FAMOUS WRECKS

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 247, 13 July 1921, Page 5

FAMOUS WRECKS

ON NORTH COAST OF NEW SOUTH AV ALES. The north coast of New South Walfis, where the steameis Fitzroy and Our Jack recently foundered, has a long toll nf shipping disasters and loss of life. Among; th© early shipwrecks on this roast were those of the Cawarra and the Yarra Yarra. Tho Cawarra was a small steamer pdiicb was wrecked at the entrance to Newcastle in 186 G. Of tho 60 on board only one wns saved, and, curiously, he was rescued by the only survivor’ (Johnson) of tho iainous Dunbar wreck.

In 1877 the steamer Yarra Yarra was lost with all hands outside Newcastle Harbour. The most memorable wreck on this coast was that of the Catterthun, a steamer that was wrecked on tlio Seal Rocks, off Cape Hawke, when on her way from Sydney to Hong-Kong. This was on August 8, 1894. The death toll was 65.

The wreck of the Maitland with many deaths, and of the Merkwor+h, with nine deaths, off Sydney on May 8 and 9, 1898, will be remembered by many. It is noteworthy that the big storm that caused these tragedies Is known to this day as the Maitland Gale. It was in the night of September 19, 1917, that the Canoubar sighted a lifeboat near North Head. In it were 11 survivors of the wreck of tho Nerong. of tho North Coast Co., and tho bodies of two men who had died from exposure. Another life had been lost ns tho ship went down. The survivors had been in the lifeboat for 13 hours. One of the most dramatic rtorics of the perils and the heroism of the North Coast was that of tho foundering of the Myola, ono of the three colliers whose loss led to an important marine inquiry. The other vessels were the Undola and the Tuggerah. Tho Myola, an up-to-date collier, on April 2, 1919, foundered off Norah Hoad, with a loss of four lives. It was a black night, with a heavy sea, ns tho South Bulli, another collier, plugging through tho dirty weather, glimpsed at times the stern light of the Myola. Only at intervals was that light seen, because of the huge seas. When the South Bulli’s chief officer exiw the light of the Myola disappear again, no suspicion was raised in his mind that the Myola had disappeared beneath the waters. But to his astonished ears come the cries from the crests of tho waves, nnd he sighted a white boat adrift.

With struggling men in the rough sons the chief officer stopped the South Bulli’s propeller, <i dangerous though an heroic thing to do in such heavy weather, in case the drifting mon in the water might, be cut up. Then began a splendid search in the darkness in the ship’s boat for survivors. Lines w’ere thrown over from the South Bulli by the captain, and one life was thereby saved almost miraculously. A swimmer at tho last gasp clutched the line, and though buffeted by tho waves, one moment high above the South Bulli’s sije i and tho next yards away, he hung on, and by prompt action of tho rescuers ’vas at l ns t hauled aboard. Tho Afyola’s captain was picked lip bv the ship’s boat when clinging to a plank. The heroic launching of tho South Bulli’s boat will long bo remembered. The story of tho Myola survivors was that a tremendous wave, shifted the cargo and caused the collier to heel over. It was a matter of a raomat. In that moment efforts were mad© to cut away the boats; but the deck wont from under the crow before tho boats -could bo launched.