James Craig is a three-masted, iron-hulled barque restored and sailed by the Sydney Heritage Fleet, Sydney, Australia.
Earl of Pembroke is a wooden, three-masted barque, currently used for maritime festivals, charters, charity fund raising, corporate entertaining and film work.
King George Sound is the name of a sound on the south coast of Western Australia. Originally named King George the Third's Sound, it was referred to as King George's Sound from 1805. The name "King George Sound" gradually came into use from about 1934, prompted by new Admiralty charts supporting the intention to eliminate the possessive 's' from geographical names.
SS Georgette was a steamship built in 1872. She is best known, especially in Irish-American circles, for the part played in the story of the Catalpa rescue in April 1876. While the events surrounding her shipwrecking eight months later are dramatic and did capture the imagination of the local press, the ship itself had little effect on the coastal trade. Though heralding the way forward in the change from sail to steam on the long Western Australian coast, like its predecessor SS Xantho, Georgette had a short and ill-starred career and sank soon after its arrival there.
Whaling in Australian waters began in 1791 when five of the 11 ships in the Third Fleet after landing their passengers and freight at Sydney Cove then left Port Jackson to engage in whaling and seal hunting off the coast of Australia and New Zealand. The two main species hunted by such vessels in the early years were right and sperm whales. Later, humpback, bowhead and other whale species would be taken.
Over 1400 ships have been wrecked on the coast of Western Australia. This relatively large number of shipwrecks is due to a number of factors, including:
Whaling was one of the first viable industries established in the Swan River Colony following the 1829 arrival of British settlers to Western Australia. The industry had numerous ups and downs until the last whaling station closed in Albany in 1978.
Duke of York was a three-masted brig launched in 1817 at Bideford as a Falmouth packet, sailing between Falmouth, Cornwall, and Jamaica. In 1836 she brought settlers to South Australia for the South Australia Company. She was wrecked in 1837.
Lady Elizabeth is a wrecked iron barque of 1,155 tons built by Robert Thompson Jr. of Southwick, Sunderland and launched on 4 June 1879. Robert Thompson Jr. was one of the sons of Robert Thompson Sr. who owned and operated the family ran shipyard J. L. Thompson & Sons. Thompson Jr. eventually left the family business in 1854 to start his own shipbuilding business in Southwick, Sunderland. The ship was built for John Wilson as a replacement for the 658-ton, 1869-built barque Lady Elizabeth which sank off Rottnest Island, Western Australia in 1878.
Lady Mary Pelham was a brig launched in 1816 that initially worked as a Falmouth packet. After her modification to a barque she became part of the South Australia Company's fleet of 1836. She later served as a whaler and transport between Van Diemen's Land and Portland, Victoria. She was wrecked in 1849.
Cheyne Beach Whaling Station is a defunct whaling station in Australia. It now operates as a tourist park known as Albany's Historic Whaling Station. The station is situated in Frenchman Bay in King George Sound and was built in the 1950s, operating until 1978.
Lady Lyttleton was a barque that sunk in the Emu Point Channel in Oyster Harbour near Albany in the Great Southern region of Western Australia.
Wave was a brig that was wrecked in 1848 at Cheynes Beach near Cape Riche, Western Australia.
The New Zealand Company was a 19th-century English company that played a key role in the colonisation of New Zealand. The company was formed to carry out the principles of systematic colonisation devised by Edward Gibbon Wakefield, who envisaged the creation of a new-model English society in the southern hemisphere. Under Wakefield's model, the colony would attract capitalists who would then have a ready supply of labour—migrant labourers who could not initially afford to be property owners, but who would have the expectation of one day buying land with their savings.
Lucy Ann(e) was built in Canada early in the 19th century and was brought to Australia in 1827. She was first employed as a trading vessel before purchase by the New South Wales government in 1828. In government service the ship was used to help establish a number of new coastal settlements. She was also used to transport descendants of the Bounty mutineers from Pitcairn Island to Tahiti in 1830.
Northumberland was a barque that sunk in 1868 in King George Sound near Albany in the Great Southern region of Western Australia.
John Pirie was a schooner and the smallest of the ships in the First Fleet of South Australia that carried colonists and supplies to the Colony of South Australia in 1836. It was the first ship to set sail for the South Australian Company, only three days after the Letters Patent establishing the Province of South Australia were signed. It was built by Alexander Hall and Company at Aberdeen, Scotland in 1827.
Deveron was launched at Sunderland in 1814. She initially traded with Argentina and then from 1822 with Van Diemen's Land. Her owner, William Wilson transferred her registry to Hobart. She traded with England, and between Hobart and Port Jackson. From 1830 she engaged in whaling off New Zealand. She was lost on 21 July 1833 while looking for whales off what is now Queensland.
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