On the night of 12-13 August 1856, the French Naval steam corvette Duroc was wrecked on Mellish Reef about 800kms off the Queensland coast. The Duroc was returning to France from New Caledonia where she had been stationed for the previous three years or so. After the ship ran aground, some seventy people made itContinue reading “The Loss of the Duroc and the rise of la Deliverance”
Tag Archives: Coral Sea
Matthew Flinders and the loss of HMS Porpoise – 1803
Shortly after Matthew Flinders completed his historic circumnavigation of Australia he was farewelled from Sydney to return to England as a passenger onboard HMS Porpoise. To everyone’s astonishment, he returned a month later to report the loss of that ship and another on a reef far out in the Coral Sea. HMS Porpoise, under theContinue reading “Matthew Flinders and the loss of HMS Porpoise – 1803”
The Appalling loss of the Grimeneza
On 3 July 1854, the Peruvian ship Grimeneza struck a reef at Bampton Shoals in the Coral Sea. The Captain, first mate, ship’s surgeon, and four sailors immediately abandoned the ship leaving the rest of the crew and about 600 Chinese passengers to their fate. Twenty-eight days later Captain M.H. Penny and five others reachedContinue reading “The Appalling loss of the Grimeneza”
View post to subscribe to site newsletter.
Tales from the Quarterdeck 