‘Bertha’, 1879

The ‘Bertha’ was a 22-metre, 64-ton wooden schooner that was built at Davistown on Brisbane Water (near Gosford) in 1864.

She was employed transporting blue metal from Kiama.

From Monday 8th September to Wednesday 10th September 1879 a severe easterly gale lashed the South Coast. At 5.30am on 9th September returning unladen from Sydney, the ‘Bertha’ was driven ashore by a powerful north-east gale on the north side of Bass Point (north of Kiama). At the time there were two passengers and three crew aboard.

Local Dharawal Aboriginals witnessed the shipwreck. They saved the lives of the passengers and crew by taking a line from the vessel to the shore. The vessel quickly began breaking up and became a total wreck.

Mr F.W. Cook, owner of 'Bertha' lost a second ship, the 'Franz', that same day in the same gale, just a little to the north (off what today is Windang) from where ‘Bertha’ was wrecked.

The ‘Franz’ was a 25-metre, 148-ton, 2-masted wooden schooner that had been built in Germany in 1862. Like the ‘Bertha’, she transported blue metal from Kiama for use on the then-expanding NSW railway network and, like the ‘Bertha’, was on a return voyage from Sydney to Kiama. She carried a crew of seven, all of whom were saved.

Evidently the captain of the ‘Franz’ beached the vessel on Five Mile Beach, realising this was the only way that the lives of those on board could be saved - with no other vessels in the area able to come to the aid of his stricken ship.