difficulty and trust, I hope you will excuse me for saying he is the man and for the good of his country and to encourage those that may be employed under you, he will not be neglected’. (TNA ADM1/3730/136)
24 January 1795 – In a letter to Phillip Stephens, the Transport Board referred to previous correspondence with Lieutenant Woodriffe and testimony of Captain Craven, and added ‘we are fully satisfied with that officer’s conduct on several trying occasions’. (TNA ADM1/3730/135)
Early 1795 – The Kitty, 358 tons, was one of a number of unappropriated transports at the Nore under Lieutenants Woodriff and Young. She had capacity for 177 troops. (ADM1/3730/141)
September 1795 – Woodriff was appointed as a commander. (Roger Morriss, ‘High Exertions and Difficult Cases: The Work of the Transport Agent at Portsmouth and Southampton, 1795-1797’, in Helen Doe and Richard Harding (eds.), Naval Leadership and Management, 1650-1950, Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2012, p.97)
11 October 1795 – John Schank, Commissioner of Transports, to Daniel Woodriffe, Resident Agent, Portsmouth. He was directed to take charge of all transports at Portsmouth, Southampton or St Helen’s.
"From your long services in the Transport line of duty and my own knowledge of your exertions in difficult cases, I therefore hereby request and direct you to exert yourself as much as is in your power on this trying occasion, and in particular to put to rights those ships expected to arrive from the Elbe, paying particular attention to those with horses, and as soon as possible to point out those ships that can be got ready soonest, to relieve those that may be crowded with horses, - keeping memorandums of your proceedings and making me acquainted as soon as possible when you meet with any difficulties in the execution of this service. And, as Sir Jerome Fitzpatrick is employed by order of the Secretary of State, for the purpose of inspecting into the health of the troops and horses, purifying the ships and clearing them of foul air, you are therefore required to render him every assistance in your power, and to direct all other Agents to do the same, and for which this shall be your order." (TNA ADM108/28)
Early November 1795 – Spent supervising embarkations at Portsmouth. (Morriss, ‘High Exertions and Difficult Cases’, p.98)
Early December 1795 – Ordered to Southampton to take charge of the remaining vessels there. (Morriss, ‘High Exertions and Difficult Cases’, p.99)
By the end of March 1796 – The main expedition had finally been dispatched for the West Indies, but he had 4,000 troops to embark to different places and he lost two of his assistants. (Morriss, ‘High Exertions and Difficult Cases’, p.100)
6 April 1796 – Still employed by the Transport Board as an Agent. He was a Captain by this stage. (TNA ADM1/3731)
End of 1796 – Another major expedition, to Trinidad and Puerto Rico. (Morriss, ‘High Exertions and Difficult Cases’, p.100)
29 December 1796 – In a long letter to Henry Dundas justifying its preparation and departure of a number of transports, the Transport Board made reference to Woodriff, ‘to whose ability & industry too much praise cannot be given’. (TNA ADM108/19, p.52)
March 1797 – Woodriff was moved to Norfolk where he was made responsible for the movement of prisoners of war between Lynn Regis and the prison camp at Norman Cross. (Morriss, ‘High Exertions and Difficult Cases’, p.103)
1 June 1797 – Woodriff was still employed in the Transport Service as one of eight Captains. (TNA ADM1/3773, p.221)
4 August 1797 – Captain Woodriff was Transport Agent at Lynn. (TNA ADM1/3734)
2 November 1797 – Transport Board to Evan Nepean, concerning the press of business at Norman Cross prison and the advanced age of the Agent, Mr Perrot. The service would be better performed by a person occupying the rank of Superintendent. They recommended Captain Woodriff, of the Royal Navy, who had for some time been stationed as an Agent at Lynn. They wrote that they had ‘had repeated occasions to notice his great zeal and ability in the execution of whatever duty he has had to perform’ and were of the opinion that he would be a very fit person for this situation. They proposed a pay of £100 per annum in addition to his pay as Agent. (TNA ADM1/3735)
2 January 1798 – Woodriff was by this date in place as Superintendent at Norman Cross. (TNA ADM1/3735 – Letter of Transport Board to Evan Nepean of this date)
April 1800 – Woodriff was superintendent of Norman Cross prisoner of war prison. (Naval Chronicle, Volume 5, pp.42-43)
April 1802 – After a term as superintendent of prisoners of war, Woodriff was gazetted post captain.
1803 – Woodriff, commanded the HMS Calcutta, a ship of 1200 tons and 50 guns, which took 308 convicts to Port Phillip. (Nicholas Pateshall, A Short Account of a Voyage Round the Globe in HMS Calcutta, 1803-1804, Carlton, Vic: Queensberry Hill Press, 1980, p.17)
David Collins was the commander of this expedition to found a settlement at Port Phillip.
1803-04 – He remained with Collins in Port Phillip Bay until December but, to the annoyance of both Collins and Governor King, Woodriff then refused to go to the Derwent when Collins decided to move the settlement; because of his instructions to bring to England as quickly as possible the naval stores awaiting him at Port Jackson, he felt he had no alternative but to go at once to Sydney to collect them, for the Ocean transport was sufficient for the move to Van Diemen's Land. While in Port Jackson he helped to check the convict insurrection planned to support the one at Castle Hill, and was granted 1000 acres (405 ha) at Penrith. Portion of this grant is still owned by his descendants. Woodriff sailed in March 1804. (ADB)
1805 – While convoying some 200 merchantmen, he engaged a French fleet of ten sail which included four ships of the line, though his ship, HMS Calcutta, was only a converted East Indiaman mounting forty-eight 9-pounders and four 12-pounders. All but one of his convoy escaped, but eventually Woodriff had to surrender and was taken to France as a prisoner of war. (ADB)
1806-07 – Captain Woodriff was the senior officer in charge of the prison depot at Verdun (for British prisoners of war). (Paul Chamberlain, Hell Upon Water: Prisoners of War in Britain, 1793-1815, Stroud: The History Press, 2008, p.205)
June 1807 – Woodriff was exchanged on the orders of Napoleon and, after being honourably acquitted for the loss of the Calcutta, he was appointed superintendent of prisoners of war at Forton. (ADB)
January 1810 – Captain Woodriff was serving as an Agent of the Transport Board in charge of prison ships at Portsmouth. (Chamberlain, Hell Upon Water, p.66)
1814 – He was appointed resident commissioner at Port Royal, Jamaica, where he instituted important economies.
30 August 1814 – Daniel Woodriff was listed as the Transport Board’s Commissioner at Jamaica. (TNA ADM106/2681)
1822 – He resigned and returned to England, living first at Gosport and later at Greenwich. (ADB)
1831 or 1832 – Woodriff was created a C.B. (ADB)
1837 – He was made one of the four resident captains at Greenwich Hospital, preferring that position to rear admiral's rank. (ADB)
25 February 1842 – Woodriff died. (ADB)
Woodriff's visits to Australia in 1792 and 1804 had convinced him of the urgent need of a naval squadron based on Port Jackson, and he kept urging this on the Admiralty until his death. His portrait and three oils of the celebrated fight are in the National Library, Canberra. His first wife, Asia, died some time after 1823; the date of his second marriage is unknown, but his widow, Sarah, died in January 1860 aged 90.
His three sons, Daniel James (1788-1860), John and Robert, all served with their father in the Calcutta in 1803-04 and became naval officers. Daniel James, who became a captain, was master's mate in the Bellerophon at the battle of Trafalgar, and for a short time took charge of the ship when all her officers were killed or badly wounded. His diary is in the Australian National Library, Canberra. (ADB)
