‘Pacific’, 1864

The weather was obviously quite inclement at the time, with the ‘Illawarra Mercury’ noting ‘the weather continued very unsettled, and fears were entertained of a second flood. We also learn from other sources that the settlers were reported to have suffered as serious losses in crops and fencing as they did during the great Shoalhaven flood’, when it reported the wreck of the ‘Pacific’ and the ‘rumoured loss of two other vessels.’

The ‘Illawarra Mercury’ was partly right: the 34-metre, 313-ton barquentine ‘Pacific’ had been wrecked in a gale on the south side of Crookhaven Heads on the 13th June 1864 while on a voyage from Auckland, NZ to Newcastle, and a second vessel, the ‘Sarah Jane’, was also lost at Crookhaven Heads in the same gale.

Reports of the wreck of the ‘Pacific’ indicate ‘the beach below the Crookhaven Heads was strewed with candles’, the vessel became a total wreck, and one man lost his life. But…the vessel was subsequently refloated and was registered in the port of Sydney, with the registration noting it was ‘constructed at Jervis Bay in the colony of NSW from the wreck of the ‘Pacific’ of Melbourne.’