Arrived in Melbourne from Liverpool as Captain on the ship "Yarmouth", 16th December 1852
Malvern Standard
Saturday 16th March 1907
Captain William Kenney, well known as the proprietor of Kenney's baths, St. Kilda, who died last week, was 86 years of age.
The attractions of a seafaring career claimed him when 14 years old, and in seven years he had been through the various duties of cabin boy, sail maker, A.B. and mate, and was captain of his own craft. His father started him in life with a brig named the Nancy. Young Kenney engaged in the Australian passenger trade. In 1851 he was wrecked off King Island, but managed, with two others, to gain Hobson's Bay in a 14-foot open boat. The Nancy was then condemned as unseaworthy, and Captain Kenney decided to beach her at St. Kilda and open swimming baths. The boat was at first beached at the spot where Captain Kenney's ladies' baths now are, but after many vain attempts she was floated off and run ashore, where she now stands, on the north side of the St. Kilda pier. At that time the water was 12 feet deep.
The Nancy was scuttled, and for some years the bathing was in the vessel's hold. A gap was made in her side so that the venturesome swimmers could take the risks of the open water. The "bathing ship" was in the fifties and sixties a favorite meeting place for the pioneers.
Last year Captain Kenney went to England, and coming home caught a cold which he never threw off.
He leaves four daughters and two sons, one of whom was the amateur champion swimmer of the world.
Malvern Standard
Saturday 16th March 1907
Captain William Kenney, well known as the proprietor of Kenney's baths, St. Kilda, who died last week, was 86 years of age.
The attractions of a seafaring career claimed him when 14 years old, and in seven years he had been through the various duties of cabin boy, sail maker, A.B. and mate, and was captain of his own craft. His father started him in life with a brig named the Nancy. Young Kenney engaged in the Australian passenger trade. In 1851 he was wrecked off King Island, but managed, with two others, to gain Hobson's Bay in a 14-foot open boat. The Nancy was then condemned as unseaworthy, and Captain Kenney decided to beach her at St. Kilda and open swimming baths. The boat was at first beached at the spot where Captain Kenney's ladies' baths now are, but after many vain attempts she was floated off and run ashore, where she now stands, on the north side of the St. Kilda pier. At that time the water was 12 feet deep.
The Nancy was scuttled, and for some years the bathing was in the vessel's hold. A gap was made in her side so that the venturesome swimmers could take the risks of the open water. The "bathing ship" was in the fifties and sixties a favorite meeting place for the pioneers.
Last year Captain Kenney went to England, and coming home caught a cold which he never threw off.
He leaves four daughters and two sons, one of whom was the amateur champion swimmer of the world.
Arrived in Melbourne from Liverpool as Captain on the ship "Yarmouth", 16th December 1852
Malvern Standard
Saturday 16th March 1907
Captain William Kenney, well known as the proprietor of Kenney's baths, St. Kilda, who died last week, was 86 years of age.
The attractions of a seafaring career claimed him when 14 years old, and in seven years he had been through the various duties of cabin boy, sail maker, A.B. and mate, and was captain of his own craft. His father started him in life with a brig named the Nancy. Young Kenney engaged in the Australian passenger trade. In 1851 he was wrecked off King Island, but managed, with two others, to gain Hobson's Bay in a 14-foot open boat. The Nancy was then condemned as unseaworthy, and Captain Kenney decided to beach her at St. Kilda and open swimming baths. The boat was at first beached at the spot where Captain Kenney's ladies' baths now are, but after many vain attempts she was floated off and run ashore, where she now stands, on the north side of the St. Kilda pier. At that time the water was 12 feet deep.
The Nancy was scuttled, and for some years the bathing was in the vessel's hold. A gap was made in her side so that the venturesome swimmers could take the risks of the open water. The "bathing ship" was in the fifties and sixties a favorite meeting place for the pioneers.
Last year Captain Kenney went to England, and coming home caught a cold which he never threw off.
He leaves four daughters and two sons, one of whom was the amateur champion swimmer of the world.
Malvern Standard
Saturday 16th March 1907
Captain William Kenney, well known as the proprietor of Kenney's baths, St. Kilda, who died last week, was 86 years of age.
The attractions of a seafaring career claimed him when 14 years old, and in seven years he had been through the various duties of cabin boy, sail maker, A.B. and mate, and was captain of his own craft. His father started him in life with a brig named the Nancy. Young Kenney engaged in the Australian passenger trade. In 1851 he was wrecked off King Island, but managed, with two others, to gain Hobson's Bay in a 14-foot open boat. The Nancy was then condemned as unseaworthy, and Captain Kenney decided to beach her at St. Kilda and open swimming baths. The boat was at first beached at the spot where Captain Kenney's ladies' baths now are, but after many vain attempts she was floated off and run ashore, where she now stands, on the north side of the St. Kilda pier. At that time the water was 12 feet deep.
The Nancy was scuttled, and for some years the bathing was in the vessel's hold. A gap was made in her side so that the venturesome swimmers could take the risks of the open water. The "bathing ship" was in the fifties and sixties a favorite meeting place for the pioneers.
Last year Captain Kenney went to England, and coming home caught a cold which he never threw off.
He leaves four daughters and two sons, one of whom was the amateur champion swimmer of the world.
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