Wreck of the steamer Australian: Table Bay, March 1854

The South Australian Register, Adelaide, Saturday, June 3 1854.

ACCIDENT TO THE STEAMER AUSTRALIAN

A report was current in town yesterday that the A.U.M.S.N. Co.'s screw steamer Australian was wrecked in Table Bay, the Cape of Good Hope. This rumour, though exaggerated, was founded in fact. The Australian struck on a rock at the entrance of Table Bay, on March 30th, while entering the harbour. The intelligence of the disaster was brought to Melbourne by the schooner Caroline,which left Cape Town on the 2nd of April.

The Cape Town Mercantile Advertiser of April 1st contains the following account of the accident:

The Australian steamer arrived at the Cape from Australia on Thursday morning, the 28th March, but unfortunately went ashore on the rocks between the two lighthouses; the guns which she fired very speedily brought assistance, and her mails and passengers were very soon landed, as well as the gold which she conveyed, about 100,851 ounces. She has been lightened as much as possible, and every exertion has been made to get her off at high water, but as yet without effect; as, however, she is an iron vessel, and at present makes no water, hopes are entertained by some that she may be restored to her proper element, specially if the weather continues favourable, and the assistance of the Die [?] steamer be made available, for which purpose it is rumoured she is to come round from Symon's Bay.

PASSENGERS

The Australian had the following passengers from this colony on board:

Mr. and Mrs. Hagen, child and servant

Mr. and Mrs.Judah Moss Solomon, three children and servant

Mr. and Mrs. Marks and servant

Mr.Leigh

Mr. Peak

Captain Corbett

Mr. and Mrs. Birdseye.

The following extract is from a letter from Mr. J. M. Solomon to Mr. Isaac Solomon of this city: 

"Table Bay, Cape of Good Hope, April 1st, 1854. 

A vessel is this moment going to sail, and the whole of the family must excuse my not writing, as this letter will answer for all. We are now cast on shore, the Australian being on the rocks at the entrance of this place. We entered it at 1 o'clock on Thursday morning. I was on deck, but the family all in bed. We struck on the rocks where she now lies, and will, I expect, go to pieces in the first gale of wind. I had time to get the whole of the family into the boats, and every soul got on board different vessels in the bay until day light. We were on board the Royal Shepherdess,and met with every kindness and attention. We succeeded in getting our luggage at an expense of about £25. Had it not been a calm night every soul would have been lost. We are all well, thank God,quite well, and happy at our providential escape. I expect we shall have to find our way to England the best way we can, at our own expense. We can still get on board the ship, but if the wind comes from north-west I think she must be dashed to pieces. The cause of the accident is one of the lighthouses not being lighted."

Another passenger writes as follows:

"Cape Town, 1st April, 1354. 

Dear Sir — We are in the way of ill-luck, having been shipwrecked coming into the Cape. We left immediately the ship struck, and were most kindly received on board the Royal Shepherdess till daylight, when I returned to the wreck and cleared out our cabin. The next day I got the bulk of our luggage from the hold, and yesterday all the remainder, excepting one package, which I believe is safe. M. is pretty well, although much fatigued. We had no cause of immediate alarm, excepting in the act of getting into the boats. When daylight came, we found the ship had run so close ashore that men for a lark waded in and touched her at low water. With the usual mystery observed by Capt. Gilmore, no cause for the mistake has been assigned, or rather it has not reached my ears (excepting perhaps that the lighthouse was so dim, and the lights on shore so bright that they could not be distinguished from one another ; but this I believe is only a surmise of the reasons he could give). We went ashore between two lighthouses a quarter or half-a-mile apart. They have been trying to get the ship off, but it seems hopeless. Mr. J. Snooke [a crew member?] is dead." 

Note: Grounded near the lighthouse at Green Point, the Australian was refloated after several days. Passengers, mail and the gold she was carrying were landed.

Undelivered mail recovered from the wreck of the Australian. Cover endorsed
'Per Steam Ship Australian', with Adelaide Paid date stamp.  

www.grosvenorauctions.com/dyn_pages/historic_sale_summary.php?Foreign_sub_cat_Code=Ship+Wrecks

Ships and Mariners: 19th c Cape and Natal 15 Abercrombie Robinson/Waterloo

Advertisement for the sale of the Waterloo wreck;
 W Bell and Conch For Algoa Bay
South African Commercial Advertiser
31 August 1842 

In August 1842, not long after their return from action at Port Natal, Captain William Bell and Conch were in Table Bay preparing for a run to Algoa when the remains of the convict ship Waterloo were put up for auction. 

A singularly tragic wreck, the Waterloo under Captain H Ager had been bound for Tasmania but, putting in for water at the Cape near the mouth of the Salt River on 28 August, had encountered a gale-force north-westerly to which she had speedily succumbed, her rotten hull timbers breaking up. 

Bell no doubt voiced strong opinions on ships which were unfit to be afloat being sent off from England to the Antipodes on a wing and a prayer. 190 people, of whom 143 were convicts, were lost in the Waterloo. Among the dead were 18 women and children.

Abercrombie Robinson wreck

Only a few hundred metres away, the British troop transport, Abercrombie Robinson, 1425 tons, Captain John Young, on a voyage from Dublin, was wrecked in the same gale. This ship was carrying 700 souls, including detachments of the 27^th Regiment and Cape Mounted Rifles as well as the 91^st Argyllshire Regiment (numbering 450), but due to the discipline of all on board, everyone was saved. This story ranks alongside that of the Birkenhead for human courage and selflessness while in peril on the sea.

Wreck of the Waterloo. 28 August 1842

For more on the two dramatic shipwrecks at Table Bay see:

molegenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/05/newspaper-shipping-reports-in-family.html

molegenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/05/19th-c-south-african-press-reports-of.html

Wreck of the Prince Rupert 1841

Prince Rupert, a British barque of 322 tons, Captain Ramage, was wrecked 4 September 1841 at the Mouille Point battery at 21h00 after entering the bay; she was on a voyage from London to New Zealand, carrying cargo. The wreck was mentioned in Cape Govt Gazette 1 October 1841; Shipping Register KAB CC 2/15. 

The following report from The Sydney Herald Tuesday 23 November 1841:

WRECK OF THE PRINCE RUPERT.
On the 4th September (1841), the Prince Rupert, from  
London, with one hundred and sixty passengers
and cargo for New Zealand, in entering Table
Bay, about nine o'clock in the evening, ran
aground on Mouille Point, stuck fast, and be-
came a total wreck. When the Prince Rupert
struck, about fifteen minutes past nine o'clock,
she was, on firing a gun, observed from the
Bucephalus, Indiaman, at anchor about two
miles from the point, within the Bay, and a
boat under the orders of the Chief Officer, Mr.
John R. Merewether, put off to render assistance.
Mr. Merewether succeeded during the night in
making three trips between the wreck and the
Bucephalus, bringing off thirty of the people,
besides others that he put on board the boats
that were near him at different periods of the
night. About five o'clock, fancying that some
persons still remained on board the Prince Ru-
pert, Mr. Merewether proceeded to the wreck a
fourth time with a crew of seven men, the sur-
geon of the Prince Rupert, and Mr. Frood, a
passenger whom he had previously brought on
board the Bucephalus. When they came under
the stern of the wreck, a short sea broke over
the boat and nearly filled it, and the succeeding
wave upset her, and this gallant and humane
young officer, with three of his crew, and Mr.
Frood, perished in the surf among the rocks. It
is impossible to express the grief which the
untimely fate of this excellent young man has
caused on board the Bucephalus, where his
talents, his many accomplishments, and his
most noble and generous disposition, had made
him the object of universal respect and affection.
Of him, and of Mr. Fulcher, the commander,
the numerous and most respectable company of
the passengers by the Bucephalus, speak in the
highest terms of esteem; and Mr. Fulcher
laments the loss of his first officer and friend as
the severest calamity that could have befallen him.
Mr. Merewether was in his twenty-fifth year.
He was the son of Mr. Sergeant Merewether,
Whitehall Place, London. In consequence of
rumours that the captain (who was second mate
of the Julianna [sic], wrecked on the same spot last
year) had wilfully lost the vessel, a court of
enquiry was held and from the report we give
the following extract :—"The whole of the pro-
ceedings from the time of being abreast of Rob-
ben Island until the vessel was on shore at
Green Point, we consider to be highly culpable,
but we fully acquit Captain Ramage and his offi-
cers of intentionally losing the vessel." Among
the passengers were Mr Spain, the Commis-
sioner for investigating Claims to Land in New
Zealand, and Mr. Lizars, the Deputy Surveyor
General. Many of the emigrants had obtained
situations at the Cape.

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/12872420


28 of those on board the Prince Rupert were conveyed after the wreck to Algoa Bay on the Conch, schooner of Captain William Bell, later Port Captain of Natal. Among those who travelled by the Conch may have been the three Hockey brothers, originally destined for New Zealand, who decided to remain at the Cape (Grahamstown).

The Grahamstown Journal 24 November 1842 referred to 'additions to the immigrant population of Algoa Bay' the previous year, noting 'per Conch the wrecked passengers ex Prince Rupert (28)'.

See also: http://www.sagenealogy.co.za/WreckPrinceRupert.htm

Dimond, J.T. WRECKED UNDER THE GREEN POINT LIGHT, the background to the Green and Mouille Point lights and stories of six shipwrecks in the area. The stories of the building of the two lighthouses and of the wrecks of the Juliana (1839), Prince Rupert (1841), RMS Athens (1865), SS Thermopylae (1899), SS Aotea (1911), and S.A.Seafarer (1966).