sitting duck: barque jane spiers

Captained by my Great Great Grandfather, one of the crew listed was his son James beer, she eventually sank under sail. the Official story Jane Spiers. Barquentine, 309 tons. #11336. Built Scotland, 1857; reg. Melbourne, 21/1873. Lbd 117.8 x 24.6 x 15.2 ft. Captain Beer. Foundered a few miles south of Green Cape, NSW, 14 January 1878. All hands took to the boats and were picked up by the barque Ellen White. A Court of Inquiry was told that the vessel had struck a shoal off Cape Everard, in Victorian waters, when visibility was limited by smoke from bush fires, and commenced to leak. [LN],[SAN - built 1851, lost in Twofold bay, 400 yards from shore]