Rediscovering Tasmania - King Island ship wrecks

One of my interests in King Island relates to the number of ship that have come to grief on the island's coastline. There is no land mass between the West Coast of King Island and South America with the inevitable consequence that the seas that cross the oceans finally hit both the Tasmanian and King Island coastlines with some ferocity. As a consequence, King Island has the dubious distinction of having more ships wrecked than anywhere else in the world on the basis of kilometers of coastline. The following map of King Island shows the position of twelve major ship wrecks - note the red dots:I am indebted to the information gleaned from the web and the tourist brochures. The history blurbs tell me that 'the treacherous waters of Bass Strait have claimed hundreds of ships and more than a thousand lives.'

King Island lays claim to Australia's worst peacetime ship calamity with the loss of 400 lives in 1845 when the 802 ton ship Cataraqui hit the coast south of Currie as per the following report:

'Australia's worst civil disaster was that of the barque Cataraqui, wrecked on the West Coast of King Island on 4 August 1845 with the loss of 400 lives, including 5 babies that were born on the voyage from Liverpool.'
"Wreck of the emigrant ship Cataraqui in 1845"

The following link gives a lot more info:
http://www.kingisland.net.au/~maritime/cataraqui.htm

The first ship that hit King Island was the barque Neva and is recorded as Tasmania's second worst shipwreck with the loss of 224 lives. Another tragic story. The Neva carried 150 female convicts with 33 children, nine free women (probably wives of convicts) with 22 children and was enroute to Sydney from Ireland.

It came to grief on the northern tip of the island, now known as Cape Wickham. Just 15 souls survived, including the captain who apparently commandeered the first life boat and abandoned ship. The following tells its own horrific story:

"....the women on board the doomed ship, seeing themselves thus abandoned, set up a great despairing wail." CHRIS HALLS Australia's Worst Shipwrecks
Once again, there is more information on the following website: http://www.kingisland.net.au/~maritime/neva.htm

We visited the place where the Neva was wrecked at Cape Wickham and also found the story of the almost new iron clipper Loch Leven, which foundered near the same spot as the Neva in 1871. The happy ending of that maritime incident was that no lives were lost.

The Clipper Loch Leven in full sail. What a splendid sight!

Cape Wickham boasts Australia's tallest lighthouse that stands at 48 meters and is also the tallest lighthouse in the Southern Hemisphere. The things you find out about what we may have thought was an insignificant island.

The rugged coastline that became the trap for as many as 14 ships with the loss of some hundreds of lives. Some of those were at Cape Wickham, despite there being a lighthouse to guide ship captains past the danger.

The above coastline was near the site of where the steamer 'City of Melbourne' found its grave in 1853.

The tallest lighthouse in the Southern Hemisphere, beautifully situated at Cape Wickham on the north tip of King Island.Below, the view the lighthouse keeper would have enjoyed after climbing all those stairs. Retired keeper Col Potter said this about it:
'People seem to have a romantic notion about lighthouse keepers, but I've found nothing romantic about it - it's a long way up that light at 2 am!'

For Jan and I the above sunset was a fitting end to what was a wonderful and full day, well-deserving of a glass (or several) of red wine!

This chapter can continue talking about ship wrecks on the island including British Admiral, Netherby, Blencathra etc. Each have their own dramatic story to tell and if you have interest in those, visit King Island and search the net to satisfy your curiosity.

For Jan & I, our time on King was coming to an end. We arose on our final morning and were greeted by the following sunrise at Grassy, taken from the house where we stayed.

What a great beginning to a new day and fitting conclusion to a wonderful visit.

A final look at King Island from the air on a lovely sunny morning. The above, Currie in the distance set with a foreground of lush green pastures.
(better seen when you click on the image) Grassy Harbour and the township.

As we flew across Bass Strait, our moods perhaps were as reflective as the following photo taken on that trip: