Famous sinkings

Here is an unfamous sinking.

There's a dive shop in Perth's southern suburbs opposite a beach. This beach doesn't offer a lot to divers as there is no reef just sand.

The guys that owned the store, as the story goes bought a boat. They were taking it down the coast when they were just opposite their shop when it "accidently??" sunk.

Apparently the authorities were suspicious and looked into the sinking as of course laws have to be met if you deliberately want to scuttle a boat.

They swore it was just coincidence that the boat happened to sink out from where their shop is.

As far as I know the authorities could not prove any different as of course it was an "accident??" And as coincidence would have it, they now have a dive site directly out from their shop.

 

The "Koombana" left Port Hedland for Broome in 1912.
Among her passangers was Abraham Davies, and with him a newly procured black pearl he had purchased for 20,000 pound, named the "Pearl of Death."

So named because it was thought to be responsible for the death of seven of it's previous owners.

Mr Davies was number 8 as the Koombana dissappeared without a trace along with it's crew and passangers numbering 140.

 

There are hundreds of wrecks along the Western Australian Coast but unfortunately divers do not bother treasure hunting for them as they would in other countries because the Western Australian Government has laid claim to them all.

Having said that, it is reasonable to assume that divers do find them and do not reveal their position, only to take what they can and probably sell the artifacts on the black market.

There are towns along our coast that take their name from the ships that are wrecked along our coast.

I'll try and remember a few.

Kwinana a town just south of Fremantle - Named after the steamer "Kwinana' formally named the "Darius" She had a history of bad luck having been washed ashore previously then damaged by fire and her finally resting place at Kwinana where she was washed ashore after breaking anchor in 1922.

Cervantes - Town north of Perth just south of Geraldton named after an American whaling ship that was washed ashore in a gale around 1840.

Australind - I actually don't know if the town of Australind is named after the ship Australind that ran aground near Fremantle in 1887. It didn't sink but shortly after it was pulled free of the sandback it collided with the "Annie Lisle" which sank.


Derby - I can only assume that the town of Derby is named after the 46 ton Ketch that was lost near Derby in 1894. However one of the tourist attractions in Derby is the remains of the wreck SS Colac that ran aground in Derby in 1910.

Finally it's time I went to bed.
Busselton - Well not named after a ship that was wrecked there but after John Bussell. But, this is a story about his daughter Grace Bussell. The ship SS Georgette left Fremantle in 1878 but later sprung a sever leak. She ran aground at Margaret River and started break up under the heavy seas.(Margaret River is a surfing Meca today)

The tragety was witnessed by a stockman San Isaacs who rode to the Bussell homestead to get help. The only help available was John's daughter Grace who 16 years old at the time rode back to the site with Sam and spent 4 grueling hours riding their horses into the surf pulling all the passengers and crew to safety.

Both received awards from the Royal Humane Society for their bravery.

 

Nice interesting stories, Poida. I've found also this on ALKIMOS:
"...Stories of a ghost, dressed in oil skins roaming her deserted decks and companion ways first surfaced when two Filipinos living on board as caretakers reported hearing footsteps following them and strange noises at night. They soon left, and those who followed them all reported an eerie presence. Some also claimed to have seen the tall ghostly figure, wearing rubber boots and a dark grey coat moving about the ship, apparently walking through solid walls and closed doors. Now left to disintegrate the battered hulk is gradually disappearing beneath the waves. "

Here an impressive list of Western Australia shipwrecks:
http://oceans1.customer.netspace.net.au/wa-wrecks.html

Here some famous shipwrecks at the "Costa de la Muerte", here in Galicia:
http://www.finisterrae.org/web/contenido.php?pcoc=15&idi=I

And, of course, the "Prestige" disaster:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prestige_oil_spill

An interesting 2005 report on the actions taken by the Spanish government on the Prestige disater, unluckily in spanish:
http://www.mpr.es/NR/rdonlyres/20CF...EB/73643/informeprestigeterceraniversario.pdf

 

More on the loss of the "HMS Serpent":
http://www.cronab.demon.co.uk/serp.htm

Intresting to realize how little info is available on this famous and terrible sinking....Still something to hide...?

Here something taken from an spanish book (Ramón Allegue's "Mar Tenebroso"):

The British Govenrment needed to send an small fortune for the payments of its colonial armies. There were two chests with gold coins aboard the "Serpent". The Serpent was escorted by the "Lapwing". The british "raqueiros" (pirates) working jointly with the galician ones, warned these last about the Serpent's treasure. The galician "raqueiros" managed to unlit the Cape Vilan lighthouse by the time the Serpent was sailing the coast, so finally she went aground at "El Boi" rock, close to Camariñas village. The sea was so turbulent that the "raqueiros" weren't able to reach the wreck to look for the treasure. The Lapwing, which was preceding the Serpent, turned back to the shipwreck area when officers realized the Serpent was not behind her anymore. Not being able to find the chests she went back to the british isles leaving a third ship on charge of the site, the "Mac Mahon". The Lapwing came back again, escorting the "Sunfly" which began the search for the chests. They found one, but never the second. There is a local suspicion about the british government never quitting the search for the gold, trying to find it in several other ocasions, when the visits of british warships to the area to honour the cadets buried at the "English Cemitery" in Camariñas.

 

Perhaps one of our English friends could enlighten us on a ship wreck.

Apparently there is a ship full of explosives that was sunk during the second world war.

I don't know why it was left for so long, but the explosives are now considered unstable.

However some believe that if it exploded it could cause considerable damage around the area.

It is supposed to be near the mouth of the Thames near the Isle of Sheppie if that's how it's spelt.

Terrorists could have a ball.

Can anybody tell us more?

 

Close to the oil jetty at the Isle of Sheppy or so the story goes! Still marked on the chart as a dodgy place to be or it was some ten years ago when I was last up that way! the story still persists amongst mariners but I believe it has finally been sorted! the reason, so I'm told that nobody 'played' with it was the fact that there was so much explosives on board and with the oil terminal so close if it blew half of South East England would go with it! You know how these things get exagerated over the years! Probably still a lot of explosives in the area but most of it is now declared safe (funny how the bomb squad poos its pants evry time there's a call out to that area)

Mostly scare mongering these days but.......

 

The factory trawler Gaul - 1974

Also posting on the casualty investigation (copied here) is relevant to this string

"An important element in safe vessel design is learning the lessons from previous casualties, effective and accurate casualty investigation is therefore essential to the design process

In this respect members may be interested in visiting the following site:

www.freewebs.com/inconvenientcitizen

 

Thanks for the info on the Gaul, ronda.
Here some good information on the sinking's causes:
http://www.fv-gaul.org.uk/rfireport/gaul_overview.pdf#search="factory trawler Gaul sinking"

Taken from there:
"Model tests have demonstrated that down flooding through the duff and offal chutes during straight course runs is strongest in stern quartering seas. With the vessel seeking shelter on a southerly course, the vessel would have been vulnerable to substantial rates of down flooding. It is probable that water ingressed into the factory deck through the open duff and offal chutes. It is also possible, but unlikely, that there was additionally some water from the machinery in the factory deck. Personnel would have had no occasion to enter the factory deck after about 09.15 and the tank tests demonstrate that there would be no material changes in roll motion during the accumulation of water on the factory deck so that it would very likely have gone unnoticed by those on board.
At some point the officer of the watch may have realised that there was water on the factory deck or that for some other reason the ship was in some danger with the seas on her port side. He did what every skipper or officer in charge would do and attempted to bring her into wind and sea by applying full port rudder and full power on the engine. Unfortunately the centrifugal forces from the turn came into play heeling the vessel further to starboard and with the surge of water on the factory deck capsize of the Gaul was inevitable. In short, she never completed the turn. The crew would have been rapidly disabled and therefore unable to send a distress call."

This remembers me the case of the sinking of a 28 m length stern trawler 6 miles off the Galician coast in 2000, the "BURAZ". In this case the net got tangled in a bottom obstacle, pulling mainly from the port side, this making the boat to bury the stern and tilt to port. Wind conditions were a top 7 gusting 8 and seas were stern quartering on the port side, around 2.5 m significative height. The captain tried several maneouvres to free the net by short pulls with the engine, with the only result of the vessel burying more the stern. The door leading from the stern open deck to the factory deck was open, and seas came into the factory deck and even down to the engine's room. The boat began to sink by the stern. Desperate, the captain tried to turn to port, to face the wind and seas, applying all engine power, with the only result of the vessel capsizing to port and sinking inmediately. The whole thing probably took around two minutes only.
Of a crew of 8, 4 were lost, because they weren't able to abandon ship (sleeping or under deck in a difficult position at the time of the accident).

 

Very similar to the loss of the ARCTIC ROSE.

www.uscg.mil/hq/g-m/moa/boards/ArcticRose.pdf (big file).

 

Thanks for the link. I had the info through SNAME's intranet (As well as some other reports on several fishing vessels sinkings), but I think links to those cannot work if posted here. I'll use your link for some info I need in my company's web pages on fishing vessels stability issues. Thanks again.

 

Pride of Baltimore

"Neither size alone nor miles at sea guarantee protection from capsize" (Gerr)
A sudden and violent squall sunk the Pride of Baltimore in 1986.
http://www.intandem.com/NewPrideSite/Pride1/P1Tragedy.html
Interesting I'm not able to find a technical report on that. Anybody?

 

Interesting the loss of the 'Gaul' which included a lot of speculation about spyships etc at the time (it was at the height of the so called 'cold war' with the soviets!). Without wishing to reopen old wounds etc. (too much) this explanation is plausable and will no doubt be classed as the 'Official' Report but I still have my doubts for certain personal reasons which I will not go into! Bergalia mate, as a member of that industry at the time your views would be appreciated if your about! And if you'd rather not say I can understand it!

regards on this one

Mike

 

The US National Transportation Safety Board did a report. It is not on-line like a lot of reports, but you can order a copy.

www.ntsb.gov

Title: Capsizing and Sinking of The Unites States Sailing Vessel Pride of Baltimore in the Atlantic Ocean, May 14, 1986.
NTSB Report Number: MAR-87-01, adopted on 1/21/1987
NTIS Report Number: PB87-916401

 

Thanks for the info, jehardiman.
Cheers.