'Nile', 1883

The ‘Nile’ was a 89-foot, 164-ton wooden brigandine that has been built in England in 1859.

On 13 February 1883, the ‘Nile’ sailed for Sydney from Kiama with a cargo of 300 tons of blue metal. Just north of Kiama she met unfavourable head winds, so she turned around and was re-entering Kiama harbour when she struck a reef on the north-west side of the bay with some force. Evidence at a later enquiry suggests that the wind suddenly dropped and, with a low tide, the ship was swept by the currents onto the reef where it then lost its rudder.

Efforts were made to refloat the vessel, including by volunteers on-shore: ‘The strongest hawser procurable was stretched from her bows to the pier opposite, and some 50 or 60 willing hands did their utmost to extricate the ship from her perilous position but, just as success seemed to crown their efforts, the rope parted and the vessel settled down on her rocky bed. Had a steamer of sufficient power been at hand, the Nile might have been taken off without much damage… for the space of a couple of hours every effort was made to save the ship, but in vain. From the quantity of water in the hold, and the fragments of timber floating about, it soon became apparent that the sharp rocks underneath were doing the work of demolition. The vessel's bows were deep in the water, and the sea washing half the deck, the bows being quite submerged, and the stern high up in the air. The masts and spars are still intact, with one sail set, but the deck is burst up, and when the sea becomes rough, as it very often is where the Nile lies, she must go to pieces. In the meantime, boats have been plying to-and-fro, and all the articles belonging to the crew have been taken ashore.’

A number of other vessels transporting blue metal from Kiama were wrecked over the years – for example, ‘Bertha’ and the ‘Franz’ had been wrecked earlier, in 1879.

Image: The ‘Nile’ aground on rocks in Kiama harbour.