'Hive', 1835

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If you’ve ever wondered why Wreck Bay, just south of Jervis Bay, got its name, have a look at the box below that lists the vessels that were wrecked in or very near the bay between 1805 and 1922.

There were 16 of them!

The Wreck Bay coast, quite simply, was a trap for ships sailing too close to the shore. Once inside the bay, ships had no room to manoeuvre and, therefore, were frequently driven ashore.

This was certainly the case for the ‘Hive’, which ran aground on 10th December 1835 – becoming the only ship that was carrying convicts to be wrecked on the Australian mainland.

Two other convict transports had been wrecked off Tasmania earlier in 1835: on the 12th March 1835, the ‘George III’ was wrecked in the D’Entrecasteaux Channel, near the mouth of the Derwent River, and 134 of the 294 on board lost their lives. 128 of those who lost their lives were convicts; and on 13th May 1835 the ‘Neva’ was wrecked on the north coast of King Island in Bass Strait. It had 239 on board at the time – mostly women convicts and children – of whom 224 died.
The ‘Hive’ had, in 1834, transported 250 male prisoners to Port Jackson. That voyage lasted 123 days and, at times, the temperature below deck reached over 38°C (100°F) prompting the humane ship’s Surgeon to arrange for 60 prisoners to sleep on deck, changing shifts every four hours.

The ‘Hive’s’ second, ill-fated, voyage was transporting 252 Irish male prisoners that had been collected from Dublin and Cork. It was also carrying £10,000 of coins for the government in Sydney.

108 days into that voyage, without having made landfall since leaving Ireland, the ship was heading up the NSW South Coast. At the time, the coastline was largely unsurveyed.

The Chief Officer evidently expressed his concern to the Captain that the ship was too close to land, but the Captain then brought the vessel even closer to shore and is reported to have told the Ship’s crew that ’one person is sufficient to navigate the ship!’

The Captain then retired to bed (some reports indicating he was drunk), leaving orders that the ship should continue under full sail on the course he had charted.

A Sydney Morning Herald report, a few days later, picks up the story:

During the whole of Thursday (10th December, 1835), the ‘Hive’, it appears, kept within sight of land; in the night it blew pretty fresh, and a dense fog came on. Our informants here leave us in the dark, as well as the ship, and we next hear of the vessel being stranded on the Coast near the Pigeon House, within 10 miles of Cape George. All hands were immediately called up, and the boats lowered, one of which was stove in the attempt, and the persons capsized, one of whom reached the land, by whose exertions a hawser from the ship was made fast ashore. This enabled the Captain and crew to lower the rest of the ship's boats, lines being made fast stem and stern, when as soon as one boat was filled with the persons on board, those on shore dragged the boat towards them, and they were landed. By this means the whole of the men, women, and children, (there were 8 women and 11 children on board) were discharged from the ship, which was done with but the least confusion.

On the morning of Friday, Ensign Kelly, of the 17th Regiment (the prison guards), by the assistance of some blacks, found his way to the station of John Lamb, Esq., to whom he reported the circumstance. From this place Ensign Kelly travelled to the estate of Alexander Berry, Esq., a few miles (a 12 hours walk) further on, and from whence a messenger was despatched to Wollongong; the Police Magistrate there being requested to forward the account of the accident with all despatch to headquarters.

The people belonging to the ship were, during this time, engaged in getting the luggage and stores from the ship, and the prisoners ashore forming bowers for resting places at night. Mr. Berry, in the most prompt manner, as soon as he heard of the circumstance, sent his schooner to the ‘Hive’ well manned, but her assistance was not required, the weather being fine and the vessel close in upon the land. One accident happened during the night, the boatswain in attempting to save the life of a lad belonging to the ship, was unfortunately drowned, the boy being washed ashore by the surf.

On Sunday the revenue cutter ‘Prince George’ started for the ‘Hive’, and took charge of the specie (the shipment of coins), all of which was saved. Shortly after the ‘Prince George’, the ‘Zebra’, a brig of war, and the steam packet ‘Tamar’, reached Jervis Bay; and, as soon as practicable, Dr. Donoghoe, Surgeon Superintendent of the ‘Hive’, Mr. Lugard, of the Royal Engineers, part of the guard, and 100 of the prisoners, were forwarded in the steamer to Sydney. The ‘Zebra’ also took charge of the specie, all the mails, and 100 prisoners, the rest being ordered to remain near the ship to render assistance in getting her off the beach, if possible. The ‘Zebra’ is expected in port to-day, with the mails, etc…

The ‘Hive’ could not be refloated and eventually broke up on the beach in Wreck Bay.

But, as with all good stories, there was an unexpected twist.

A small government schooner, the ‘Blackbird’, was subsequently sent to Wreck Bay to salvage stores from the ‘Hive’. Aboard was Captain Nutting, the Captain of the ‘Hive’.

On January 15th, on its first day in the area, a southerly gale blew up and the ‘Blackbird’s’ anchors were unable to hold her. ‘With howling winds, rain and lightning, the little vessel was thrown towards the broken water on the beach. Salvaged cargo was jettisoned to lighten the load. A decision was made to raise all sail and run the vessel onto the beach’. So, she too became a total loss. And Captain Nutting, thereby, was wrecked on the same beach in Wreck Bay for a second time! He walked back to Sydney to summons help.

(Captain Nutting had been described by the Surgeon on the ‘Hive’ as ‘an unfit man to command, due to his repeated mistakes on the voyage.’ Nutting next became Captain of the ‘Avon’ that transported whale oil from NSW to London. In May 1836, whilst returning the England, he steered the ‘Avon’ into sea ice where it became stuck in the Southern Ocean off Antarctica for over a week.)

Wrecks in Wreck Bay 1805 – 1922

It was once said that coastal shipping in NSW was ‘a scheme for manufacturing widows and orphans’…

1805 - Sloop 'Nancy' ran aground at Steamers Beach. Survivors took eleven days to walk to Sydney.
1835 - Convict ship 'Hive' driven ashore Bherwerre Beach.
1836 - Schooner 'Blackbird' wrecked while attempting to salvage stores from 'Hive' at Wreck Bay.
1850 - Barque 'Juniper' wrecked (carrying wine to Sydney) at St George Head.
1865 - P.S. 'Mynora' wrecked at Steamers Beach.
1867 - Barque 'Julie Heyn' lost south of Jervis Bay.
1870 – Clipper ‘Walter Hood’ struck a reef in a storm north of Bendalong.
1870 - Barque 'Summer Cloud' stranded at Wreck Bay and wrecked.
1874 - Schooner 'Mary' driven ashore at Wreck Bay by a gale. Mary Bay is named after this vessel.
1874 - The brig 'Rose of Australia' ran aground at Wreck Bay.
1886 - The passenger steamship 'S.S. Corangamite' lost at St Georges Head.
1908 - Scow 'Hilda' ran aground at Wreck Bay loaded with timber.
1909 - The 'Naudura' grounded at Sussex Inlet.
1911 - 'S.S. Tilba' ran aground on rocks at Wreck Bay.
1915 – Schooner 'Advance' driven ashore at Wreck Bay.
1922 - The coastal trader 'Mokau' beached for repairs at Wreck Bay and destroyed in rough weather.