Tales from the Quarterdeck

Tag: Sovereign

  • Tales from the Quarterdeck

    Sixty bite-sized stories from Australia’s maritime past

    The melancholy loss of H.M.S Sirius off Norfolk Island by George. Raper. Source National Library of Australia 136507434-1

    I have just launched a new book titled Tales from the Quarterdeck: Sixty bite-sized stories from Australia’s maritime past. Sixty of the most popular posts have been reedited. In some cases, I’ve rewritten a couple and updated a few where new information has come to light since first writing them.

    For those who would value ready access to the stories in their bookcase, Tales from the Quarterdeck is available in Kindle ebook and paperback formats through Amazon.

    The stories are organised in chronological order, starting with the Tryall shipwreck off the Western Australian coast in 1622, and finishing with the Second World War exploits of the Krait. See below for a full list of the stories covered in the book.

    Sydney Gazette 22 May 1808, p. 2.

    1622 – The Tryall: Australia’s earliest shipwreck

    1629 – The Batavia Tragedy

    1688 – William Dampier: Navigator, naturalist, writer, pirate

    1770  – The Endeavour’s Crappy Repair

    1788 – Loss of La Astrolabe and La Boussole, a 40-Year Mystery                        

    1789 – Bligh’s Epic Voyage to Timor

    1789 – HMS Guardian: All Hands to the Pumps

    1790 – The Loss of HMS Sirius

    1790 – Sydney’s First Desperate Escape

    1791 – HMS Pandora: Queensland’s earliest recorded Shipwreck

    1791 – William Bryant’s Great Escape

    1797 – The Loss of the Sydney Cove

    1803 – Loss of HMS Porpoise

    1808 – Robert Stewart and the Seizure of the Harrington

    1814 – Wreck of the Morning Star

    1816 – The Life and Loss of HMSC Mermaid

    1824 – The Brig Amity’s Amazing Career

    1829 – The Cyprus mutiny 

    1831 – The Caledonia’s perilous last voyage

    1833 – The Badger’s Textbook Escape

    1835 – The Loss of the Convict Ship Neva

    1835 – The Post Office in the middle of nowhere

    1835 – The Tragic Loss of George III

    1845 – The Cataraqui: Australia’s worst shipwreck

    1846 – The Peruvian’s Lone Survivor

    1847 – The Foundering of the Sovereign

    1850 – The Loss of the Enchantress: A first-hand account

    1851 – The Countess of Minto’s brush with Disaster

    1852 – The Bourneuf’s Tragic Last Voyage

    1852 – The Nelson Gold Heist

    Woodbury, Walter B. (Walter Bentley), 1834-1885. Hamlet’s Ghost, Sourabaya [Surabaya], Java [Boat with Passengers and Crew], ca. 1865. Walter B. Woodbury Photograph Collection (PH 003). Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries

    1854 – Bato to the Rescue 

    1854 – HMS Torch and the rescue of the Ningpo

    1856 – The Loss of the Duroc and the Rise of La Deliverance

    1858 – The Loss of the Saint Paul and its Horrific Aftermath

    1858 – Narcisse Pelletier, An Extraordinary Tale of Survival

    1859 – The Indian Queen’s Icy Encounter

    1859 – The Sapphire and Marina

    1863 – The loss of the Grafton: Marooned for twenty months

    1864 – The Invercauld shipwreck

    1865 – The CSS Shenandoah: Victoria’s link to the American Civil War

    1866 – The Loss of the SS Cawarra: Bad luck or an avoidable tragedy?

    1868 – The Bogus Count and Hamlet’s Ghost

    1871 – The Mystery of the Peri

    1872 – The Loss of the Maria, A Cautionary Tale

    1875 – The Tragedy behind the Gothenburg Medals

    1876 – The Catalpa rescue

    1876 – The Banshee’s Terrible Loss

    1878 – The Loch Ard Tragedy

    1884 – The Macabre case of the Mignonette

    1885 – The Douro and its Piratical Captain

    1889 – The Windjammer Grace Harwar

    1891 – The Spanish Silver of Torres Strait

    1893 – The Foundering of the SS Alert

    1895 – The Norna and the Conman Commodore

    1899 – Cyclone Mahina

    1911 – The Loss of the Mandalay

    1918 – The Orete’s Robinson Crusoe-like Castaway

    1935 – The Life and Loss of  the SS Maheno

    1943 – Surviving the Centaur Sinking

    1943 – The Amazing Krait

  • Queensland’s Ten Worst Maritime Disasters

    The wreck of the Steamer Gothenburg. Source: Australasian Sketcher, 20 Mar 1875, p. 13.

    TEN: SOVEREIGN, 1847.

    The Sovereign. Image courtesy Stradbroke Island Heritage Museum.

    The paddle steamer Sovereign, with 54 persons on board, sailed from Moreton Bay via the southern channel on 11 March 1847.   As she ploughed through the large swells funnelled into the passage between Moreton and Stradbroke Islands, her engines failed at a critical moment.      The force of the breaking waves quickly drove her onto a sand spit projecting from the southern point of Moreton Island, where she broke up.    Forty-four people lost their lives.   The owners of the vessel would later claim the engines had been working fine and blamed the captain for the loss.     

    NINE: MERSEY, 1804.

    On 24 May 1804, the 350-ton merchant ship Mersey sailed from Sydney bound for Bengal, India, via Torres Strait.     In mid-June she was wrecked while trying to negotiate the dangerous waters of Torres Strait.   Neither the location or the circumstances of the tragedy are known, other than the captain and either 12 or 17 of the crew took to the longboat and made it safely to Timor Island to report the loss.   She reportedly sailed with 73 hands which means 56 or 61 people lost their lives.

    EIGHT: PERI, 1871.

    HMS Basilisk and the Peri. Image Courtesy the British National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.

    In early February 1871 HMS Basilisk discovered a schooner, later identified as the Peri, adrift and seemingly abandoned a short distance off the Queensland near Cardwell.   When a boat was sent across to investigate, they discovered 14 emaciated Solomon Islanders, three corpses, no food or fresh water and five feet of putrid seawater in the hold. The Peri had last been seen about six weeks earlier in Fiji carrying around 80 or 90 blackbirded Islanders bound for Fijian cotton plantations.   It seems that the Islanders had overpowered their kidnappers and taken control of the schooner.   They then sailed or drifted west across almost 3,000 km of open ocean, withstood at least one severe tropical storm, and passed through a gap in the Great Barrier Reef before being found.      As many as 75 people likely died during the ordeal.

    Map showing 10 worst maritime disasters off Queensland. Courtesy Google Maps

    SEVEN: SYBIL, 1902.

    The labour schooner Sybil disappeared sometime after leaving the Solomon Islands on 19 April 1902 bound for Townsville with a fresh batch of South Seas labourers.    By August, grave fears were held for the Sybil, for the voyage should not have taken more than two or three weeks.    Searches were made of the islands along the outer Great Barrier Reef and in the Coral Sea but no trace of the vessel or any of those on board were found.   She had a crew of 12 and on the previous two voyages, she had carried 90 and 98 labour recruits, so it is thought no less than 100 lives were lost.

    SIX: GOTHENBURG, 1875

    Gothenburg. Photo Courtesy SLQ

    The steamer Gothenburg sailed from Darwin on 17 February 1875 bound for Adelaide via Australia’s east coast.   On 24 February the Gothenburg was steaming down the coast in the vicinity of Cape Bowling Green.   Bad weather meant they could not see the regular landmarks to aid their navigation. The captain was unaware strong currents were pushing the ship towards the Great Barrier Reef until it was too late. The Gothenburg ran aground on Old Reef.   The ship and all aboard her would likely have been saved but for a powerful cyclone bearing down on them.   As the storm worsened, the captain ordered the evacuation of the passengers, but as the women and children were being loaded into the lifeboats a succession of huge waves swept over the ship.    Only 22 people survived.  As many as 112 passengers and crew lost their lives.  

    FIVE: YONGALA, 1911

    S.S. Yongala. Photo Courtesy SLQ.

    The Yongala sank during a tropical cyclone near Cape Bowling Green on 11 March 1911 with the loss of all 122 people on board.    When the ship failed to arrive in Townsville as scheduled, concerns were raised.   Then, wreckage began washing ashore along the coast as far away as Hinchinbrook Island.   However, there was no sign of the ship or any hint as to where she might have sunk.   Nearly half a century would pass before the final resting place of the Yongala was conclusively located. 

    FOUR: QUETTA, 1890

    RMS Quetta. Photo courtesy SLQ

    While the Mail Steamer Quetta was steaming through Torres Strait on the night of 28 February 1890, it struck an uncharted rock pinnacle as it passed Adolphus Island.   The Quetta had departed from Brisbane bound for London carrying nearly 300 people comprising the passengers and crew when disaster struck.   The collision tore a gaping hole in the hull from bow to amidship, and the ship sank in just three minutes.    One hundred people made it safely to Little Adolphus Island where they were later rescued.   Dozens more were pulled from the water the following day.    133 people lost their lives in the tragedy.

    THREE: AHS CENTAUR, 1943

    AHS Centaur. Photo Courtesy State Library of Queensland

    At 4 am on 14 May 1943, the Australian Hospital Ship (AHS) Centaur was torpedoed and sunk by a Japanese submarine.    The Centaur was about 35km off Moreton Island having departed Sydney with medical staff from the Army’s 2/12 Field Ambulance bound for Port Moresby.   In all, there were 332 people on board.   268 lost their lives.   64 survived by clinging to debris and two damaged lifeboats until they were rescued 36 hours later.

    TWO: CYCLONE MAHINA, 1899

    Cyclone tracks for Cyclone Mahina.

    On the night of 4/5 March 1899, a powerful cyclone crossed the coast at Bathurst Bay on Cape York Peninsula. Lying directly in its path was the North Queensland pearling fleet which had sought shelter there.     Nearly 60 vessels – from large schooners to pearling luggers – were sunk or driven ashore with horrendous loss of life.    Between 300-400 people died in what is no doubt Queensland’s worst natural disaster.    The loss was most keenly felt on Thursday Island where the pearling fleet was based.

    ONE: GRIMENEZA, 1854

    Artists impression of the Grimeneza . Image Courtesy SLQ

    The worst shipwreck off the Queensland coast occurred on 3 July 1854.   The Peruvian ship Grimeneza was sailing from China with some 600 Chinese labourers bound for the Callao guano mines in Peru.   When they struck a reef at Bampton Shoals in the Coral Sea, the captain and six others immediately abandoned the ship leaving the rest of the crew and the passengers to their fate.  The rest of the crew tried to back the ship off, but when that failed, they too took to the lifeboats and were picked up 12 days later.   Miraculously, the Grimeneza floated off with the next high tide.   The labourers sailed the damaged ship west towards the Queensland coast with the pumps being worked around the clock.   But after three days of exhausting work, she foundered.   Six men were found clinging to a piece of wreckage 300 km off the coast a few days later.   The rest had all drowned or been taken by sharks.

    © Copyright, C.J. Ison / Tales from the Quarterdeck, 2024.

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  • The Loss of the Sovereign – 1847.

    The Sovereign Side Paddle Steamer moments before disaster. Courtesy North Stradbroke Island Museum.

       When the 119-ton paddle steamer Sovereign foundered in Moreton Bay, resulting in the loss of 44 lives, it was inevitable that people would want someone to blame. The most convenient shoulders to heap that criticism on were the steamer’s master, Captain Henry Cape. But was it deserved, or was the tragic accident a result of the steamer’s owners using her in the open ocean, a role for which she was never built?

       On 3 March 1847, the Sovereign steamed down the Brisbane River. Captain Cape had intended to cross Moreton Bay and head out to sea before bearing south on her regularly scheduled service to Sydney. She had a crew of 24 and there were also 30 passengers. The Sovereign was also loaded down with 140 bales of wool and other cargo. What did not fit in the hold had been stowed on deck, making her sit low in the water.

       By the time the Sovereign reached Amity Point near the southern passage leading from Moreton Bay out into the open ocean, it was too late in the day to cross the bar. Captain Cape anchored for the night off the pilot station so he could set off when the conditions were safe. However, for the next seven days, the winds blew strongly from the south, and he had to wait for the weather to ease off.    Late on the 10th of March, he thought it was safe enough to make the passage between Moreton and Stradbroke Islands. However, as he approached the bar, he realised it was far too dangerous to try crossing. He returned to his anchorage, hoping the next day might prove calmer.

    Advertisement for the paddle steamer Sovereign. Source: Moreton Bay Courier, 26 Dec 1846.

       By 6 o’clock the next morning, 11 March, the wind had dropped to a light south-westerly breeze, so the captain got underway again. When he got to the bar, the Sovereign encountered a heavy swell rolling in from the ocean. Captain Cape had made it through in much worse conditions and was confident he could safely get out to sea that day.

       And, he almost made it. After riding over most of the rolling swells, he failed to climb one huge wave that broke over the Sovereign, smashing the frames that supported the two paddle wheel shafts. The steamer lost propulsion and was instantly at the mercy of the powerful swells. Captain Cape could only rely on his sails at this stage, and with little wind to fill them, they were close to useless.

       Waves swept across the deck, carrying away the cargo. The lifeboats were lost before anyone had a chance to climb aboard them.

       Captain Cape dropped his anchors as the steamer drifted towards the sand spit extending from the southern end of Moreton Island. While they kept the ship’s head to the sea, they dragged along the seabed. The Sovereign was doomed from that moment on. She was inexorably being driven towards disaster.

       Passengers and crew heaved the remaining wool bales overboard in a desperate attempt to lighten the load. Meanwhile, hatch covers leading below decks were washed away, and the sea poured in, filling the hold. The crew and several desperate passengers furiously worked the pumps to keep control of the water, but to no avail.

       The Sovereign began to sink. From the time the engines stopped to that dreadful moment, about 45 minutes had elapsed. In the next five minutes, the ship was pounded to pieces as she wallowed in the breaking surf. 

       Several people clung to wool bales as they floated free, but they were soon left floundering in the tumultuous seas when the sodden bales sank. As a portion of the paddle box broke away, Captain Cape and several others found refuge on it. They held on for dear life and were swept towards Moreton Island, where the paddle box was smashed to pieces in the surf.

    Map of Moreton Bay and approximate site of where the Sovereign foundered. Courtesy Google Maps

       Several Aborigines who had witnessed the disaster waded into the pounding seas and pulled Cape and several others to safety on the beach. Those acts of bravery would later be justly rewarded. Several passengers found debris from the wreck, which had kept them afloat long enough to be picked up by some fishermen and a pilot boat that had been sent out from Amity Point. They had all risked their own lives to come to the rescue. In all, just ten people from the Sovereign survived. Forty-four others drowned.

       Allegations soon circulated that the steamer was ill-suited for the Brisbane – Sydney run and should never have been used for such a long and arduous ocean voyage. Built in Sydney seven years earlier, the Sovereign had begun regularly steaming between Newcastle and Sydney, then between Sydney and Brisbane. But she was thought by some to be ill-suited for the dangerous bar crossing at the entrance to Moreton Bay.

       In response to the criticism, warranted or otherwise, the Sovereign’s owners, the Hunter River Steam Navigation Company, promptly sacked Captain Cape and released a statement absolving themselves of any blame.

       They disputed that any fault lay with the design, build or maintenance of their steamer. Instead, they rejected Captain Cape’s claim that the frames supporting the paddlewheel shafts had failed as he described. Instead, they felt it was Captain Cape’s decision to go to sea under such dangerous conditions or his subsequent handling of the vessel that had resulted in the appalling loss of life.

       Cape was so incensed with his treatment that he challenged his former employer’s report with sworn statements made by the Amity Point pilot and one of the surviving passengers. They swore they had observed the damage to the housings, which ultimately left the paddle steamer dead in the water. Regardless, a marine board inquiry found Captain Cape at fault. To this day, the loss of the Sovereign remains among the worst maritime disasters to occur in Queensland waters.

    © Copyright C.J. Ison / Tales from the Quarterdeck, 2023.

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