Category - South Coast Shipwrecks

NSW coastal shipping was once described as ‘a scheme for manufacturing widows and orphans’.

Something like 300 vessels have been lost – were wrecked or sank – in the area between Sydney and the Victorian border since 1788. Why so many?

There are multiple reasons

First, the weather conditions in the area can be very rough, even very dangerous. And weather conditions can change very quickly, often placing unsuspecting crews of vessels in precarious positions. For example, many of the vessels that came to grief in the aptly named Wreck Bay were victims of the weather: the ‘Nancy’ which ran aground in 1805 when ‘in the evening a dreadful hurricane set in accompanied with very vivid lightning, and awful peals of thunder that rolled without intermission, together with an incessant torrent of rain’; ‘in the night it blew pretty fierce and a dense fog came in’ just before the ‘Hive’ was wrecked in 1835; ‘There were heavy squalls from the south east and east’ when the ‘Juniper’ ran aground in 1850; the ‘Mynora’ ‘became enveloped in a thick fog, unable to make out her position,’ before hitting a reef in 1865…(at least 26 ships were lost in and around Wreck Bay between 1805 and 1928.)

Second, there is a strong Eastern Australian Current that extends from North Queensland down to near Tasmania and which runs just offshore along the NSW South Coast. This current is not as strong close to the shore, so ships’ masters were often tempted to hug the shore when heading north to minimise the power of the current…all too often with tragic results.

Then, the vessels that operated up and down the coast were small – very small (the largest were about the size of the Manly Ferries (such as the ‘South Steyne’) that operated up until the 1970s) – and they were either sailing vessels or (by today’s standards) very underpowered steam vessels. These had limited capabilities of rapidly responding to impending dangers.

The skills and dedication of crews varied considerably and were sometimes questionable. Many reports of shipping tragedies along the NSW South Coast contain suggestions that the ships’ captains were drunk or neglecting their duties when their ship came to grief. And ships’ masters of the steamers that regularly serviced the Coast were often attempting to keep to tight timetables so were, at times, less cautious than they perhaps should have been.

And there are few ‘safe havens’ along the South Coast. Jervis Bay is one, Twofold Bay is perhaps a second. Reaching many ‘ports’ (remembering, for example, that at various times the Illawarra and South Coast Steam Navigation Company’s vessels regularly visited Wollongong, Port Kembla, Shellharbour, Kiama, Gerringong, Berry, Nowra, Jerrara, Huskisson, Ulladulla, Bawley Point, Pebbly Beach, Batemans Bay, Nelligen, Broulee, Moruya, Tuross Head, Potato Point, Narooma, Bermagui, Tathra, Merimbula and Eden) also involved (as at Moruya) crossing a dangerous bar at a river mouth, or (as at Ulladulla) avoiding other natural hazards.

Maps – at least in the early days – were either non-existent or rudimentary and there were no aids to navigation. Light stations (intended to provide ‘a highway of light’ to shipping along the coast – see Recollections 42) were constructed in an attempt to reduce the number of shipping losses. They were not always effective (as the story of the ‘Ly-ee-Moon’ illustrates).

Surely, everyone has a favourite South Coast shipwreck story. A small selection appear below. But what others also deserve to be included here? Please share them with us by emailing southcoasthistory@yahoo.com

On 2nd March 1797 a longboat carrying 17 crew from a merchant vessel, the ‘Sydney Cove’, was wrecked on the northern end of Ninety Mile Beach.

Historically, this wreck was one of the first (if not the first) shipwrecks on the eastern seaboard of the Australian mainland and was the first after the founding of the colony in Sydney...

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Whilst on a voyage on 18th April 1805, the 'Nancy' encountered foul weather just south of the entrance to Jervis Bay. At about two in the morning, the man at the helm noticed land to leeward - discernible by the lightning. The vessel ran aground on Steamers Beach and soon broke up...

In late January or early February 1806, ‘George’ was swept onto rocks by a strong current in Twofold Bay. She was refloated but was found to be so badly damaged that she was immediately beached.

Aboriginals, throwing spears and burning grass, attacked the crew. The ship’s captain and the crew responded...

The 21-ton 'Hawkesbury Packet' was wrecked on reef somewhere near Kiama in August 1817. It was on a voyage from Sydney to the Shoalhaven to pick up a load of cedar...

It's worth reading this wonderfully vivid description of the wreck of the "Mary' in Twofold Bay on 26th May 1821...

The ‘Olivia’, a 60-ton wooden schooner, was wrecked south of Twofold Bay on the 19th November 1827 whilst on a voyage from Launceston to Sydney. The eight people on board made it to shore, then embarked on an eight-day overland trek to Batemans Bay...

It appears the ‘Amelia’ was becalmed and was driven to shore, only to be wrecked, in Twofold Bay in March 1828...

Thomas Kendall (the grandfather of Australian author and bush poet Henry Kendall) was a missionary who obtained a land grant and settled near Ulladulla in 1827. He became a cedar cutter. He owned a small 16-ton cutter that transported timber and other goods from Ulladulla to Sydney. It disappeared in August 1832...

The ‘Hive’ which ran aground on 10th December 1835 in what is now known as Wreck Bay – becoming the only ship that was carrying convicts to be wrecked on the Australian mainland...

The 'Rover' was headed to Gabo Island with eleven convicts on board to build a lighthouse. A gale forced it back from Twofold Bay to Broulee, where it sought shelter. However, the vessel was driven onto the beach. 11 of those on board were saved thanks to the efforts of local settlers and local Aboriginals. 12 others perished...

The ‘Perseverance’ was apparently a wooden vessel that was wrecked somewhere in the Illawarra region in January 1842 (or maybe on 31st December 1841). All hands aboard were lost...

The "Swallow' was wrecked either entering or leaving Gerringong Harbour on 15th March 1842. The cause was the breaking of a warp (a light hawser used to manoeuvre a ship, usually when docking). The two people on board – an unnamed a man and an unnamed boy were drowned...

A collision with the cutter 'Harriett' resulted in the 'Rose' drifting ashore at Broulee where she was wrecked...

The 'Fly', with a cargo of potatoes, drifted onto rocks on the north side of Gerringong harbour in early March 1844...

A 14-ton cutter, the ‘Industry’ was lost in Broulee harbour in late June 1845.

The 'Susan' struck the south bombora of Ulladulla Reef at 3am on 3rd July 1849. Her captain had been sailing too close to the coast...

The 340-ton wooden barque ‘Juniper’ left Liverpool in England in February 1850 and travelled to Oporto in Portugal where it was loaded with ‘a full cargo of wines in casks and cases’. It was headed for Sydney. Rounding the south-eastern tip of Tasmania it started to encounter ‘very thick weather and variable winds’.

On September 1st, the ship was just south of Jervis Bay where there were ‘heavy squalls from the south-east and east…the ship labouring very much’. Unfortunately, the ‘Juniper’ had sailed into Wreck Bay...

The ‘Jeannie Deans’ was a wooden schooner that had been built in Ulladulla. On 10th April 1851, whilst on a voyage from Sydney to Broulee, she was becalmed off Broulee and drifted on to the shore, where she was wrecked...

The ‘Amphitrite’, a wooden ketch, was driven ashore and was totally wrecked off Shellharbour on 15th June 1851...

'Currency Lass' was wrecked when she was driven from her moorings and was washed ashore on Ulladulla Beach on 15th June 1851.

The breeze dropped soon after 'Twin Sisters' left Kiama harbour bound for Sydney and 'the fated vessel was irresistibly drifted by the force of the current and heavy swell on to the rocks, where she became a total wreck'...

Somewhere on the NSW South Coast are 2,000+ oz gold waiting to be recovered - cargo that went down when the 'Favourite' foundered. Around 21 people lost their lives...

Two shipwrecks, one soon after the other, on and near Gabo Island led to the owner of one of these vessels, the 'Mary Wilson', building the first lighthouse on Gabo Island...

The 'Susan' was a small ketch that was driven ashore by a gale at Crookhaven whilst on a journey from Broulee to the Shoalhaven. The two people on board perished...

Whilst on a voyage from Liverpool, the ‘Lawrence Frost’ arrived off Port Phillip Heads in
Victoria with a general cargo on the 17th August, 1856. It was planned that it be anchored just inside the heads until unfavourable winds abated. However, in attempting to anchor, one anchor was lost and a second anchor dragged. The ship ran ashore near the Port Phillip Quarantine Station and the hull was severely damaged.

After much of the 2,000 tons of cargo was offloaded, the ship was floated off and taken to Hobson’s Bay (the northernmost part of Port Phillip Bay) for repairs. She then sailed to Sydney to await additional repairs.

Two or three days later, the ‘Lawrence Frost’ was sighted north of Twofold Bay by the steamer ‘City of Sydney’. She was heading south to Twofold Bay – and was sinking!...

On 11th October 1854 the crew were rescued from the 'Teazer' which was sinking offshore of Twofold Bay. The ship had been blown from Bass Strait by a 'heavy gale of wind', was severely damaged and had become unmanageable...

In April 1855 the 'Martha & Elizabeth' left Melbourne to sail to Newcastle. At 5.30pm on April 26th, Cape St George (the southern peninsula to Jervis Bay) was sighted. At that time it was windy with heavy showers of rain and it seems a heavy swell was running that pushed the vessel towards Point Perpendicular (the northern peninsula to Jervis Bay).

Around 8.50pm the wind dropped but the ship was driven by the heavy swell towards land. About 9.30pm the vessel hit rocks and was driven by the swell into a small gully. There ‘the vessel struck instantly, the sea breaking furiously over her’...

The 'Oliver Frost' left Sydney on 3rd October 1856 and, during the next evening whilst travelling south, her skipper ‘fancied the schooner was going out of her proper course, but owing to the darkness of the night he could discover nothing wrong’.

Four hours later ‘he discovered she had lost her rudder. Breakers were then just ahead, and she shortly afterwards struck on a rocky reef, about half a mile from the shore’...

The 'Neptune', a small 15-ton ketch, 'parted from her anchors, and was driven against the rocks close to the jetty. Despite every effort to save her, she has become a total wreck.’...

The 'William Bowness' was sailing from Newcastle to Melbourne, laden with coal, when she ran aground in Twofold Bay in a thick fog...

The brigantine 'Retriever' was lost at sea in April 1857 whils sailing from Newcastle to Bluff in New Zealand. Some reports suggested ‘she was caught in a sudden squall off Cape Howe…all hands lost.’ However...

Little information has been found: The schooner 'Mounstbay' was wrecked on a bend of the Crookhaven River on 23rd May 1858. The cargo was saved with assistance from the crew of the 'Nora Creina' and two volunteers from on shore. No lives were lost...

The 'Vision' became a loss on the Pambula River bar in October 1858...

The 'Caroline' was on a voyage from Melbourne to Newcastle when, on 26th January 1859, she encountered a strong north-easterly wind off the coast from Jervis Bay. The captain put into Jervis Bay for shelter.

The following day, the ‘Caroline’ again put to sea, on this occasion with a ‘fresh southerly breeze’ blowing. However, just off Point Perpendicular the breeze ‘suddenly
fell calm’ and the vessel lost steerage only to drift onto the shore. ‘In in a very short time she became a total wreck’.

On the 28th May 1860 the barquentine 'Solon' hit rocks on the south side of Crookhaven Head while sailing from Sydney to Melbourne. The vessel broke up rapidly, one crew member was drowned...

With almost 100 passengers aboard, the 'City of Sydney' ran into fog. Its crew thought they were further out to sea than they actually were - an error they only realised when the vessel hit Green Cape!

The vessel sank so quickly that the last boat carrying passengers and crew away was struck by the auxillary steamer's falling masts, rigging and sails. Two of those on board were washed overboard...

Can you give us a hand researching them and writing up their stories for inclusion on this website? There are potentially 300 stories requiring work (far too many for our current resources!). If you are interested, contact us on 0448 160 852.

'The wind was S.S.E., the sea rather heavy, and an impenetrable darkness prevailed. There were on board two seamen' when the 'Echo' hit rocks off Bass Point...

The loss of the ‘Mimosa’ on 18th September 1863 is something of a mystery. It occurred during the day, in calm seas, in fine weather when a light north-easterly wind was prevailing, and on a coasting track that has been constantly traversed by vessels trading to and from Sydney for more than half a century. Two passengers died...

The ‘Mynora’ was the second vessel the Illawarra Steam Navigation Company lost in just over 6 months. Travelling from Moruya to Sydney, she struck a reef off St Georges Head and was then beached three miles north...

Two sailing ships were caught in the same storm and were wrecked at Crookhaven Heads - one was the 'Sarah Jane'. One crewman lost his life...

Two sailing ships were caught in the same storm and were wrecked at Crookhaven Heads - one was the 'Pacific'. One crewman lost his life...

The 'Julie Heyne' was transporting coal from Newcastle to Adelaide when she started taking water in Bass Strait. The captain turned back towards Sydney. She reached Cape St George, off Jervis Bay, before the crew was forced to abandon ship. Had they had eight hours more fair wind they would have reached Sydney...

On 13th July 1865, laden with wood and carrying a crew of five, the 'Colina' was wrecked at the entrance to Wagonga Inlet. She was crossing the bar with a strong breeze from the south. It suddenly dropped and a powerful sea swell swept her onto the breakwater...

The 'Spec' was struck by a sudden squall and foundered a mile and a half off the coast of Gerringong. Two seamen lost their lives, one survived...

The ‘Ellen Simpson’ was a 297-ton wooden barquentine that had been built in the United Kingdom in 1847. Whilst sailing from Newcastle to Melbourne with a load of coal, she encountered a storm of such ferocity that the captain decided to beach the vessel to save the lives of the eleven crew members. He did this 30 miles south of Green Cape and 8 miles north of Cape Howe. Nine of the crew, including the captain, lost their lives...

'Lord of the Isles' was a small ketch that was in Kiama harbour, waiting to be unloaded, when a gale hit the area. The vessel was swept from the wharf, hit the bottom of the harbour and was holed, then was swept out of the harbour where it drifted to the north - but was last seen drifting south...

24th October 1867. The 'Aeolus', carrying a load of timber and bound for Sydney, was blown ashore in Jervis Bay and was wrecked...

Losing a sternpost from a sailing ship whilst at sea is catastrophic - and, that's what happened to the 'Picard'...

The 'Chippewa' was struck by a gale near Crookhaven Heads, struck a rock, drifted northwards and sank. Its crew rowed to shore. Later efforts to raise the vessel were unsuccessful...

The 263-ton brig ‘Ann and Maria’, bound from Newcastle to Melbourne, foundered in a gale on the morning of 5th July 1869. She was then ten miles south of Green Cape...

We’re treating the wreck of the ‘Duncan Dunbar’ in 1869 as a ‘maybe’...maybe at the entrance to the Crookhaven River, with the loss of three lives...

The stories included on this website are of interest to many.

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Oops! The captain of the 'Rangoon' mistook the entrance to the Minamurra River for the entrance to Kiama Harbour and ended up wedging his vessel between two large rocks. This was on a dark and stormy night. A crowd of onlookers then watched (and occasionally helped with) salvage from the vessel and the rescue of the captain and crew...

At 10pm on 30th January 1870, the 'Camden' ran aground at Murramarang (south of Bawley Point near Brush Island) and quickly broke up. The weather at the time was described as very hazy and there was a fresh breeze blowing from the south-south-east...

The 15-metre, 34-ton ketch ‘Angus and Henry’ and the 17-metre, 31-ton schooner ‘Mary Cosgrove’ were sent to Murramarang to recover cargo from the ‘Camden’ that ran aground on 30th January 1870. On the evening of 19th February both vessels were caught by a southerly buster...

Whilst sailing up the east coast of Australia the 'Walter Hood' encountered a gale that stripped the vessel of its sails and swept one seaman overboard.

When land was finally sighted several days later (on Tuesday 26th April), the vessel was close inshore. It then did not have enough sail to beat out to sea, and was driven by the fierce wind onto a reef north of Bendalong where it began to break up...

A ship disappears. But where?

Some sources claim the ‘Dunkeld’ was lost at sea off Twofold Bay, others off Wilsons Promontory in Victoria. About the only thing they agree on is that it was in a severe storm on 27th June 1870 and that at least two lives were lost...

The schooner ‘Storm Bird’ was abandoned 3 miles from Green Cape in a storm on the 30th March 1870. She had been caught in a gale and was dismasted...

Another Wreck Bay wreck! - Summercloud Bay is named after this vessel.

Sent to salvage the 'Summer Cloud', the 'Maid of Riverton' was caught in a gale, was washed ashore, and was wrecked on Christmas Eve 1870.

Travelling from Newcastle to Adelaide with a load of coal, the 'Lanercost' was wrecked in heavy seas near Mowarry Point, Twofold Bay...

The ‘Coolangatta’ was a 30-metre, 87-ton side wheel paddle steamer owned by the Illawarra Steam Navigation Company. In February 1873, she was swept by a massive flood down the Shoalhaven River and out to sea...

Guess where the 'Rose of Australia' came to grief: Wreck Bay! On 22nd January 1874.

Yet another Wreck Bay wreck! The 'Sydney Morning Herald' of 13th February 1874 simply reported ‘The schooner ‘Mary’, of and from Melbourne, bound to Newcastle, was totally lost in Wreck Bay on the 8th February, during a heavy southerly gale. All hands saved.’

The 'Bernard and Isabel' was caught in Kiama harbour on 2nd May 1875 by a violent easterly gale. Her master - against the advice of Kiama's pilot - attempted to take the vessel out to sea from the harbour. Unable to make a turn, she drifted onto rocks...

Only 40 of 105 aboard the steamer 'Dandenong' were saved when, in rough seas and off the coast of Jervis Bay, her propellor shaft broke, tearing a large hole in her hull...

In January 1878 the 'Jane Spiers' was travelling from Melbourne to Newcastle under ballast (to, presumably, load coal for transport to Melbourne which would be stockpiled for the then-increasing numbers of coastal steamers) when she struck rocks near Cape Everard (now Point Hicks, south of Cann River) in Victoria, when visibility had been limited by smoke from bushfires. Her captain thought he would be able to nurse the ship into Twofold Bay but was unsuccessful, the vessel sinking a few miles south of Green Cape. The crew was taken aboard another ship, the ‘Ellen White’, that had come to the aid of the ‘Jane Spiers’...

The 'Millewa' was a small ketch that, whilst attempting to enter Kiama Harbour, failed to successfully complete a tack and was swept into the breakwater by a heavy swell...

The steamer 'Monaro' was travelling from Sydney to Merimbula when, at 3.30am on an evening when it was raining heavily and extremely dark, she hit rocks off Bingie, about 6 miles south of Moruya Heads. She may have been steered closer to the coast than was usual so that she would pass inshore of Montague Island...

The schooner 'Lady of the Lake' was wrecked about 7 nautical miles off Shoalhaven Bight. Its crew of three survived...

The 'Bertha' was a schooner that transported blue metal from Kiama. Whilst she was returning from Sydney to Kiama, she was caught in a powerful north-easterly gale at Bass Point and was wrecked. Her owner lost a second ship, also a blue metal carrier returning to Kiama, in that same gale on that same day...

The T.S.S. ‘John Penn’ sank after running onto rocks at the foot of Burrewarra Head (north of Broulee) in calm seas in the early hours of 8th November 1879. The captain later blamed the grounding on a faulty compass...

The 'Margaret' was caught in a squall, lost its sails and rudder and was washed onto rocks near Geringong where it became a total wreck...

The wind dropped when the 'Henrietta' was attempting to enter Crookhaven Heads at 11pm at night on February 4th 1880, and the sea forced the vessel broadside on to the rocks...

A mechanical failure resulted in the paddlesteamer 'My Own' being pushed by the wind onto rocks near Bass Point where it broke up. Two lives were lost...

The 73-metre, 895-ton iron steamer ‘Lady Darling’ hit a reef south of Montague Island on 10th November 1880. A large hole in the vessel’s side, described as ‘the size of a garbage can lid and about 2.5 metres under the waterline’, was the result. The steamer sank almost immediately...but the wreck was then not rediscovered until August 1996...

The ‘Balclutha’ was a small barque-rigged coastal steamer that was lost in heavy seas, probably somewhere off Gabo Island on 21st October 1881. It is believed her cargo of 300 tons of bluestone pavers, being shipped from Melbourne to the Homebush cattleyards in Sydney, shifted in the storm. None of her crew survived...

At around 1.30am on February 26th 1882, the 52-ton ketch ‘Esther Maria’ with 5 crew and passengers on board collided with the Illawarra Steam Navigation Company’s steamer ‘Kameruka’ about six miles north of Beecroft Head. The ‘Esther Maria’ quickly sank and one man – the vessel’s mate, Charles Greenwood, was drowned.

On June 20th 1882 the 32-ton ketch ‘Lillian’, with 3 people and a cargo of timber on board, sprung a leak. The skipper beached it on Grasshopper Island (to the east of Depot Beach) ‘to save life and property’. The vessel became a total wreck.

On December 9th 1882 (the same day the ‘Plutus’ was wrecked), the 35-ton ketch ‘Alfred Edward’ with four people on board and ‘in ballast’ ‘was lost through missing stays (i.e. it failed in an attempt to go about from one tack to another)’ as it attempted to sail out from Ulladulla.

'Plutus' was about 10 miles from her intended course when she ran aground near Currarong in December 1882. The rough sea broke the vessel's back...

The 'Nile' was one of a number of sailing ships that transported blue metal from Kiama to Wollongong and Sydney. She had left with a load of 400 tons of blue metal, turned around when she encountered unfavourable northerly winds, and struck a reef whilst re-entering Kiama harbour. 50 or 60 locals rushed to attempt to refloat her...

At 2pm on July 3rd 1883, the 'Bell' had finished loading 7,000 super feet of sawn timber from Tomakin and was about to depart for Mackay in Queensland. But the weather changed...

The 'Agnes' supposedly foundered of Jervis Bay in 1883...

The wreck of the Ly-ee-Moon is among the least explainable in Australian maritime history.

At 9.30pm, on what was a clear, calm night, she simply ran into (or was steered into) the rocks at a comparatively high speed of 11.5 knots at the very base of the Green Cape Lighthouse. 71 of those on board lost their lives..

On December 6th 1886 the 'Corangamite' was travelling up the NSW South Coast with 100 passengers and 40 crew on board when, in calm seas, she encountered thick fog.

Her voyage came to an abrupt end around 8am when she ran aground on a headland in Wreck Bay. She had been travelling at full speed...

In January 1888 the 'Alice Jane' sprung a serious leak in a gale, shortly after leaving Tomakin and bound for Sydney, so was beached. Her back was then broken, leading to her becoming a total wreck...

A 26-ton ketch, built in 1853, washed ashore at Geering Bay, Gerringong on 18th March 1888. The crew was saved...

Hit by a 'terrific and sudden squall', the 'Growler' lost its sails and steering geer. Somehow, the crew sailed her into Gerringong Harbour where they secured the vessel to a buoy. They then set about repairing the steering gear and the sails.

They had almost completed the task when they sat down to have dinner at 1pm on Sunday 18th March 1888. However, the seas worsened and 'only five minutes elapsed till she was on the rocks'. The crew and the one passenger on board lost everything.

‘The unfortunate voyagers betook themselves to the Ocean View Hotel, Gerringong (where they) were compelled to borrow some necessary articles of wearing apparel’...

The crew abandoned the 'Mina', which was transporting timber from the Clarence River to Melbourne, when she developed a bad leaking in a gale off Cape Howe. They were picked up by a passing steamer and taken to Newcastle...

The 'Maggie Scott', travelling from Tomakin to Sydney with a load of timber, was hit by strong westerly winds, sprung a leak and foundered. Her crew were rescued by a passing ship...

On 19th September 1889 the 'Ino', a 40-ton ketch that was travelling from Wollongong to Moruya with a load of coal, ran into rocks at the entrance to Kiama Harbour. The vessel rapidly broke up. Several days later the wreckage drifted into the entrance to the harbour, completely blocking it...

On April 10th 1890 the 'Julius Vogel' broke away from her moorings in an exposed anchorage at Tomakin and drifted ashore in a very heavy gale that was blowing at the time...

There’s nothing quite like a maritime mystery to excite the press and provide them with a seemingly-endless supply of stories…as the loss of the steamship ‘Taramung’ illustrates...

In July 1891 the 'William and Alexander' went ashore at Tomakin during an easterly gale. A description suggests she was jammed against a rock and the sea was flowing in and out of the vessel. However, it seems she was refloated, only to be wrecked off Terrigal a year later...

The 25-ton ketch ‘White Cloud’ was wrecked on the north point of Broulee Island on February 14th 1893...

The 112-foot, 163-ton wooden schooner ‘Samoa’ was built in Stockholm in 1866 and may have been used in the slave trade. On 5th July 1893 she was in Kiola Bay, partly loaded with a cargo of timber, when a very heavy sea set in and parted her from her moorings. She became a wreck the next morning...

The headline in the 'Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser’ of 1st September 1894 reads: 'A Yacht Sunk by a Whale'...

The 25-metre, 56-ton schooner ‘Result’ was wrecked in stormy weather when she missed stays (failed to tack) at Abraham’s Bosom (just north-east of Currarong) on 30th September 1893...

On 18th June 1897 the ‘Bonnie Dundee’, whilst moored at Bawley Point waiting to be loaded, was blown on to the shore and, eventually, became a total wreck...

The 'Kameruka' struck a reef off Pedro Point, 2 1/2 miles south of Moruya Heads around midnight on October 16th 1897. Someone on board had the idea of tying a rope to a pig, hoping it would swim to shore, so all on board could be transferred safely to shore. The idea was a winner...

The ‘Atacama’ was a 1,298 ton wooden barquentine. The vessel left Newcastle with a crew of 17, bound for San Diego, California, with a cargo of 1,700 tons of coal on January 29th 1898. On Sunday 6th February, when about 300 miles offshore, the ship sprung a leak...

The 'Scotia' was wrecked on Blow Hole Point, Kiama, on December 26th 1899 following a complete drop in wind and her then being swept onto nearby rocks by strong prevailing currents. She was one of a fleet of vessels that was transporting blue metal from Kiama to Sydney and she was returning empty to Kiama at the time of the incident. Her crew of four reached Kiama safely...

On 17th May 1900, the schooner 'Gleaner' was blown ashore whilst moored at Bawley Point when the ropes holding her broke...

On 29th June 1901 the steamer 'Alexander Berry' left the Crookhaven River bound for Merimbula. She was soon caught in what was described as a ‘raging gale’, sought shelter and anchored in Abraham’s Bosom (at the eastern end of Currarong), but her anchor rope parted and her rudder head was lost making the vessel unmanageable, and she was swept onto rocks at Long Point (now Bass Point) on 1st July 1901. Four of the five crew on board lost their lives...

The SS 'Bega' sank off Bunga, between Tathra and Bermagui, on a voyage to Sydney on April 5, 1908. There had been a strike and no steamer had run for a fortnight; hence there was quite a pile-up of produce, livestock and passengers. The usual experienced crew that loaded ships was not available so the Illawarra and South Coast Steam Navigation Company engaged a different crew made up largely of inexperienced men. Soon after leaving Tathra Wharf, the vessel developed a list...

Whilst under charter to load a cargo of logs at Kioloa, on the night of 28th October 1910, in rough seas and with a strong north-easterly wind blowing, the steamer 'Wyoming' was approaching Kioloa Beach between Belowla Island and O’Hara Head when its engines suddenly stopped. Within five minutes it struck rocks...

The steamer 'New Guinea' was on a voyage from Melbourne to Sydney with a cargo of machinery and general goods and a crew of 28 when, on the morning of 13th February 1911, it ran into a bank of thick fog as it approached Gabo Island. At 11.50 a.m., the vessel crashed at full speed onto the rocks half a mile from Green Cape Lighthouse – right between where the ‘Ly-ee-Moon’ and the ‘City of Sydney’ had previously run aground...

The 'Vision', a 57-ton steamer, was run aground on Montreal beach, just north of Bermagui, on 13th January 1911 in heavy weather...

The steamer 'Tilba' hit rocks in Wreck Bay, south of Jervis Bay, on 18th November 1912 whilst transporting timber from Narooma to Wollongong. The crew made it to shore safely. Her engines and boilers were salvaged...

The coastal steamer 'Brooklyn' ran onto rocks at the entrance to the Crookhaven River at night on 16th December 1912. The impact ripped a sizeable hole in the vessel’s hull...

The steamships 'Belbowrie' and 'Seagull' were driven ashore by a storm whilst tied to a wharf in Ulladulla Harbour in July 1913. Both were successfully refloated. So, this is not a shipWRECK story but one that was considered worthwhile including here...

The 'Wandra' was a small timber-carrying vessel that worked the NSW coast. It was hit by two large waves after leaving Moruya Heads in December 1915. The timbers in the ship's hull parted...

The only enemy action that occurred in Australia and against Australia in World War I occurred on the South Coast of New South Wales. On the morning of 6th July 1917 the SS 'Cumberland', a cargo ship bound for England and laden with war materials, struck a mine off the coast between Merimbula and Eden. This mine had been laid by a German Raider, the 'Wolf'...

On 27th November 1920 the 'Comboyne' reportedly struck a submerged or floating object whilst steaming off Bass Point. She was carrying a full cargo of timber and, at the time, was about a mile from shore. The collision caused the vessel to immediately leak very badly, and its pumps proved unable to cope with the water.

An attempt was made to beach the ‘Comboyne’, but she developed a dangerous list. The crew took to the life boats...

The 'Mokau' had been damaged whilst working at Red Head (just south of Bendalong) and should never have put to sea. But she was taken to Ulladulla, loaded with 110 tons of silica rock, and then headed to Wollongong. In heavy conditions, a leak forced the vessel to shore in Wreck Nay, south of Jervis Bay. There she was abandoned and became a total wreck...

The steamer 'Bodalla' was wrecked whilst attempting to enter Wagonga Inlet on 19th January 1924...

The fully-laden 'Benandra' unsuccessfully tried to cross the notoriously difficult Moruya River bar on a dropping tide. She grounded three times before being hit by several large waves that filled the vessel with water and kled to her being abandoned. The only passenger on board the vessel lost his life, the crew were all saved...

The 'Merimbula' ran aground on Beecroft Head, near Jervis Bay, on March 27th 1928. The loss of the "Merimbula' spelled the end of the Illawarra and South Coast Steam Navigation Company's passenger services to the South Coast, and from 1928 to the early 1950s the Company confined its activities exclusively to cargo services...

The trawlers 'Palmerston' and 'Millimumil' collided off Point Perpendicular early in the morning on 29th May 1929. The 'Palmerston'sank but her 11 crew were saved...

A number of privately-owned steam trawlers were lost on the NSW South Coast between 1929 and 1934, The first of these was the 'Gunandaal' that ran ashore at Cape Howe on 3rd November 1929...

On 9th September 1931, after fishing all day off Jervis Bay, the 'Koraaga' struck a reef off Bass Point, Shellharbour, in clear weather and late at night, and was badly holed. As she appeared likely to founder quickly, she was abandoned and the crew of 11 rowed to Kiama, five miles away...

The 'Northern Firth' was wrecked on 22nd February 1932 whilst on a voyage from Melbourne to Sydney with a crew of 30, when she hit rocks on Brush Island, about 15 miles south of Ulladulla. The crew landed themselves on Brush Island.

The 'Charlie Cam' was returning to Sydney on 22nd June 1932 with a large quantity of fish, after four days of successful trawling near Green Cape, when she was run aground at Bunga Head, about 10 miles north of Tathra. Apparently, a leak had developed on the return voyage to Sydney, so the captain had increased speed in the hope of reaching Sydney. The leak, however, had become so bad that he found it necessary to beach her...

The 'Unique' had been steaming up the coast on 4th March 1934, with a cargo of fish, when she sprang a leak. A decision was made to abandon the vessel which was then about 5 nautical miles off Shoalhaven Heads. After rowing for some miles, the crew attracted the attention of the ‘Bermagui’ and were taken on board.

The steam trawler 'David Blake' hit a rock off Mimosa Head on 15th March 1934, was badly holed, and became a total wreck. She had a sizeable catch of flathead and bream aboard...

This is a comprehensive overview of shipping losses in NSW waters resulting from enemy submarine action in World War II. Particular attention is paid to ships that were attacked (and in some cases sunk) on the NSW South Coast...

The 'Salvatore V', an 18-metre timber fishing vessel, was wrecked on Haywards Beach, just north of Bermagui...

The longliner fishing vessel 'Volition' ran aground and rapidly disintegrated off Dickinson Point, Bermagui, on 27th February 2025. The four men on board reached land safely...

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