The Kalara was an iron paddle steamer built in 1881 by Smith, Forrester, and Co., and launched at Kangaroo Point for Messrs. D. L. Brown and Co. It ran regular trips between Brisbane and the Tweed River. On Saturday 6 November 1886 the Kalara whist exiting the tweed river ran over its own anchor and pierced its hull causing it to sink approximately 30 minutes later approximately one mile north-east of Point Danger and from the Tweed River bar in 15 fathoms.
Brisbane River looking towards the wharf and buildings on Short Street, ca. 1889 with the Bulk stores and the tailoring department of D. L. Brown and Company, which fronted onto Short Street
The steamer Kalara was built for Messrs. D. L. Brown and Co. (David Laughland Brown a leading Brisbane merchant) by Smith, Forrester, and Co., was launched at Kangaroo Point very shortly after 10am [1] on 3 November 1880 and christened by Mrs D. L. Brown. It made its maiden test trip down the Brisbane River on Thursday 24 March 1881 to test the engines. It was reported that the vessel steamed out to the quarries and back, and the engines, it was found, worked admirably, and although the machinery was new and considered stiff at first, the vessel attained the speed of nine knots per hour [2]
Shortly later on Saturday 2 April the vessel made its public debut with a trial trip. The over 100 passengers included a number of the employs of the firm of Messrs. D. L, Brown and Co., those who had taken part in the construction of the steamer, and several invited guests. Captain Burna, Government inspecting engineer, and Captain Murray, shipwright surveyor. The steamer had left the wharf of D. L. Brown and Co. at Short street, at twenty minutes past 1, and steamed down the river with the tide, passed the Moreton Bay Pile Light of Francis Channel two hours afterwards. She proceeded some distance out into the Moreton Bay in the direction of Humpybong, turning in the direction of home at about 4 o'clock, and reaching her wharf shortly after 7 p.m.[3]
The Vessel was he Kalara is built from the designs of Mr. Preston, Town Hall Chambers and described as
The vessel was described in appearance as a trim-looking iron paddle-wheel steamer, built and fitted up in a way that will especially adapt her for the trade between Brisbane and the Tweed and Brunswick rivers. Although not what may be called a large vessel, it was believed at the time to be the biggest steamer having been built in Brisbane.[3]
The vessel was said to have had a very comfortable cabin in the stern, raised above the deck and a poop over this cabin, as well as a roomy bridge amidships, which afforded first rate accommodation for passengers. The cabin had open berths, and is capable of accommodating twenty-five passengers with a small cabin partitioned off for the use of ladies.[3]
Propulsion
Her engines were by an English firm and shipped to Brisbane by the ships Greta (Arrived 4 December Ship 1190 tons Captain Chellew from Glasgow 27 August) and Perthshire (Arrived 8 November barque, 596 tons, Captain Sember, from Glasgow 23 July).[1] The engines were compound and surface-condensing described as having all the latest improvements being 35 horse power (nominal) and capable of working up to 200-horse power.[3]
The Paddle wheels had a patent feathering floats system as the means of propulsion where by use of levers and linkages connected to a fixed eccentric slightly forward of the main wheel centre coupled to each paddle via a rod and lever designed such that the paddles are kept almost vertical for the short duration that they are in the water.[4]
Shipwreck event date
View of the mouth of the Tweed River, ca. 1895
The Kalara, left the Tweed River for Brisbane at half-past 1 o'clock on the Saturday afternoon of 6 November, and was under charge of Tweed River Pilot Captain William McGregor with five passengers and about 20,000ft of beech, cedar, and pine, valued at from £100 to £150, consigned to the South Brisbane Sawmill Company on board.[5]
When straightening up in rounding the South Spit the vessel got too far on the lee bank. The anchor was accordingly let go by the orders of the pilot, and the Kalara straightened up to the tide. The anchor was then hove up, and the steamer proceeded out across the bar as usual, nothing apparently being wrong. The pilot left the steamer just inside the break, and she crossed the bar about 2 p.m.[5]
Statements differ as to whether she touched the bar in crossing, several of the crew stating that she did not, or that if she did the contact must have been so slight that they did not perceive it while others say she touched very slightly, but not by any means with such force as she had done frequently on previous occasions. However, ten minutes had scarcely elapsed from the time the pilot left her until the mate reported that the vessel was filling. Captain R. D. Henry instantly gave orders to ascertain whether the sluice valves were closed, and to get the force pumps into work. The mate however, anticipated the order, and making a hasty examination found the sluice valves closed. The force pump was quickly got into action, and the vessel headed for the sandy beach.[5]
By this time the fore compartment, in which most of the heavy timber was stowed, was nearly fall of water and filling rapidly. It was at once seen that the pump could not lessen the rapid in pour of water, and the Kalara being down by the head was quite unmanageable. In the short space of five or seven minutes from the time the mate made his first report, the fore compartment was fall of water, and the vessel via visibly settling down by the head. Captain Henry, who had hoisted signals of distress the moment he realised the dangerous position of his vessel, in the hope that they would be seen and responded to from the Pilot Station, when he saw his ship must inevitably founder, ordered the lifeboat to be lowered.[5]
1952 Aerial view looking towards Point Danger
The order was promptly obeyed, and the passengers, who had to leave all their belongings behind them, were soon safe on board of her. All this time the steamer was sinking lower and lower, and there was now not a moment to be lost The dingy was lowered with all possible haste, and the crew, numbering seven, all told, including the captain and mate, got into it, with just the garments they stood up in, and shoved off. The captain and two seamen then got into the lifeboat, leaving the dingy in charge of the mate. - It was now between twenty minutes and half-past 2 o'clock. The boats got clear of the Kalara not a moment too soon, for only a short distance separated them when her head went under, her stern rose almost perpendicularly, and the Kalara disappeared beneath the waves in fifteen fathoms of water at a spot as near as possible one mile north-east of Point Danger and from the Tweed River bar [6]
The mate steered the dingy in for the beach, effected a landing, and reported the matter at the Pilot Station. Meanwhile, Captain Henry laid off in the lifeboat, not deeming it prudent to land as there was a nasty sea on, and one of his passengers was ill, while another was lame. Half-an-hour later the tug Tweed came out and all were safely got aboard of her. The tug then cruised over the scene of the wreck, and some of the passengers' luggage which floated was recovered.[5]
Two theories are advanced as to the cause of this mysterious loss. One is that as the water is shallow at the South Spit where the anchor was let go the vessel, in passing over the anchor, may have sustained an injury to her bottom, which being possibly increased by touching on the bar, would have been sufficiently serious to cause the foundering. The other is that at the particular spot where, she touched the bar—assuming, of course, that she did touch—there may have been a rock which would no doubt have inflicted serious injury[5]
The Kalara had been commanded by Captain A, H. Gruer until two months prior, when he resigned, and Captain Henry received the appointment of the vessel.[5]
Marine Board of Queensland inquiry
Hanworth, a substantial, brick, single-storeyed residence near Norman Creek at East Brisbane, was erected in 1864-65 for Lieutenant George Poynter Heath, RN, Portmaster of Queensland and member of the Marine Board, and his family. It was designed by early Brisbane architect James Cowlishaw
Commander George Poynter Heath, R.N., the Chairman of the Marine Board in Brisbane lead the hearing into the fate of the Kalara on 16 November 1886 [7]
It was found that the pilot was in charge of the vessel when exiting the bar and that the tide was in first quarter flood. The speed of the vessel did not exceed four knots, and the vessel was about half-loaded with cedar and hardwood log timber. On getting to the elbow of the channel at the mouth of the Tweed, the tide caught her on the starboard bow and threw her off to port. To avoid being thrown up on the west bank of the channel, the port anchor was let go to bring her head to the tide, and the engines were stopped and reversed. The vessel, however, bad so much way on her when the anchor was let go in shoal water that she passed over her anchor, the cable streaming on the starboard beam. The anchor was again weighed, and tho pilot having left, the vessel went out over the bar; the mate felt her touch slightly forward in crossing, but it was not noticed by the master or the engineer.[7]
The board were of opinion that the leak, though not suspected at the time, was caused by the vessel passing over the peak of her anchor when going out to the bar of the Tweed, and that, under the circumstances, the star hoard anchor should have been let go, and not the port anchor.' The vessel at the time being in charge of the pilot (who is not within the jurisdiction of the Queensland Government), the board were unwilling to attach any positive blame to Mr. R. Henry, the master.[7]
Related Research Articles
The PSComet was built in 1812 for Henry Bell, a Scottish engineer who with his wife had become proprietor of the Baths Hotel offering sea bathing in Helensburgh. On 15 August 1812, Bell's ship began a passenger service on the River Clyde, connecting Helensburgh to Greenock and Glasgow. This was the first commercially successful steamboat service in Europe. Bell obtained the engine from John Robertson of Glasgow, and the ship was built for him by John and Charles Wood of Port Glasgow.
The West Cornwall Steam Ship Company was established in 1870 to operate ferry services between Penzance, Cornwall, and the Isles of Scilly. It became the West Cornwall Steamship Company in 1907 and was wound up in 1917.
Lucinda was a 301-tonne paddle steamer built by William Denny & Bros., Dumbarton, Scotland in 1884. She was owned by the Government of Queensland, and used for pleasure cruises and transporting members of the Queensland Parliament up and down the state’s coast.
RMS Quetta was an iron-hulled steamship that was built in Scotland in 1881 and wrecked with great loss of life in the Torres Strait in 1890. She was operated by British India Associated Steamers (BIAS), which was controlled by the British India Steam Navigation Company (BISN). She was wrecked on a previously unknown rock, which has been called Quetta Rock ever since. The Underwater Cultural Heritage Act 2018 protects the wreck.
SS Gothenburg was an iron-hulled sail- and steamship that was built in England in 1854 and sailed between England and Sweden until 1862. She then moved to Australia, where she operated across the Tasman Sea to and from New Zealand until 1873, when she was rebuilt. After her rebuild, she operated in the Australian coastal trade.
The sidewheeler Idaho was a steamboat that ran on the Columbia River and Puget Sound from 1860 to 1898. There is some confusion as to the origins of the name; many historians have proposed it is the inspiration for the name of the State of Idaho. Considerable doubt has been cast on this due to the fact that it is unclear if the boat was named before or after the idea of 'Idaho' as a territory name was proposed. John Ruckel also allegedly stated he had named the boat after a Native American term meaning 'Gem of the Mountains' he got from a mining friend from what is now Colorado territory. This steamer should not be confused with the many other vessels of the same name, including the sternwheeler Idaho built in 1903 for service on Lake Coeur d'Alene and the steamship Idaho of the Pacific Coast Steamship Line which sank near Port Townsend, Washington.
The Advance was a composite schooner built in 1874 at Auckland, New Zealand, that was wrecked when she drifted onto rocks at Henrys Head, Botany Bay, New South Wales, Australia, on 12 June 1902, whilst carrying ballast between Wollongong and Newcastle, New South Wales.
The Tuncurry was a wooden carvel screw steamer built in 1903 at Cape Hawke in the Australian state of New South Wales, that was wrecked when she sprang a leak whilst carrying explosives, cement, whiskey, jam and other general cargo between Sydney and Brisbane. She was lost off Barrenjoey Head, Broken Bay, New South Wales on 22 October 1916.
South Passage is channel between the South Pacific Ocean and Moreton Bay. The other entrances to the bay are the North Passage or North Entrance and Jumpinpin Channel in the south.
Fitzroy was a steel-hulled steamship built in 1912 at Old Kilpatrick, Scotland in 1912. Thirty-one people were killed when Fitzroy capsized in a gale whilst carrying a general cargo between Coffs Harbour and Sydney off Cape Hawke, New South Wales on 26 June 1921.
The Comboyne was a wooden screw steamer built in 1911 at Tuncurry, that was wrecked when it struck an object whilst carrying timber to Wollongong and was lost at approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) off Bass Point, Shellharbour, New South Wales on 27 November 1920.
SS Great Republic was a sidewheel steamship and the largest passenger liner on the US west coast when it ran aground near the mouth of the Columbia River, on Sand Island, south of Ilwaco, Washington, in 1879, in a region of frequent wrecks known as the Graveyard of the Pacific.
Masthead Island is a coral cay located in the southern Great Barrier Reef, 60 kilometres northeast of Gladstone, Queensland. The island is a protected area and forms part of Capricornia Cays National Park. Masthead Island is one of the most undisturbed cays in the national park because human and feral animal impacts have been rare. The cay covers an area of 0.45 square kilometres (0.17 sq mi) and is surrounded by a coral reef that is partially exposed at low-tide. It is part of the Capricornia Cays Important Bird Area.
Colonist was a general cargo and passenger schooner built in 1861 at Dumbarton Scotland by Denny & Rankine. It spent nearly 30 years plying the Western Pacific-based out of Sydney. It wrecked and later re-floated on the remote Elizabeth Reef 550 km from New South Wales, as well as being involved in the gold rushes. Its master was murdered before it was finally involved in a collision in Sydney Harbour, in which it was sunk.
'Sugar Lighters in the Johnstone River, Queensland' In the early days of settlement at Geraldton [now Innisfail], the Johnstone River had a sand bar at the mouth and several shallow stretches in the river. This caused difficulties for shipping. Large ships had to either anchor at the mouth of the river and wait for a suitable high tide so that the bar could be crossed or anchor in Mourilyan Harbour to the south. The problem of large ships being unable to enter the river made it difficult for bags of sugar from the district sugar mills to be transported to southern refineries. To overcome this problem, shallow draft steam ships and lighters [often called sugar lighters] were used to carry the bags of sugar down the Johnstone and out to meet larger ships standing off the coast. or in nearby ports, mainly Cairns. These larger ships then transported the cargo to its destination. These small ships became known as "The Mosquito Fleet".
SS (RMS) Mona's Isle (III), No. 76304, the third ship in the company's history to be so named, was a paddle steamer which served with the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company until she was purchased by The Admiralty in 1915.
The capsize of the ferry Pearl occurred on Thursday 13 February 1896 in the Brisbane River, Queensland, Australia. It was estimated that half of the 80–100 people on board the ferry died.
SS Dorrigo was a cargo and passenger steam ship. It was built under the name of Saint Francois by the Smiths Dock Company at the South Bank in Middlesbrough on the River Tees in Northeast England for the Compagnie Navale de l'Océanie for the Pacific Island postal and general trade service, for which it sailed the waters of the Pacific from 1914 to 1921. The ship suffered minor damage during the First World War during the Bombardment of Papeete, prior to coming into the hands of the Langley Bros who placed it in the Sydney to Coffs Harbour route from 1922 to 1925. Upon the demise of the Langley Bros shipping firm in 1925 the vessel came into the service of John Burke and Co and was used for the Northern Queensland runs prior to its loss on 4 April 1926.
SS Collaroy was an iron paddle steamer which often travelled between Newcastle and Sydney. The ship was named after a sheep station near Cassilis in the Hunter Valley, Australia. It was launched in 1853 in Birkenhead, England. The ship's name is now the location of the present day suburb of Collaroy.
The Wanganui was an iron Brigantine Twin Boiler Screw steamer built by Gourlay Brothers & Co and launched in July 1863 for the Wanganui Steam Navigation Company for trade around the Wanganui region of New Zealand. The vessel served in this region up to 1873 when its ownership was transferred to Messrs Henry Houghton and Co., of Dunedin. In 1880 the vessel was transferred in to the Australian East coast service where it sank whilst entering Clarence River on 20 June 1880.
References
1 2 "LAUNCH OF THE KALARA". The Telegraph. No.2, 489. Queensland, Australia. 3 November 1880. p.2. Retrieved 30 October 2019– via National Library of Australia.
↑ "City Police Court". The Brisbane Courier. Vol.XXXV, no.4, 319. Queensland, Australia. 25 March 1881. p.3. Retrieved 30 October 2019– via National Library of Australia.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
Australia
official number 78167
