‘Echo’, 1863

This is how the ‘Sydney Mail’ (28.3.1863) reported the wreck of the ‘Echo’:

‘The schooner Echo, thirty tons, W. Ringland, master, three-parts laden with wheat, maize, and potatoes, from Shoalhaven to Sydney, when passing Long Point (now Bass Point), between one and two a.m. on the 21st March, got into the breakers, close to a sunken rock about a furlong distant from the main point. On becoming aware of his position, the master endeavoured to run the vessel between the rock and the mainland but being unable to get the square-sail down in time she was driven against the shore, and went to pieces in about ten minutes afterwards.

The wind was S.S.E., the sea rather heavy, and an impenetrable darkness prevailed. There were on board two seamen, and we are happy to learn that they and the master succeeded in scrambling on to the rocks, and reached the shore in safety. This is a very serious loss to Captain Ringland, as we understand that he was not only owner of the craft, but was also interested to a considerable extent in the cargo.’