Shipwrecks Storms & Seamen of the New South Wales Coast

The salvage team of the S.S. Catterthun with  the boxes of recovered gold.

Shipwrecks, Storms and Seamen of the New South Wales Coast is the second book in the series. It recreates the events leading up to the loss of eleven ships on the New South Wales coast. The detailed chapter on the wreck of the Catterthun at Seal Rocks in 1895 documents the events leading up to the sinking as well as the salvage, a year later, of the gold the ship was carrying.

Keilawarra's Prop at 74m in depth.

Stacked Plates on the Keilawarra.

Excerpt from the Book:

• Fawkes was again awoken, this time by the chief steward, calling: "The captain wants all passengers on deck at once." Fawkes went to the saloon where he saw the chief steward and two saloon boys. He asked him if the ladies had been informed of the instructions and inquired of their whereabouts. The steward informed him they had been told and at the time they were putting some clothes on. Fawkes waded through the water in the saloon out to the deck and up to the bridge. The condition of the vessel must have been a real surprise to the Torres Strait pilot. Just over ten minutes before he had inspected the deck and found everything as usual. From the bridge, in disbelief, he scanned the dying ship. He found Captain Shannon and the First Officer, Pinney, manning the bridge. Asking the captain what had happened, Shannon replied they had struck the Seal Rocks. Fawkes said: " This is a bad job" and asked if there were any lifejackets on the bridge. The captain replied "no", but told him if he went below he would find some. Fawkes then looked aft and said: " It's too late ", the sea was now almost clean over the after end of the ship. Realising the end was near, Fawkes glanced around the bridge area for something to keep him afloat. He spotted a small wooden table lashed to the handrail. He asked Shannon if he had a knife and the captain handed him a small pocket blade. With it, Fawkes cut the rope securing the table and was in the process of handing it back to him when a huge wave crashed completely over the bridge. The wave swept him, the captain and the first officer off the bridge and into the sea. That was to be the last time Fawkes saw either the captain or the chief officer. He secured a piece of wreckage that turned out to be part of a hen coop. Pulling the top half of his body up out of the water, he watched the Catterthun, still under power, slowly pull away.

The bow of the Oakland wreck off Port Stephens

Keilawarra galley stove and boiler. Fishing net on stern of the Bega.

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