‘Picard’, 1867

Losing a sternpost from a sailing ship whilst at sea is catastrophic because the sternpost holds both sides of the aft end of the vessel together and it has the rudder hanging from it.

The 28-metre, 165-ton, American-built schooner, the ‘Picard’ was sailing along the South Coast on 8th October 1867 when, around midday, it lost its sternpost. The captain immediately turned the ship and headed for Twofold Bay.

At 4 p.m. a westerly gale drove the schooner out to sea. Then at 7 pm. the wind
shifted to the south-south-east, and the captain was again able to head for shore.

At 9am the next day, when about 15 miles off Mt Dromedary (Gulaga) there was 7-feet of water in the hold and the vessel had become completely unmanageable. So, the decision was made to abandon ship and the crew headed to Montague Island. The ship foundered shortly thereafter.

Two days later, a schooner was sighted, which turned out to be the ‘Gipsy’ from Twofold Bay. It rescued the survivors and transported them to Sydney.