Shipwreck – Loch Sloy

Each month in the Modellers Shipyard free monthly email newsletter we take a look at a Shipwreck from around the Australia and New Zealand.

With its rugged coastline and immense inland river systems, Australia and New Zealand has an extraordinary maritime heritage. There are more than 6500 historic shipwrecks that lie beyond Australia’s shores. Each has a unique story and an important place in our heritage. These encompass convict transports, clipper ships, colonial trading vessels, steamships, harbour craft and much more. Each month we will take a look at a shipwreck from around Australia and New Zealand.

Loch Sloywas a Scottish sailing barque that operated between Great Britain and Australia from the late 19th century until 1899. Her name was drawn from Loch Sloy, a freshwater loch which lies to the north of the Burgh of Helensburgh, in the region of Argyll and Bute, Scotland.

In the early hours of 24 April 1899, Loch Sloy overran her distance when trying to pick up the light at Cape Borda and was wrecked on Brothers Rocks, about 300 metres from shore off Kangaroo Island, South Australia. Of the 34 passengers and crew on board, there were only four survivors, one who died from injuries and exposure shortly afterwards.

Loch Sloywas built in 1877 by D. and W. Henderson and Company, Glasgow, Yard No 178 for the Glasgow Shipping Company, more commonly known as the Loch Line.

Under the command of Captain Peter Nicol, Loch Sloy was on passage from Glasgow to Adelaide and Melbourne with a load of general cargo and seven passengers, including 2 women; David Kilpatrick, a cook from Glasgow (25), George Lamb, a clerk from Edinburgh, (30), Robert Logan, a piano tuner from Inverness, (40), Alexander McDonald, an engineer from Aberdeen (34), Captain Osmond Leicester (30) and Mrs Leicester, (Real name Mary Donally, 37. Osmonds real wife Fermina had been abandoned) (30), of Liverpool, and Rosalind Cartlidge (25). In the early hours of 24 April 1899, she met with disaster on the coast of Kangaroo Island at the mouth of the Investigator Strait, South Australia. The ship overran her distance when trying to pick up the light at Cape Borda. She was too close inshore and the light was hidden by the cliffs between Cape Bedout and Cape Couedie. In the darkness of the morning she ran full on to a reef 300 yards from shore to the north of the Casuarina Islets in Maurpetuis Bay.

The crew and passengers took refuge in the rigging, but one by one the masts broke and went over the side and the men were hurled into the breakers. There was little opportunity for her crew to save themselves. The ship had struck well off shore and only four men reached it – a passenger, two able seamen and an apprentice. None of the survivors remembered how they actually got ashore; they heard the crash of the masts, and then felt the wreckage bumping them about in the surf.

The four survivors, David Kilpatrick a passenger from Paisley, Renfrewshire, William John Simpson, the 19-year-old apprentice, and nephew of the captain, and two able seamen William Mitchell and Duncan McMillan, had to scale steep cliffs before they could even begin to get help. Kilpatrick was in a fearful state and could not climb up but eventually his companions helped him to the top, cutting his feet badly during the climb.

McMillan, the strongest of the survivors, left to find assistance, but after three days he had not returned, and the remaining three men decided to try to reach Cape Borda lighthouse. McMillan returned and finding the others gone, again set out for help, this time finding the May family, one of whom rode to the lighthouse where a search was organised.

The three other survivors were many miles from a settlement and were forced to survive on shell fish and dead penguins cast up by the sea. Unable to keep up with the others due to injuries and exposure, Kilpatrick was too ill to continue. The two others made him as comfortable Cape Borda Light station. They were without food, having given all they possessed to Kilpatrick, but the remains of two dead penguins were tied around their necks.

Mitchell subsequently stated that the ship was in fairly calm water half an hour before she struck. The boats might have been got out, but no attempt was made, the captain hoping to “bout ship” (change direction of the ship).

The body of David Kilpatrick was found nearly a month after the disaster. He was buried where found and his stone grave can still be seen today as a memorial to those who died in shipwrecks on Kangaroo Island’s west coast.

The ship’s wreck site is protected by the Commonwealth Historic Shipwrecks Act 1976

Shipwreck – Eleanor Lancaster 1856

Each month in the Modellers Shipyard free monthly email newsletter we take a look at a Shipwreck from around the Australia and New Zealand.

With its rugged coastline and immense inland river systems, Australia and New Zealand has an extraordinary maritime heritage. There are more than 6500 historic shipwrecks that lie beyond Australia’s shores. Each has a unique story and an important place in our heritage. These encompass convict transports, clipper ships, colonial trading vessels, steamships, harbour craft and much more. Each month we will take a look at a shipwreck from around Australia and New Zealand.

The Eleanor Lancaster was a 3-masted barque built at Maryport in 1839. Launched in 1840, and initially registered in Liverpool, it was operated by David Laidman (named after his wife, Eleanor Ann Hannah née Lancaster), with Captain P.Cowley as captain. In 1845, the ship was re-registered in London, and was operated by Soutter & Co, with Captain Francis Lodge in command.

The ship had a gross weight of 480 tons and was sheathed in copper until 1847, when it was re-sheathed in felt and yellow metal. Amongst its voyages, it sailed to Bombay, Port Phillip, Lima and Sydney.

The Lancaster was one of seven ships that sailed from Australia to San Francisco at the time of the California Gold Rush, leaving Sydney on 21 January 1849 and was the first to arrive in San Francisco on 2 April.Upon arrival, her crew apparently deserted and the captain used the ship along the Sacramento River, until she returned to San Francisco and was used as a bonded storeship until 1850.

On 7 November 1856, the ship was wrecked in a gale on Oyster Bank, Newcastle, New South Wales during passage from Newcastle to Melbourne with 640 tons of coal, under the command of Captain James McLean and with 15 crew. The crew clung to the rigging throughout the night and were finally rescued due to a seaman, William Skilton, who made several trips in a small boat to the wreck, despite raging seas.

The “Perilous Gate” is a 19th-century poem by an anonymous author, describing the shipwreck. It has been abridged into a song of the same name by Phyl Lobl.

Shipwreck – Taraua

Each month in the Modellers Shipyard free monthly email newsletter we take a look at a Shipwreck from around the Australia and New Zealand.

With its rugged coastline and immense inland river systems, Australia and New Zealand have an extraordinary maritime heritage. There are more than 6500 historic shipwrecks that lie beyond Australian and New Zealand shores. Each has a unique story and an important place in our heritage. These encompass convict transports, clipper ships, colonial trading vessels, steamships, harbour craft and much more. Each month we will take a look at a shipwreck from around Australia and New Zealand.

SS Tararua was a passenger steamer that struck the reef off Waipapa Point in the Catlins on 29 April 1881, and sank the next day, in the worst civilian shipping disaster in New Zealand’s history. Of the 151 passengers and crew on board, only 20 survived the shipwreck.

The Tararua was a screw-driven steamer with two 155 horsepower (116 kW) engines, measuring 222.6 ft (67.8 m) long, 28 ft (8.5 m) wide and 16.2 ft (4.9 m) deep. Built in Dundee by Gourlay Brothers in 1864, her original capacity was 523 tons (net) but alterations later increased her net tonnage to 563 tons.

Sailing from Port Chalmers, Dunedin at 5 pm on 28 April 1881, the Tararua was en route to Melbourne via Bluff and Hobart. Steering by land on a dark night, with clear skies overhead but a haze over the land, the captain turned the ship west at 4 am believing they had cleared the southernmost point. After breakers were heard at 4:25 am, they steered away to the W by S-half-S for 20 minutes before heading west again. At around 5 am, the ship struck the Otara Reef, which runs 13 km (8 mi) out from Waipapa Point.

The first lifeboat was holed as it was launched, but the second lifeboat carried a volunteer close enough in to swim to shore and raise the alarm. A farmhand rode 35 miles (56 km) to Wyndham to telegraph the news. However, while a message reached Dunedin by 1 pm, it was not marked urgent, and it took until 5 pm for the Hawea to leave port with supplies. Meanwhile the wind and waves had risen. Around noon, six passengers who were strong swimmers were taken close to shore; three managed to get through the surf, with the help of the earlier volunteer, but the others drowned. On a return trip, one man attempted to get ashore on the reef, but had to give up; another three drowned trying to swim to the beach. Another boat capsized trying to get a line through the surf. Eight of its nine crew survived, but the boat was damaged, and the locals who had gathered on the shore could not repair it. The remaining boat could no longer reach the ship, due to the waves, and stood out to sea in hope of flagging down a passing ship to help. The Tararua took over 20 hours to sink, with the stern going under around 2 pm and the rest disappearing overnight. The last cries of the victims were heard at 2:35 am. Only one man managed to swim safely from the ship to shore.

About 74 bodies were recovered, of which 55 were buried in a nearby plot that came to be known as the “Tararua Acre”. Three gravestones and a memorial plinth remain there today.

A Court of Inquiry found that the disaster was primarily caused by the ship’s captain failing to establish his correct position at 4am, before changing course to head west. An able-bodied seaman was also blamed for not keeping a proper lookout, from which breakers would have been heard in time to avoid the reef. The court recommended that steamers should carry enough lifebelts for all their passengers (there were only twelve on the Tararua) and that a lighthouse should be built at Waipapa Point. The lighthouse began operating in 1884.

The Tararua had a narrow escape on a previous voyage in 1865, suffering no damage after grounding on a beach at Cape Farewell.

Shipwreck – Absalom 1863

Each month in the Modellers Shipyard free monthly email newsletter we take a look at a Shipwreck from around the Australia and New Zealand.

With its rugged coastline and immense inland river systems, Australia and New Zealand has an extraordinary maritime heritage. There are more than 6500 historic shipwrecks that lie beyond Australia’s shores. Each has a unique story and an important place in our heritage. These encompass convict transports, clipper ships, colonial trading vessels, steamships, harbour craft and much more. Each month we will take a look at a shipwreck from around Australia and New Zealand.

The Absalom was a wooden ketch that was wrecked at the Macleay River bar at Trial Bay, New South Wales in 1863.

The Absalom was built for the timber trade, and W. Pickett was to be her commander. She spent the early years of her career traveling to the Shoalhaven. By 1857 she had moved to include Wollongong. She spent much of 1858 traveling to Brisbane Water.

During 1861 she made trips to the Shoalhaven and Moruya River. During one of these trips, she came across two crew members of the Cambrian Packet, which had sunk in a squall off Port Aiken. The ship’s master, Edward Jones, and a seaman named Dalton kept themselves afloat for over an hour before they were rescued by the Absalom, which returned them both to Sydney.

By 1862, the Absalom was trading in the Macleay River, with J Fraser as master. On 29 March 1863, she was attempting to beat out of the river, but missed stays and ran upon the South Spit at the Heads, and in a few minutes went to pieces. Mr McKenzie, the pilot of the area, was quickly in his boat, and rendered all the assistance that could be given. All hands were saved, but the vessel and cargo, consisting of more than six hundred bushels of maize, were totally lost.

The crew were returned to Sydney by the Woolloomooloo. The Absalom was uninsured, and belonged to Mr J Hubbard.