DONATIONS REQUIRED TO ASSIST WITH THE RUNNING OF THIS
SITE. PAYMENTS CAN BE MADE VIA PAYPAL TO ray.j.warren@hotmail.com ANY
AMOUNT WILL DO.
REGISTER OF COLONIAL SHIPWRECKS
AND
SHIPPING ACCIDENTS
copyright R.J.Warren 2011-201
RAYMOND
J WARREN, AUTHOR OF THE HISTORY MAKING "WILDFLOWER" THE BARBARA
CRAWFORD THOMPSON STORY AND THIS ONLINE ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF TALL SHIPS, THE
"WARREN REGISTER OF COLONIAL TALL SHIPS", WOULD LIKE TO INTRODUCE THE
FINAL REVISED EDITION OF "WILDFLOWER' TO ALL"REGISTER USERS ON SPECIAL DISCOUNT. PLEASE INQUIRE BY EMAILING ray.j.warren@hotmail.com
HIS 25-YEAR RESEARCH THAT UNCOVERED THE "HISTORY MYSTERY" SURROUNDING BARBARA CRAWFORD THOMPSON
AND HER TIME ALONE WITH HEADHUNTERS IN THE TORRES STRAIT FROM 1844 TO
1849, HAS CATAPULTED HIS BOOK TO FAME IN THE UK AND EUROPE. THE BOOK IS
SHOWN HERE JUST IN CASE SOME OF HIS FOLLOWERS MIGHT LIKE TO PURCHASE A
VERY GOOD HISTORIC READ. THOSE INTERESTED IN THE BOOK IN HARD COVER OR
PAPERBACK MIGHT LIKE TO CONTACT THE AUTHOR ON ray.j.warren@hotmail.com
BARBARA THOMPSON CASTAWAY, ALONE WITH HEAD HUNTERS
THE BOOK "WILDFLOWER" THE BARBARA CRAWFORD THOMPSON STORY COVERS THE LIFE OF BARBARA THOMPSON, A 12-YEAR-OLD SCOTTISH GIRL WHO WAS TAKEN FROM HER HOME IN SYDNEY IN MARCH 1843 AND WAS FOUND LIVING WITH HEADHUNTERS IN THE TORRES STRAIT ALMOST SEVEN YEARS LATER, IN OCTOBER 1849 BY THE SHIP HMS "RATTLESNAKE" CAPTAIN OWEN STANLEY.
THIS BOOK IS THE RESULT OF 25 YEARS RESEARCH INTO THE LIFE OF BARBARA
THOMPSON AND THE FINAL RESULTS ARE AMAZING. THE TRUE [AND CERTIFIED]
TALE OF THIS YOUNG SCOTTISH LASSIE'S TRAUMATIC ADVENTURES WILL KEEP YOU
ENTHRALLED. FURTHER DETAILS CAN BE FOUND ON THE BLOG TITLED "WILDFLOWER" THE BARBARA CRAWFORD THOMPSON STORY.
SHIPWRECKS AND DISASTERS AT SEA
It should be understood that many shipwrecks may be missing from this Register due to the large number of ships that have been discovered, undiscovered and unaccounted for before and since this register was created. It is also difficult to get some information but technology has progressed and many shipwrecks are now recorded online. Anyone able to supply additional information or new information on shipwrecks please contact the Author on ray.j.warren@hotmail.com
‘AARHUS’ ex ‘Thalassa’ Built 1874. Launched 1875. Iron barque of 671 Tons. Length: approx. 160 ft. Breadth: approx. 33 ft. Depth: approx. 21 ft. Master: Captain Christian Gram. She was built as the ‘Thalassa’ in Hamburg, Germany. She was sold to J. Hansen Christiansen in 1890 and she was given her new name. The master married in New York and he brought his wife Mette [nee Lauridsen] with him on the fateful voyage of the 26th of October 1883. Four months after leaving New York, the ship struck Smiths Rocks at the northern end of Moreton Island, Queensland. She sank within ten minutes but all aboard were got away safely.
‘ACACIA’ Iron barque that was wrecked at Mainwaring, Tasmania whilst on a voyage from Esperance, Western Australia to Adelaide and had left Esperance on the 20th of June 1907, she was found in June 1908 with several of her dead crew.
‘ACTIVE’ A Wood brig that took passengers to New Zealand in February 1809 landing ten passengers at one of the many islands that abound in those waters. ‘Active’ then disappeared forever and was presumed lost.
‘ACTIVE’ Wood ship of the colonial trade to Australia was wrecked near Acteon Island in the vicinity of Recherche Bay, Tasmania.
‘ADELAIDE’ Wood schooner that was lost en-route to New Zealand from Newcastle, NSW. She went missing and was presumed sunk with the loss of seven lives in May 1898.
‘ADMELLA’ Built 1857. Iron Auxiliary steamship of 392 Tons. Owned by Little and Partners. She was lost in heavy seas off Cape Northumberland, South Australia on the 6th of August 1859. She went down with the loss of 83 lives. She was a regular traveller between Adelaide, South Australia and Melbourne, Victoria. Her name was derived from the two cities.
‘ADMIRAL BARRINGTON’ Wood convict ship of 527 Tons that carried 300 convicts to Sydney and on her return voyage to England, Went to Calcutta for cargo. She was driven ashore by a violent storm and was wrecked. Many of her crew made it to shore on Malwan Island, The Master, Captain Robert A. Marsh, the Surgeon, Peter Gossam and the first mate were witness to the slaughter and they managed to swim to a ship nearby and were saved. This event occurred in the cyclone season toward the end of 1892.
‘ADOLPHE’ Steel four-mast barque of 3250 Tons. She went ashore at the Oyster Bank at Newcastle, NSW and became a total loss. All hands were saved and the vessel was eventually built into a breakwater. [see main register for more details]
HM. ‘ADVENTURE’ Wood sloop of 336 Tons Length: 99ft. Breadth: 28 ft. Depth: 12 ft. Built by Fishburn at Whitby c1765. She was sold to the Royal Navy in 1771 and became the consort ship to captain cooks second voyage of discovery in the southern latitudes. She carried a crew of 80 and after her voyages for the navy, she was sold and returned to the coal trade until she was wrecked on the St Lawrence River in May 1811.
‘AFRIC’ Steel Screw steamer of 11,999 Tons. She was in the Australian trade and was torpedoed and sunk in the English Channel just south of the Eddystone Lighthouse on the 12th of February 1917. Of her passengers and crew, 22 crew were lost and 144 passengers were saved.
‘A.H.BADGER’ Wood barque of 337 Tons that was ran into and sunk by the US ship ‘Nevada’ which failed to stop and aid the survivors and on arrival in Sydney, failed to notify the authorities that a collision had occurred. Thankfully, all hands were saved by skilful use of the boats. The ‘Nevada’ received a fine of 1600 pounds for negligence. The bark, ‘Alice Cameron’, assisted in the rescue of the crew of ‘A.H. Badger’.
‘AIGBURTH’ Built 1882. Iron ship of 1838 Tons. She was wrecked on the 16th of June 1904 near Rooke Island, New Guinea. Her crew managed to get away in the boats with 16 being saved within a few days but seven of the crew were missing in a boat for four months until they were found.
‘ALBION’ Wood schooner that was wrecked near Port Hacking, NSW, on the 20th of March 1867. Of the seven crew, five drowned and two were saved.
‘ALDERGROVE’ Iron barque that was stranded off Point Malcolm in the Great Australian Bight on the 3rd of May 1880. She was soon refloated went back to work. She is next found at Newcastle, NSW, where she caught fire and was almost totally destroyed in June 1899. She was again repaired and put back to work until she again caught fire at Newcastle, NSW, in August 1903. She was again repaired and kept sailing until 1905 when she was lost off the coast of Peru. A case of the ship that refused to die.
‘ALEDA’ Wood schooner that was lost at Point Plumer, NSW, on the 15th of June 1914. All her crew was lost.
‘ALERT’ A steamship that foundered near Cape Shank. Victoria, on the 28th of December 1893. Of her 15 crew, fourteen perished and one was saved.
‘ALEXANDRA’ Wood brig that was wrecked on Rabbit Island, Victoria with no loss of life. Her Master and Mate were charged and convicted of attempting to scuttle the brig and went to prison for three years and 18 months respectively.
‘ALFRED FENNING’ Wood ketch that went missing after leaving Sydney on the 16th of June 1914. All five persons aboard her were lost.
‘ALICE’ Wood Launch wrecked at Launceston, Tasmania, on the 2nd of April 1907. Of her passengers and crew, ten were lost.
‘ALICE DAVIES’ Iron barque that was bound for Adelaide from Liverpool in November 1878. She collided with the Steamer ‘Cherbourg’ on the 21st of that month with five lives being lost.
‘ALICE JANE’ Wood schooner that was overturned in big seas near Port Hacking, NSW, on the 15th of January 1874. All were lost.
‘ALL SERENE’ Wood ship that was lost on a voyage from Puget Sound to Sydney. She went down 50 miles off the Fijian coast. Many lives were lost and after 31 of the survivors managed to build a raft and get it underway, only 15 of those aboard managed to make it to Fiji.
‘ALPHILO’ Steel barque of 1445 Tons that was under the Swedish flag when it was wrecked on the west coast of Tasmania near Rocky Point on the 10th of October 1909. Of her crew, 12 died and six were saved.
‘ALSTERNIXE’ Built 1891. Steel four-mast barque that went missing on a voyage from Callao, South America to Sydney, Australia in 1907-8. She was in ballast at the time.
‘AMELIA’ Small vessel that was wrecked in San Bernadino Strait, Philippines in 1843, she lost six of her crew.
‘AMELIA J’ A small wood schooner of 353 Tons that was lost on her way to Hobart, Tasmania from Newcastle, NSW with coal. She was last seen on the 21st of August 1920. All twelve of her crew was lost.
‘AMERICA’ Wood cutter that was wrecked on Horn island near Prince of Wales Island in the Torres Strait. Captained by William Thompson, a seaman who bought the ten ton cutter in Brisbane, she was looking for the wreck of a whaler, which had gone aground on Chesterfield Reef. The wreck had much of its cargo of whale oil intact and William Thompson enlisted the help of three crewmen and a partner to salvage the oil. The ‘America’ was herself wrecked and only one person survived, that was a young white girl who had left Sydney with William Thompson as his defacto wife in the middle months of 1844. The young lady’s name was Barbara Crawford Thompson, who was born Barbara Crawford in Aberdeen, Scotland in the early months of 1831.
The natives of Murralahg Island [Prince of Wales Island] saved her. Chief Peaqui, of Murralahg, recognised her as his ‘daughter’ who had returned in the form of a ghost. Barbara was still very young and she quickly learned the language and the ways of the tribe.
It was common for natives at that time to believe that white people were the ghosts of dead tribe members who were returning to be with their family. This belief seems to have been widespread among the aborigines of Australia and the Torres Straits. When a white did arrive among natives and if he or she made no accidental infringements on tribal taboos, then it was likely that they would be taken into the tribe if someone ‘recognised’ them. The British naval ship HMS ‘Rattlesnake’ rescued Barbara Thompson on October 16th 1849, almost five years after the wreck of the ‘America’. [See Castaways section this publication]
‘AMITY’ A wood Brig that is thought to have gone down in a gale in March 1870 losing her five crew. She disappeared near the Manning River in New South Wales.
‘AMPHITRITE’ Wood ship that was lost while bringing female convicts to Australia. She was caught in heavy seas off the French coast on the 39th of August 1833. Of the 136 persons aboard, only three seamen were saved. The rest were drowned and that included all 106 female convicts and 12 of their children along with the master, the mates and Surgeon-Superintendent James Forrester and his wife [her first trip, his third] and the crew which numbered 16 men. Master: Captain John Hunter. Heavy seas drove the ‘Amphitrite’, into Boulogne Harbour where she grounded in a position from, which, at low tide, did not seem too precarious to her captain. He disregarded French offers of help from the harbour master and it is stated that had he accepted the offers for help no lives would have been lost. The ship grounded at low tide and was in no real danger until the tide turned and brought the big seas with it. A French seaman, Pierre Henin swam the half mile out to the grounded vessel and called for a line so that they could begin bringing those aboard to shore. Again the offer was rejected; it is believed that the captain thought that the females would try to escape once they had been taken ashore.
When the tide returned, the seas quickly tore the ship in half and the people ashore could do nothing except listen to the screams of the women and children as they were tossed in the boiling sea. The loss of this vessel stood squarely with the master and his officers. The aid offered by the French was entirely enough even though they could have offered a pilot boat well before she struck. It was not an obligation for them to do so due to the heavy sea running at the time but the pilot, Francis Henret, did take his boat out to the ship soon after she struck and all could have been saved had they accepted his offer of help. [Convict ship]
‘AMY’ Wood brig that was lost on Thirroul beach, NSW on the 13th of February 1898. All seven of her crew was lost.
‘AMY TURNER’ She was an Australian owned Brigantine of 990 Tons that foundered during a storm near Guam Island on the 27th of March 1923. Eleven of her fifteen crew were lost.
‘ANN’ Iron barque of 277 Tons that was lost off Port Stphens, NSW. She was sailing from Melbourne and was wrecked off Port Stephens, New South Wales on the 25th of July, 1876, with the loss of 10 lives.
‘ANN JAMIESON’ Wood brig that blew up at Kings Wharf, Sydney on the 30th of November 1833. Six persons were killed
‘ANNIE BROOKS’ Wood schooner that was attacked by natives while they were pearl fishing near Mewstone island on the 5th of November 1880.Six of her crew were killed in the attack and the natives were reported to have looted the schooner as well.
‘ANNIE M MILLER’ Iron ship of 600 Tons that was lost off the NSW coast on the 8th of February 1929. Six of her crew was lost.
‘ANNIE OGLE’ Wood schooner of 210 Tons, that foundered near Smokey Cape in March 1875. She had nine of her crew lost with her.
‘ANTARES’ ex ‘Sutlej’ Iron ship 1750 Tons is said to have gone down in Bass Strait in December 1914 with all hands.
‘ANTIOPE’ Built 1866 Iron ship of 1443 Tons. She was run aground at Bluff Harbour and lay there for 4 months in 1916, before being refloated and put back to work. She caught fire and was severely burnt at Delgoa Bay Southern Africa in January 1921. At which time she was repaired and turned into a storeship at Biera, East Africa.
SS ‘AORANGI’ Royal Mail steamer that was taken over by the British in 1914. She was scuttled at Scapa Flow to act as a submarine deterrent. She was refloated in 1921 due to the lack of shipping and was found to be only suitable as a Hulk used by the Admiralty. She remained moored in Scapa Flow.
SS ‘APARIMA’ Steel ship of 5700 Tons. She was a cadet training ship that was sunk by a German submarine off Anvil Point in the English Channel on the 18th of November 1917. She lost 57 of her crew, which included 17 cadets, 58 were saved. The Union Steamship Company ran her.
SS ‘ARABIA’ Steel twin screw steamer of 7933 Tons. She was a P and O liner that was bound for London from Australia when a submarine in the Mediterranean Sea torpedoed her on the 6th of November 1916. She lost 11 of her crew but all the rest were saved in her boats.
SS ‘ARCADIAN’ ex SS ‘Ortona’ Steel twin screw steamer of 7993 Tons. She was originally an ‘Orient ‘liner and was torpedoed in the Mediterranean Sea on the 15th of April with the loss of 300 lives.
‘ARDENCRAIG’ Built 1886. Iron ship that had her ups and downs. She ran into and sank the 2122 Ton four mast bark, ‘Norma’ at Port Adelaide on the 21st of April 1907. In January 1907, ‘Adencraig’, was herself sunk in 1911, when she hit the Crim rocks at the Scille islands. She backed off the rocks but was taking water so fast that she sank with all her sails flying, giving the crowds watching the drama a spectacular view as she went under.
‘ARGO’ Wood schooner that was wrecked in January 1800 when she hit Argo reef near the southeastern end of Fiji. Most of the crew got ashore on Tongatabu but were there killed by the natives. A few years later, two [2] survivors were found and rescued.
‘ARIEL’ Built 1865. Composite ship of 852 Tons. Built at Greenock by Steele. Owned by Shaw-Maxton and Co. Reg. London. Master: Captain W. Courtney 1870. She was lost at sea when she was bound for Melbourne from London in 1872. Neither she nor her wreckage has ever been found. [Tea clipper]
HMAS ‘ARMIDALE’ Royal Australian Navy Corvette that was sunk by Japanese aircraft on the 1st of December 1942 with the loss of 40 lives.
‘ARNHEM’ Dutch ship that was attacked by New Guinea natives on the 11th of February 1623. She was en-route to Cape York Peninsula to chart the area that previous Dutch ship had discovered. Ten of her crew including the captain was killed. She reached Banda on the 14th of May 1623.
‘ATACAMA’ Iron barque of 1147 Tons. She was bound from Newcastle, NSW, to San Francisco when she foundered in the Tasman Sea on the 9th of February 1898. Thirteen of her crew drowned and five were saved.
‘AURORA’ Orient Liner of 1700 Tons. She was built in 1874 and on the 9th of August 1875, she caught fire in her cargo holds, which were laden with wool. This is always a very inflammable cargo under the right conditions and such was the case when the ship was off the Azores while home bound. She managed to get her boats away in calm seas and all were saved but the once popular ship was completely destroyed.
SS ‘AUSTRAL’ Steel steamer of 5580 Tons. She sank at her berth in Neutral Bay while coaling. She went over on her beam-ends and waters rushed in drowning five of her crew. She was sunk on the 11th of November 1882 and she was refloated in February 1883.
SS ‘AUSTRADALE’ Steel steamer of 4400 Tons. The Australian Government when torpedoed by a German submarine in October 1917 off the coast of Spain owned her. Only about 6 of the crew survived and 27 were lost in one of the boats and 2 died among the seven who made it to the coast of France.
SS ‘AUSTRALIAN’ Built at Dundee in 1879. Iron screw steamer of 352 Tons. Length: 160.3 ft. Breadth: 22.5 ft. Depth: 10.5 ft. The West Coast Shipping Company Ltd owned her. She was on a voyage from Venus Bay, South Australia to Port Victoria with wheat. She ran onto a reef at Wardang Island, Spencers Gulf and became a total wreck. All 15 hands were saved.
‘AVALANCHE’ Built 1853 at Dundee. Wood ship of 753 Tons. Owned by Park Bros. Reg. Frasberg. Master: Captain J. Stott. London-New Zealand service. She was bound from England to Wellington when the American wood ship, ‘Forest’ that was bound for New York, ran her into. The ‘Avalanche’ was pierced so badly, that she sank in less than 5 minutes, taking her 63 passengers and 31 of her 34 crew to the bottom. This took place in the English Channel near Portland. The ‘Forest’ was also mortally wounded for she also sank but refused to go all the way. Part of her stuck up above the water like some type of strange building and no matter how hard the authorities tried, she would not sink, even with the use of gunfire and then explosives. Finally, twelve days later, the Royal Navy managed to sink the wreck and the channel was cleared of a shipping hazard. The accident happened on the 11th of September, 1877. No blame was placed on the ‘Avalanche’ as she was under the control of the pilot. The ‘Forest’ lost 10 of her crew, only her master, Captain Lockhart and 8 of his crew survived.
‘AWAHOU’ An inter-island motor vessel that was lost at sea with all 12 of her crew on the 10h of September 1952. She was bound from Sydney to Lord Howe Island. Searchers found no trace of the vessel.
B
SS ‘BALCLUTHA’ Small coastal steamer of 262 Tons that foundered off the coast of NSW. In October 1881. She was bound for Sydney from Melbourne and she was seen passing Gabo Island in heavy seas. She went down with all 22 of her crew.
SS ‘BALLARAT’ Steel ship of 11,000 Tons. She was a P/O Steamer that was carrying Australian troops to England in 1917. She was torpedoed on the 25th of April of that year and managed to stay afloat until all 1752 lives were saved. She sank the following day.
SS ‘BANSHEE’ A paddle wheel steamer hat was wrecked in heavy seas and gale force winds on the 21st of March 1876 off Townsville, Queensland. She went down with the loss of seventeen lives.
SS ‘BARWON’ A paddle wheel steamer that was wrecked at Cape Bridgewater, Victoria in April 1871. She was bound from Adelaide to Sydney when she lost her way in heavy fog.
‘BATAVIA’ Wood ship of Dutch origin that was wrecked on the Abrolhos islands off the coast of Western Australia. She suffered many deaths and most of these were murders wrought upon the passengers by those among her crew and passengers who sought to rule over the rest. She was originally bound for Java but due to storm conditions, she was blown off course into the uncharted waters of Western Australia.
‘BEN NEVIS’ Built 1868. Iron bark of 1079 Tons. She was sold to Norway and renamed ‘Aatoria’ Captain Johansen who also was her owner. She caught fire and was burnt at sea in 1912.
‘BEN VENUE’ Built 1867.Wood ship of 999 Tons. Master: Captain Bully Martin. She was caught in a storm at Timaru, New Zealand along with the iron ship, ‘City of Perth’. Both vessels were driven ashore with the ‘Ben Venue’ getting the worst of it. She became a total loss but all of her crew were saved. A lifeboat from shore tried to aid the crew but were swamped and six of its crew were drowned. The ‘City of Perth’ was able to be refloated although badly strained at her seams, she was repaired and went back to work.
SS ‘BEN VENUE’ Steel ship of 2033 Tons. She was wrecked at Sandgate, Kent in the English Channel in November 1891. She lost several of her crew.
‘BERENGARIA’ Iron ship OF 1317 Tons. She was bound for Sunderland with wheat when she sank after running onto Galloper Sand in the Nore on the 1st of December 1884. She went down with 12 of her crew.
‘BETSEY’ A sealer that was damaged at sea while on her way to Macquarie island. She drifted for a few weeks after the storm damage occurred on the 10th of August, 1816. Her crew abandoned her off New Zealand in October 1816 having lost 11 of their number.
‘BIARRITZ’ Steel ship of 1824 Tons. French vessel that was bound for Hobart on the 10th of October 1907 when she went missing. Perhaps a victim of the notorious South West Cape area of Tasmania.
SS ‘BIRCHGROVE PARK’ A coastal collier that was capsized by a heavy sea on the 2nd of August 1956. She sank 4 miles off Broken Bay with the loss of 8 crewmen.
‘BLERVIE CASTLE’ Built c1855. Wood ship that was bound from London to Adelaide when she went missing. She was last seen on Christmas day 1859. It is believed that she went down in the English Channel with all her 59 crew.
‘BLUE BELL’ A small 76-Ton steamer that had an unusual end even though she could have been considered wrecked or stranded or run aground. The ship was steaming into Keppel Bay near Rockhampton, Queensland on the night of the 11th of February 1877, when a crunch was heard and when those aboard rushed on deck to see what had happened, they found the vessel slowly rising out of the water. At first, they thought that they were on the back of a sea monster but soon it was realised that she was wedged in a crevice of a large rock that was slowly rising out of the sea with the going out of the tide. The ship rose to a height of 25ft above sea level and there she sat high and dry. All were saved when they abandoned ship the next day.
‘BLUE JACKET’ Built 1854, Wood ship of 1790 Tons. She was bound from Lyttleton, New Zealand to Liverpool when she caught fire. She was off the Falkland Islands when the incident occurred. She was abandoned in a sinking condition and of her 71 persons aboard, 32 were lost.
‘BOANERGES’ Built c1855. Wood ship of 1236 Tons. She was an emigrant ship that had her cargo shift in heavy seas while on her way to Australia from Liverpool, She put into Queenstown, Ireland for repairs and to have her cargo re-packed. She then put to sea again and was again storm damaged and had to put into Plymouth for repairs. Her passengers were sent on to Sydney in the ship ‘Vocalist’. The ‘Boanerges’ left England in July with 470 emigrant’s five months after she had originally set sail in February 1857. She arrived in Sydney in October 1857.
‘BOLAN’ Colonial ship that foundered during 1889 while bound from Calcutta and Rangoon, to London.
‘BOMBO’ Steel coastal ship of 650 Tons. She capsized and sank off Wollongong, NSW on the 22nd of February 1949. Twelve of her 14 crew were lost.
‘BONA VISTA’ Wood ship that was wrecked on Kenn Reef in the Coral Sea. She was bound from Sydney to Mauritius and was totally wrecked, all lives were saved.
SS ‘BONNIE DUNDEE’ Iron steamer that was run into by the Steamship, ‘Barrabool’ and sunk 8 miles south of Newcastle, NSW on the 10th of March 1879. Five of her crew were lost.
‘BOOMERANG’ A schooner that was lost off the coast of New South Wales on the 12th of January 1865. She and her five crew were never seen again.
‘BOREALIS’ A Queensland Kanaka schooner that was attacked by natives at Malaita, Solomon Islands in October 1880. All but three of her crew were killed. The vessel was held by the natives until three other labour recruiters arrived on the scene and took vengeance on those who had been involved in the attack.
HMS ‘BOUNTY’ Wood ship of 215 Tons. She was the centre of the most famous mutiny ever to take place against the British Admiralty. Worse still, the perpetrators got completely away with their crime and were able to take Tahitian wives and helpers with them to Pitcairn Island where they burned the ‘Bounty’ and remained for more than a generation before the settlement was discovered. The British government, in an effort to save face, coerced the descendants of the mutineers into leaving Pitcairn Island and settling on the old penal colony of Norfolk Island. After a few years at their new home, several were dis-satisfied and returned to Pitcairn Island.
‘BOURNEUF’ Wood ship of 1494 Tons. She was carrying emigrants to Geelong, Victoria in February 1853. When she arrived at that port, all but 4 of her 58 crew deserted and headed to the goldfields. She was forced to sit in Geelong for several months but eventually got underway in July 1853. She made her way up the East Coast of Australia and was wrecked, as she was about to enter the Torres Strait on 3rd of August 1853. Seven lives were lost.
‘BOYD’ Wood ship that was attacked by Maoris in 1800 at Whangaroa, NZ. [see ‘Boyd’ under convict ships.]
‘BOYD’ A colonial schooner that was made from the longboat of the convict ship, ‘Boyd’. [see convict ship ‘Boyd’]
‘BRAMPTON’ Wood ship that was wrecked on a small island near Whangaroa, New Zealand. All lives were saved. This may have been the convict vessel that delivered convicts to Sydney in April 1823, she was wrecked in September of that year.
‘BRIDGEWATER’ Wood ship of 750 Tons. She left Sydney in company with the ‘Porpoise’ and the ‘Cato’, both of which were wrecked on Wreck Reef, off Cape York, Nth Queensland in August 1803. Master: Captain E. H. Palmer. She sailed on, abandoning the two wrecked vessels and arrived safely in India. She sailed from there headed for England and went missing en-route.
‘BRIER HOLME’ Built 1876. Iron barque of 894 Tons. She was hove to on the West Coast of Tasmania during a Storm under the command of Captain Rich . He was waiting the dawn so that he might proceed safely round the SouthWest Cape of Tasmania. The sole survivor stated that she was washed onto rocks and went to pieces. Others reported that perhaps her cargo of explosives had blown up and destroyed the ship. Later searchers who stated that she rested on the bottom just off Elliot Cove found her. She met her end on the 5th of November 1904 with the loss of 20 lives.
‘BRIGAND’ A brig that was attacked by natives of Mare Island in the Loyalty Group in November 1843. She lost 17 of her crew in the resulting battle.
‘BRITANNIA’ Wood ship [Possibly a whaling ship] that was wrecked on Middleton Reef on the 25th of August 1806. She lost 8 of her crew with two of her boats managing to reach Sydney. This vessel may have been one of the three ‘Britannia’ ships to bring convicts to Australia. At least one of them became a Whaler that operated out of Hobart, Tasmania.
‘BRITANNIA’ A brig that left Melbourne bound for Sydney in 1839. She vanished without a trace except for one of her boats that was found on Ninety-Mile Beach, Victoria.
‘BRITISH ADMIRAL’ Iron ship of 1781 Tons. She was wrecked on King Island, Bass Strait on the 23rd of May 1874. It was only her second voyage to Melbourne from London. Of the 88 persons aboard, only 9 were saved.
‘BRITISH BUILDER’ Steel oil tanker of 8699 Tons. She broke a crankshaft when near Albany, Western Australia. Instead of putting into Perth or putting back to Adelaide, South Australia, she elected to be towed all 10,000 miles back to England, this record will probably never be beaten.
‘BRITISH COMMERCE’ Iron ship of 1417 Tons. She was bound for Melbourne from London when she was run into and sunk by the ship ‘County of Aberdeen’ in the English Channel on the 24th of April 1883. Several of her crew were drowned and the ‘County of Aberdeen’ was found to be at fault for not giving way.
‘BRITISH HONOUR’ She was an oil tanker of 6991 Tons that caught fire while at the inflammable liquid wharf at Wickham, Newcastle, NSW. On the 24th of February 1930, floating debris is believed to have caused a spark, which caused the superstructure to ignite. The flames quickly spread to the wharf area and a timber yard in the vicinity was also engulfed. The Commonwealth Oil Refinery tanks were also threatened as the fire gave the watching public an awesome view.
‘BRITISH MERCHANT’ Duthie owned merchant ship that caught fire in Sydney Harbour and was towed to Cremorne, scuttled and sunk to extinguish the flames. Her hull was raised nine years after the fire, which happened in 1860. The fire began at Millers Point Wharf.
‘BRITISH NAVY’ Iron ship of 1216 Tons. She was bound for Sydney from London. During a heavy storm, she anchored at the Downs [Kent] and such was the strength of the gale force winds, that her cables parted and she drifted onto the sunken wreck of the ‘Lanarca’. She was badly holed and went down in less than ten minutes on the 27th of November 1881. She lost almost all her crew.
‘BRITISH SOVEREIGN’ Wood barque that was in the Sandalwood trade when she was wrecked in April 1847 on Efate Island, New Hebrides. She ran into trouble on the southwest side of the island and the crew made it to shore where the local natives killed all but two of them.
‘BRITOMART’ Wood barque that was bound for Melbourne from Hobart when she went missing in December 1839. She was probably driven onto rocks or sunk in the heavy seas that occur regularly in the region.
‘BRITON’ Wood whaling ship that was wrecked on Christmas Island in October 1836. All crew were saved and rescued in May 1837.
‘BRITON’ Wood ship of 776 Tons. She was transporting troops of the 80th regiment from Sydney to Calcutta, when they ran into a Hurricane off the Andaman Islands on the 13th of November 1844. She was driven right up on the beach by the heavy seas and lay there until the storm abated. Of the 431 soldiers on board none were lost. The English ship ‘Runnymede’ was bound for Calcutta from London when she also, was caught by the same hurricane and she was deposited on the same beach at the same time just 300 yards away from the ‘Briton’.
‘BROMILOW’ Methodist missionary Ketch that was wrecked near Samarai Island, Papua New Guinea in 1930. Seven natives were lost.
‘BUNIYONG’ Steamer that was involved in a collision with the 1400 Ton bark ‘Criffel’ on the 5th of May 1906. The bark was under tow by the tugboat ‘Advance’ off Bradleys Head, Sydney when the collision occurred. ‘Buniyong’ was beached near Elizabeth Bay to avoid sinking.
‘BURNETT’ A wood brig of 137 Tons that foundered in Newcastle Bight while bound from Sydney to Newcastle, NSW. She went down with all seven of her crew during heavy seas and gale force winds on the 9th of May 1869.
‘BURTON STATHER’ Wood barque that went missing with all hands while bound from Sydney to China in January 1877.
‘C. FUNK’ Wood schooner that was wrecked off Tasmania in August 1898 with eleven of her crew.
‘C. H. WATJIN’ 1823 Ton iron ship that was bound for Yokohama from New York in 1903. She was dismasted and had her rudder smashed in heavy seas while en-route. She drifted into the Coral Sea and spent 11 weeks flopping around until she was found and towed into Hall Sound, Papua New Guinea. She was taken from there to Singapore and converted into a hulk and towed back to Thursday Island in the Torres Strait where she remained as a hulk until her demise.
‘CALLIANCE’ Colonial emigrant ship that was wrecked at Camden Harbour, Northwest Australia. All her people were saved. The wreck occurred in 1864.
HMS ‘CALLIOPE’ British Warship that was at Apia, Samoa during the hurricane of 16th of March 1889. She was the only vessel to escape the storm which wrecked the American warships USS ‘Trenton’, ‘Vandalia’ and ‘Nipsic’, the German Warships ‘Eber’, Adler, and ‘Olga’. The American ship USS ‘Nipsic’ and the German ‘Olga’ were refloated but only the ‘Calliope’ escaped unharmed and made it safe to Sydney.
SS ‘CAMBRIDGE’ Steel ship of 10,846 Tons. She was sunk off Wilsons Promontory, Victoria on the 7th of November 1940 when she struck a German mine. One life was lost.
‘CAMBUS WALLACE’ Built 1894. Steel barque of approximately 1950 Tons. She went aground on Stradbroke Island, Queensland on the 3rd of September 1894 while on her maiden voyage. She had taken a cargo in Brisbane and was homeward bound when she was wrecked with the loss of five lives.
‘CAMPBELL MACQUARIE’ Wood sealer of 245 Tons. She was wrecked on Macquarie Island, South Pacific.
‘CAMPBELL MACQUARIE’ Wood brig that was lying at Koro Island in the Fiji goup on the 25th of September 1815 when she sent a boat to Wailea Bay. Natives attacked the boat and four of her crew were killed.
‘CANASTOTA’ ex ‘Falls of Orchy’ Steel ship of 4904 Tons. She was carrying Benzine from Sydney to Wellington, New Zealand when she disappeared with all 49 of her crew. It is thought that she exploded for no trace was found of her.
SS ‘CANBERRA’ Steel Steamer of 7710 Tons that was damaged by fire at Darling Harbour, Sydney in May 1925.
HMAS ‘CANBERRA’ Was sunk by enemy action in the battle of the Coral Sea on the night of the 8th and early morning of the 9th of August 1942. She took 78 of her sailors with her.
‘CANDIDATE’ Wood ketch of 80 Tons. She departed Camden Haven, NSW for Sydney in July 1912 and disappeared with her. five crew.
‘CAPE PACKET’. Wood brig. She was in the Sandalwood trade when she was attacked and burned by natives at Vila. New Hebrides c1845. She was Sydney based and her Captain and crew were all killed.
‘CARBET CASTLE’ Iron ship of 1585 Tons. She was moored at Bunbury, Western Australia in July 1897, when a gale broke her free from her cables and she was washed onto rocks and wrecked. Rescuers from the shore managed to get ropes to her and all the crew were saved by being pulled ashore through the surf.
‘CARDROSS’ Steamer of 1896 Tons. Steel steamer that sank after a collision with the island trader, ‘Fiona’, a steamer that went bow first into the side amidships of the ‘Cardross’. No lives were lost but the ship and her cargo went down 30 klms off Sydney Heads on the 15th of December 1940.
‘CARIB’ Wood ship that entered the whaling fleet in 1836. She was wrecked on Nuyts Archipelago in the Great Australian Bight. Western Australia in 1837. Almost all the crew were saved in the boats, but a seaman named Jackman was taken by aborigines and inducted into the tribe where he remained until 1839, when he was rescued.
‘CARISBROOK CASTLE’ [see ‘Errol’ this register.]
‘CARL’ Wood brig of 256 Tons She was wrecked near bluff Harbour NZ in 1874. . [see Blackbirders Register]
‘CARLISLE CASTLE’ Wood Auxiliary Ship of 1548 Tons. Green of the Blackwall Line owned her and she was a passenger ship to Australia for many years until sold in the 1890’s. She was blown ashore and wrecked near Rockingham, Western Australia on the 12th of July 1899. Eleven lives were lost of the 27 men aboard. The ‘City of York’ was lost in the same storm just a few miles away on Rottnest Island
‘CASINO’ Built 1879. Iron steamer that was approaching Warnambool, Victoria, Australia when it ran into a sunken object during the night of the 13th of February, 1929. The captain ran his vessel onto a beach due to the damage she had sustained and this enabled her to be refloated and repaired to sail on for a few more years. She came to her end when she foundered in Apollo Bay, Victoria on the 10th of July 1932. Her captain and nine crew were drowned.
‘CASTLE ROCK’ Built 1892. Steel ship of 1912 Tons. Length: 268 ft. Breadth: 40 ft. Depth: 23 ft. Built by Connell for Cornfoot and Co. She Left Sydney on the 15th of April 1908 and went missing.
‘CASTLEBANK’ Iron barque of 1542 Tons. She was bound for Tocapilla, Chile from Newcastle, NSW, having departed that port in September 1896. She went missing with all 28 of her crew, probable cause was spontaneous combustion of her coal cargo.
‘CASWELL’ This vessel was another probable victim of the fiery Newcastle coal, She went missing after leaving that port in 1899 bound for Ecuador, South America.
‘CATARAQUI’ Wood ship of approximately 450 Tons. She ran onto reefs at the western edge of King Island, Bass Strait Australia at 4.30am on the 4th of August 1845. She lost 406 souls and only a few survived this horrific tragedy.
‘CATHERINE’ Wood Sandalwood trader that was working the Isle of Pines at New Caledonia in 1843 when she was attacked by natives. Many of the crew were killed but a few managed to save the vessel and make an escape.
‘CATHERINE ADAMSON’ Wood ship of 886 Tons. She was sunk at Sydney Heads in 1857. An Aberdeen built ship, she was anchored inside Sydney harbour near the North Head and separated from her cables. She drifted on to rocks near the inner North Head and was wrecked. Her pilot was on board at the time and he was among the 21 persons drowned when she sank.
‘CATO’ Wood ship of 450 Tons. Master: Captain John Park. She was wrecked on Wreck Reef approximately 250 klm’s outside the Great Barrier Reef. She and the vessel ‘Porpoise’ were both run onto the same reef and Mathew Flinders who was aboard the ‘Porpoise’, sailed off to Sydney in one of the longboats to bring back rescuers. Three lives were lost but these perhaps could have been saved had the ship’ Bridgewater’, which was in company with the ‘Cato and the ‘Porpoise’, not deserted the wrecks.
‘CATTERTHUN’ Steel steamer of 2179 Tons. She was bound for China from Sydney when she went onto Seal Rocks, NSW. She went down on the 8th of August 1895 with the loss of 55 lives.
‘CAWARRA’ Paddlewheel steamer owned by the A.U.S.N. Company that was wrecked on the Oyster Bank at Newcastle, NSW. She came into port during a gale and 60 lives were lost with only one man [foremast hand, Hedges] being saved. In one of the true mysteries that from time to time rise up from the sea, the sole survivor of the ‘Cawarra’ was rescued by the sole survivor of the famous wreck of the ‘Dunbar’. That man was of course, James Johnson. [see ‘Dunbar’]
‘CENTAUR’ Steel ship of 3222 Tons. She was being used as a Hospital ship and was bound from Sydney to Port Moresby on the 14th of May 1943. She was at that time, off the coast of Queensland near Cape Moreton when a Japanese torpedo struck her. She was unescorted and well lit when she was hit. She caught fire and sank in three minutes with 268 lives being lost. The Japanese may been informed that she was carrying ammunition and arms, which would have prompted the attack on such a target.
‘CENTENNIAL’ Steamer of 591 Tons that was sunk off Bradley’s Head, Sydney after a collision near Taylor’s Bay.
‘CENTENNIAL’ Small 89 Ton steamer that was lost after leaving Launceston, Tasmania for Wellinton, New Zealand on the 17th of October 1906. She went missing with all ten of her crew.
‘CENTURION’ Built 1869 Composite ship of 965 Tons. Length; 208.1 ft. Breadth; 35 ft. Depth; 21 ft. Keel Deck; 22 ft. She was a clipper built ship that was later converted to a bark. Master; Captain Thomas Mitchell. Built by Walter Hood and Co. Walter Hood was a famous ship builder of the period who was drowned in Aberdeen Harbour in 1862 but whose name was continued on in the firm for many years. She was commissioned by the Aberdeen ‘White Star’ line owned by George Thompson and Co. She was wrecked at Sydney, NSW, on the 14th of January 1887. She was under the command of Captain Charles Taylor who was relieving Captain Thomas Taylor who was ill before the ship left England.
The ‘Centurion’ was under tow by the tugboat ‘Phoebe’ and had been cleared to sail for Honolulu. The captain of the ‘Phoebe’ stated that while towing the ship out, he found the seas coming into Sydney Harbour were rough. The ship ‘Manhegan’ was anchored almost directly between the heads and the seas caused the tug to alter course to pass under the stern of the anchored ship. This caused the towline to slacken and drop down into the propellers of the ‘Phoebe’, parting the line. The rest is history, the ‘Centurion’ had no power of her own and she was quickly washed onto rocks at Quarantine Head and after bumping heavily on them, went over on her beam ends and drifted a short distance to nearby Cannae Point where she sank. All the crew were saved and the ship rested quietly on the bottom of Sydney Harbour for 98 years before being ‘discovered’ by divers in May 1885. Anyone interested in the old Tall Ships would have been able to tell those interested in diving old wrecks, that the story of the ‘Centurion’ and where she went down has been published in many of the more well known seafaring books. His old wool clipper and coal hauler was given good documentation in Basil Lubbocks ‘The Last of The Windjammers’.
HMAS ‘CERBERUS’ Built 1856. Iron ship of 3480 Tons. She was a Protector vessel that served Victoria, Australia for many years. She was 70 years old when she was towed to Black Rock beach near Melbourne and was scuttled to form a breakwater in July 1926.
‘CERES’ An 80-Ton steamer that was wrecked on Cabbage Tree Point, NSW. She was one of the first Australian built wooden steamers [built Sydney in 1835] and thee years after she was wrecked, her engines were salved and installed in the new vessel ‘Victoria’.
‘CERVANTES’ Wood barque of 217 Tons. She belonged to the Americans when she was wrecked while leaving Jurien Bay, Western Australia on the 29th of June 1844. Her crew walked to Geographe Bay, taking seven days to make the trek. One man died of exposure on the journey.
‘CHALLENGE’ Queensland labour vessel that was arrested by the HMS ‘Basilisk’ with 33 natives on board in 1873. She had kidnapped the natives and was taken back to Sydney to be condemned. Her owners later repaired the vessel and put her back to work.
SS ‘CHAMPION’ Steamship that collided with the steamer ‘LADYBIRD’ off Cape Otway in August 1857, She sank in five minutes and took 32 souls with her.
‘CHAMPION OF THE SEAS’ Built 1854, Wood ship of 2448 Tons. She was a passenger liner on the Australian run for the Black Ball line. She was found to be in a leaking condition after heavy seas on her homeward voyage in January 1877. The crew abandoned her on the 3rd of January and it is thought that she sank soon after.
‘CHARLES EATON’ Built circa 1825. Wood barque of 313 Tons that was en-route from Sydney to Singapore in July/August 1834, when she was wrecked on the Great Barrier Reef near the Sir Charles Hardy islands. Master: Captain J. G. Moore. Four of the crew managed to sail one of the boats to Batavia but of the 27 persons remaining with the wreck, only two boys survived, the rest were killed by the local natives. The two boys, John Ireland [cabin boy] and William D’Oyley [child passenger who was the son of Captain D’Oyley of the Bengal Artillery] were adopted by the natives until they were rescued by the schooner ‘Isabella’ which was commanded by Captain C. M. Lewis. This latter vessel is thought to have been the first Euopean vessel to make contact with natives at Prince of Wales Island near the tip of Cape York, the Mother of William D'Oyley was among those beheaded by the natives.
‘CHAUDIERRE’ Built 1863. Wood barque of 470 Tons that was lost while at anchor in Hamelin Bay near Cape Leuwin, Western Australia in 1883. She was Australian owned and was loading timber at the time.
‘CHEETAH’ Wood schooner of 120 Tons that was wrecked near Crowdy Head, New South Wales. She struck on the 15th of February 1868. All were saved.
‘CHEVIOT’ Wood barque of 494 Tons. She was en-route from Adelaide to Capetown, South Africa in 1885 when she disappeared with all 12 hands.
SS ‘CHEVIOT’ Iron steamer of 1226 Tons. She was wrecked at Port Phillip Heads near Point Nepean on the 20th of October 1887. Even though she had anchored after her propeller had broken, her cables parted in the heavy seas and she was driven aground and 35 persons were drowned.
‘CHILDREN’ Wood barque of 255 Tons. She was wrecked on the 15th of January 1839 . She was about120 klms to the east of Portland Bay, Victoria near Childers Cove and went down with the loss of 16 lives.
‘CHIPPERKYLE’ Iron barque of 1598 Tons. She was en-route from Newcastle, NSW to Valparaiso, Chile when she went missing with all hands. Perhaps another victim of the infamous Newcastle coal.
‘CHRISTINA FRASER’ Steel Collier of 717 Tons. She was en-route from Bulli, NSW, to Melbourne when she disappeared with all hands on the 24th of June 1933. Sir Charles Kingsford Smith in his Southern Cross aircraft searched but failed to find the vessel. She had earlier been damaged when she grounded on Jibbon Bombora near Port Hacking NSW and this may have weakened her enough for her to be lost with all 17 of her crew.
‘CHRISTOPHER GEORGE’ Wood schooner that was lost with all hands while battling a gale off Woolongong NSW. She went down on the 23rd of February 1869.
‘CINCINNATI’ Wood barque of 460 Tons. She sailed from Newcastle, NSW to Otago, New Zealand and she stranded in Otago Harbour to become a coal hulk at that port.
‘CITIZEN’ Wood Paddlewheel Steamer that was lost in 1862 while en-route from Melbourne, Victoria to Dunedin, New Zealand. All lives were lost
‘CITY OF AGRA’ Built 1860. Iron ship of 1074 Tons. She was wrecked in 1907 after many voyages to Australia.
‘CITY OF DUNEDIN’ Small Steamer of 327 Tons that was lost with all hands and 15 passengers off Taranaki, New Zealand on the 20th of May 1865.
‘CITY OF EDINBURGH’ Wood ship of 526 Tons. She was involved in the rescue of the survivors from the ‘Boyd’ in 1809. One year later she herself was caught in a storm and abandoned while en-route to Cadiz from Valparaiso.
‘CITY OF RAYVILLE’ Steel American ship of 5883 Tons. She ran into a German mine off Cape Otway, Victoria in 1940. Only one life was lost as she went down.
SS‘ CITY OF SINGAPORE’ Steel cargo ship owned by Ellerman and Bucknell that caught fire at Port Adelaide on the 26th of April 1924. Three men were killed and twelve firemen were injured in the subsequent explosions.
SS‘ CITY OF SYDNEY’ Iron steamship of 734 Tons. She belonged to the A.U.S.N. Company and she was wrecked at Disaster Bay near Green Cape, New South Wales. On the morning of the 6th of November 1862, during a thick fog, she struck and although there were no lives lost, the ship was a total wreck, the first for the Australian Union Steam Navigation Company.
‘CITY OF YORK’ Built 1861. Iron ship of 1218 Tons. She was wrecked at Rottnest Island off the coast of Western Australia in 1899. She ran into foul weather while loaded with timber and on the 12th of July 1899, she struck and went down with 11 of her crew. The ship ‘Carlisle Castle’ was also lost near Rockingham, Western Australia on the same night and only a few miles separated the two ships.
‘CLAN MACPHERSON’ Built 1885. Iron barque of 1610 Tons. She sailed for Valparaiso, Chile in 1909 from the port of Newcastle, New South Wales with a cargo of the dreaded Newcastle coal and was never seen again.
SS ‘CLAN MACTAVISH’ Steel steamship of 5816 Tons that was attacked by the German Raider ‘Moewe’ on the 16th of January 1917, off the Canary Islands. She chose to fight with the Germans and although out gunned, she put up a bold showing by killing several German sailors before she went down. She lost 18 killed in the fighting and the Raider picked up the rest.
SS ‘CLAN RANALD’ A 3596 Ton Steel steamship that went over on her beam ends off Troubridge Point, South Australia on January 31st 1909 and 40 lives were lost. The reason for her capsize was never shown, although an investigation was done.
‘CLARENCE’ Built 1827. Wood barque of brig of 255 Tons. She was in the South Pacific as a whaler when she was wrecked on Brampton Shoal. Five of her crew managed to survive and make it to Brisbane in an open boat, the voyage took almost a month. This vessel was the wreck, which was involved in the Barbara Crawford Thompson saga. Richard Rule, one of the mates on the vessel, led the surviving crew. Her wreck sit is variously listed as Chesterfield reef, Brampton shoal or Bampton shoal. Brampton reef is near Mackay, Queensland.
‘CLYDE’ Wood barque of 562 Tons that was wrecked at Duvauchelles Bay in Akaroa Harbour, New Zealand. She struck during November 1884 and had only one survivor.
‘COAST FARMER’ Steel steamship of 3290 Tons. She was an American vessel that was torpedoed by a Japanese Submarine off point Perpendicular, New South Wales on the 21st of July 1942. She suffered no deaths or injuries to her crew.
‘COLINTRAVE’ Iron ship of 1747 Tons that was taking coal from Newcastle, NSW, to San Francisco when she disappeared. She had 31 crew aboard and nothing was ever found of them or their ship.
‘COLLEEN BAWN’ Queensland labour recruiter that went missing in the Solomon Islands with all hands c1870.
‘COLLINGWOOD’ Built 1872. Iron ship of 1011 Tons. Built by Hood for Devitt and Moore. She was a wool and passenger clipper that was sunk by a German Submarine on March 12th 1917.
COLUMBIA’ Iron barque of 1281 Tons and owned by the Norwegians when she left Wallaroo, South Australia and went missing with all hands on or about the 27th of February 1906.
‘COLUMBINE’ Wood brig that was bound from Liverpool to Melbourne, Victoria in April 1854 when she was wrecked at Barwon Heads, Victoria. The pilot was aboard and he and three passengers were drowned.
‘COMET’ Wood brigantine that was lost in Torres Strait in 1835. Commanded by Captain James Fraser, she was wrecked and the Captain and a few of the crew survived. Captain Fraser was able to reach civilization and gain another command the following year, this was the brig ‘Stirling Castle’ which wreck earned Captain Fraser the honor of having Fraser Island named after his wife Eliza and himself for the drama played out there in 1836.
‘COMET’ later ‘Fiery Star’ [see under ‘Fiery Star’]
‘COMET’ Steamer of 80 Tons that was built in 1843 and worked on the Parramatta River, NSW until she was sent to Port Phillip, Victoria in 1852 during the goldrush period. In 1862, she was taking many gold diggers to New Zealand when she disappeared with all aboard her. No trace was ever found.
‘CONSIDE’ A 380 Ton steamship that was wrecked off Point Lonsdale, Victoria on the 15th of September 1852. She was carrying 200 passengers from Sydney to Melbourne and 10 of them were drowned. The light on a wreck that was on a nearby reef, was mistaken for the Point Lonsdale Lighthouse and the ‘Conside’ ended her days on the same reef.
‘COOMA’ Steel Steamer of 3839 Tons. She was badly damaged in a collision with the ship ‘Oonah’ on the 19th of August 1925. She was able to continue on with her voyage. On the evening of the 7th and early morning of the 8th of July 1926, while traveling from Brisbane to Cairns, Queensland, She stranded near the light on North Reef in the Capricorn Group. She was carrying 284 passengers and crew but no lives were lost. Both of Brisbane’s well known tugboats, the ‘Coringa’ and the ‘Forceful’ were sent to try and pull her off the reef but she was to well set and they failed to move her. The ‘Burwah’ took off the passengers and three crew remained aboard to thwart salvage operators. After almost six months, she caught fire and was burned with all but a small amount of cargo being destroyed. The ship ‘Chronos’ later saved the three crew. The remaining cargo was sold in May 1827 for 150 pounds.
‘CORAMBA’ Vessel that foundered during a fierce gale off Seal Rocks on the 2nd of December 1934. The vessel was literally smashed to pieces for divers only found the hull while trying to locate the wreck. Much wreckage was washed ashore and all 17crew were drowned.
‘CORINGA’ Steel Tugboat that was dispatched to North Queensland to assist the passenger liner ‘Arafura’. She went in company with the ‘Forceful’ which was another well-known Brisbane Tugboat and both arrived on the scene in heavy seas. The towlines were secured and towing began but on the 26th of February, ‘Coringa’ cut her towline when her steering gear failed. The ‘Forceful’ was able to complete the tow but the ‘Coringa’ disappeared and was thought to be lost after an air search failed to find her. She was still afloat though and arrived in Brisbane after a very hard struggle. She was badly damaged and her crew of 23 were exhausted.[see ‘Coringa, The Fighting Tugboat, as separate article.]
CORINGA PACKET’ Wood ship of 230 Tons. She was bound from Sydney to Ceylon [Sri Lanka] in 1845. On the 7th of May of that year, she was wrecked on the Coringa Islets in the Coral sea. Her crew separated with some of them going for help in one of the boats and the rest remaining with the wreck. Eleven Lascars died but all her white crew survived. Those who took the boat reached Port Essington, Northern Territory, Australia. The schooner ‘Frolic’ took those who remained with the wreck off. HMS ‘Fly’ picked up the boat crew.
‘CORINTH’ Built 1870. Composite barque of 614 Tons. She was bound from Launceston, Tasmania to London when she caught fire 300 miles to the southeast of New Zealand in 1890. The crew abandoned her in two boats and were picked up after five days adrift.
‘CORIO’ Steamship that left Sydney on the 12th of July 1866 and disappeared without a trace. She went with all ten of her crew.
‘COSPATRICK’ Built 1856. Wood frigate built ship of 1119 Tons. Length; 190.0 ft. Breadth; 34.0 ft. Depth; 23.5 ft. Built at Moulmein, India. Owned by J,Fleming in 1863. Reg; London. Master; Captain J.Elmslie. She was sold to Shaw-Savill in the late 1860’s and they traded well with her until 1874. She left London in August 1874 with 474 persons aboard her. On the 17th of November 1874, she caught fire south of the Cape of Good Hope. Her captain and 44 crewmen battled the blaze until Captain Elmslie, perhaps by accident, got her head into the wind and the whole ship was soon enveloped in smoke. The passengers panicked and the boats were got over the side with people choking, coughing and battling to gain a place in one of the boats. The sails soon caught fire and of the 474, only 81 were able to get away in the boats. They had to sit and watch as their fellow passenger were forced to jump into the ocean or burn. Captain Elmslie had his young wife with him and he threw her over the side and then jumped in after her, he was the last to leave the fiercely burning ship. The two boats that were got away had no food or water and only one had any form of propulsion, one solitary oar. For the next nine days there came a tale of horror as one by one the passengers began to die. Finally, rescue came, only three of the 81 were still alive and they were in very poor condition.The ship, ‘British Sceptre’ found them and transported them to safety. This Shaw-Savill liner was at that time one of the worst shipping losses on record.
‘COSTA RICA PACKET’ Wood ship that was sent off on a whaling trip, she was arrested by the Dutch in the East Indies and accused of piracy. This occurred in July 1891, she was later released and sold in Singapore to pay costs. The owners later proved to the Dutch that she was innocent of the charges and they paid 10,000 pounds to the owners in compensation six years after the event.
‘COUNTESS OF ROXBURGH’ Steel four-mast barque of 2091 Tons. She was wrecked on Takaroa Island in the Tuamotu group on the 8th of February 1906. Ten of her crew died.
‘CRAIGBURN’ A barque that was wrecked on Sorrento Beach near Geelong, Victoria on the 8th of May 1891 with the loss of 5 lives.
‘CRISHNA’ Wood barque that was used in the recruiting trade to Queensland. She was arrested by HMS Basilisk for kidnapping natives. She was condemned and sold in 1873. [see recruiters]
‘CROMDALE’ Built 1891. Steel skysail yarder of 1903 Tons. She was the last of the famous Wool Clippers and in 1913 was wrecked on the ‘Lizard’. Her crew all managed to get away in her boats after one of them had sailed the ship straight up onto the rocks in calm weather.
‘CUMBERLAND’ Wood Brig that was bound for the Hawksbury river from Sydney when she was captured by a convict work party. They put the crew shore and sailed away on the 5th of September 1797. During March 1798, a few of the convicts were recaptured but the brig was lost.
‘CUMBERLAND’ Wood schooner that transported Matthew Flinders from Wreck Reef to the island of Mauritius where he was detained and imprisoned from December 1803 until June 1810. The schooner lay on the beach until it rotted away.
‘CUMBERLAND’ Wood schooner of 80 Tons. She was in the sandalwood trade and was bound for Tahiti from Sydney. On the 12th of August 1814 at Raratonga, five of her crew were killed and eaten by the local natives. The Schooner made it back to Sydney very light handed.
SS ‘CUMBERLAND’ Steel steamer of 9471 Tons. She was sailing along the Victorian coast on the 6th of July 1917 when she ran into one of the mines the German raider ‘Wolf’ had set along that stretch of coast. She managed to get to Gabo Island where she was beached and after a short time she was partially repaired and began a tow to Eden, NSW. She sank off Green Cape being unable to cope with the heavy seas.
‘CUMBRAE’ ship of 1360 Tons that sailed from Newcastle, NSW with a cargo of coal, She was bound for Valparaiso, Chile and went missing with all 23 of her crew. Nothing was ever found of her.
‘CURLEW’ An 11 Ton wood schooner that was wrecked at Onslow, Western Australia on the 7th of February 1911. She was caught in a Cyclone that left only one survivor.
SS ‘CURRAJONG’ Iron steamship of 410 Tons that had a collision with the steamer ‘Wyreema’ in the Fairway of Bradley’s Head, Sydney Harbour on the 8th of March 1910. One life was lost and divers had to destroy the sunken vessel with explosives to reduce the hazard to other shipping
‘CYGNET’ Wood ship of about 400 Tons. She was a pirate vessel that had Captain Read as her master. In 1688, she arrived at North Western Australia with the pirate, William Dampier on board. Two years later in 1690, the crew abandoned this vessel in St Augustines Bay, Madagascar, where she sank.
‘CYPRUS’ Wood brig of approx. 120 Tons that was used as a coastal convict transport. In August 1829, convicts at Recherche Bay, Tasmania, captured her. They put the master and his crew ashore and sailed off to China where they scuttled the vessel and presumably made good their escape.
D
‘DALGONAR’ Built 1892. Steel ship of 2665 Tons that caught fire when bound for Australia on the 18th of July 1896. She put in to St Vincent, Cape Verde Islands. She was repaired and sailed on until 1913, when she was abandoned in a sinking condition. Captain Ibister and three of his crew were drowned as she went over on her beam-ends due to the shingle ballast she carried having shifted. The French four-mast bark, ‘Loire’ was in the area and picked up the rest of the crew. A rather strange footnote to this tale is that ‘Dalgonar’ did not sink, she drifted on currents for over 5000 miles [6500 klms] and was finally hung up on a reef on the island of Mopiha-a in the Society group in 1914.
‘DALHOUSIE’ Built 1848 at Moulmein, India. Wood frigate built ship of 848 Tons. J. ALLAN of the Australian White Horse line owned her and in October 1853 when bound for Sydney from London, she went over on her beam-ends in heavy seas off Beachy Head. She then slowly sank beneath those who still clung to her. Only the Helmsman [Seaman Joseph Reed] lived to tell of what happened to the other 59 passengers and crew. Master; Captain Butterworth. London-Melbourne service.
‘DANCING WAVE’ Wood pearling lugger that was employed in the Labour recruiting trade for Queensland. She was at Ngela Island in the Florida group [part of the Solomon Islands] and was in the process of taking on native workers for the cane fields when the natives attacked the crew with machetes and hacked them to pieces on the 22nd of April 1876. This was caused by a group of natives who had previously been recruited and returned without pay to their island. This group instigated the massacre, which was described as horrific by the one white survivor who managed to get the vessel away with the help of a few native crewmen. The bark ‘Sydney’ assisted the schooner into port.
SS ’DANDENONG’ A 575 Ton steamer that was lost off Jervis Bay, NSW on the 11th of September 1876, with the loss of 40 lives. She broke her propeller shaft in heavy seas and it damaged the bulkhead. She quickly took on water and sank with the loss of 40 lives.
‘DARLING DOWNS’ ex ‘Calcutta’ Built 1852. Wood ship of 1634 Tons. She made many trips to Australia as a passenger ship under the name ‘Darling Downs’. She was run into and sunk off the ‘Nore’ in 1887. Master; Captain Daniel Bolt.
‘DASHING WAVE’ Sydney based bark that was sailing from Foochow, China to Sydney with Tea. She struck a reef in the South China sea on the 31st of August 1870. The crew spent a full month in the boats before making it to Kusaie Island in the Caroline group.
‘DAVID LAW’ Iron ship of 1500 Tons that had been involved in the passenger trade to Australia. Later, she was used as a general carrier and in mid 1880, she left Leith, Scotland with Coal, Pig iron and Tombstones for San Francisco. Her coal caught fire while rounding the ‘Horn’ and after consultation with the crew, the captain headed the ship for Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands. She arrived at the small island of Elephant Quay where it was decided to abandon ship due to the fire now raging beneath the decks. The crew landed safely but noticed that there was smoke coming from another island about four miles off and so they took to the boats again and were able to make contact with a local farmer. The captain went off to stay at the farm while the crew lived in the upturned boats for a month while awaiting rescue. A brig was sent from Port Stanley to pick them up and they were there put aboard the HMS ‘Rally’ for transport back to London. Master; Captain Wilson. First Mate; Robert Sterrit.
‘DAY DAWN’ Built 1851 at Fairhaven, Mass. Wood barque that was under Australian ownership when she was sunk while at anchor near Garden Island just off the Western Australian coast near Fremantle in 1886. She was under ballast at the time.
‘DAYSPRING I’ Wood Brigantine that belonged to the Presbyterian mission. She was en-route from Australia to the New Hebrides when she was wrecked on a reef at the entrance to Anelcahaut Harbour, Aneityum Island on the 6th of January 1873. They had already been at anchor but the vessel broke her cables during a cyclone and was blown onto the reef. All hands were saved and the vessel was sold to a Frenchman who repaired her with the intention of putting her into the labour trade. She never made a start to her new career for while at anchor after undergoing repairs, she was hit by another cyclone and again was blown onto the reef where she this time remained as a total wreck.
‘DAYSPRING III’ Wood Auxiliary three mast schooner that was owned by the Pesbyterian Mission. She was wrecked at the entrance to Grand Passage to the north of New Caledonia, while en-route from Sydney to the New Hebrides. She struck on the 16th of October 1896 and all hands were able to get into the boats and sail them safely back to Australia.
‘DEE’ Built 1885. Iron bark of 1169 Tons. She was bound from Mauritius to Bunbury, Western Australia in 1917 when the German Raider ‘Wolf’ intercepted her. The raider took off the crew and the ‘Dee’ was sunk. Master; Captain M.C.Yore.
‘DEFENDER’ Wood ship of 1300 Tons. She was a timber drogue that was bound for Sydney from Puget Sound with timber. On the 27th of February 1859, She struck Middleton Reef in the Tasman Sea and became a total wreck. The boats were got away and the crew made it safely to Australia, one landed at Macleay River and one at Port Macquarie, NSW. No lives were lost.
‘DENTON HOLME’ Built 1863. Iron barque of 998 Tons that was lost on Rottnest Island in 1890. She was under British ownership and was carrying water pipes and general cargo when outward bound from Glasgow.
‘DERRY CASTLE’ Ship that was wrecked on Enderby Island near Auckland Island to the south of New Zealand on the 20th of March 1887.She was one of quite a few vessels that have been wrecked in the Auckland island region. The ‘Dundonald’ and the ‘Invercauld’, the ‘General Grant’ and the ‘Compadre’, the ‘Spirit of the Dawn’ and the ‘Daphne’ along with the ‘Kakanui’ and the French bark ‘Anjou are some of the others..
‘DISPATCH’ Wood ship that was bound from Sydney to London in 1839 with a cargo of wool. She caught fire in the Tasman Sea and was destroyed within a day. One of her boats was lost with 21 crew aboard and was not seen again but the other boat survived and was picked up by the ship ‘Governor Burke’.
‘DOELWYCK’ Wood ship of 740 Tons. She was sailing in company with the ‘Hester’ when both vessels were wrecked on the night of April 21st, 1854. They both struck Kenn Reef in the Coral Sea and both crews managed to get safely away from the wrecks but the crew from the ‘Doelwyck’ disappeared forever.
‘DOLPHIN’ Wood schooner that was bound from Port Davey, Tasmania to Hobart in 1854. She disappeared with all 11 of her crew.
SS ‘DOLPHIN’ Wood steamship that was wrecked off Lady Elliott Island, Queensland, on the 26th of July 1942. Four of her crewmen were drowned.
‘DON ISIDORO’ Steel American ship of 3261 Tons. Lost when Japanese aircraft attacked her off Melville Island on the 19th of February 1942. She was sunk with the loss of 11 of her crew.
‘DON JUAN’ Wood schooner of app 120 Tons. She was wrecked off Newcastle, NSW on the 9h of May 1869. She had been involved in the Recruiter trade for Queensland labour in the canefields during the early 1860’s. She lost 6 of her crew.
SS ‘DORRIGO’ Iron steamer of 715 Tons. She was en-route from Brisbane, Queensland to Thursday Island when she foundered in a gale about 14 miles [25 klms] east of Double Island Point near Fraser Island. The captain and his son were able to get onto a raft after watching the crew get away on another raft. The ship ‘Moruya’ rescued the captain and his son but the 22 crew were never seen again.
SS ‘DOUGLAS MAWSON’ Steel steamer of 107 Tons. She foundered with the loss of 20 lives while battling a cyclone in the Gulf of Carpentaria, North Queensland. She was en-route from Burketown to Thursday Island on the 28th of March 1923.
SS ‘DOURO’ Stern wheel Paddle steamer of 40 Tons that was attacked by natives at Brooker Island, near New Guinea on the 16th of November 1878. The four white crewmen were all killed.
‘DOVE’ Wood ship from Sydney that was bound for Newcastle, NSW when she was lost near Port Stephens in heavy going on the 5th of June 1828. Seven of her crew were drowned.
HMS ‘DROMEDARY’ Wood frigate that caught fire in Sydney Harbour and was in danger of being completely destroyed but the actions of Captain Pascoe of the ship ‘Hindostan’ who ordered his crew to action and extinguished the fire. The ships had just delivered Governor Macquarie to Sydney and were ready to transport Governor Bligh back to England. The fire took place on the 7th of March, 1810.
‘DUFF’ Wood missionary ship that was the first of its kind sent to gain religious recruits in the South Pacific. She arrived in 1796 and over the next three years, she voyaged among the South sea islands for the London Mission Society. She was returned to London briefly and then again headed for the South Pacific but was captured by the French privateer, ‘Buonaparte’ near Cape Frio, Rio de Janiero. Her 30 missionaries were robbed of all they possessed and were subjected to many privations before they were able to get back to England.
‘DUMFRIESSHIRE’ Built 1877. Iron bark of 1262 Tons. She ran aground on a reef in Gazelle Passage, New Caledonia, on the 3rd of July 1904. The captain and the crew abandoned ship and got safely away to be quickly picked up by a passing steamship. During the night, the tide picked the ship up and set her drifting in the lagoon where two French settlers discovered her some thirty miles down the coast from where she had stranded. They went aboard and finding no one at home, they secured her in a small bay until the owners could be contacted. This must have been a surprise for her captain and crew who would have thought her done for. The settler claimed a large salvage fee and her master would have been dragged over the coals. Master; Captain A.Greig. The ship went on to live a long life and was bought by the Norwegians and then the Danes who still had her sailing in 1922.
‘DUNBAR’ Built 1853. Wood ship of 1321 Tons. Length; 201.9ft. Breadth; 35 ft. Depth; 22.7 ft. Built by James Laing for Duncan Dunbar. Blackwall Frigate that was wrecked at the ‘Gap’ near Sydney Heads on the night of the 20th of August 1857. She was built of Oak with Teak being used for her planking and masts. So strong was she built that even after she had been crushed time and time against the sharp rocks at the ‘Gap’ for many hours after she was wrecked, her hull still remained at the base of the cliffs even though her back was broken. She carried 30 cabin and 33 steerage passengers with officers and crew numbering 59 men. Of the 122 men women and children aboard her, only one man, Able Seaman James Johnstone [23 yrs] survived the terrible tragedy. Such was the devastation caused to the bodies of those drowned by the attacks of sharks that some of the inquest members fainted at the sight of the horribly dismembered corpses. James Johnstone stayed on in Australia and was coxswain on another vessel that rescued the only survivor of the Paddle Steamer ‘Cawarra’ which was wrecked at the Oyster Bank at Newcastle, NSW. He lived on and was still going on the 50th anniversary of the wreck of the ‘Dunbar’ in 1907.
‘DUNDONALD’ Built 1891. Steel four-mast bark of 2205 Tons. She left Sydney with her captain and a crew of 27 men in February 1907. She disappeared without trace and it is thought that her cargo may have been the cause.
‘DUNEARN’ English vessel that was coal laden from Newcastle, NSW to Valparaiso when she went missing with all hands in 1910.
‘DUNKELD’ Wood bark of 390 Tons that was lost with all hands between Newcastle, NSW and Melbourne, Victoria in June 1870.
E
‘ECLIPSE’ Wood schooner that was lost off the Manning river in 1866. There were 8 lives lost.
‘ECLIPTIC’ Wood bark of 314 Tons that was lost at Port Albert, Victoria in March 1874 with the loss of 10 souls. She was en-route from Newcastle, NSW, to Melbourne.
‘EDITH HAVILAND’ Wood brig of 264 Tons that was wrecked at Carpenter Rocks near Cape Banks, Botany Bay NSW. She struck on the 20th of June 1877 with the loss of four crew.
‘EDWARD LOMBE’ Wood ship that was wrecked on Middle Head while entering Sydney Harbour on the 25th of August,1834. Of her Captain and 28 crew, only 11 crewmen and the 1st Mate were saved.
‘ELEANOR’ Wood bark of 396 Tons that was lost between Sydney and Auckland in July 1874 losing all 12 of her crew. She is thought to have foundered in heavy weather.
‘ELEANOR LANCASTER’ Wood bark that was wrecked on the Newcastle, NSW, graveyard of ships, [The Oyster Bank] the seas were very big when she struck on the 6th of November 1856. It was only due to the great fortitude of the crew of the ship ‘Lord Burleigh’ that all were saved from the wreck.
‘ELINGAMITE’ Iron steamship of 1675 Tons that was wrecked at Three Kings Islands, New Zealand on the 5th of November 1902. There were 30 lives lost and it was due to this wreck that the National Shipwreck Relief Society was created for New Zealand.
‘ELIZA’ Wood schooner of 10 Tons that had earlier been a longboat. She went with the vessel ‘Francis’ to rescue survivors from the wrecked ship ‘Sydney Cove’. On her return, the little schooner was lost with all those on board.
‘ELIZABETH’ Wood schooner that went in search of the Australian big ‘Clarence’ when that vessel was lost at Brampton shoal. The ‘Elizabeth’, Captain Riley, also got into trouble when the captain took a whaleboat out to search for the wreck, the rest of the crew and the ‘Elizabeth’ went missing but the captain managed to get his whaleboat back to Brisbane about March 1845.
‘ELLEN’ Built 1865 at St Johns, New Brunswick. Wood bark of 750 Tons. She was lost off Seal Rocks While en-route from Newcastle, NSW. to Noumea. She carried a crew of ten and was laden with coal when she foundered. The cause of her loss was a violent storm, which completely over whelmed her and caused the death of nine of her ten hands. The lone survivor was an Able Seaman named A.E.Petersen, a native of Sweden who certainly must have been meant to live, for he survived to be 100 years old, he was only 25 when the ‘Ellen’ went down on the 12th of July 1891.
‘ELLEN SIMPSON’ Wood bark of 310 Tons was wrecked on Cape Howe, Victoria on the 28th of May 1866. She lost 9 of her crew. She was a Melbourne owned vessel.
‘ELLISLAND’ Built 1884. Steel four-mast bark of 2355 Tons. Master; Captain Brokenshire. She left Newcastle with coal for Chile, South America in 1910 and went missing somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. She was not seen or heard of again.
‘EMILY’ Wood Ketch that was a pearler. Natives at Joanett Island in the Louisade Archipelago captured her. All of the crew were killed and the vessel was stripped and burnt.
‘EMPRESS OF THE SEAS’ Wood ship of 1647 Tons that belonged to the Black Ball Line. She was chartered by the White Star Line to run to Melbourne from London and return. She departed Melbourne on her return voyage on the 18th of December 1861 but the following day, she caught fire at Queenscliffe, Victoria and she was scuttled and sunk near Point Nepean. Her gold was saved but the rest of her cargo of Wool and Tallow was destroyed.
HM Brig ‘EMU’ Wood vessel that was used to transport convicts between Australian ports and also as an escort vessel. She was en-route from Sydney to London when she ran aground near the Cape of Good Hope in 1816. She was repaired, refloated and sold but was wrecked the following year near Simons Bay with only one of her crew being saved.
‘ENCHANTRESS’ Wood ship that was bringing emigrants to Australia and when sailing up D’Entrcastreaux Channel at night on her way to Hobart, She ran into cliffs on Bruny Island on the 17th of July 1835. Her Jib boom was broken off, her Bow stove in and she slid back into deep water and sank. She lost about 50 of her passengers and crew, with three being saved.
HMS ‘ENCOUNTER’ British naval vessel that lost its Pinnace near Mrs. Macquarie’s chair. The pinnace was struck by the Collier ‘Dunsmore’ which sent 67 of the naval personnel into the harbour. Fifteen were drowned.
SS ‘ENDEAVOUR’ Australian Fisheries vessel that was en-route to Macquarie Island in the South Pacific, from Melbourne. On her return on the 3rd of December, 1914. She disappeared with all 24 of her crew. Nothing has ever been found of her.
‘ENDEAVOUR’ Wood frigate of 369 Tons. She worked the East India trade and was in Sydney bound for Bombay by way of New Zealand when she was wrecked at Dusky Bay, New Zealand. The crew made small schooners out of the longboats and named them ‘Providence’ and ‘Assistance’. Both crews made it to safety with one arriving at Norfolk Island and the other at Sydney.
‘ERROL’ Norwegian owned bark that was wrecked on Middleton Reef at midnight on the 18th of June 1909. For ten weeks, the survivors suffered starvation and thirst and seventeen of her crew died. Only five were saved by the arrival of the steamship 'Jofua’. She was probably the old ship ‘Carisbrook Castle’ that was built back in 1868. [see main register.
‘ESPERANZA’ Wood Brig that foundered in big seas off Bird Island, New South Wales on the 16th of February 1868. She struggled for some time against cyclonic winds and tremendous seas but lost her battle and ten of her crew were lost.
‘ESPERANZA’ Wood schooner of the Queensland labour trade. Natives at Kulambangra Island in the Solomons attacked her. Her crew were all killed.
‘ESTRAMINA’ Wood schooner belonging to the Spaniard. She was an armed vessel that was captured by the Brig ‘Harrington’ of Sydney and after being taken to Jervis Bay, NSW in 1805, she was taken over by Governor King and used as a coastal carrier. She was lost at the mouth of the Hunter river, NSW while transporting coal.
‘EUROPA’ Built 1869. Iron barque of 800 Tons that was lost on the Western Australian coast to the north of Perth in 1897. She was under Italian ownership at the time and was carrying general cargo.
‘EURYNOME’ Iron shi[p of 1346 Tons. She was bound from Geelong, Victoria to Le Havre, France with wheat and went missing with all hands in April 1882. The cargo probably caught fire of got wet which commonly caused the loss of vessels carrying this type of cargo.
F
‘FAIRWIND’ A motor vessel that was bound from Port Moresby, New Guinea to Sydney with a crew of 17 men. She was sighted off Coffs Harbour on the 27th of June 1950. In June 1962 a chance discovery of a wreck at the mouth of the MacLeay River, NSW occurred and it is thought to have been the ‘Fairwind’.
‘FANNY’ Wood schooner that was attacked by natives at Nguna Island in the New Hebrides in July 1871. All of her crew were killed.
‘FAVORITE’ Wood schooner of 96 Tons that left Melbourne bound for Sydney and was caught in a gale off Cape Howe. She was last seen struggling against the big seas and her 21 passengers and crew are believed to have all gone down with their vessel.
‘FEDERAL’ Iron steamship of 1540 Tons that foundered in Bass Strait on the 21st of March 1901.
‘FERDINAND FISCHER’ Iron ship of 1673 Tons. She was of German registry and she left Geelong, Victoria bound for Falmouth, England on the 5th of February `1906 and disappeared.
‘FERRET’ Wood steamer of 460 Tons that was stolen in Glasgow, Scotland and was taken to Melbourne, Victoria. The gang were arrested and charged with theft on the 29th of July 1881 and each of them was sentenced to a few years in gaol. The vessel was then sold to an Adelaide firm and was wrecked on the Yorke Peninsula, South Australia in November 1920.
‘FIDO’ Wood bark of 450 Tons that was lost on a voyage from Newcastle, NSW, to New Zealand in May,1898. All twelve of her crew were lost with her.
‘FIERY STAR’ ex ‘Comet’ Wood ship of 1361 Tons that was built in 1851 and bought by the Black Ball line of passenger ships for the Australian trade. She caught fire on the 20th of April 1865 when bound for London from Brisbane, Queensland. She was South-South East of New Zealand when the fire broke out and the passengers and crew got away in four of the ships boats. The chief officer, four seamen and 13 apprentices stayed aboard the ship for a further 21 days and had to fight the fire almost continuously. The 78 persons who got away in the boats were lost presumed drowned in the storms that harassed the area while the 18 men aboard fought the flames. They had all volunteered to stay behind due to overcrowding in the boats. After three weeks had elapsed they were rescued by the American vessel ‘Dauntless’ The volunteers received bravery awards for their efforts.
‘FINGAL’ Built 1883. Steel barque of 2137 Tons. She was Norwegian owned when a Japanese submarine off Coffs Harbour torpedoed her on the 5th of May 1943. She went down with twelve of her crew.
‘FITZROY’ Iron steamer of 342 Tons that was caught in heavy seas and foundered off Cape Hawke. The gale force wind created a bad situation for the crew and eventually, 31 were lost with only one survivor being saved.
‘FLORENCE’ Iron ship of 809 Tons that left Newcastle, NSW with coal for Panama in January 1895. She and her 21 crew disappeared and were not heard of again.
‘FLORENCE D’ American Transport of 2638 Tons that was lost in a Japanese air attack off Melville island, Northern Territory on the 19th of February 1942. Three lives were lost.
‘FORTUNE’ Wood brig that was lost on the New Zealand coast after leaving Sydney, NSW. She went down with all ten of her crew in 1871.
HM ‘FRANCIS’ Wood schooner of 41 Tons that was the first ever vessel launched in Australia. Her framework had been sent out from England and the rest of the work on her hull and deck were done in Australia. She was wrecked on the Oyster Bank at Newcastle, NSW on the evening of the 20th of March 1805. She was also the first of many vessels to be wrecked on the well-known graveyard of ships. After a terrible battering during the night, she was washed well ashore but her condition was so bad, she could not be repaired. All were saved.
‘FRANCOIS FELIX’ Wood brigantine of 258 Tons. She went missing in July 1886 after departing Sydney bound for the Gilbert Islands. She disappeared without trace.
‘FREAK’ Wood brig that was first wrecked on Booby Island in the Torres Strait in 1848. She was rounding the island when she got in too close and struck a reef. She was able to be repaired and managed a very long life until she was wrecked on the Great Barrier Reef near Providence Channel in December 1870. Twelve of her islander crew were drowned.
‘FREDERICA WILHELMINA’ Wood schooner of 212 Tons that was employed in the Queensland Labour trade. She was wrecked in Empress Augustina Bay at Bougainville in March 1884. The local natives slaughtered many of her crew.
‘FRIENDSHIP’ [see First Fleet Register]
‘FRINDSBURY’ Wood whaler that was wrecked on Frindsbury Reef to the north of the Solomon Islands. Of the 35 crew, three were lost while the boats were being got away and of the two boats, one became missing and the other reached New Britain where they lived with the natives until rescued in May 1832 by the vessel ‘Isabella’.
G
‘GALAVA’ Iron steamer based in Sydney. She was a collier that was bound from Catherine Hill Bay to Sydney, NSW, when she foundered near Terrigal, NSW, on the 9th of February 1927. At about 1am and for an unknown reason, she foundered in calm seas and fine weather. Her crew of twelve should have not had difficulty in getting away but seven died and five were saved the following morning at 11am.
SS ‘GAMBIER’ Iron steamer of 1030 Tons. She was bound for Melbourne from Sydney when she came into collision with another vessel in Port Phillip in August 1891. She foundered and 21 of her passengers and crew were lost.
‘GAZELLE’ Wood schooner that was wrecked off the Caroline Islands in 1856. The vessel became a total loss and although the crew got away, natives afterward slaughtered them.
HMAS ‘GEELONG’ Australian Navy Corvette that was lost after a collision off New Guinea on the 18th of October, 1944.
‘GEM’ Wooden Cutter of 52 Tons that was sunk in heavy seas off Fremantle, Western Australia on the 13th of June, 1876. All ten of her crew went with her.
‘GEM’ Murray River Paddlewheel steamer that sank on the 6th of November 1948 at Higgins Cutting. One passenger collapsed and died of a possible heart attack but all 51 of the rest were saved.
‘GENERAL GRANT’ Wood ship that was bound from Melbourne to London under the American flag. She was transporting passengers and Gold dust from the Australian goldfields. In May 1866, she was passing Auckland Island to the South of New Zealand when she sailed into a large cave on one of the small offshore islets. Her crew did everything they could to retrieve the situation but they seas rose and the ship began to take a pounding with her topmast spiking the roof of the cave bringing rocks and boulders down on the decks. The mainmast was driven down through the bottom of the ship through the force of the pounding she was taking on the roof of the cave and soon she began to settle. Of the 84 passengers and crew who sailed on her, only 15 managed to get away in the boats. The captain was last seen holding onto the rigging as the ship went under. After spending 18 months on lonely and desolate Disappointment Island, they were rescued but five of them had died of exposure and illness during that time. It is possible that the whole roof of the cavern collapsed down onto the ship and this and the extreme cold and ild seas, is why the vessel has never been found.
‘GENERAL WOOD’ Wood bark of 171 Tons that was wrecked at Cape Hawke, NSW, in February 1868 with the loss of all hands. No trace of her had been found.
‘GEORGE S. LIVANOS’ Steel Steamship of 4835 Tons. She sailed under the Greek flag and was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine off Jervis Bay on the 20th of July, 1942.
‘GEORGE III’ Wood ship of 394 Tons. She carried 220 convicts and 75 crew and marines. She was bound for Hobart, Tasmania when she ran foul of rocks at the entrance to D’Entrecastreaux Channel, Tasmania on the 12th of April 1835. She lost 139 of her convicts during the wreck and was a total loss. Of her survivors, 81 convicts were brought safely to Hobart. The boats from the Schooner ‘Louisa’ were responsible for the rescue of the survivors. Master; William H Moxey. Surgeon; David Wyse.[see Convict Ship Register]
‘GEORGIANA’ Wood ship of 500 Tons. She lay at anchor in Port Phillip, Victoria when on the 16th of October 1852, the crew mutinied and after attacking the officers, they deserted the ship and after landing the boats, took off for the goldfields. One of the crew was killed in the fighting but none of the 300 immigrants were injured. Such was gold fever.
‘GEORGINA’ Wood bark of 315 Tons that left Melbourne and went missing with all hands in July 1880.
‘GILTWOOD’ Iron bark of 1056 Tons that was wrecked at Rivoli Bay, South Australia in July 1876, with the loss of 27 lives.
‘GLENBANK’ Wood schooner that was wrecked off Legendre Island, Western Australia on the 6th of February 1911. She carried 24 crew and only one survived the wreck.
‘GLENELG’ Small steamship of 210 Tons that was wrecked of the Victorian coast on the 25th of February 1900. She carried 30 passengers and crew with her and went missing, no trace was ever found.
‘GLENFINLAS’ Steel four-mast bark of 2148 Tons. She left Newcastle, NSW, bound for Manilla in October 1897. She went missing with her 30 crew and was not seen again.
HMAS ‘GOORANGI’ Australian minesweeper that was lost off Port Phillip after a collision on the 26th of November 1940. All hands were lost.
SS‘ GOTHENBERG’ ex SS ‘Celt’. Built at London in 1854. Ion bark rigged Steamer of 741 Tons. Length; 176 ft. Breadth; app 41 ft. Depth; app 22 ft. She was sold and renamed by her new owners and on the 17th of February 1875 she set sail for Adelaide. Master; Captain R. G. A. Pearse. She carried 125 passengers and crew and she also had 2500 ounces of gold in the captain’s cabin. The passengers also had a good deal of personal wealth aboard .The ‘Gothenberg’ was wrecked in Flinders Passage, Great Barrier Reef, Queensland with the loss of 102 lives on the24th of February 1875. She had run aground on Old Reef the evening of the 23rd of February and after hope that she would refloat was dashed after the seas worsened her position on the reef, the crew and passengers took to the boats. Almost all the boats were capsized or smashed by the seas and many passengers and crew were swept to their deaths. Fourteen persons stayed lashed to the masts in the heavy weather as the ship broke up beneath them. On the morning of the 26th of February, the seas abated and the 14 survivors managed to launch one of the remaining lifeboats.
The sailed to Holbourne Island where they found four of the first of the crewmen to be swept away and all 18 were soon rescued. Another four crew had managed to get the Gig into the water but they were swept away from the wreck before any other survivors could be loaded. They were picked up by the steamer ‘Leighhardt’ and the ship continued on to the wreck site in the hope of finding more survivors. They found none and the loss of life was grevious for the time with 103 persons drowned. She lies to the south east of Townsville, Queensland and the wreck site has been declared an historic wreck with disturbance forbidden. She was relocated in 1967. Captain Pearse and all his officers were among those lost. This captain was the stepfather of Tom Pearse, sole survivor of the ‘Loch Ard’ disaster in 1878.
‘GOVERNOR KING’ Wood schooner of 75 Tons that was lost on the 22nd of April 1806 on the Oyster Bank at Newcastle, NSW. She was lost almost alongside the ‘Francis’, which was the first of the many to be lost there.
‘GOVERNOR PHILLIP’ Wood ship of the convict trade. She was wrecked near Cape Barren Island, Bass Strait. She ran onto a sandbank in heavy seas on the 27th of October 1848. The officer in charge of convicts, Lieutenant Griffith, saved almost all of the convicts through his calmness while under duress. The rest of the crew and guards made good their escape but the lieutenant kept helping the convicts until only four were left below decks. He was still trying to release them when the ship went down.
‘GOVERNOR READY’ Wood ship of 512 Tons that was wrecked in Torres Strait in May 1829. She was between Murray and Halfway Islands when lost and her crew was safe after using three of her boats to get to Timor on a voyage that lasted 14 days. They traveled 1500 miles.
‘GRATIA’ Wood brig of 186 Tons that was lost near Cape Hawke, NSW. She went down with all hands on the 15th of February 1868.
‘GREAT QUEENSLAND’ Built 1852. Wood ship of 1794 Tons. Length; 253.7 ft. Breadth; 38.9ft. Depth; 25.7 ft. She was bound for Melbourne from London carrying 70 passengers and crew and a cargo of impure wood powder. The Patent Gunpowder Company and the owners of the ship were blamed when it did not arrive at its destination. She was last heard from on the 12th of August 1876 and no trace has been seen of her since.
HMS ‘GUARDIAN’ Wood ship that carried 44 guns and was one of the vessels sent with stores to the new settlement of Sydney. She lost many of her complement when she struck an Iceberg south of Cape Town, South Africa. Her master, Captain Edward Riou, managed to get the badly damaged vessel back to Cape Town.
SS ‘GUATEMALA’ Steamship of Panamanian Registry that was torpedoed off Sydney on the 11th of June 1942. A Japanese submarine was known to be in the area and was found to have made the attack. No lives were lost.
‘GUIDING STAR’ Wood ship of 2012 Tons that was under charter to the Golden Line and was bound from Liverpool to Melbourne. She departed Liverpool on the 9th of January 1855 and was lost in the southern latitudes about mid February 1855 when it is believed that she may have sailed into a huge ice island and become embayed. She carried about 540 passengers and crew.
‘GUIDING STAR’ Schooner that was bound from the Manning River to Sydney in October 1864. She disappeared with all five of her crew.
H
‘HABITANT’ Wood ship of 1618 Tons. She was under the American flag when she caught fire and burned in Port Phillip, Victoria. Her hull was turned into a floating dock at Williamstown.
‘HARLECH CASTLE’ Wood or Iron ship that was bound from Melbourne to Newcastle, NSW when she disappeared with all 23 members of her crew.
‘HARRIET’ Wood bark of 240 Tons. She was wrecked near Cape Egmont near Taranaki, New Zealand. She went aground on the 29th of April 1834 and all those on board made it to shore. These included John Guard who was head of a whaling station at Cloudy Bay, his wife and two children and 26 crewmen along with a number of whaling men from the station. A British rescue party was sent from Sydney aboard the HMS ‘Alligator’ and on arrival found that almost all had been killed and eaten by a cannibal Maori tribe. The rescue party attacked the Waimate Pah in the first action taken against the Maori by British troops. Mrs. Guard and her children were rescued.
‘HARRINGTON’ Wood brig of 180 Tons. 50 convicts who were being transported along the coast of New South Wales captured her. They sailed the vessel to the Philippines where they went into battle against the British ship HMS ‘Dedaigneuse’ near Luzon. They were forced to run the brig ashore where about 30 convicts escaped and 20 were captured.
‘HECTOR’ Wood schooner that went missing with all hands near the Richmond River, NSW. She was based in Sydney.
‘HELENA WHITE’ A Wood bark of 285 Tons that was lost with all hands between Newcastle, NSW and Adelaide, South Australia in May 1882. She was posted missing in September, 1882.
‘HELEN MACGREGOR’. A steamer that was wrecked on the Clarence River in northern New South Wales in March 1875, with the loss of 8 lives.
‘HERCULES’ Wood ship of approx. 500 Tons that was hit by large seas in D’Entrecasteaux Channel on the 29th of December 1835. Her poop deck was overran by a huge sea that swept away a number of her officers and passengers.
‘HERMES’ Wood schooner belonging to the Australian government that was bound from Madang, New Guinea to Rabaul on the 10th of November 1935. She carried three white and seventeen native crew and disappeared without trace.
‘HEROINE’ Wood brig of 130 Tons that was bound from Sydney to the Torres Strait with the Cutter ‘Ariel’ in tow. She struck a reef and sank north of Percy Island near Mackay, North Queensland in 1846. She lost seven of her crew but the rest were able to scramble aboard the ‘Ariel’ and she also went aground the next day but was able to get off with assistance from the vessel ‘Sapphire’.
‘HESTER’ Wood ship of 840 Tons that was sailing in company with the vessel ‘Doelwyck’ when both ships struck Kenn Reef in the Coral Sea on the 21ST of April 1854. Nine of her crew survived when rescued by the vessel ‘Jenny Lind’. The crew of the ‘Doelwyk’ were not so lucky, they made it into the boats only to disappear forever.
‘HOLT HILL’ Built 1884. Iron four-mast bark of 2441 Tons. Length; 300 ft. Breadth; 42,2 ft. Depth; 24.7 ft. She was wrecked on St Pauls Island during the night of the 13th of November 1889. She lost only one of her crew, the remainder being rescued by the bark ‘Coorong’ of South Australia.
I
‘INCA’ Bark of 959 Tons that went missing while bound for Sydney from Callao in 1911. Her name board was found at Port Stephens, NSW and she is thought to have been wrecked or foundered in that area.
‘INDEFATIGABLE’ ex ‘Calder’ Wood ship that was Australian owned and used as a trading vessel. She was bound from Chile to Sydney with a cargo of wheat when the Chilean crew mutinied and killed the master and some of the Australian crew. Five of her crew were put away in a boat and managed to land in Tahiti while the mutineers took the ship to Guam where the Spanish officials arrested them, transported them to Manilla for trial and then hung them.
‘INDIA’ Wood bark that was bound from Scotland to Sydney when she caught fire on the 19th of July 1841. One of the crew had been broaching a cask of spirits in the cargo hold with a naked flame and the cask exploded. She carried 216 passengers and crew and of these 198 were picked up by the ship ‘Roland’ which sailed under the French flag. Eighteen were killed in the fire and burning of the ship.
‘INGEBORG’ Iron bark that was run into by the Steamship ‘Arawatta’’ near Port Stephens, NSW. She went down on the 14th of August 1907 with the loss of 7 lives.
‘INVERENE’ Iron ship of 912 Tons that left Newcastle, NSW bound for Java with coal when she was wrecked on a reef just off the Javanese mainland. Half of her crew got ashore a week after the wreck but the rest in one boat, disappeared and were not heard of again.
‘INVERKIP’ Built 1893. Steel bark of 1466 Tons. She was bound for Queenstown, Ireland with wheat from Melbourne, Australia. She came into collision with the ship ‘Loch Carron’. Captain Jones of the ‘Inverkip’ and his wife along with 20 of his crew went to the bottom with the ship. The collision occurred at 11.20 p.m. on the 13th of August 1904, some 60 miles [100 klms] southeast of Fastnet light. The ‘Inverkip’ was sailing slowly in heavy seas on the darkest of nights when the ‘Loch Carron’ crashed into her just forward of the foremast. The two vessels remained locked together for a few moments until the sea got into the forward hold of the ‘Inverkip’ quickly pulling her down. Two sailors who were on deck at the time of the collision, managed to jump aboard the ‘Loch Carron’ as the vessels separated, two others tried to make the leap but fell into the water between the ships. Captain Stainton Clark was the master of the ‘Loch Carron’ and he and captain Jones had been the best of friends. Captain Clark’s health suffered badly after seeing his friends die before his eyes. The ‘Inverkip’ went down by the head and one of the crewmen wrote in his statement; ‘The ‘Loch Carron’ struck us between the foc’sle-head and the fore rigging. The impact was terrible. The ‘Loch Carron’s’ foc’sle rail was level with my position and I jumped on board her. The ‘Inverkip’ fell off about 10 yards and I saw the captain’s wife in her nightdress on the poop, she was screaming and praying and the captain was also there. The ‘Inverkip’ went down stem foremost with the whole incident taking about three minutes to its conclusion.’ Most of the crew of the ‘Inverkip were trapped below when the ship went down and even though the ‘Loch Carron’ held her position, no survivors were found or seen. The ‘Loch Carron’ was found to be at fault and her owners were fined 30,000 pounds in damages.
‘INVESTIGATOR’ ex ‘Xenophon’ Wood sloop of 334 Tons that was employed as a survey ship under Captain Matthew Flinders in 1801 –1803. She was found to be rotting so badly that she was turned into a hulk in New South Wales. She had many of her timbers replaced by Captain Kent in an effort to repair her and he successfully took her to Liverpool, England in 1805. She was broken up at that port in 1810.
‘IRON CHIEFTAN’ Australian steamer of 4812 Tons that was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine 35 miles off Sydney, New South Wales on the 3rd of June 1942. Twelve of her crew were lost.
‘IRON CROWN’ Iron steamer of approx. 4500 Tons that was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine off Gabo Island, Victoria on the 4th of June 1942. She went down with the loss of 47 lives.
IRON KNIGHT’ Australian steamer that was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine near Twofold Bay, New South Wales on the 8th of February 1943. She went down with 33 of her crew.
‘ISABELLA’ Wood ship of approximately 450 Tons that was bound from Sydney to London when she was wrecked on a reef in the Falkland Islands. The wreck occurred on the 7th of February 1813 and all her crew and passengers were able to land on Eagle Island where they were rescued 3 months later by the HMS ‘Nancy’ which transported them to Rio De Janeiro.
‘ISABELLA WATSON’ Wood ship of 514 Tons that was lost at Point Nepean, Victoria on the 21st of March 1852. She was struggling in a heavy squall when she struck a rock and sank with the loss of nine lives.
J
‘J. T. BERRY’ Wood ship under the American flag when she foundered after turning completely over and was being held in that position by her anchors. After several attempts to tow her failed, she sank in June 1888. Fire was said to have been involved.
‘JAMES BAINES’ Wood ship of 2275 Tons. She was a passenger vessel that was burned at Liverpool, England in April 1858. She was bought by the Black Ball Line from Donald Mackay of America. She went straight into the Australian passenger service. She held the sailing record for Boston to Liverpool after making a very speedy run of 12 days and 6 hours which has stood the test of time. In early 1857, she made her fourth and last voyage to Melbourne. She then returned to Liverpool and after a voyage in the troop transport trade to Calcutta, where she began discharging her return cargo of Jute, Linseed and Cowhides at Huskisson Dock. The between decks were emptied and on April 21st her lower hatches were taken off. All seemed well but on he 22nd, the wharfies went down into her hold and found her to be on fire. The fire engines arrived quickly but they were unable to take command of the fire, which gained rapidly. The spars and rigging were cut away and she was made ready for scuttling. On April the 24th 1858, as she was about to be scuttled, she grounded in the dock on the receding tide and by this time the fire had gone almost the entire length of the ship. The masts came down during the afternoon and at nine o’clock that evening the inner shell of the hull was blazing. Several steamships of the Cunard Line were in the same dock but were kept safe and taken out as soon as was possible. The ‘James Baines’ was a total loss and he value combined with the cargo came to a loss of 175,000 Dollars or about 35,000 pounds. Her hull was auctioned at the Cotton salesrooms at the Exchange Buildings in Liverpool for 1080 pounds and was bought by a Mr. Pace who could have been the Liverpool ship owner Robert Pace.
On the 24th of July 1858. She was converted to a coal hulk in Galway and in 1860, the Bark ‘William’ came into collision with her. She was still registered with Lloyds in 1863 when she was re-surveyed. She is said to have been taken to Alexandria to serve out the remainder of her days.
‘JAMES SERVICE’ A bark of 441 Tons that was wrecked to the south of Fremantle, Western Australia on the 23rd of July 1878, with the loss of 24 lives. Her remains were found in 1963 by the underwater explorers club and relics found proved her identity, she lies off Mandurah a few miles south of Perth.
‘JANET STEWART’ [see the Blackbirders Register]
‘JANNA’ Iron bark of 1495 Tons that was under the Norwegian flag when bound for London from Sydney and disappeared without trace in December 1921.
‘JAP’ Wood steamer of 242 Tons. She was a coastal trader that got herself aground at Forster, New South Wales on the 3rd of April, 1934. She was speedy for her size especially as a three-mast vessel. She once held the record for a run under sail of nine days from Dunedin, New Zealand to Sydney, NSW. She became totally wrecked as she could not be got out of her predicament.
‘JANE ELIZABETH’ Wooden Cutter that was wrecked near Tamar Heads, Tasmania in 1867. She had 10 lives lost when she struck.
‘JEWESS’ Wood bark that was under the American flag when she left Newcastle, New South Wales with coal. She, like many before and after her, went missing in 1871 while bound for Manilla, Philippines. Nothing was ever found of her.
‘JOHN WILLIAMS’ I . Wood bark that was owned by the London Missionary Society. She was wrecked on Pukapuka Island [Danger Island] to the north of Samoa in May 1864. No lives were lost.
‘JOHN WILLIAMS’ II. Wood ship owned by the London Missionary Society that was run up on a reef in Anelcahaut Harbour, Anietyum Island in the New Hebrides in 1866. She was got off and made it back to Sydney only to be wrecked on Niue Island [Savage Island] on the 8th of January 1867. No lives were lost.
‘JOHN WILLIAMS’ III.ex ‘Samoa’ Wood bark of 186 Tons that was owned by the London Missionary Society and was used by them extensively in the South sea islands. She was bought by them in 1868 and was later sold to inter-colonial interests in 1894 and who traded her between Australia and New Zealand until she went missing in 1896. No trace of her or her crew was ever found.
‘JOHN WILLIAMS’ V. Wood schooner of 200 Tons. She was caught in heavy seas off Savaii island at Samoa and foundered on the 28th of December 1948. Strangely enough, the ‘John Williams’ VI, had been launched by Princess Margaret the same year and was on its way to the South Pacific when the ‘John Williams’V was lost.
‘JONES BROTHERS’ Wood schooner of 132 Tons that was wrecked, like so many others, on the Oyster Bank at Newcastle, New South Wales. She ran onto the Bank on the 31st of August 1905 and soon became a total wreck. She had been travelling under tow with the steamer, ‘Helen Nicol’ which vessel was towing her out. When the seas became violent due to an incoming gale, the captain of the ‘Jones Brothers’ decided to slip the tow and return to Newcastle but the seas ran her into the Oyster Bank and seven lives were lost.
‘JOSEPHINE WILLIS’ Wood emigrant ship of 786 Tons that was bound from London to Auckland, New Zealand with 110 persons aboard including the 40 crew. She came into collision with the steamer ‘Mangerton’ and sank off Folkstone, England on the 3rd of June 1856. The boats were got away with the 41 survivors.
‘JUNIOR’ Wood whaling ship that sailed under the American flag and which had its Captain and 3rd mate killed by her mutinous crew. The 1st and 2nd mates were both seriously wounded but were still forced to navigate the vessel to New South Wales. On the 7th of January, 1858, ten of the crew took a boat and left the ship near Cape Howe and made it to the mainland. Four of these were later captured but the others were not seen again. The ship sailed into Sydney and arrived there on the 10th of January 1858.
‘JUNO’ Steamship that was bound from Sydney to Manilla when she was wrecked north of the Manning river, NSW. She is believed to have struck on the 20th of October 1853 with the loss of six lives.
K
‘KALINGO’ Steel steamer of 2047 Tons. She sailed under the Australian flag and was sunk by a Japanese torpedo 160 klms east of Sydney, NSW on the 18th of January 1943. She lost two of her crew.
‘KANAHOOKA’. A small coastal steamer of 239 Tons that was lost when she foundered in the Gulf of Carpentaria, Queensland on the 17th of January 1894. Many lives were lost and local missionaries and natives rescued the survivors.
‘KANOWNA’ Steel steamship of 6983 Tons that ran ashore and then sank in 360 ft of water at Cleft Island , near Wilsons Promontory, Victoria. She struck on the 17th of February 1929 and all her 272 passengers and crew were saved when taken off by the steamer ‘Mackarra’. Her cargo, which had a value of 200,000 dollars, went down with her.
‘KAPUNDA’ Iron ship of 1095 Tons that was bound from London to Australia when she came into collision with the bark ‘Ada Melmore’ of the coast of Brazil on the 20th of January 1886. She is believed to have foundered soon after the collision with the loss of all 298 of her passengers and crew.
‘KARAMU’ ex ‘Gale’ USN Company steamer of 934 Tons that struck the bar at Strahan, Tasmania on the 4th of September 1925. She was holed and leaking but managed to get off the bar and soon was anchored with the steamer ‘Kanna’ taking her passengers and crew off. She sank soon after.
‘KATE CONLEY’ Wood brig of approx. 290 Tons that was wrecked in Temple Bay whilst on her way to Sydney. Her crew of eight were all lost on the 8th of March 1878. She was a Cairns based vessel and it is believed that heavy seas were the cause of the wreck.
‘KATINKA’ Iron barque of 805 Tons that was wrecked at Hamelin Bay, Western Australia in 1900. She was owned by the Germans at the time and was loaded with timber.
‘KATOOMBA’ Iron Steamship that was loaded with concrete and sunk on the Oyster Bank at Newcastle, NSW in February 1905, soon after the loss of the ‘Adolphe’ which was only two years old when she was wrecked there in 1904. A breakwater was built out to the wreck of the ‘Adolphe’. The vessel ‘Elamang’ was also sunk there as an extension to the northern breakwater.
‘KAWATIRI’ Steel steamer of 322 Tons that was sunk at the breakwater at Strahan, Tasmania in August 1907. She was arriving at Strahan when she struck the rocks. Six men were drowned in the accident.
‘KEILAWARRA’ Steamer of 486 Tons that was sunk after a collision with the steamship ‘Helen Nicol’ near North Solitary Island, NSW. She went down on the 7th of December 1886 with the loss of 36 lives.
‘KHYBER’ Iron bark that was bound for Queenstown, Ireland with wheat from Melbourne when she went ashore on the coast of Cornwall on the 15th of March 1905. She was totally wrecked and 23 of her 26 crew drowned.
‘KING WILLIAM THE FOURTH’ Wood steamship that was one of the first steamships in Australian waters. She went aground and was wrecked on the Oyster Bank, Newcastle, NSW. on the 2nd of July 1839. She could not be shifted but her engines were removed and placed in the vessel, ‘Sovereign’.
‘KOEBENHAVN’ A Steel five mast Danish training ship of 3901 Tons that was, in 1928, the largest sailing ship in the world. She was equipped with radio and had two diesel engines. She left Buenos Aires in ballast, bound for Melbourne, Victoria on the 14th of December 1928. She carried a crew of 60, 45 of whom were cadets. The last sighting of her was near Tristan De Cunha on the 21st of January 1929. From then on nothing was ever seen or heard of her again.
‘KOENIG WILLEM II’ Wood barque was lost in Guichen Bay, South Australia in 1857 with the loss of 16 lives.
SS‘ KOOMBANA’ A steamer of 2182 Tons that was lost between Port Headland and Broome, Western Australia on the 21st of March 1911 with the loss of 138 lives.
‘KOWARRA’ Steel steamer of 2125 Tons that was sunk by a Japanese torpedo off Sandy Cape, Queensland on the 24th of April 1943. She went down with 24 of her crew.
‘’KWINANA’ Steel steamer of 3295 Tons that was blown ashore at Kwinana beach, Western Australia on the 30th of May 1922. The beach and suburb are now named after the wreck site.
L
‘LA BELLA’ Wood Schooner of 365 Tons that was wrecked near Warnambool, Victoria in November 1905. She was a Lyttleton, New Zealand vessel that struggled in the heavy weather that caused her wreck although the Captain was blamed for the deaths of seven of her crew because he attempted to enter the port without a pilot.
‘LADY CASTLEREAGH’ Wood ship of the convict era that was wrecked off the coast of India near Madras after having left Sydney in June 1818 with the 46th Regiment aboard.
‘LADY DARLING’ Built 1864. Iron steamship of 649 Tons that was sunk in November 1880 off Montague Island. She was a regular in Australian waters and was originally built in Liverpool.
‘LADY DENISON’ Wood brig of 200 Tons that was bound from Adelaide to Hobart with 30 passengers and her crew on the 17th of April 1850. She went missing and no trace of her has ever been found.
‘LADY FRANKLIN’ Wood brig that was captured by her 22 convicts while they were being transported from Hobart, Tasmania to Norfolk Island. The convicts held the ship without taking her anywhere, probably because no one could or would navigate and after a few days, they set provisions in the boats and sailed away in them. Two convicts were later tried for the crime and the hearing was held in Hobart in July of 1855.
‘LADY LAWRENCE’ Iron ship of 1407 Tons that went missing in July 1895 after leaving Newcastle, NSW with coal. She was bound for Valparaiso, Chile when she disappeared with all 25 of her crew.
‘LADY MUNRO’ Wood bark of 250 Tons that was wrecked on Amsterdam Island, Indian Ocean on the 11th of October 1833. She went down with 75 of her 97 people.
‘LALLA ROOHK’ Wood schooner of the Queensland Labour trade. She was attacked by natives and looted on the 29th of July 1885 at Hoop Iron Bay, Moresby Island New Guinea. The vessel was saved but all her crew were killed in the attack. The vessel was brought back to Townsville, Queensland.
‘LANOMA’ Barque that was owned by Walker and worked the Australian trade when she was wrecked on Chesil Beach, Portland Bill in March 1888. Her Master and eleven of the crew drowned in the big seas.
‘LAURA’ Bark from Peru that foundered with all her crew off the coast of NSW in July 1911. She was bound from Callao to Sydney when lost. Wreckage was found on Cronulla beach.
‘LAVINA’ Wood schooner of the Queensland Labour trade. Natives at Port Praslin, New Ireland, attacked her on the 16th of July 1873. She was looted and then burned with six of her crew being killed in the fighting. The captain and three others escaped.
‘LIALEETA’ Small 82 Ton ketch that went missing with her six crew while bound for Melbourne from Spencer Gulf, South Australia in April 1925.
‘LIGHTNING’ Wood schooner that was wrecked on Albany Island in the Torres Strait in 1856, of her 17 crew, 12 were killed by natives and five got away in the boats.
‘LIGHTNING’ Wood passenger ship that was one of the real old favourites of the Australian trade. She caught fire and burned at her Geelong, Victoria anchorage on the 31st of October 1869. Some cannon fire was put into her to help her to sink but she was almost done by that time and one of the great liners of her time was gone.
‘LIMERICK’ British ship of 8724 Tons that was sunk by a Japanese torpedo off Tweed Heads, NSW on the 26th of April 1943.Two of her crew died in the attack.
‘LISMORE’ Built 1885. Iron ship of 1676 Tons. She was owned by Cornfoot and Co and was built by Connell and Co. She was bound from Melbourne to Chile when she was wrecked on Santa Maria Island on the 1st of June 1906. Master; Captain Cowell. Of her complement, only four of 26 were saved.
‘LIZZIE IREDALE’ Ship that left Newcastle, NSW with coal and was bound for San Francisco when she went missing some time in March of April 1887. No trace was ever found of her.
‘LOCH ARD’ Built 1873. Iron ship of 1624 Tons that was lost at Curdies Inlet near Port Campbell, Victoria. She carried 52 men, women and children including the crew and were bound for Melbourne. The ship struck rocks and broke up very quickly with all except a young lady and an apprentice sailor. These were Eva Carmichael and Tom Pearse who gained fame over the years for the terrible trials they had to face on the night of the wreck. Eva Carmichael lost almost her entire family, only a brother had remained in England and did not travel with the rest. The young apprentice managed to find his way out of the inlet and he made his way through the bush until he spotted horse tracks, these he followed until contact was made with local landholders and both he and Eva Carmichael were saved. Pearse was shipwrecked a year later in the ‘Loch Sunart’ but again he was saved. He had earlier been wrecked in the ‘Eliza Ramsden’ at Point Nepean, Victoria. Tom Pearse married the sister of his friend and collegue Robert Staasenberg who was lost on the ‘Loch Ard’. Tom lost one of his sons on the ‘Loch Vennachar’ in 1905 and another son died on a merchant ship that was sunk during the 2nd world war. Tom Pearse retired from the sea in 1908 after rising to the position of ships master of a Royal Mail steamer. He died a year later of an incurable illness at about age 48 years. Eva Carmichael married in England to a gentleman named [I believe] Townsend and lived a long life dying at about age seventy six..
‘LOCH EARN’ Built 1870.Iron Ship of 1200 Tons that was involved in a collision with the French steamer ‘Ville Du Havre’ The French Mail ship sank with the loss of 226 passengers and crew with only 26 being saved alive. The ‘Loch Earn’ stayed afloat for two more days but her damage was such that she could not be kept afloat and she too, went to a watery grave. A ship that had been waiting to assist saved her crew.
‘LOCH FYNE’ Built 1876. Iron ship of 1213 Tons. She was bound from New Zealand to Falmouth with wheat. She left Lyttleton on the 14th of May 1883 and disappeared. She carried 30 crew and a small number of passengers.
‘LOCH LEVEN’ Iron ship of approx. 1200 Tons that was lost in 1871 on King Island, Bass Strait.
‘LOCH LOMOND’ Built 1870. Iron ship of 1200 Tons. Length; 226.3 ft. Breadth; 35.8 ft. Depth; 21.5 ft. Built by Lowrie of Glasgow for the Glasgow Shipping Company. She went missing on a voyage from Newcastle, NSW to New Zealand in July 1908. Only a lifebouy was found and that washed up in the New Hebrides. She went down with all 17 of her crew.
‘LOCH LONG’ Built 1876. Iron ship of 1203 Tons. She was bound for New Caledonia from Melbourne when she disappeared. It is not known where she was wrecked but some of her wreckage was found on the Chatham Islands to the east of New Zealand. She had left Melbourne on the 29th of April 1903.
‘LOCH MAREE’ Built 1873. Iron ship of 1581 Tons. She went missing in 1881 after having left Geelong, Victoria on the 29th of October. She went missing without a trace.
‘LOCH SLOY’ Built 1877. Iron ship of 1225 Tons. Owned by the General Shipping Company of Glasgow when she over ran the Cape Borda light on Kangaroo Island, South Australia. She went aground on the Brothers Rocks and of the 33 persons aboard, only four made it to shore, three of the crew and a passenger. The passenger died of exposure while awaiting rescue but the rest were saved. The wreck occurred on the 24th of April 1899.Master; Captain Horne then Captain Henderson then Captain Wade then Captain Nicol.
‘LOCH VENNACHAR’ Built 1875. Iron ship of 1485 Tons. Master; Captain Ozanne then Captain Hawkins. She was lost on Kangaroo Island in September 1905. Searchers discovered on the 29th of September that she indeed had been wrecked. She was lost with all 26 hands.
SS ‘LONDON’ Iron screw steamer that was bound for Melbourne from Plymouth, England, when on the 11th of January 1866, she foundered in the Bay of Biscay. She got one boat safely away with 19 people aboard but the rest of the passengers and crew numbering 250 souls, went down with the ship.
‘LUCY ANNE’ Wood sandalwood trader that was attacked by Natives at Mare island in the Loyalty group in August 1851. Her crew were all killed.
‘LYDIA M. CHILDS’ American Steamer that was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine off Newcastle, NSW on the 27th of April 1943.All her crew were saved.
‘LY-EE-MOON’ ex ‘Taihei Maru’ Built 1859, Iron screw steamer of 1001 Tons. Length; 282.4 ft. Breadth; 27.5 ft. Depth; 16.5 ft. Master; Captain Webber. She was wrecked at Cape Green, NSW, in fine weather on the evening of the 30th of May 1886. She went down with 70 of her passengers and crew.
M
‘MAAFU’ Wood schooner that was lost on the 16th of September 1873 somewhere between Sydney and the Manning River. She went missing with all eight of her crew.
‘MACDHUI’ Steel Ship of 4561 Tons that was attacked by Japanese aircraft while under steam in the Harbour at Port Moresby, New Guinea. The attack came on the 18th of June 1942 and during the attack, 10 of her crew were killed. The captain of the Australian vessel tried to run her ashore but she went over on her beam-ends to lie as a monument to the fighting that took place in New Guinea during the Second World War.
‘MACLEAY’ Steamship of 291 Tons. She foundered near Port Stephens on the 11th of October 1911. Of her 17 crew, only two were saved.
‘MACLEAY PACKET’ Wood schooner that went missing after leaving Sydney for the Richmond River on the 30th of April 1864. Her ten crew were never seen again and no wreckage was found.
‘MACUMBA’ Australian steamer of 2526 Tons that was attacked by Japanese aircraft off Arnhem land Northern Territory on the 6th of August 1943. She had three of her crew killed during the attack.
‘MADAGASCAR’ Wood ship of 1200 Tons that went missing after leaving Australia with passengers and 70,000 ounces of gold.
[see main register]
‘MAGDA’ Wood bark that was bound from Geelong, Victoria to Batavia when she was wrecked on Melville Island, Northern Territory on the 1st of June, 1858. Thirteen of her crew left in one of the boats bound for Port Essington and disappeared never to be seen again. The rest of her crew were rescued by the schooner, ‘Shamrock’ and were taken to Sydney.
‘MAHENO’ Steamship of 5237 Tons that had been sold to the Japanese in July 1935. She was taken in tow by the tugboat ‘Oonah’ which vessel had been used for many years in Victorian waters. ‘Maheno’ broke the towline and the ‘Oonah was damaged by the huge seas that seemed to disapprove of the two vessels continuing their voyage. The huge seas drove the larger vessel ashore on Fraser Island on the 8th of July 1935 and there she still remains. She was offered up for sale in March 1936 but no one saw an opportunity in buying the stranded ship and she began to slowly rot away. Perhaps she did not want to end up as part of the war machine that was in its beginnings at her destination and perhaps that was meant to be.
‘MAHIA’ Steel ship of 10,000 Tons that caught fire in Melbourne, Victoria. She had an explosion occur and ten of her crew were killed on the 7th of August 1947.
‘MAIMOA’ Steel steamer of 8011 Tons that was attacked by the German Raider ‘Pinguin’ on the 20th of November 1940. She was sunk during the night and her crew was taken as prisoners. She was an English vessel.
SS ‘MAITLAND’ A Paddle steamer that was lost between Sydney and Newcastle, NSW on the 5th of May 1898 with the loss of 26 lives.
‘MALABAR’ Steel motor ship of 4512 Tons. She was owned by Burns, Philp and was bound from Melbourne to Darwin with a stop due at Sydney when she went into the cliffs at Long Bay, NSW, where she broke up in heavy surf. Fog was blamed for the ship losing her bearings on the 2nd of April 1931. All her passengers and crew were saved, the Sydney suburb of Malabar was named for the wreck.
‘MALIE’ Wood schooner of 252 Tons that was bound from Launceston, Tasmania to New Zealand in February 1893. She went missing with all 10 of her crew.
‘MALCOLM’ Wood brigantine of 183 Tons that was sunk near the Bulli Jetty, NSW, in February 1898. Heavy seas drove her over on her beam-ends and she foundered drowning seven of her crew.
‘MAMUTU’ Steel motor ship of 300 Tons that was sunk by a Japanese torpedo in the Gulf of Papua on the 7th of August 1942. Fourteen of her crew died in the attack
‘MANUKA’ Steel steamer of 4534 Tons that was bound from Melbourne to Wellington, New Zealand when she got ashore at Long Point, New Zealand on the 17th of December, 1929. She went over on her beam-ends in the surf but all her 260 passengers and crew was saved. Captain Clark was praised for his handling of the situation.
‘MANUREWA’ ex ‘Vale Royal’ Built 1884. Iron bark of 371 Tons that had long been in the inter-colonial trade and while bound from Sydney to the Clarence River, NSW, she went missing with all 14 of her crew. She was sighted off Camden Haven on the 9th of May 1922 having departed Sydney on the 31st of March 1922.
‘MARCO POLO’ Built 1852.Wood ship of 1625 Tons. She many years in the Australian passenger trade before being sold by the Black Ball line. She was wrecked on Prince Edward Island [U.S.] in 1883. She had once stranded on a sand bar in Port Phillip, Victoria but was got off six days later.
‘MARIA’ Wood Brigantine of app 170 Tons. She was wrecked on Margaret Brock Reef near Kingston, South Australia in June 1840. Of her 27 passengers and crew who survived the wreck, none were to see their loved ones again. The local aboriginal tribes set them upon. The ‘Milmendjuri’ and ‘Tanganekald’ quickly dispatched the adults and then clubbed to death the six children some of whom were infants. A detachment of police and volunteers were sent to arrest the instigators of the massacre and the two tribes were rounded up near Lake Albert in South Australia. The natives handed over two of their number who was the supposed killers for punishment which, the aborigines would have seen as an unusual event in the way it was carried out. The two natives were sentenced on the spot to hang and as a warning, the rest of the natives were made to watch the hangings. A scaffold was erected to the height that was usual for the British type and the two natives were made to stand on boxes with ropes round them. They were strung up by the neck and when the boxes were kicked out from under them, the natives stood on tiptoe. They were stretched but still alive but not kicking. This proved to be unpleasant for the police detachment and some ropes were secured to the arms of the two natives and they were hoisted up a few feet more above the ground and were allowed to drop suddenly which broke their necks, killing them instantly. Whether it did serve to act as a strong warning to the local tribes is not recorded but it probably told the native groups that whites were no different and that they too, took revenge when and wherever needed.
‘MARIA’ Wood brig of 167 Tons that was bound from Sydney to the Fly River, New Guinea when she was wrecked on Bramble reef near Cardwell, North Queensland in February 1872. Built in the USA, she was a wood Brig of 167 Tons. Length. approx. 90 ft. Breadth. approx 18 ft. Depth. approx. 12 ft. Master: Captain Thomas Stratman. Mate: Charles Sonnichsen. Surgeon: Thomas Tate. None of the above crew had ever held that post before, the ship was so rotten that the owners had to hire men from lesser posts. The “Maria’ had been hulked in Sydney Harbour but was bought for $600.00 by a group of gold seekers who wanted to sail to Papua New Guinea in 1872. Of those on board, only four were experienced seamen, the rest of the crew were made up of men seeking adventure and gold. The voyage was doomed from the start, the brig had rotten masts and timbers but she eventually struck a reef off the North Queensland coast in February of 1872. Of the 76 gold seekers, only 36 lived to tell the tale. Twelve men were drowned on the wreck, twenty-four were drowned on rafts or killed by blacks. Captain Stratman had taken six crewmen with him in the Captains Gig and had landed at Gladys Inlet north of Cardwell, natives attacked the group and the captain and two others were killed and eaten.
'MARIE CELINE' Wood two mast french schooner of 147 tons that went ashore on the Corbisgh coast. She was left sitting high and dry far above the water. She was wrecked in 1901.
‘MARIE CELINE’ Wood two mast brig of app 60 Tons. Length; app 44 ft. Breadth; app 14 ft. Depth; app 9 ft. She is shown wrecked and high ashore. Imformation is required on the vessel, which was probably in the fishing trade.
‘MARIETTA DAL’ Steel Liberty ship of 7326 Tons that was wrecked on Smith Rock off Cape Moreton, Queensland. She struck on the 15th of May 1950 breaking in two.
‘MARION’ Wood Cutter that carried a crew of five when she was attacked by natives at Millport Harbour, New Guinea in February 1885. All the crew were savagely killed.
‘MARION RENNIE’ Wood schooner of the Queensland labour trade that was attacked by natives at Cherry Island [Anouda island] north of the New Hebrides on the 22nd of December 1870. The natives slaughtered the white crew but left the native crewmen to sail the vessel to Fiji.
‘MARS’ A bark that was wrecked on Kangaroo Island, South Australia on the 15th of June 1885 with the loss of 4 lives.
‘MARTHA RIDGEWAY’ Wood ship of approximately 500 Tons that was wrecked in 1840 at Wreck Bay, Great Barrier Reef. [which, I believe, got its name from this wreck] She was lifted up onto the reef during the night and was a permanent fixture at that place for years afterward. No lives were lost as all were taken off by her companion vessel.
‘MARY’ Wood barque from Sydney that was wrecked off the Laughlin Islands to the southeast of New Guinea on the 1st of December 1840. She was caught in a bad storm and the heavy seas drove her to her doom. She lost six of her crew in the big seas but 15 others made it to Woodlark Island where all but one were killed by natives.
‘MARY’ Wood ship of the Emigrant trade. She was bound from Sydney to London with 59 persons on board of whom 16 were women. She struck a reef off Flinders Island, Bass Strait on the 24th of May 1844. The boats were got away and one, with all the women aboard, was turned over in the seas drowning all of them. One man died during the wreck [which broke up in seven minutes despite a dead calm] taking the toll to 17 lives lost.
‘MARY AND ROSE’ Wood schooner that was wrecked at the entrance to Port Stephens, NSW. She struck on the 12th of July 1866 with the loss of five lives.
‘MARY LAWSON’ Wood bark that was wrecked on Middleton Reef in the Tasman Sea on the 10th of June 1866. Eleven died in the wreck, including the captain and his wife, the remaining four crewmen managed to get a boat away. They were able to sail to the Clarence river district where one of them was drowned while trying to land the boat, bringing the total number of deaths to twelve.
‘MATILDA’ Wood convict transport of 460 Tons that was wrecked on a reef at Mururoa Island while bound for Peru from Sydney. She struck in January 1792 with only 21 of her crew being saved. She was involved in the whaling trade at the time.
‘MAUNA LOA’ Steel American Freighter of 5436 Tons that was attacked by Japanese aircraft in Darwin Harbour on the 19th of February 1942. She went down with the loss of five of her crew
‘MAYHILL’ Steel four-mast barque of 2121 Tons that was wrecked near Geraldton, Western Australia in 1895. She was carrying steel railway line at the time of her loss.
‘MAY QUEEN’ Wood schooner of the Queensland Labour trade. She was attacked by natives at Aoba in the New Hebrides in 1881 and lost nine of her crew.
‘MEIGS’ Steel Freighter of 12,568 Tons that was lost in the Japanese air attack on Darwin on the 19th of February 1942. Two crewmen were killed.
'MELANESIAN’ A 300 Ton Patrol vessel that went missing near Malaita Island in heavy seas on the 10th of July 1958. Only the body of the native bosun was recovered along with some wreckage. She took 60 crew down with her.
‘MEMENTO’ Wood bark of 464 Tons that was wrecked on Foster Island, Tasmania in November 1877. Many of her crew were drowned.
‘MENAI’ Ship of 1296 Tons that went missing on a voyage from Newcastle, NSW to Tocapilla, Chile. She had a crew of twenty-two men disappear with her in February 1895. The probable result of the fiery Newcastle coal.
‘MERKSWORTH’ Steamer that foundered near Stockton, NSW on the 7th of May 1898 while being severely pounded by heavy seas. She went down with nine of her crew.
‘MICMAC’ Wood Sandalwood trader that was attacked by natives at New Caledonia. They killed and ate the crew in 1842.
‘MIGNONETTE’ Wood yacht that was struck by big seas and foundered about 1600 miles from South Africa while bound for Australia from Southampton, England. Three of the crew and a boy were able to get away in one of the boats with little food or water. After three weeks at sea, the decision was made to kill and eat the young boy who they did, only to be rescued four days later. They were taken back to England where two of the men went on trial for the murder of the boy. They were sentenced to death for their crime but on appeal, the sentence was reduced to 6 months prison because the boy had been dying when the deed was done.
‘MILLIMUMUL’ Fishing vessel of 287 Tons that struck a German mine north and east of Sydney, NSW. She struck the mine on the 26th of March 1941 and went down with the loss of seven of her crew. Perhaps fate had dealt this trawler a strange hand, for on the 29th of May 1929, she was involved in a heavy collision with the 463 Ton steam trawler ‘Palmerston’. The steam trawler sank but the crew were saved and the ‘Millimumul’ continued on fishing until a German mine sent her to where she should have been twelve years before. [see ‘Palmerston’]
‘MINNIE YOUNG’ Wood schooner of 138 Tons that was bound for Townsville from Newcastle, NSW when she went down off the Queensland coast in October 1892. She went down with all eight of her crew.
‘’MINORA’ Wood brig of 249 Tons that was sunk off Broken Bay, NSW on the 3rd of January 1898. Six of her crew drowned.
‘MIRA FLORES’ Built 1867. Iron barque of 500 Tons that was lost while bound from London to Fremantle in 1886. She was wrecked on the western side of Rottnest Island while under German ownership and carrying general cargo.
‘MONARCH’ Built in London 1844.Wood ship of 1450 Tons. She was owned by Green and was a Blackwall Frigate in the Australian passenger trade for a few years before being sold to Shaw-Savill of the New Zealand trade. She ended her days when she went missing with all hands on a voyage from Bombay to Rangoon in 1876.
‘MONUMENTAL CITY’ Iron steamer of 768 Tons that was the first steamship to cross the Pacific Ocean from San Francisco to Sydney in February 1852. She was lost off Gabo Island, Victoria on the 15th of May 1853 with the loss of 33 lives.
‘MOOLTAN’ Steel Steamer owned by P/O line of 10,000 Tons that was bound from Sydney to England when she was torpedoed in the Mediterranean Sea on the 26th of July 1917. No lives were lost.
‘MUNGANA’ Steel steamer of 3351 Tons. She was disabled near Margaret Brock Reef about 200 miles [320 klms] from Port Adelaide on the 21st of June 1936. The passenger ship, ‘Nestor’
was nearby and her captain pulled off a brilliant rescue by towing the crippled ship into Port Adelaide in heavy seas.
‘MYOLA’ Steamer of 260 Tons that went down off Long Reef, Manly, New South Wales on the 2nd of April 1919. Four of her crew died.
N
SS ’NEMESIS’ Steel steamer that was lost near Cronulla, NSW. Her seams opened up and she sank on the 10th of July 1904 with the loss of 21 lives.
‘NEPTUNA’ Australian steamer that was attacked and sunk by Japanese aircraft in Darwin Harbour on the 19th of February 1942. She lost 45 of her passengers and crew in the raid.
‘NEPTUNE’ Wood ship of 809 Tons. Master; Captain Donald Trail. Surgeon; William Gray. She was a convict ship that had been sent to Australia with 499 convicts to which she added 12 more at Capetown, South Africa. She had 158 deaths en-route due to the savagery of her captain who had a reputation of being a thug. Captain Trail was indicted at the Old Bailey on June the 8th 1792 for willful murder. This captain had been under Lord Nelson aboard the HMS ‘Albemarle’ and this helped him escape with an acquittal in a trial, which only went three hours. He was sent to Capetown as Master Attendant in which position he was still working in 1795. The ‘Neptune’ was sent to Bombay in 1794 to load cattle and provisions for the new settlement at Sydney but after leaving Bombay, she was lost .
HMAS ‘NESTOR’ Australian destroyer that was sunk by German aircraft in the Mediterranean on June 15th 1942.
‘NESTOR’ Motor vessel that sank on the Hopkins River in Victoria on the 9th of January 1921. She was carrying almost 90 passengers and crew of whom ten were drowned.
‘NETHERBY’ Wood ship of the Australian emigrant trade that was wrecked when bound for Brisbane on the 18th of July 1866. She struck King Island and was a total wreck but the passengers were all saved.
‘NEVA’ Built 1818. Wood ship of 331 Tons. She carried 150 female convicts and 55 of their children along with 9 female passengers and the officers and crew. She sailed from Cork, Ireland on the 8th of January 1835 and was wrecked on King Island, Bass Strait in the early hours of the morning of the 13th of May 1835. Of her 241 souls aboard when she struck, 217 were drowned and 7 more died from exposure and alcohol poisoning after struggling ashore. A total of 16 persons were rescued by a sealer living on the island, these included captain Peck who along with his mate [Bennett] seemed to have an extraordinary will to survive. Six female convicts of the 12 who landed on the island survived and 8 crewmembers excluding Peck and Bennett were among the survivors. Captain Peck and the rest were eventually taken off King Island by the Cutter ‘Sarah Ann’ which by chance had been searching for the survivors of another cutter, the ‘Tartar’ which had been lost a few days before the ‘Neva’ was wrecked. The master of the ‘Sarah Ann’, Charles Friend, took captain Peck, Bennett and the rest of the survivors to George Town, Tasmania. Three of the survivors were left behind on King Island but were rescued shortly afterward. The Surgeon was John Stevenson, who had been making his fifth voyage as a ship's surgeon, he also, was lost.
‘NEW ENGLAND’ Steamer of 350 Tons that was wrecked in the Clarence River, NSW in 1883, several lives were lost.
‘NEW MOON’ Ten lives were lost when this vessel went down near Port Stephens, NSW on the 1st of October 1864.
‘NEWFIELD’ Sailing vessel t5hat was bound from New Zealand to Brisbane when she was lost off Port Campbell, New Zealand on the 28th of August 1892. She went down with eleven of her crew.
‘NIMBIN’ Freighter of 1052 Tons that struck a German mine off Port Stephens, NSW on the 5th of December 1940. Twenty of her crew drowned as the vessel went down, only seven were saved.
‘NINGPO’ Wood ship of approximately 800 Tons that left Hong Kong for Melbourne and was wrecked on reefs at northern New Caledonia on the 28th of July 1854.. Four of the crew took one of the boats and sailed for Queensland [against orders] where they were almost killed by natives. They sailed on to Brisbane and made it safely to that town. HMS ‘Torch’ saved the rest of the passengers and crew on the 26th of October 1854.
‘NODDLEBURN’ Iron ship of 1053 Tons that sailed from Glasgow to Newcastle, NSW. She loaded coal at that port and departed for Tocapilla, Chile in June 1895. She disappeared and no trace was found. Coal is thought to have suffered spontaneous combustion and destroyed the ship by fire.
‘NORFOLK’ Steel steamer OF 7500 Tons from London that caught fire and ran aground on ninety mile beach, Victoria on the 8th of November 1914. She broke up the following month when heavy seas struck the coast. No lives were lost due to the captain getting the stricken ship ashore while the fire raged.
‘NORMA’ Steel four-mast bark that was involved in a collision with the sailing ship ‘Arden Craig’ at Port Adelaide on the 21st of April 1907. She had one life lost as she sank and in a final ignominy, the steamer ‘Jessie Darling’ struck the sunken ‘Norma’ and quickly sank down on top of her.
‘NORTHFLEET’ Wood ship of the Blackwall line that was bound for Tasmania in January 1873. She was anchored at Dungness when the steamship ‘Truscillo’ collided with her. The Spanish continued on her way and left the passengers and crew of the Blackwaller to fend for themselves. The resulting panic and the fact that ‘Northfleet went down in 30 minutes caused the loss of 293 of the 350 persons on board.
‘NORTHUMBERLAND’ Wood schooner that was wrecked on the 7th of January 1845 at the Richmond river bar, NSW. The crew manage to get ashore with some of their personal goods and it was decided to go back to the vessel for another load. While they were offshore, the local people looted what materials they had already landed leaving them to wonder at humanity.
‘NOTOU’ Steamship of 2489 Tons that sailed under the French flag and was captured and sunk by the German raider ‘Orion’ in August 1940. The crew were landed at Emirau Island on December 21st 1940 and remained there until rescued and taken to Australia.
O
SS 'OAKLAND’ Steel steamer that was wrecked near Port Stephens, NSW on the 26th of May 1903. There were 11 lives lost.
"OLIVE BRANCH" built at Sunderland 1868 of 431 Tons
"SCARBOROUGH GAZETTE THURSDAY NOVEMBER 14TH 1878.
Destructive Hurricane.--Loss Of A Scarborough Vessel And Part Of The Crew.
A Lloyds telegam states that a hurricane has swept over the Indian coast,
Destructive Hurricane.--Loss Of A Scarborough Vessel And Part Of The Crew.
between the Ganges and Krishna rivers, causing great loss of life and
property. At Vizagapatam the French barque Cambridge and the English ship
Fifeshire, 700 tons, of Glasgow, the property of Messrs. T. Law & Co. were
totally wrecked, and only part of the crew saved. The British barque Olive
Branch, of Scarborough, was wrecked off Bimlipatam, and four lives lost. The
Olive Branch was owned by Messrs. T. E. Hick and Co., of Scarborough, and
was built at Sunderland in 1868. She was 431 tons register, and classed A1 at
Lloyds for eleven years. The Olive Branch sailed out of London in December
last, under the command of Captain Geo. Park, of Scarborough, and since that
time she has been insured in the local clubs. Most of the crew belong to
other towns. The owners received a telegram on Thursday morning stating that the
carpenter, a man named Allen of Scarborough, and three seamen were drowned."
‘OLIVIER VAN NOORT’ Wood bark that was under the Dutch flag when she was wrecked while bound from Melbourne, Victoria to India. She struck Kenn Reef in the Coral Sea almost at the same time as the English passenger ship ‘Rodney’. Both ships struck on the 7th of January 1858 but no lives were lost due to the companion vessels ‘Sea Park’ and ‘Northumbria’ assisting with the rescue.
‘OMEO’ Built 1858. Iron barque of 605 Tons that was lost while at anchor in Cockburn Sound, Western Australia in 1894. She was an hulk at the time of her demise.
‘ONWARD’ Wood bark of 286 Tons that was wrecked on Bampton Shoal in the Coral Sea on the 15th of September 1878. There were only a few survivors and the captain was among those drowned.
SS’ ORION’ Steamer that went missing between Tasmania and Melbourne, Victoria in May 1908 with the loss of 14 lives.
‘’ORIZABA’ Steel steamship of 6000 Tons owned by the Orient line. She ran onto shoals off Garden Island, Western Australia on the 17th of February 1905. She lost her bearings in the hazy smoke from bushfires along the coast and is perhaps the first ship ever to be lost due to a bushfire. No lives were lost but the ship became a total loss.
‘OTRANTO’ Orient line steamer of 12124 Tons that was carrying American troops when on the 6th of October 1918, she came into collision with the steamship ‘Kashmir’ in the Irish Sea. She was lost and 340 American soldiers and 85 crew were drowned in the incident.
‘OUR JACK’ Steamer of 152 Tons that was sunk off the Manning River, NSW on the 25th of June 1921. She went down with five of her crew but the rest were saved by the Steamer ‘Brundah’ which stood by in a furious gale while carrying out the rescue.
P
‘PACKET’ Wood brig of the whaling trade that was wrecked on Elizabeth Reef in the Tasman Sea on the 24th of February 1857. She went to pieces within 24 hours but the crew managed to get safely away in the boats and were picked up less that a week later.
‘PALMERSTON’ Steam trawler that collided with the trawler ‘Millimumul’ near Montagu Island, NSW. She sank on the 29th of May 1929 but the other vessel saved her crew. Perhaps the trip to the bottom was meant for both vessels for twelve years later, the ‘Millimumul’ struck a German mine in the same area and was sunk.
HMS 'PANDORA’ British vessel that was wrecked on the 28th of August 1791 while transporting some of the crew of the ‘Bounty’ who had remained in Tahiti. She struck a section of the Great Barrier Reef near what is now Pandora opening. Thirty-five lives were lost in the wreck but 99 of the crew and officers got away in the boats and sailed to Timor arriving there on the 16th of September 1791. Master; Captain Edwards.
‘PARTHENOPE’ Built 1875. Iron ship of 1563 Tons. She was under the Italian flag when she left Newcastle, NSW with coal for Antofagasta, Chile on the 31st of July 1907. Like many before her, she went missing with all hands while transporting the most dangerous of cargoes, Newcastle, NSW coal.
HMS ‘PEARL’ Wood Auxiliary steamer that was commanded by Commodore J.G.Goodenough who commanded the Australian Station. He had landed at Carlisle Bay in the Santa Cruz Islands when natives who shot at them with arrows attacked him and his boat crew. The Commodore and four or five crewmen were wounded and he and two of the boat crew died from their wounds a few days later. The attack took place on the 12th of August , 1875 and Tetanus seems to have been the main factor in the death of the three men.
SS ‘PEARL’ A river ferry that ran up the cables of her sistership the ‘Lucinda’ on the Brisbane river while it was in flood on the 13th of February 1893. The ‘Pearl’ was overturned due to the force of the current pushing her up the cables. There were 28 lives lost.
‘PEARLING LUGGERS’ 1889. In March of 1889, 66 Luggers of the Pearling industry were caught in a cyclone off Cape Melville, Queensland and 55 of them along with 330 lives were lost. The rest of the fleet were badly damaged due to the convergence of two powerful storms in that region.
‘PEARLING LUGGERS’ 1931. On the 1st of April 1931, 40 Luggers of the Pearling industry were caught in a cyclone off the coast of North Western Australia. Several of the vessels and their crews were lost.
‘PEARLING LUGGERS’ 1935. A sea twister or mini tornado struck about 20 Pearling luggers off Broome, Western Australia between the 24th and the 29th of March 1935. Ten of the vessels were lost with their crews.
HM Brig ‘PELORUS’ Wood brig that was wrecked at Port Eassington in November 1839. She was caught in a cyclone while at her anchorage and when her cables parted, she was driven ashore. No lives were lost and after a 16-month attempt at repairing her, she was got underway for Singapore.
‘PENYARD PARK’ Wood bark of 377 Tons that left Newcastle, NSW for New Zealand and was lost in May 1854. She had been in the Australian passenger trade since 1844.
‘PEONY’ Wood bark of 388 Tons, which was wrecked near the Richmond River, NSW in March 1877. Five of her ten-man crew were drowned when she went down.
‘PERI’ Wood schooner of the Queensland Labour trade.[see Blackbirder Register.
‘PERICLES’ Steel steamship of 11,400 Tons that was owned by the Aberdeen White Star line when she ran onto rocks off Cape Leeuwin, Western Australia on the 30th of March 1910. Luckily for the passengers and crew, she struck on a very fine day with calm seas and all were got away safely in the boats without loss of life.
‘PERUVIAN’ Built 1834.Wood bark of 304 Tons. Built at North Burns. Owned by Wilson and Co of Liverpool. Master; Captain Brown in 1840. She was bound from Sydney to Calloa, Peru when she was wrecked on Bellona Reefs in the Coral Sea in 1846. Seven of her 20 crew reached the Queensland coast north of Cairns and after rest, it is thought that some of the men set off to find a settlement. Only one of the seven survived, James Morrell a 22 year old seaman was saved by the local aborigines and lived with them for many years as the sole survivor of the wreck of the ‘Peruvian’ [see Castaways on wild shores]
‘PETRELLEN’ Built c1860. Wood brigantine of between 100 and 200 Tons. Length approx. 110 ft. Breadth; app 26 ft. Depth; app 14 ft. She went ashore on the Cornish coast in 1885, crew and captain all saved but vessel a write off. Research on this vessel has been hard but it appears she was a Norwegian. In her photograph, she is upright and perfectly intact with about fifty locals standing around her. She may have been refloated even though she appears to be well ashore.
‘PILOT’ Steam ketch that was lost near Cape Flattery, North Queensland in December 1906. She was caught in one of the cyclones that occur regularly in that region. She was carrying the pilot and a member of parliament when she went down and in total, 6 lives were lost. This vessel is said to have originally been the first Australian built Gunboat, ‘Spitfire
HMS ‘PORPOISE’ ex ‘Infante Amelia’ Wood Sloop of 308 tons. She belonged to the English navy and had originally been a Spanish vessel but she had been captured and taken as a prize. She was lost on Wreck Reef, Queensland on the 17th of August 1803 while in company with the vessel ‘Cato’ which was also lost. Lieutenant Fowler was in Command of the ‘Porpoise’ and he had as a passenger, Matthew Flinders, who took a ships cutter that he named “Hope’ and sailed it to Sydney to inform the Authorities and to bring the rescue vessels, ‘Cumberland’, Rolla’ and ‘Francis’ to pick up survivors. Flinders returned in the “Cumberland’, which was a 29 ton vessel and which would take him to Mauritius where he would spend six years as a prisoner of war. The ‘Francis’ and the ‘Resource’, another cutter made up by the shipwreck survivors, returned to Sydney. The ‘Rolla’ sailed for to Canton in China.
‘PORT AU PRINCE’ Wood ship that was English privateer that was operating in the whaling trade when she was attacked by natives at Tonga. She had 37 of her men killed and 14 held prisoner. The Author, William Mariner who wrote of his four years detention there in his ‘Life in the Tonga Islands’ His ship was captured on the 23rd of November, 1806 and the survivors remained there until 1810.
‘PORT BRISBANE’ Steel Freighter of 8739 Tons that was under the British flag when she was sunk by the German raider ‘Pinguin’ on the morning of the 21st of November 1940.Twenty seven crew were picked up by an Australian warship, the rest were kept as prisoners by the Germans.
‘PORT KEMBLA’ Steamer of 4700 Tons that was bound for Wellington, New Zealand from Australia when she struck a German mine laid by the raider, ‘Wolf’. She went down on the 18th of September 1917.
‘PORTMAR’ American freighter of 5551 Tons that was sunk by a Japanese torpedo off Coffs Harbour, NSW on the 16th of June 1943. Two crewmen died in the attack.
‘POST BOY’ Wood schooner that was wrecked off the South Australian coast on the 16th of December 1876 with the loss off all six of her crew.
‘PRINCE JAMES’ Wood brigantine of 499 Tons that went missing after leaving Newcastle, NSW in December 1895. She had twelve crewmen aboard when she left and I presumed that she carried a coal cargo as she was bound for Valparaiso, Chile.
‘PRINCE OF DENMARK’ Wood schooner that left Sydney on the 19th of March 1863. She was wrecked on Chesterfield Reef in the Coral Sea. Her crew managed to survive the wreck and the carpenter set to work and with the rest of the crew helping, they managed to built a Cutter from the wreckage and sail for Brisbane in the little craft which they named ‘Hamlets Ghost’. All safely arrived without loss or serious injury.
Q
‘QUEEN OF THE THAMES’ Auxiliary Clipper of the Australian passenger trade that was lost on her maiden voyage while bound from Melbourne to London on the return section of her journey. She went down in Struys Bay, South Africa on the 18th of March 1871. Even though it was just past the midnight hour, she managed to get her boats away saving all but four of the 315 passengers and crew who were aboard.
SS ‘QUETTA’ Royal Mail Steamer of 3484 Tons Length: 380 ft. Breadth: 40 ft. Depth: 29 ft. She was en-route to England from Brisbane Queensland, when on Friday the 29th of February 1890 at 9pm, she ran into an uncharted rock pinnacle that was inside the Adolphus channel but was supposedly unknown by the marine authorities. Officers and crew: Master: Captain Alfred Sanders. Mate: W Gray. 2nd mate: James Scott; 3rd mate: Thomas P.Babb. 4th mate: C.G.Guy. Clerk: D.M.Girvan. Surgeon: J.H.Pollard. Carpenter: Nicol Robertson. Gunner: James Bornacoit. Able Seamen: J.A.Oats, C.Traise, C.H.Shielle, J.Johnson. First Engineer: A.McMurchie. 2nd Engineer: David Rose. 3rd Engineer: John Henderson. 4th Engineer: Michael Cardock. 5TH Engineer: R.R.Weech. Winchman: James S.Stamp. Chief Steward: E.C.Smith. Storekeeper. P.E.Nash. Assistant Clerk: P.McKirchar. Cook: Donald McKenzie. Baker: Edward McGurn. Stewardess: Mrs Muncie. Steerage Stewards: James P.Stottart and Charles Jones. Butcher and Steerage Steward: Thomas Brooks. With 93 natives, a total of 120 men and one woman.
Three years before, the vessel ‘Thalus’ also struck at the same place and on the same pinnacle. The authorities ignored the report of this vessel and the charts that were in use showed an ocean depth of 12 fathoms, [72 ft] therefore, the ‘Quetta’ was totally ignorant of any danger. She was fitted with seven watertight compartments but despite these, she sank within five minutes.
Of her 283 persons aboard, 157 survived the disaster. Only one of the 25 children aboard survived and that was a baby girl who was pulled more dead than alive from the sea. Most of the women were below decks and many of them had retired for the night when the ship struck, only four women survived, one of them a 16 year old who spent 11 hours alone in the water before she was rescued. The wreck was declared historic in 1981 and is a protected site. Newspaper reports on the ‘Quetta’ disaster.
Brisbane Courier, March 3rd 1890.
Passenger Summary;
Saloon………………......33.... 27....lost 6 saved
Steerage………………..65.... 56... lost 9 saved
Deck Passengers……...62.. ..14... lost 48 saved
Crew;
White…………………...28.... 14... lost 14 saved
Native…………………..93.... 36/// lost 57 saved
Pilot……………………....1 saved
Stowaway………………...1 [Mr. Burns] lost
Total; ………………….283.... 146. lost 135 saved
It has not as yet, been definitely ascertained what was the full number of souls on board the ‘Quetta’, but it is believed to have been 291. Of this number, six saloon and eight steerage European passengers and twelve European members of the ships crew are among the saved, as are 158 coloured passengers and members of the crew. One hundred and thirteen persons are supposed to have been lost.
The ‘Albatross’ returned, at 9 o’clock tonight bringing in Mr. H.Corser, Pilot Keating and another of the Cingalese as well as Miss Lacey. This young lady has so far regained her strength as to raise the hopes of her ultimate complete recovery.
The ‘Albatross’ came across several dead bodied, but recovered none; all of them were in a bad state of decomposition. One poor woman, whose body was in such a rotted state as to be past recognition, was shotted and sunk. There is no hope whatever of any more of those who were on the ill fated ship being found alive. The police cutter, however, is still searching the various islands, whilst the ‘Albatross’ returns, at daylight, to renew the search, and to bury any corpses which may be found. Several vessels went to the rescue of passengers and crew, these were SS ‘Victoria’, SS ‘Merrie England’ the ‘Albatross’ and the Police cutter as well as fishing boats from various islands. Many were the tales of strength and bravery among the passengers but none more than that of Miss May Lacy who at the age of 16 years, spent 11 hours swimming. The captain of one of the search vessels spotted her while she had been trying to swim to one of the islands. Eventually, tiredness got the better of her and she was being washed out to sea when discovered early on the morning of the 1st of March 1890.
‘QUIRAING’ Steamer of 653 Tons that went missing in the Tasman Sea while en-route to New Zealand from Newcastle, NSW. She was lost with all 22 of her crew and perhaps it was coal that made her mysteriously disappear in July 1902.
R
‘RAINBOW’ Steamer that went down in Seal Rocks Bay, NSW. She was caught in gale force winds and big seas on the 2nd of June 1864 and was lost with 7 of her 16 crew.
‘RAMSAY’ Wood barque that was a passenger ship and general carrier in the Australian trade. She was wrecked on Middleton Reef in the Tasman Sea in 1852. Eleven of her people were drowned but the rest got to the boats and after many days at sea, were saved when rescued by a passing vessel.
‘RAVEN’ Built 1864. Wood barque of 343 Tons that was wrecked on Rottnest Island in 1891 while under Australian ownership. She was in ballast and was bound for Bunbury, Western Australia.
‘REBECCA’ Wood bark that was bound from London to Sydney, NSW when she was wrecked on the west coast of Tasmania on the 29th of April 1853. She went down near Sandy Cape with the loss of nine lives.
‘RECINA’ Steamer of 4732 Tons of Jugoslav Registry, she was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine off Cape Howe near the boorder of New South Wales and Victoria. The torpedo struck her on the 11th of April 1943 and she sank with 32 of her crew going with her.
‘RENARD’ ex Hms ‘Renard’ Wood sloop of 120 Tons that was sent to the South Pacific as a protector for the South Pacific islands. She was eventually sold to become a private workhorse. She Departed Rubiana in the Solomon Islands on the 20th of January 1894 and went missing with all hands. She is thought to have ran into one of the regular cyclones of the area and to have foundered near Chesterfield Reefs in the Coral Sea.
‘REMBRANDT’ Wood brig that left Newcastle, NSW in 1861 bound for Melbourne, Victoria. She foundered in Bass Strait and went down with the loss of 11 lives.
‘RESOLUTION’ Wood Cutter that was lost in Fleurieu Bay, Tasmania in 1850. Six young children were drowned in the boating accident.
‘RESULT’ A bark that was lost somewhere in Bass Strait in October 1880. There were 15 lives lost.
‘RIO LOGE’ Auxiliary brig of 241 Tons that was used in the Queensland Labour trade. She was bound from Kaipara to New Zealand in January 1909 and while running toward Dunedin on the 14th of that month, she went missing somewhere in Cook Strait with all 12 of her crew.
‘RIPPLE’ Wood steamer of 60 Tons that was also in the Queensland Labour trade. She was wrecked in the Solomon Islands in February 1887. She had been in several near miss situations with natives and at one time had four killed and 13-wounded crew when attacked in 1880.
‘RIVERINA’ Steel Steamship of 4703 Tons that ran aground and became a wreck near Gabo Island, Victoria on the 17th of April 1927. She had 142 passengers aboard but all were saved even though big seas and strong winds were present.
‘ROANOKE’ Wood four-mast ship of 3347 Tons that sailed under the American flag and was bound from New York to Melbourne when she collided with the steamer ‘Llangibby’ of the Brazilian coast. She was repaired at Rio De Janiero and continued her voyage. She went from Melbourne to Sydney and the departed for Neboue, New Caledonia where she caught fire and was lost on the 9th of August 1905. No other wooden ship of her size was built in America making her that countries largest ever.
‘ROBERT J.WALKER’ American freighter of 7180 Tons that was torpedoed by a German submarine off Moruya, NSW on the 25th of December 1944, two of her crew died in the attack.
‘ROBERT. R. HIND’ Wood schooner of 664 Tons that sailed under the American flag and had been a collier for many years on the Newcastle to Peru run. She had been able to escape the usual fate of even iron vessels in that trade but in 1924, she was anchored in Kerosene Bay, Sydney Harbour and stripped of her gear. She was then set alight and burned to the waterline before she sank or was scuttled.
‘RODNEY’ Wood ship that was in the passenger trade to Australia when she was wrecked at Kenn Reef in the Coral Sea on the 7th of January 1858. She along with the Dutch vessel, ‘Olivier Van Noort struck the reef at about the same time but all were saved by being taken aboard two other ships that were sailing in company. These were the ‘Sea Park’ and the ‘Northumbria’.
HMS ‘ROEBUCK’ Wood ship of 300 Tons that was under the command of William Dampier [the celebrated English buccaneer] when it anchored in Shark Bay, Western Australia in 1699. Two years later, this vessel was anchored at the Ascension Islands when she sank at her anchorage through her old age. Dampier himself is said to have written that she died of ‘perfect age’.
SS‘ROSEDALE’ A steamship that was lost between Smokey Cape and Sydney, NSW. She was lost with 26 of her people on the 11th of September, 1911.
‘’ROSETTA JOSEPH’ Wood ship that was wrecked on Elizabeth reef in the Tasman Sea on the 1st of December 1850. She was bound from San Francisco to Sydney with 47 passengers and crew who all got away safely from the wreck in three of her boats. They took nine days to get to Port Macquarie, New South Wales from the wreck site.
‘ROYAL ADELAIDE’ Iron ship of 1320 Tons that was driven ashore in heavy seas on Chesil Bank off Portland in the English Channel. She struck on the 25th of November 1872 while carrying 67 passengers and crew and a cargo that contained hundreds of cases of alcohol. Six of her complement died in the wreck, the rest being saved by breeches buoys. Sightseers crowded the beach and as the cases of spirits floated ashore, they broke them open and began a drunken revelry that lasted throughout the night. Next morning twenty of the sightseers lay dead on the beach, they had drunk themselves to oblivion.
‘ROYAL CHARTER’ Passenger ship that was carrying 500 people when she was wrecked at Moelfra Bay, Wales on the 26th of October 1859. Only 41 survived the wreck, which had been bound from Melbourne to Liverpool.
S
‘SACRAMENTO’ Wood ship of American construction that brought 300 emigrants to Melbourne during the gold rush days. She went ashore on Point Lonsdale while waiting for dawn before proceeding into Port Phillip. All passengers were saved and the ship was got off some time later and was towed into Port Phillip to become a prison hulk. She is also listed as having been deserted by her crew who ran away to the goldfields.
‘ST PAUL’ Wood ship of app 600 Tons. She was under the French flag when she left Hong Kong with emigrants bound for Sydney. She was wrecked on Rossel Island in the Louisade Archipelago on the 30th of September 1858. The crew took to the boats, leaving 350 Chinese passengers to fend for themselves aboard the wreck.
One of the boats made it to the Queensland coast with nine of the crew. After a short period of rest, the crewmen made ready to leave and finding the cabin boy to be very weak from exposure, the eight others elected to leave the boy behind while he slept. This the last anyone ever heard of the crew of ‘St Paul’.. They were probably killed and eaten by natives in Torres Strait for they were never seen again.
The Chinese passengers were slowly picked off by cannibals on Rossel Island and served as an easy target for they had no means of defence against the natives. In January 1859, one of the Chinese was rescued as the sole survivor of the emigrants. The only other survivor was the cabin boy. He awoke to find that he had been deserted. After two days wandering on the beach and surviving on fruit, he was found by a group of aborigines who thought that he was the ghost of a child who had died and he was given the name ‘Anco’.
At the age of twelve years, Narcisse Pellitier became one of the first and youngest white inhabitants, in North Queensland. He continued to live among the aborigines for many years until settlers found him in 1875. He was returned to his naïve France but is thought found civil life too extreme and rumors were strong a few years later, of a French speaking native among the tribes of the far north of Australia. Did Pelletier return to be with his aboriginal family?
‘ST PAUL’ Steamer that was wrecked when it struck Smith Rock, Cape Moreton, Queensland on the 27th of March 1914. She lost eighteen of her crew by drowning.
‘ST VINCENT’ Wood ship of 532 Tons that was wrecked at Palliser Bay in Cook Strait, New Zealand on the 14th of February 1869. She had departed Wellington and ran into a southerly gale that sent her running ashore. Of her 22 crew, only two survived the wreck.
HM ‘SANDFLY’ Wood sloop of 50 Tons. Thirty natives lost their lives when they attacked this British patrol vessel near Nitendi Island in September 1874. The patrol only just, were able to defeat the natives and it caused the tribe to exact revenge a little later when a British Commodore lost his life [Commodore Goodenough] while visiting the island aboard HMS ‘Pearl.
‘SAPPHIRE’ Built 1853 at Quebec. Wood ship of 1006 Tons.Owned by McDougal. Reg; Glasgow. Master; Captain S.Rose. Glasgow-Australian service. She was in that service when she was lost on Raine Island, Great Barrier Reef on the 22nd of September 1859. After some island hopping, the crew managed to get to Port Curtis some five months later on the 19th of February 1860.
HMS ‘SAPPHO’ Wood ship of the British Navy that was bound from England to Australia when she went missing with all hands. She was spoken by another vessel when entering Bass Strait but was never seen again. Her Master was Captain Fairfax Moresby who was the son of Admiral Fairfax Moresby.
‘SCHOMBERG’ Wood ship of 2600 Tons. Length; 262.5 ft. Breadth; 45.5 ft. Depth; 29 ft. She was wrecked on her maiden voyage at Cape Otway while under the command of Captain Bully Forbes whose mistakes lost the ship. She struck a sandspit and was grounded on the evening of the 26th of December 1855 and became a total wreck which cost the captain his reputation and high standing as a passenger ships master.
‘SEA’ Wood ship that was bound from Melbourne to Callao, Peru when it wrecked at Point Nepean while departing Port Phillip, Victoria. Sixteen of her crew drowned in the accident, which occurred on the 31st of May 1853.
‘SEA BELLE’ Wood brig of 155 Tons that was wrecked on Breakwater Spit at Fraser Island, Queensland. Aboriginals of the Kabi Kabi tribe killed the white male crew but saved a woman and two children alive. They were rescued some two years after the wreck, which happened on the 1st of April 1857.
‘SEPIA’ Built 1864. Iron barque of 725 Tons. Length; 177.3 ft. Breadth; 29.4 ft. Depth; 18.0 ft. Built at Hartlepool by Denton and Co. Owned by Taylor and Co. Reg; London. Master; Captain A. J. Campbell. It was this vessel that was lost off Fremantle, Western Australia in 1898. She was carrying general cargo when she went down and was arriving from London under British ownership.
‘SIERRA NEVADA’ ex ‘Royal Dane’ Wood ship of 1616 Tons that was wrecked at Back Beach, Portsea, Victoria on the 10th of May 1900. She had been in the Australian passenger service for many years having been built in 1854.Of her 28 crew, only five were saved.
‘SILBERHORN’ Iron four-mast bark of 1853 Tons that was built in 1884. Master; Captain Warren. She was another victim of the infamous Newcastle coal when she left that Port in June 1907 bound for Iquique, Chile. She disappeared without trace except for one of her lifebuoys that was washed up on Pitcairn Island. She was posted missing on November 27th 1907.
‘SILTONHALL’ Steel steamer of 6055 Tons that was bound for Port Adelaide from Hull when she caught fire 1100 miles west of Perth, Western Australia on the 21st of September 1929. The ship, ‘Anthea’ rescued the crew just before the ‘Siltonhall’ sank.
‘SIMLA’ Iron ship that was lost when she collided with the vessel, ‘City of Lucknow’ off the Isle of Whyte on the 25th of January 1884. She lost twenty of her crew in the incident. She should not be confused with the four-mast bark, ‘Simla’ that was built in 1890.
‘SIR WALTER RALEIGH’ Iron ship of 1492 Tons that was built in 1876 and put into the Australian passenger trade. She was bound from Sydney to London with wool when she was wrecked near Boulogne on the 29th of January 1889. She lost five of her crewmen who were drowned.
‘SMYRNA’ Aberdeen White Star Liner of 1305 Tons that collided with the steamer ‘Moto’ while bound for Sydney from England. She was running in fog when the collision occurred on the 28th of April 1888. The master and eleven of his men went down with the ship.
‘SOBRAON’ Wonderful old passenger liner of the Australian trade that was built in 1866 and was bought by Devitt and Moore in 1870. The New South Wales State Government in 1891 bought her from them and she became a sail training ship for young delinquents. She was later bought by the Australian Government and in June 1912, after it was found that she was in as good condition as she had been while in the passenger service, that instead of breaking her up. She was re-commissioned as the training ship ‘Tingira’ and was to serve as sail training vessel for the Royal Australian Navy until 1927 when she was again sold. She was stripped of her gear and made ready for the ship breakers and despite last minute attempts to save her, she met her fate in Berry’s Bay, Sydney Harbour in October 1940.
‘SOUTHERN CROSS’ Wood brigantine of 291 Tons that was built in 1891 as a missionary vessel. She was used in the South Sea Islands until she went missing with all hands in September 1920. She had been sold and was being operated as an inter-colonial trader when she disappeared with he eleven crew.
‘SOVEREIGN’ Wood steamer of 214 Tons. She was wrecked on the north bar of Rous Channel near Moreton Island, Queensland, on the 11th of March 1847. The wreck cost the lives of 44 of her passengers and crew.
‘SOVEREIGN OF THE SEAS’ II Wood ship of 1226 Tons that was built at Boston by Donald Mackay in 1856. She caught fire in September 1861 and was burned while sitting at Campbell’s Wharf, Sydney. Arson was suspected but no one was charged, her hull was later raised and repaired and she was renamed as the steamship, ‘T. S. Mort’.
‘SOVINTO’ ex ‘County of Dumfries’ Built 1878. Iron bark of 1615 Tons that was under the Russian flag when she was wrecked on Prince Edward Island while bound from Dalhousie, New Brunswick to Melbourne, Victoria in 1906. Ten of her crew died in the wreck.
‘SPORTING LASS’ Wood brig that was employed in the whaling trade when she was wrecked on Bramton Shoals on the 4th of November 1863. A boat arrived in Brisbane with a few of the crew but they stated that others had been left behind on the shoal, their fate is not recorded.
‘STANLEY’ Wood schooner of 115 Tons that was wrecked on Indispensable Reef, Solomon Islands. She struck on the 4th of July 1883 and although she was no longer seaworthy, she was able to house two white crew and 100 Kanakas while the captain and a boat crew sailed off to Queensland for help. The 102 men left aboard remained there for two months before being saved.
‘STAR’ Wood brig of the Sandalwood trade that was attacked and set on fire by cannibals at the Isle of Pines in New Caledonia on the 1st of November 1842. The natives killed all 20 of the crew ashore and the turned on the brig which they set on fire while they were looting. The fire got into the powder room and a terrific explosion resulted in the destruction of the vessel and the deaths of 30 of the cannibals.
‘STAR OF AUSTRALIA’ Steamer that left Sydney bound for Rockhampton, Queensland on the 24th of January 1865, She disappeared without trace with all 17 of her crew.
‘STAR OF GREECE’ Sailing ship that was wrecked off Willunga, South Australia on the 13th of July 1888. She lost 17 of her crew with the rest getting ashore on wreckage from the ship.
‘STARR KING’ Steel Freighter of 7176 Tons. She sailed under the American flag and was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine off Port Macquarie, NSW on the 11th of February 1943. She had no deaths recorded in the attack.
‘STIRLING CASTLE’ Built at Miramichi, New Brunswick, Canada in 1829. Wood Brig of 350 Tons. Length; app 170 ft. Breadth; app 27 ft. Depth; app 19 ft. Owned by Kerr and Co and registered at Greenock, Scotland. Her Sydney agents were Bryant and Co. She arrived at Sydney on the 12th of March 1836 from Hobart, with one [1] convict aboard. This was Henry Daggett [30 years] of Newcastle-on-Tyne, he had been sentenced to 7 years 4 months for stealing iron.
Daggett was placed in the care of his master, Mr. George Eagle and was sent on to Sydney to complete his sentence. Daggett had a wife and three children still living in England. The ‘Stirling Castle’ sailed into history when she departed Sydney on the 15th of May 1836 bound for Singapore via the Great Barrier Reef and Torres Strait. Master; Captain James Fraser. The ship was wrecked on Swains Reef but he managed to bring his wife and crew to the Great Sandy Island, which is now known as Fraser Island. [see castaways on wild shores].
‘STORMBIRD’ Wood schooner of 240 Tons that foundered about the 3rd of May 1870 when bound from Newcastle to Sydney, NSW. All seven of her crew disappeared with her and some wreckage was found on a beach near Redhead, NSW.
‘STRATHMORE’ Passenger ship of approximately 1400 Tons that was wrecked off the Crozet Islands in the Southern Indian Ocean on the 2nd of July 1875. She was running along in heavy fog with almost 400 person aboard. Only 38 of her people managed to get ashore and they were forced to remain there until rescued by the American whaler ‘Phoenix’ some 6 months after the wreck.
‘SUCCESS’ Wood ship that was to suffer a probable arson attack that burned her to the waterline in the USA On the 4th of July, 1946.Fireworks were also blamed, she was being used as an exhibition vessel that depicted the convict days. Some of the relatives of those Americans who had been transported as convicts to the American colonies, may have taken offence to the ship.[see Main Register]
‘’SUMATRA’ Steamer of 584 Tons that was lost in heavy seas off Port Macquarie, NSW. She foundered on the 26th of June 1923 with the loss of all 46 of those aboard.
‘SUSAN ELIZABETH’ Wood brig that was sunk just off shore where she became an attraction. She sank in shallow water with her foresails still flying.
‘SUSANNE GODEFFROY’ Iron ship of 1137 Tons that was wrecked on Stockton Beach NSW. She got herself into trouble on the 28th of September 1880 and eight of her crew were killed of the 21 men who manned her.
‘SUSSEX’ Ship of 966 Tons that was wrecked on Barwon Heads, Victoria; on the 31st of December 1871. Her Captain was blamed for the wreck after an inquiry that also found that he had not verified his position before trying to enter Port Phillip. She got her boats away but one of them was swamped drowning the six crewmen.
‘SYBIL’ Wood schooner that was lost in 1905 near Bellona Island in the Coral Sea. She went down with all her crew in February of that year.
‘SYDNEY’ Wood ship of the East India trade that was India bound to buy a cargo of rice for the settlement at Sydney, NSW. She struck Sydney Shoal to the south of the Admiralty Islands, all were got safely away to the Admiralties but the ship was a total wreck.
The wreck occurred on the 20th of May 1806.
HMAS ‘SYDNEY’ Light cruiser that was lost with all her complement after battling the German raider ‘Kormorant’ off the coast of Western Australia on the 19th of November 1941. It is thought that after she had sunk the ‘Kormorant’, that she had sailed away from the battle scene badly damaged and on fire and that her magazines had been reached by the fire causing a massive explosion that sunk the cruiser leaving little trace of her demise. Some wreckage was washed up on one of the islands but nothing was ever found of the ship or her many crew. There was also thought to be a Japanese submarine in the area. German survivors claimed that the ship had sailed away from them and was fiercely burning at the time.
T
‘’TAHITI’ Royal Mail steamer of 7898 Tons that was disabled south of Raratonga when her starboard propeller snapped its shaft. The shaft then pierced the hull causing the ship to be abandoned. The American mail steamer ‘Ventura’ picked up the passengers and crew from the lifeboats after the Norwegian freighter ‘Penybryn’ had stood by all night waiting for the arrival of the ‘Ventura’. She was disabled on the 17th of August 1930.
‘TARAMUNG’ Steamer of 814 Tons that went over on her beam ends and foundered off the New South Wales coast in May 1891. Her crew of 23 were all lost.
‘TASMANIA’ Steamship of 1265 Tons that was wrecked at Table Cape, New Zealand on the 29th of July 1897. She was based in Melbourne and lost 11 lives when wrecked.
‘TATHRA’ Small steamer of 193 Tons that was caught by a huge sea when near Ambrym Island in the New Hebrides on the 4th of January 1912. She had been labouring in heavy seas and had taken on much water when she was unable to climb out of a deep trough and was swamped. She went to the bottom quickly with 24 of her crew and passengers.
‘TAYLEUR’ Wood ship of 1979 Tons burthen that was on her maiden voyage to Melbourne from Liverpool with 542 passengers and crew when she was wrecked on the Irish east coast on the 20th of January 1854. She ran her bow right up onto the rocks in heavy seas and many of her passengers were lowered from the bowsprit onto the rocks and were saved in that manner. There were 290 lives lost in the boiling seas and those who were saved had much suffering.
‘THEOPHANE’ Built 1868. Composite ship of 1525 Tons. Master; Captain Follett. She left Newcastle NSW, bound for Valparaiso with coal and went missing in December 1891 or January 1892. No trace was ever found of her.
‘’THREE BEE’S’ Wood convict transport that caught fire and burned in Sydney Harbour on the 20th of May 1814. Although it was potentially dangerous, it was also a very amusing incident for when it was found that she was on fire, she was set adrift and slowly made her way across the harbour to the North Shore. She had been left with her guns primed and loaded and her magazine full of gunpowder and a great deal of consternation was felt as she drifted first this way then that. Finally, her guns began to go off as the fire reached them and shot landed in Bridge Street and she even managed to drop a shot through the front window of a local Naval Lieutenant. As the guns went off, the onlookers ducked for cover and much relief was felt when the fire reached her magazine and the whole ship exploded. She had been the subject of a report in convict conditions due to the amount of deaths she had suffered while transporting her cargo to Sydney.[see Convict Register.
‘THALE’ or "Thule" Wood whaling ship, Built in America c1830. She was wrecked on Minerva Reef near the Tongan group. Captain Coffin and about five crewmembers made a voyage in one of the whaleboats and arrived in Brisbane about September 1844. The crew left Brisbane about October 1844. This vessel in also shown as being named ‘Thale’ [the more likely correct name] in some of the newspapers of the day.
‘TRAFALGAR’ Wood ship of 800 Tons that foundered while crossing the Atlantic ocean on her way to London from Australia in 1860. Only one boat crew were rescued, all others disappeared.
‘TREVESSA’ Steel steamer of 3566 Tons that was sunk by heavy seas on the 4th of June 1923. She managed to get her two lifeboats away and the crew sailed them for several thousand miles before one boat arrived at Rodriguez Island and the other at Mauritius. Eleven lives were lost of the crew of 44 men.
‘TRIADIC’ Steel steamer of 6378 Tons that was sunk by the German raider, ‘Orion’ off Nauru on the 8th of December 1940. The survivors were placed on the island of Emirau.
‘TRIASTER’ Steel steamship of 6032 Tons that was sunk by the German raider ‘Orion’ on the 8th of December 1940. The survivors were placed on the island of Emirau.
‘TRIONA’ Steel steamship of 4413 Tons that was sunk by the German raiders ‘Komet’ and ‘Orion’ off Nauru on the 8th of December 1940. The survivors were placed on the island of Emirau.
‘TUGGERAH’ Steel steamer of 749 Tons that was lost near Port Hacking when she foundered in a gale. She went down on the 17th of May, 1919 with six of her crewmen going down with her.
‘TURAKINA’ Steel steamer of 8706 Tons that was sunk by the German raider ‘Orion’ in the Tasman Sea on the 20th of August 1940. The survivors were picked up by the raider and deposited on Emirau Island, Bismark Archipelago on the 21st of December of the same year. They found themselves in company with the survivors of the ships ‘Holmwood’, ‘Triadic’, ‘Triaster’, ‘Triona’, ‘Komata’, ‘Rangitane’, ‘Notou’, the Norwegian ships ‘Ringwood’ and ‘Vinni’. There were 514 persons placed on the island and they remained there for some time until they were rescued and transferred to Sydney.
‘TYBEE’ Wood bark of 271 Tons that was lost at Port Stephens, NSW on the 30th of August 1864. Of he ten crew, three were rescued and the other seven drowned
‘TYRIAN’ Wood bark of 220 Tons that was wrecked on Elizabeth Reef in the Tasman sea on the 25th of November 1851.With the help of the Whaler ‘Jane’ and HMS ‘Acheron’, all lives were saved.
U
‘ULIDIA’ Built 1889. Iron ship of 2378 Tons that was lost when bound from Fremantle to Newcastle, New South Wales. She had only just cleared Fremantle when she went down while running in ballast.
‘ULTONIA’ Wood ship that was bound from London to Melbourne in November 1857. She went missing and was not seen again.
‘UNDINE’ Built 1867. Iron Tea Clipper of 800 Tons that was lost after leaving Brisbane on the 15th of May 1873. She was bound for Foochow and may have stuck cyclonic weather in the South China sea. She disappeared without trace.
V
‘VALKYRIAN’ ex ‘Waimate’ ex ‘Hindostan’ Built 1874. Iron ship of 1124 Tons. Length; 219.7 ft. Breadth; 35.1 ft. Depth; 20.7 ft. Built by Blumer of Sunderland and bought by the New Zealand Shipping Company. She had previously been the ‘Hindostan’ although this name was short lived, In 1899, shortly after she had been sold to the Russians, she loaded coal at Newcastle, NSW and sailed for Iquique, Chile and disappeared into the Newcastle coal shipwreck history log.
‘VENUS’ Wood brig of 45 Tons that was captured by convicts at Port Dalrymple, Tasmania on the 16th of June 1806. A few of her crew were in on the plot to seize the vessel and they sailed her to New Zealand where they burned the vessel and lived among the Maori tribes until Captured some years later
‘VENUS’ Wood schooner of 20 Tons that was owned by John MacArthur. She arrived at Tahiti in 1809 only to have three of her crew captured by the local natives. In October 1809, the ‘Hibernia’ rescued the vessel and her three-man crew with her master, Captain Campbell bringing the ‘Venus’ back to Sydney.
‘VERNON’ Built 1839. Wood Frigate of 1200 Tons. She was at first built with paddle wheels and steam engines but these were discarded before she ever got to sea. Her owner [Green of Blackwall] placed her in the East India trade and he sent her into the Australian passenger service from 1863 until the end of that decade. The British government bought her in 1870 for use as a reformatory ship to be situated in Sydney Harbour.
The Australians then bought her for use as a naval training ship and she remained in that capacity for some years before she was hulked. She caught fire in Kerosene Bay, Sydney, on the night of the 29th of May, 1893 and along with the hulk, ‘Golden South’. Both vessels burned fiercely causing the surrounding area to be lit up as if daylight had suddenly returned.
‘VICKY’ Steel Collier of 720 Tons that was caught in heavy seas and gale force winds off Wilson’s Promontory, Victoria on the 25th of June 1956. She foundered while the vessel ‘King David’ punched her way through massive seas to rescue 15 of the crew of 23. Her crew was mostly Filipino nationals.
‘VILLALTA’ Steel barque of 866 Tons that was bound from Tacoma, Washington to Fremantle, Western Australia when she was lost just north of her destination in 1897.
‘VINCENNES’ Built 1900. Steel bark of 2210 Tons. She went ashore on Ocean Beach at Manly, NSW during a gale. From the day she ran ashore [Thursday 24th of May 1906] she became an attraction for thousands of people until she was towed off on the 2nd of June, 1906. No lives were lost.
HMAS ‘VOYAGER’ Australian Destroyer that was run ashore on Timor Island during a Japanese air attack in September 1942. She was destroyed during the bombing.
‘HMAS ‘VOYAGER’ Australian Destroyer that was sailing with the Aircraft Carrier, HMAS ‘Melbourne’ when she sailed across the bows of the much larger ship and was sliced in two. She went down with 82 of her crew.
W
‘WAIRARAPA’ Steamer of 1023 Tons that was bound from Sydney to Auckland, New Zealand when wrecked in thick fog on the 29th of November 1894. She ran into Great Barrier Island and sank with the loss of 125 lives.
HMAS ‘WALLEROO’ A steel Corvette that was sunk in a collision off Fremantle, Western Australia on the 11th of June 1943..
‘WALTER HOOD’ Built 1852 at Aberdeen, Scotland. Wood ship of 937 Tons. Owned by Thompson and Co of the Aberdeen White Star Line. Master; Captain J.Pirie. She was wrecked at Wreck Bay, Ulladulla, NSW, on the 26th of April 1870.She lost 13 of her crew. Her 23 passengers remained on the wreck for a few days before being rescued.
‘WANDERER’ Wood yacht owned by Benjamin Boyd that was attacked by natives at Wanderer Bay, Guadalcanal in the Solomons in 1851. She managed to escape but only after Captain Boyd had been killed. The crew brought her back to New South Wales where she ran aground at Port Macquarie without further loss of life.
‘WANDERER’ Steam and sail Yawl of 15 Tons that was wrecked near Coffs Harbour, New South Wales on the 4th of April, 1929. She lost all six of her crew.
‘WATERLOO’ Wood ship of 419 Tons that was anchored in Table Bay, South Africa during a gale. Her anchor cables parted and she was swept ashore on the 28th of August 1842 with the loss of 190 souls. The ship was carrying 219 convicts of whom 143 were lost and she also lost 18 free women and children and 20 of her crew. [see Convict Register]
‘WATER WITCH’ Wood bark wrecked on Kings Island in 1854 She was probably of the whaling trade.
‘WAVE’ Wood brig of 195 Tons that was wrecked near Terrigal, NSW on the 8th of February 1868. She lost all of her 9-man crew.
‘WELLINGTON’ Wood brig that was seized by convicts in December 1826. They sailed her to New Zealand where the whaler ‘Sisters’ recaptured the brig in January 1827. She was taken back to Sydney, presumably with her convicts.
‘WHITE BAY’ ex ‘Baldrock’ Wood screw steamer of 134 Tons that was lost near Morna Point, Stockton Bight, New South Wales on the 14th of June 1928. She was a collier and her five crewmen were drowned as her result of her foundering in heavy seas.
‘WHITE STAR’ Built 1854.Wood ship of 2339 Tons. Length; 288 ft. Breadth; 44 ft. Depth; 20.9 ft. She was built for the Pilkington-Wilson and Co, White Star Line. She spent many years in the Colonial trade before being wrecked in 1883. Master; Captain J.Kerr. Liverpool-Australia service.
‘WILLIAM DAWES’ Steel steamer of 7177 Tons that was American owned when she was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine off Narooma, NSW on the 22nd of July 1942. She had five of her crew killed in the attack.
'WIMMERA’ Steel steamship of 3022 Tons that struck a mine that had been laid by the German raider ‘Wolf’. She was sunk near The Three Kings off New Zealand on the 26th of June 1918. The captain and many of her crew were lost.
‘WINDSOR CASTLE’ Built 1857. Wood frigate built ship of 1074 Tons. She was a passenger ship of the Australian trade until sold in 1882, She foundered off Agoa Bay, South Africa on the 25th of July 1884. The crew were saved by the Norwegian Bark ‘Ophir’
‘WINDSOR CASTLE’ Built 1869. Wood clipper of 980 Tons. She was sold after 20 good service years in the Australian trade to a Sydney buyer, he renamed her ‘Lumbermans Lassie’ under which name she traded until she was converted to a coal hulk. She is included here to avoid confusion with the 1857 built vessel of 1074 Tons.
‘WOOLLONGBAR’ Australian steamship of 2240 Tons that was torpedoed by the Japanese north of Newcastle, NSW on the 29th of April 1943. She went down with the loss of 32 crewmen.
‘WONIORA’ Wood steamer that was caught in big seas off Botany Bay and foundered in 1882. There was only one survivor of the 16 crew aboard.
‘WYRALLAH’ Steel steamship that was owned by Huddart Parker. She came into collision with the vessel ‘Dilkera’ in the Rip, Port Phillip, Victoria. She was found to blame for the collision, which occurred on the 7th of April 1924 with the loss of three lives.
Y
SS ‘YARRA YARRA’ Built 1851. Iron screw steamer of 337 Tons. A Paddle steamer that was lost at Newcastle, NSW on the 15th of July 1877 with the loss of all hands. CAPTAIN W. Summerbell owned her and he had his nephew as master of the vessel when it left Newcastle in strengthening winds which once they had got out to sea, turned into a full force gale. She attempted to return to port but was wrecked. The wreck of this vessel caused the establishment of the National Shipwreck Society of New South Wales.
‘YONGALA’ Steel steamer of 3644 Tons. She was a coastal passenger vessel that was lost near Cape Bowling Green which lies between Townsville and Mackay in North Queensland. She was caught in a cyclone and the seas proved too violent and she foundered. She carried 120 passengers and crew and general cargo including a local racehorse. Wreckage was found along the mainland coast including the remains of the horse, which had been attacked by sharks. The ship itself was not seen until 1958 when a naval vessel reported a wreck which divers found to be the ‘Yongala’. She was lost on the evening of the 23rd of March 1911.
‘YOUNG DICK’ Wood schooner of 162 Tons that was a Queensland labour recruiter, she was attacked by natives while at her anchorage off the island of Malaita in the Solomons in May 1886. Three crewmen were killed and twenty natives lost their lives in the skirmish. The vessel made the voyage back to Maryborough safely and in July 1886, she set out again but was wrecked with no survivors, parts of the vessel were found on Hinchinbrook Island near Ingham, North Queensland. She was taking returning labourers back to their islands and there were 170 on board when she disappeared, no survivors were found.
Z
SS’ ZEALANDIA’ Steel steamer that was attacked by Japanese planes in Darwin Harbour on the 19th of February 1942, she had three of her crew killed during the attack.
‘ZEPHYR Wood schooner of 65 Tons that was attacked by natives at Kangopassa, Choiseul island in the Solomons. The natives massacred the crew and burned the vessel in October 1880.
You have discussed an interesting topic that everybody should know. Very well explained with examples. i have found a similar website towing company service visit the site to know more about cbt services
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteIt is very easy to for you to contact with us. We open 24/7 to make your appointment and help you all the way. We have extremely impressive escorts are available for dinner, date and party so don't be nervous about communicate with us when mood hits you.Best Escort Services in Shimla with hot body. Book Call Girls tonight in Shimla. Book Hotel and call us. Private hot girl massage in Shimlaescort services in manali