CHAPTER 6/ 9

HIGH SEAS, HIGH DRAMA

With wild winds and strong currents, the south-eastern seaboard has been a worry for ship captains for decades. Not surprisingly, shipwrecks were an unavoidable part of the company’s story. During the 19th and early 20th Centuries when charts and equipment were considerably less sophisticated, wrecks occurred at river entrances, in the surf zone, on rocky cliffs and reefs, or out to sea.

Over the company’s life, at least 15 vessels were lost, beginning with the Mimosa, travelling from Twofold Bay to Sydney when she struck rocks north of Tathra. Two passengers lost their lives. Although surveys have failed to locate the rocks reported by Captain Keft, they still appear on modern charts, known as Mimosa Rocks. The following year Mynora was beached without loss of life after she struck a reef off George’s Head. After several trouble-free years, both the Monaro and John Penn were lost in 1879 - the former struck a reef off Montague Island; the latter drove onto Burrowarra Head north of Moruya. No lives were lost in either incident.

Steaming from Bermagui to Moruya on 16 October 1897, Kameruka came to grief, striking Pedro Reef around midnight. The Master was knocked unconscious in the collision, but luckily Captain Bishop, another familiar Illawarra company face, was on board. Realising the cargo of pigs were their salvation, he tied a rope around one and threw it overboard to swim to shore. There the line was fastened to an outcrop supported by sheer legs at the waters’ edge and with a breeches buoy, all 48 passengers and crew were brought safely ashore. While many hoped to see the porker rewarded for its efforts, it came to an inauspicious end, media reporting that it, “... died an ordinary death at the Bomaderry Bacon Factory and will be exhibited in the form of bacon at the Berry Show…”

The Alexander Berry was wrecked near Bass Point in 1901, with the loss of four lives; followed by the Bega which sank northeast of Tathra Head in 1908, with one death. Tilba Tilba was lost at Wreck Bay in 1912; and Vision, wrecked near Bermagui in 1913. The 1920s saw a number of losses, including Bodalla wrecked on Narooma Bar in 1924 without loss of life; Benandra, lost near Moruya Heads, with one death.

On 26 March 1928, the Merimbula was wrecked on Beecroft Head near Jervis Bay in heavy rain, a lumpy sea and poor visibility. Coming to a sudden halt as she wedged on the rocks, passengers were thrown from their bunks. Captain William O’Connor ordered everyone into life jackets, but after an inspection revealed no immediate danger, everyone settled in to await daybreak. Some on board gave an impromptu concert on the ship’s piano, while the stewardess, Mrs Sparkes, kept up a steady supply of refreshments.

At 7.00am, passengers and most of the crew set out in lifeboats for the beach at Crookhaven Bight. Once ashore, the captain and a seaman set out on a 14-and-a-half kilometre walk across rugged terrain to Point Perpendicular Lighthouse to summon help. Meanwhile, the passengers sheltered in an empty fisherman's hut, listening to music on Mrs Sparks’s salvaged gramophone until help arrived.

The Merimbula later sank down the steep reef, but not before local residents recovered an assortment of relics which, even today, can reportedly still be seen in homes throughout the Shoalhaven Shire.