Lady Forrest outside Fremantle heads, c. 1924 | |
History | |
---|---|
Australia | |
Name | Lady Forrest |
Namesake | Margaret Forrest |
Operator | Fremantle Harbour Trust |
Port of registry | Fremantle |
Builder | Samuel White & Co. |
Laid down | 1902 |
Commissioned | August 1903 |
Decommissioned | 1967 |
Identification | Vessel No. HV000617 |
Fate | Preserved |
General characteristics | |
Type | Pilot boat |
Tonnage | 31.49 GRT |
Length | 17.23 m (56.5 ft) |
Beam | 4.6 m (15 ft) |
Height | 1.93 m (6 ft) |
Draught | 3.8 ft (1 m) |
Propulsion | General Motors Gray Marine diesel engine (formerly steam-powered) |
Lady Forrest is a preserved pilot boat used in Fremantle Harbour from 1903 to 1967. It is currently displayed in the Western Australian Maritime Museum, Fremantle.
Lady Forrest was ordered by the Harbour and Light Department [1] [2] for use by the newly created Fremantle Harbour Trust, replacing the Rottnest-Fremantle pilot Atlantic, which became a fishing boat, [3] and an insufficient earlier pilot, Pelican, built in 1900. [4] Atlantic and other pilots were replaced upon a state inquiry into pilot and coastal services after two major tragedies involving the wrecking of Carlisle Castle and City of York in 1899 [5] [1] with a combined death toll of 17 people.
The new pilot boat was laid down in 1902 with designs by W. Tregarthen Douglass inspired by notable lifeboat designer James Peake. Its hull was designed to be the exact distance between the crests of two waves. [1] [5] Lady Forrest was named after Margaret Forrest, wife of Western Australian premier John Forrest, and built by Samuel White & Co. of East Cowes, Isle of Wight in England [1] with a steam engine built by White-Foster. It was delivered on board SS Fifeshire, [5] and entered service in August 1903. [6] One of its earliest captains was Macfarlane during which it was berthed at Victoria Quay, [7] it was overhauled almost every third month at North Wharf. [8]
Immigrants arriving in Western Australia were greeted by the State Labour Bureau headed by A. O. Neville aboard the Lady Forrest. [9]
In August 1942 it had the brass conning tower installed from the Dutch submarine HNLMS K VIII which had been decommissioned and was later scuttled in Cockburn Sound. [10] [5] When the HMAS Dalgoma broke free of its anchors and collided with the coal hulk Samuel Plimsoll resulting in its sinking in 1945 [11] the Lady Forrest took depth soundings to find deeper water. [12] In 1947 the White-Foster steam engine was replaced by a Gray Marine diesel engine from General Motors; it underwent another thorough overhaul in 1953. [5]
Following the commissioning of a new pilot boat, MV Lady Gairdner, in 1959, Lady Forrest was transferred to handle customs and immigration officers; [5] [1] [13] in 1960 all Fremantle pilots received VHF international maritime radio telephones. [14] Lady Forrest was decommissioned in 1967 [5] [1] having completed 64 years of service. On 16 December 1970 [15] it was donated to the Western Australian Maritime Museum (part of the Museum of Western Australia), [1] [16] being restored various times, most recently in 2001; it went on display in the current museum building in 2013. [5]
Forrest Landing where Captain Fremantle is said to have first landed is named after the pilot boat, Lady Forrest. [6]
Rottnest Island, often colloquially referred to as "Rotto", is a 19-square-kilometre (7.3 sq mi) island off the coast of Western Australia, located 18 kilometres (11 mi) west of Fremantle. A sandy, low-lying island formed on a base of aeolianite limestone, Rottnest is an A-class reserve, the highest level of protection afforded to public land.
J. Samuel White was a British shipbuilding firm based in Cowes, taking its name from John Samuel White (1838–1915).
Bristol Harbour is the harbour in the city of Bristol, England. The harbour covers an area of 70 acres. It is the former natural tidal river Avon through the city but was made into its current form in 1809 when the tide was prevented from going out permanently. A tidal by-pass was dug for 2 miles through the fields of Bedminster for the river, known as the "River Avon New Cut", "New Cut", or simply "The Cut". It is often called the Floating Harbour as the water level remains constant and it is not affected by the state of the tide on the river in the Avon Gorge, The New Cut or the natural river southeast of Temple Meads to its source.
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The Western Australian Museum is a statutory authority within the Culture and the Arts Portfolio, established under the Museum Act 1969.
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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:
City of York was a 1,167 GRT iron ship which sank after hitting a reef off Rottnest Island in the last few kilometres of its voyage from San Francisco to Fremantle, Western Australia in 1899.
Fremantle Harbour is Western Australia's largest and busiest general cargo port and an important historical site. The inner harbour handles a large volume of sea containers, vehicle imports and livestock exports, cruise shipping and naval visits, and operates 24 hours a day. It is located adjacent to the city of Fremantle, in the Perth metropolitan region.
Lady Elizabeth was a British ship built in 1869 by Robert Thompson Jr. of Sunderland. 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. She was 658 tons and was classified as a barque cargo sailing ship with one deck and three masts. She had a keel and outer planking made from American rock elm and a fore end made from English elm. The stem was made of teak and English oak with an iron floor as the deck. The ship also had copper and iron fastings. The ships was also registered in London under the name Wilson & Co. Messrs Wilson & Co. was based out of Sydney, Australia. The ship carried a comparative classification under American Lloyd's as "First class-third grade"
MV Perth is a wooden boat that has operated on the Swan River in Perth, Western Australia. Built in Fremantle in 1914, it is one of the oldest wooden boats still afloat in Western Australia.
Completed in 1849, the original 20-metre (66 ft) Wadjemup Lighthouse was Western Australia's first stone lighthouse and was built to provide a safer sailing passage for ships to Fremantle Port and the Swan River Colony.
Poole Lifeboat Station is the base for Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) search and rescue operations at Poole, Dorset in England. The first lifeboat was stationed at Poole Harbour in 1865 and the present station was opened in 1988.
Victoria Quay is a wharf on the south bank of the Swan River mouth in the Western Australian port city of Fremantle. It is separated from the Fremantle CBD by the railway line. Originally named South Quay, it was renamed Victoria Quay on 26 July 1901 in honour of the late Queen Victoria. With North Quay it forms the Inner Harbour area of Fremantle Harbour.
Tourism in Perth, the capital city of Western Australia, is an important part of the Australian state's economy, contributing to the prosperity of businesses in the city, as well as other regions of the state.
Captain Cook Cruises is a cruise and ferry operator on the Swan River, Perth.
Leighton Battery at Buckland Hill, Mosman Park, Western Australia, was part of the Coastal defences of Australia during World War II and the Fremantle Fortress, protecting Fremantle Harbour.
Fremantle Fortress was the combined coastal defences protecting the harbour of Fremantle, Western Australia, since the mid-1930s and, predominantly, during World War II. The coastal defences of the Fremantle Fortress stretched along the coastline of Perth from Cape Peron to Swanbourne and also included installations on Garden Island and Rottnest Island. While the first coastal batteries of the future Fremantle Fortress were installed at Arthur Head in 1906, the military installations protecting the harbour were expanded in the 1930s, being eventually dismantled again by 1963.
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