32. Daniel Scott (1800-1865), master mariner
Daniel Scott was a true maritime man. As the colony’s first harbourmaster, he obtained a special licence to marry Frances Harriet Davis in his office on the wreck of the Marquis of Anglesea. It was a marriage which, in the fashion of the times, would produce 11 children.
Scott already had considerable nautical experience when he arrived in Fremantle in 1829. As a Liverpool boy, he had run away to sea and at 21 was captaining a small ship which traded between the African Gold Coast and the West Indies. Scott was appointed the first chairman of the Fremantle Town Trust in 1848 and held the position for much of the next 10 years.
When the first convicts arrived unannounced off Fremantle in June 1850, there was a scurry to house them. Captain Scott’s bond store (on the site now occupied by the Esplanade Hotel) was modified for the task. He was also responsible for the first locally-constructed sea-going ship built at the colony and soon had several boats trading along the coastline. He also dabbled with whaling.
Daniel Scott received grants of rural land and in his later years focused on plans to mine and smelt lead near Geraldton.