Australia's Deadliest Shipwreck: The Cataraqui

Australia's Deadliest Shipwreck: The Cataraqui

Rich: [00:00:00] It's September 13th, 1842. Thomas Guthrie has just arrived in Port Phillip, in the colony of New South Wales of Australia. He and eight other survivors of the ship Cataraqui Have spent the last five weeks sheltering in a small hut on a desolate, cold, and miserable rocky shore. It was a miracle any of them were still alive.

The authorities of Port Phillip are eager to learn the fate of the ship, which carried badly needed tradesmen, laborers, and farmhands, along with their families, to the colony. The ship was long overdue, and had been reported missing. A small crowd gathers around Guthrie, as he is peppered with questions.

He is weak, exhausted, and hungry, but tolerates the interrogation. A journalist from the Port Phillip Patriot, the local newspaper, asks Guthrie to explain what happened, and how he survived. Guthrie looks down for a moment, [00:01:00] pausing to collect his thoughts. In a soft voice, almost a whisper, He begins, Imagine four hundred and twenty five souls, of which the greater part were women and children, being suddenly awakened from a sound sleep by the crashing of the timbers of the ship against the rocks.

The scene was dreadful, the sea pouring over the vessel. The planks and timbers crashing and breaking, the waters rushing in from below, and pouring down from above. The raging of the wind and the rigging, and the boiling and hissing of the sea, joined to the dreadful shrieks of the females and children, who were drowning between decks. The attempts of so many at once to get up the hatchways blocked them, so that few got on deck uninjured. And when there, The roaring noise and sweeping force of the sea was most appalling. Death stared them in the face in many forms, for it was not simply drowning, but violent dashing against the rocks, which studded the waves between the [00:02:00] vessel and the shore.

When day broke, they trusted to find a way to the shore, but no, the raging waves and pointed rocks rendered every attempt useless. The sea broke over the vessel very heavily, and soon swept away the longboat and almost everything on deck.

The sad tale of the Cataraqui. Today, on Shipwrecks and Seadogs.

Hello and welcome to Shipwrecks and [00:03:00] Seadogs. Tales of mishaps, misfortune, and misadventure. I'm your host, Rich Napolitano. So often throughout our history, people have boarded ships full of hopes and dreams, and a desire for a better life. Perhaps they were fleeing a war torn country, poverty, or famine.

Whatever the reason, a fresh start in a new land brought new possibilities. Sometimes, through no fault of their own, these dreams ended in tragedy. Australia has been inhabited by its First Nations people for over 50, 000 years. I recognize that the treatment and displacement of Australia's First People is a sensitive and significant issue, but beyond the scope of this podcast.

The first recorded European contact with Australia was not until 1606, when Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon landed at what is now Cape York, aboard his vessel, Duyfken. The Dutch continued to chart the western and northern shores of Australia, [00:04:00] but did not establish any settlements on the continent. The Makassar people of Indonesia also reached the continent as early as 1720.

It was not until 1770, when Captain James Cook first mapped the eastern coast of Australia, that colonization plans took shape. Captain Arnold Phillip arrived with the first fleet from Great Britain in 1788. And the Colony of New South Wales was established. Eleven ships, carrying a collection of 1, 400 convicts, soldiers, sailors, government officials, and a number of free settlers, arrived in Botany Bay to build the foundation of the new colony.

About 3, 000 people per year arrived in New South Wales, and the colony continued to grow, although not without difficulty. The early settlers engaged in subsistence farming, but later began larger scale agriculture and production of wool. Gradually, emancipated convicts and soldiers who had fulfilled their commitments made up an expanding population.

[00:05:00] As the economy grew, more laborers and skilled workers were needed, prompting both the government and private interests to subsidize immigration. The Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 allowed British church parishes to sponsor poverty stricken families to emigrate to Australia. And give them a fresh start.

Another program offered a loan of 20 pounds for skilled tradesmen and their families to emigrate to New South Wales. But few participated, and even fewer repaid their loans. Emigrants to Australia often ate better on the ships than they had previously. And most ships even had a surgeon on board. The goal was to get people to New South Wales alive, healthy, and able to work.

Nevertheless, the four month voyage by ship to Australia was incredibly dangerous. Conditions were cramped, and illnesses such as scurvy were not uncommon. The inherent dangers of the open ocean made the journey even more treacherous. By 1845, [00:06:00] the colonies of South Australia, Van Diemen's Land, later named Tasmania, and Western Australia had been added, as the population grew and expanded.

The vessel Cataraqui was built in Quebec in 1840 by shipwright Williams Lampson, and later purchased by William Smith Sons of Liverpool. The firm planned to use the ship for the lucrative business of transporting immigrants to Australia. It was 802 tons, 138 feet long, and its name comes from the French transliteration of the Mississauga word for the land of what is now Kingston, Ontario.

On the 11th of March, 1845, Smith and Sons sought approval to carry emigrants on the Cataraqui to New South Wales under the terms of the Bounty Contract of 1843. which paid ship owners a bounty for each emigrant. The payment amounts varied, but were anywhere from 5 for children, 10 for unmarried men, 15 for unmarried women, to [00:07:00] 30 for couples.

The Secretary of the Colonial Land and Emigration Office, Sir Stephen Wolcott, asked Lieutenant J. Henry of the Royal Navy to, quote, Make a strict and thorough examination of the vessel while in dock. Lieutenant Henry was the appointed government agent assigned to Liverpool to arrange the transportation of emigrants.

On the 8th of April, Henry reported that the ship had a thorough overhaul and had been perfectly sound and will be classed A1 by Lloyd's Registry for five years. He went on to inform Wolcott that the ship could legally carry 260 adults. With all surveys and certifications in order, the Cataraqui was approved for its planned voyage, and Smith Sons qualified to receive a bounty for its passengers.

On the 20th of April, 1845, the Cataraqui left Liverpool for Melbourne, with 48 crew under the command of Captain Christopher Finlay. 367 British and Irish immigrants were [00:08:00] making the journey. 62 families with their children comprised 313 of the passengers. And they were joined by 33 unmarried females, all farm servants, and 23 unmarried males, all laborers and carpenters.

The long voyage took them around the Cape of Good Hope and then east across the Indian Ocean. The passengers were well cared for, and it was largely an uneventful passage. However, one crewman was lost overboard, and six passengers died during the voyage. Five babies were born as well, resulting in a total of 409 on board as they approached the final leg of their journey.

On August 3rd, Captain Finlay guided the Cataraqui toward Bass Strait, the narrow waterway between the southern coast of the Australian mainland and the northern coast of Tasmania. The Bass Strait is a particularly dangerous waterway. Discovered by mariners in 1798, It allowed a more direct route to the ports of New South Wales, instead of sailing around the southern [00:09:00] tip of Tasmania.

But navigating the strait came with its own dangers. Ships often encountered rough seas, large waves, and strong, unpredictable currents. Its relatively shallow channel hosted scores of submerged rocks and shoals. Over 50 islands are scattered throughout the strait, some easier to observe than others. King Island at its western entrance is a large rocky island with jagged reefs extending up to 2 kilometers outward.

In 1845, no lighthouses had yet been constructed along the strait, and countless ships had been lost in these waters. As night approached, a storm was brewing on the horizon, and Captain Finlay was cautious. Storms over the last couple of weeks had made navigation difficult, and he could not be entirely certain of his exact location.

Captain Finlay was forced to rely on dead reckoning, or just an educated guess of where he might be. At 7 o'clock p. m., the captain ordered the sails to be reefed, and [00:10:00] the ship hove to, to wait for more favorable conditions. The ship's surgeon superintendent, Charles Carpenter, had on several occasions during the voyage, Voiced his disagreement with the captain regarding a variety of issues.

As the night of August 3rd pushed on, and the Cataraqui was making no real progress as the ship was essentially just drifting under light sail, Carpenter was again critical. When Captain Finlay again overheard the surgeon disparaging him, accusing him of being afraid, the captain ordered the sails to be unfurled.

At 3 o'clock in the morning on August 4th, the Cataraqui picked up speed, and traveled east at approximately 10 knots, into the unknown darkness. The storm that had been threatening had finally reached them, and a strong gale pushed the ship southward. Monstrous waves and wind battered the ship, and visibility was extremely poor.

The crashing of waves and howling winds masked the sound of breakers up ahead, a sound [00:11:00] which would have not been expected. Unknown to Captain Finlay, the Cataraqui was 160 kilometers further east than his reckoning. And the ship was being driven further off course to the south by the storm. At approximately 4:30 AM of August 4th, the Cataraqui slammed into a jagged reef along the southwestern shores of King Island. Those asleep in their bunks below were tossed roughly onto the floor. A moment later, the ship blasted over another reef, and then a third, finally coming to a stop on the rocks, her keel torn asunder.

The shock of the impact terrified the passengers below, and men, women, and children screamed in panic. Many quickly gathered on the deck as the cold rain and wind stung their bare skins. About 300 people stood bewildered and terrified, wondering where they were and what had happened. Nobody was prepared for this moment and were not dressed for such an emergency.

[00:12:00] Most had been asleep below, eager to arrive at their destination when they awoke. The ship's crew was mustered on the deck, and they diligently assisted passengers up from below deck. Captain Finlay assembled a team to cut away the ship's masts to help stabilize the helpless vessel. Large waves continually crashed over them, washing several at a time overboard into the maelstrom.

Terrifying shrieks could be heard coming from the water. But there was nothing to be done. The continual pounding of the surf caused the stairs to come crashing down, trapping many below. The ship was stranded just 100 meters from shore, but this short distance might as well have been 100 kilometers, given the treacherous rocks and vicious weather conditions.

Lifeboats could not be launched, and even if they could, they would immediately be swamped by the roiling sea. Any attempt to do so would mean certain death. A monstrous wave crashed into her starboard side. Causing the ship to lift suddenly to [00:13:00] port. Frigid water poured in below, drowning many who were sheltering below deck.

At sunrise, about 200 people still clung to the sad remnant of the Cataraqui. The ship had begun to break apart in the torturous surf, and even the strongest struggled to hold on. The sea hungrily plucked away at its helpless prey, one here, two there. With each, horrible screams of terror and agony rang out, torturing the others who struggled to hang on to the fragments of the ship.

Cold, numb fingers soon gave way, and more slipped into the churning seas below. Parents desperately held the lifeless bodies of their children, refusing to let them go. Eventually, they too would succumb, and slip away with their children. As the morning hours continued on, more and more of the ship broke away.

At 4 o'clock p. m., the Cataraqui broke in two, and about 100 of the survivors were lost in an instant. [00:14:00] Six crewmen attempted to launch the only remaining lifeboat, but it was instantly swamped, and all six men vanished into the sea, including the ship's surgeon, Charles Carpenter. Heroic attempts were made to swim a line to shore, but all ended up smashed against the jagged rocks.

Thick kelp thwarted several attempts to float a line to shore, and the survivors instead used the line to lash themselves to the ship. Throughout the day, their numbers dwindled as people lost their strength and succumbed to hypothermia. Day turned to night, and only about 70 remained clinging to the ship.

The miserable, freezing, and weak survivors continued to fight for their lives. In the early morning hours of August 5th, before sunrise, passenger Solomon Brown miraculously made his way to shore. The monumental struggle left the laborer from Bedfordshire nearly unconscious. Brown had departed England with his wife Hannah and four [00:15:00] children, who were now all dead, along with the entirety of 50 other families.

At daybreak, only 30 remained clinging to the Cataraqui. A grisly, horrifying sight lay before them. The lifeless bodies of children bobbed up and down in the heavy surf. And the naked, pale corpses of men and women were piled up on the shoreline. Steadily, the remains of the ship broke away that morning, and all that could be done was to hold on to whatever flotsam that could be found.

Finally, the turbulent surf of the Bass Strait finished off the Cataraqui, and the last vestiges of the ship broke apart. Finally, the turbulent surf of the Bass Strait finished off the vessel. First mate Thomas Guthrie found himself clinging to the bowsprit as the ship broke apart. He saw Captain Finlay and the second mate, Mr.

Justice, holding on at the bow among twenty other survivors, along with a host of dead bodies. Guthrie was driven off the [00:16:00] bowsprit by a surge of waves and held onto a broken piece of wreckage on the reef. The unforgiving waves continued to crash over Guthrie, each time putting him closer to death.

Desperate, Guthrie launched himself over the reef and made it to the beach. He found Solomon Brown laying in the sand, as well as Abel Seaman, John Robertson. Five more Able Seamen and a ship's apprentice made it out of the wreckage and onto the beach. Of the 409 on board at the time of the wreck, Only nine survived, and only one, Solomon Brown, was a passenger.

All of the women and children perished. In stunned silence, the nine survivors gathered together and took stock of their situation. The bodies of passengers and crew lay strewn together on shore, along with clothing, personal effects, and other debris from the ship. The enormity of the disaster was before their eyes, and the shock of what had happened to them sunk in.[00:17:00]

The survivors had no food or water, and nobody knew they had wrecked, or where they were. The group searched the area for a source of drinking water, but found none. With nightfall approaching, the men had no means to make a fire. They gathered under a wet blanket that had washed ashore. and huddled together for a cold and miserable night.

A cask of water washed up the following morning, but still, they had no food, and the water wouldn't last long. It could be weeks before another ship might pass through the area, and they would have to find a way to survive. Although they were not certain of their location, Thomas Guthrie believed they were on King Island.

At approximately 10 a. m., smoke was observed rising in the distance, and the group thought perhaps it was from native aboriginal peoples. This possibility frightened them, as they were powerless to defend themselves. It wouldn't be long before they found the source of the smoke. A short time later, a white [00:18:00] man approached.

It was David Howie, a former convict, and he confirmed that they were indeed on King Island. The island was largely uninhabited, and there was no danger of being attacked. But he also had bad news. His vessel had been wrecked as well, and there was no way off the island. They would have to survive until a passing ship found them.

Howie had traveled to King Island to collect seal and kangaroo skins, and he and his party set up camp about 35 miles to the north. When they saw wreckage floating by in the water, they suspected a ship had come into trouble. The party split up and went in both directions around the island's coastline, searching for a wreck.

Recent weather conditions had been rough, and it would not be a surprise to find a wreck on the shores of the jagged rocks. The survivors of the Cataraqui were alive, but in terrible condition. David Howie and his crew built a simple shelter for them, made a fire, and left the food supplies they had brought with them during the [00:19:00] search.

Howie then returned to his own camp, gathered more food and supplies, and he and his party made the long trek once again to the survivor's camp. Before leaving, he left a note with details about the situation, in case anyone arrived at the site while they were gone. Indeed, The barque, Governor Gawler, sheltered from storms across the river from Howie's camp for 12 days, but did not notice the camp, or have any clue about the wreck of the Cataraqui

meanwhile, the Cataraqui had been reported as missing. She had been expected to arrive during the second week of August. And other ships that had departed Liverpool after her had already arrived in Port Phillip. None of them saw any evidence of the Cataraqui along their route. Five weeks after the wreck, the Cutter Midge was spotted passing near the island.

The survivors made a signal fire, in hopes somebody on the Midge would see the smoke. Fate was on their side, and the Midge pulled in at the site of Howie's camp. and found his note. [00:20:00] Quickly, the Midge sailed south and found the survivor's camp on shore on September 6, 1845. Rescue was tricky and dangerous, as the same jagged rocks that destroyed the Cataraqui could rip the midge to pieces if it approached too closely.

For three days, the rescue operation carefully navigated the treacherous waters using Mr. Howie's whale boat. Finally, on the 9th of September, the remaining survivors of the Cataraqui departed the tragic site. On Saturday, September 13th, the Midge arrived at Port Phillip. And news spread quickly of the horrific loss of the ship.

The devastation of 400 lives caused shock and dismay, and emotions ran high. There had already been demands for lighthouses to be constructed to aid in navigation, but the New South Wales Parliament had taken no action. Tense public meetings pointed fingers for the tragedy in all directions, including the colonial government, the ship's [00:21:00] owners, the ship's builders, and Captain Finlay.

The captain and first mate Thomas Guthrie were absolved of any wrongdoing, as they had been specifically chosen for their vast experience and well regarded reputations. The shipbuilders were exonerated, as the Cataraqui had been thoroughly inspected and was in perfect order. Focus instead was placed on building lighthouses in key locations along Bass Strait and the approaches to Melbourne.

A lighthouse was placed on Deal Island of the Kent Group in Bass Strait in 1848. And another at Cape Otway the same year. A wooden lighthouse went up on Gabo Island in 1853, before a pink granite tower replaced the wooden structure in 1862. And it still stands today. On King Island, a lighthouse was built at Cape Wickham.

However, it proved to be ineffective, and several more ships met their end at its shores. In 1861, a taller and more effective lighthouse was erected at Cape Wickham. [00:22:00] News of the tragic loss of the Cataraqui did not reach the UK until January of 1846. The story was first reported as a short article in the London publication Shipping and Mercantile Gazette.

Many communities were impacted by the loss of so many. Following the wreck, it became known that only a handful of bodies from the wreck had been buried. and corpses still lay strewn along the shore. This was of particular concern to Port Phillip District Superintendent Charles Joseph Latrobe. It grieved him to think of the men, women, and children laying exposed and left for nature to consume.

He planned a mission to have the bodies buried, and no sooner than it was announced, David Howie once again proved to be a valuable asset. Howie was hired to perform the burials for the sum of 50 pounds. He and a small contingent sailed to King Island, where they spent the next three months digging both mass graves and individual graves, all the while keeping records of the number of [00:23:00] bodies found and the location of the burials.

A total of 342 bodies were buried. The bodies of the remaining 58 were lost to the sea. Three years later, a monument to the Cataraqui was placed at the site. But time and harsh conditions gradually took their toll, and memory of the site began to fade. In 1956, a stone tablet was placed at the site, although the exact locations of the graves had been lost.

In 1993, through the efforts of the Lions Club of King Island, the location of one mass grave was located. In 1995, a stone cairn was built with a plaque reading In this vicinity are five mass graves and over 40 individual graves of the victims of the Cataraqui shipwreck. This cairn marks the site of the largest of the mass graves, containing the remains of 206 victims.

It was erected by the Lions Club of King Island, Inc. to [00:24:00] commemorate the 150th anniversary of its sinking. The exact location of the other graves are unknown. A ceremony honoring the 175th anniversary of the wreck was held on King Island on August 2nd, 2020. Greta Robinson, the great granddaughter of David Howie, unveiled a plaque with the names of all who perished, along with a brass ship's bell.

Today, the King Island Historical Society Museum houses numerous artifacts from the wreck. Including the barrel of one of the ship's cannon. The Cataraqui Shipwreck remains the greatest civilian maritime disaster

in Australia's history. Surpassed only by the wartime loss of HMAS Sydney in 1941.