Hereward (ship)

Last updated

StateLibQld 1 143639 Hereward (ship).jpg
Hereward on Maroubra Beach in 1898
History
Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom
NameHereward
Namesake Hereward the Wake
Owner
  • 1878: John Campbell, John Potter & others
  • 1896: The "Hereward" Ship Co
Operator1896: Potter Brothers
Port of registry London
Builder Robert Duncan & Co, Port Glasgow
Launched14 August 1877
Identification
FateStranded and wrecked, 1898
General characteristics
Typeiron-hulled clipper
Tonnage1,593  GRT, 1,513  NRT
Length254.0 ft (77.4 m)
Beam39.0 ft (11.9 m)
Depth23.2 ft (7.1 m)
Sail plan full rig
Crew25
Armamentbronze signal cannon

Hereward, was British clipper ship that was built in Scotland in 1877. She had an iron hull, three masts and full rig.

Contents

The ship was wrecked at Maroubra, New South Wales in 1898. Parts of the wreck survive in situ. The Underwater Cultural Heritage Act 2018 automatically protects the wreck and its contents, as they are more than 75 years old.

Details

Robert Duncan and Company built Hereward at Port Glasgow, launching her on 14 August 1877. [1] Her registered length was 254.0 feet (77.4 m) her beam was 39.0 feet (11.9 m) and her depth was 23.2 feet (7.1 m). Her tonnages were 1,593  GRT and 1,513  NRT. [2]

Her first owners were John Campbell, John Potter, John Ashton and others. They registered her at London. Her United Kingdom was official number 77010 and her code letters were RBKV. [3]

By 1896 her owners were The "Hereward" Ship Company of London, and her managers were Potter Brothers. [4] [5]

Stranding

In May 1898 Hereward was sailing from Surabaya in the Dutch East Indies to Newcastle, New South Wales to load a cargo of coal to take to South America. Her Master was Captain Poole Hickman Gore (1861–1920).

On 5 May a storm forced her aground at the north end of Maroubra Beach, Sydney. [6] All 25 crew members safely got ashore, where they reached a nearby wool scouring works. [7] [8] [9] [10]

Attempted salvage

The wreck in 1898 with a crowd of onlookers HEREWARD wrecked on Maroubra Beach (7799995562).jpg
The wreck in 1898 with a crowd of onlookers

The ship was insured for £6,000. After a few months it was sold for £550 to Mahlon Clarke Cowlishaw (1844–1900), of Cowlishaw Brothers, Sydney merchants and ship-owners, [11] who bought the wreck for salvage. [12] [13]

On 9 December 1898 it was attempted to refloat the Hereward. With the two tugs, Commodore [14] and Irresistible, [15] pulling on cables connected to the anchor 1,000 feet (300 m), and using steam winches aboard, they got the ship into 14 feet (4.3 m) of water. However, as the ship was nearly free, a southerly gale blew up and pushed her back onto the beach, where she was battered by high seas and broken in two. [16]

Wreck and heritage

The wreck was slowly washed out to sea afterwards and by 1937 only a triangle dorsal fin was visible above sea level. [17] In 1950, Randwick Council feared of the danger that the remains posed to surfers and swimmers and had the remains blasted such that by 1967 it appeared that there was nothing left of the ship. [18]

In recent times, on various occasions, swells and sweeping currents have moved large amounts of sand on the sea floor and had exposed extensive portions of the Hereward. In March 2013 after large seas, extensive parts of her iron hull, along with mast parts were exposed more than they ever had been before. In 2013 a bronze signal cannon was recovered from the wreck and is now on display in the foyer of the Maroubra Seals Club, across the road from the beach. [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24]

Hereward Street

Hereward Street in Maroubra is named after the ship. [25] [26]

Related Research Articles

SS <i>Yongala</i> Passenger steamship that was wrecked in Queensland, Australia

SS Yongala was a passenger steamship that was built in England in 1903 for the Adelaide Steamship Company. She sank in a cyclone off the coast of Queensland in 1911, with the loss of all 122 passengers and crew aboard.

RMS <i>Niagara</i>

RMS Niagara was a transpacific steam ocean liner, Royal Mail Ship and refrigerated cargo ship. She was launched in 1912 in Scotland and sunk in 1940 by a mine off the coast of New Zealand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">City of Randwick</span> Local government area in New South Wales, Australia

The City of Randwick is a local government area in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia located south-east of the CBD. Established in 1859, Randwick is the second-oldest local government area in New South Wales, after the City of Sydney. It comprises an area of 36 square kilometres (14 sq mi) and as at the 2016 census had a population of 140,660.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maroubra, New South Wales</span> Suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Maroubra is a beachside suburb in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is 10 kilometres south-east of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the City of Randwick.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Rowe</span> Australian politician

Thomas Rowe was a British-born architect, builder and goldminer who became one of Australia's leading architects of the Victorian era. He was also a politician, who was the first Mayor of Manly.

SS Virawa was British India Steam Navigation Company (BI) steamship. She was launched in Scotland in 1890 and scrapped in India in 1921. Her trades included taking horses from Australia to India, and indentured labourers from India to Fiji and Trinidad. In 1899 she was a troop ship in the Second Boer War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Norton (journalist)</span> Australian journalist and politician

John Norton was an English-born Australian journalist, editor and member of the New South Wales Parliament. He was a writer and newspaper proprietor best known for his Sydney newspaper Truth. Norton was arguably one of Australia's most controversial public figures ever.

RMS <i>Quetta</i> British ocean liner wrecked in the Torres Strait

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.

Queen of Nations United Kingdom merchant ship

Queen of Nations was a wooden-hulled, three-masted clipper that was built in Scotland in 1861 and wrecked on the coast of New South Wales in 1881. She spent her entire two-decade career with George Thompson, Junior's Aberdeen White Star Line.

Maroubra Speedway, officially known as Olympia Motor Speedway was a motor racing venue in the Sydney suburb of Maroubra, New South Wales, Australia and was reported to have had a capacity of 70,000.

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.

<i>Comboyne</i> (1911)

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.

HMAS <i>Grantala</i>

HMAS Grantala was a passenger steamship that was built in England in 1903 as a coastal interstate liner for the Adelaide Steamship Company. In 1914 the Commonwealth government requisitioned her as a Royal Australian Navy hospital ship.

<i>Hesperus</i> (clipper ship)

Hesperus was an iron-hulled, three-masted, passenger clipper ship that was built in Scotland in 1874 and scrapped in Italy in 1923. She was built for Thompson and Anderson's Orient Line service between Great Britain and South Australia.

<i>South Australian</i> (clipper ship)

South Australian was a composite-hulled clipper ship that was built in Sunderland in 1868 and sank in the Bristol Channel in 1889. She was a successor to clippers St Vincent and City of Adelaide. For nearly two decades she voyaged annually between London and South Australia.

SS <i>Collaroy</i> British cargo ship

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sixty-miler</span>

Sixty-miler (60-miler) is the colloquial name for the ships that were used in the coastal coal trade of New South Wales, Australia. The sixty-milers delivered coal to Sydney from ports and ocean jetties to the north and south. The name refers to the approximate distance by sea—actually 64 nautical miles—from the Hunter River mouth at Nobbys Head to the North Head of Sydney Harbour.

Queen Cristina was a steam cargo ship built in 1896 by Bartram & Sons of Sunderland for Thomas Dunlop & Sons of Glasgow. The ship was designed and built for general cargo trade and spent her career doing tramp trade. She was named after Queen Cristina of Spain, and was the first ship named Queen Cristina in service with the Queen Line.

References

  1. ↑ "Hereward". Scottish Built Ships. Caledonian Maritime Research Trust. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
  2. ↑ Lloyd's Register of British and Foreign Shipping. Lloyd's Register. 1878. HER. Retrieved 30 May 2022– via Internet Archive.
  3. ↑ Mercantile Navy List. 1878. p. 303. Retrieved 30 May 2022– via Crew List Index Project.
  4. ↑ "Sailing Vessels". Lloyd's Register of British and Foreign Shipping. Lloyd's Register. 1896. HER. Retrieved 30 May 2022– via Internet Archive.
  5. ↑ Mercantile Navy List. 1896. p. 504. Retrieved 30 May 2022– via Crew List Index Project.
  6. ↑ "The Stranding of the Hereward: Marine Board Inquiry". The Sydney Morning Herald . 13 May 1898. p. 3. Retrieved 14 February 2018– via Trove.
  7. ↑ "Wreck of the Hereward: Ashore at Maroubra Bay: A Wild Night at Sea". The Daily Telegraph . 7 May 1898. p. 9. Retrieved 14 February 2018– via Trove.
  8. ↑ "The Mate's Story: Rockets Fired Without Avail: How the Crew Landed". The Daily Telegraph. 7 May 1898. p. 9. Retrieved 14 February 2018– via Trove.
  9. ↑ "The Hereward Wreck: Sunday at Maroubra Beach: Thousands of Spectators". The Evening News . 10 May 1898. p. 3. Retrieved 14 February 2018– via Trove.
  10. ↑ "Last Week's Disastrous Gale". The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser. 14 May 1898. pp.  1018, 1019, 1040 . Retrieved 14 February 2018– via Trove.
  11. ↑ "An Australian Merchant Prince". The Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate . 21 July 1900. p. 5. Retrieved 14 February 2018– via Trove.
  12. ↑ "Maroubra Bay — Prospects of Floating Off The Hereward". The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser. 21 May 1898. p. 1072. Retrieved 14 February 2018– via Trove.
  13. ↑ "The Stranded Ship Hereward". The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser. 16 July 1898. pp.  150, 151 . Retrieved 14 February 2018– via Trove.
  14. ↑ "Commodore". Tyne Tugs and Tug Builders. Shipping and Shipbuilding Research Trust. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
  15. ↑ "A Stubborn End: Tug Irresistible Sunk". The Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate. 28 August 1931. p. 8. Retrieved 14 February 2018– via Trove.
  16. ↑ "The Stranded Ship Hereward: Now a Complete Wreck: She Gets Out But the Big Cable Breaks". The Sydney Morning Herald. 12 December 1898. p. 7. Retrieved 14 February 2018– via Trove.
  17. ↑ Rutherford, RL (13 December 1947). "Hereward — Unpopular Wreck". The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 12. Retrieved 14 February 2018– via Trove.
  18. ↑ "The Hereward is gone at last". The World's News . 5 December 1953. p. 20. Retrieved 14 February 2018– via Trove.
  19. ↑ "Hereward". NSW Government Office of Environment & Heritage. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
  20. ↑ "Hereward Cannon" (PDF). Newsletter of the Australasian Society for Historical Archaeology. 43 (2): 16–18. June 2013. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
  21. ↑ "Maroubra Shipwreck Cannon Recovered". NSW Department of Planning and Environment. 27 March 2013. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
  22. ↑ "Hereward Cannon" (PDF). Seals Sayings. No. 2330. Maroubra Seals Sports & Community Club. 26 February 2015. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
  23. ↑ "Hereward Cannon: Handover Ceremony". Maroubra Seals Sports & Community Club. 7 December 2017. Archived from the original on 26 February 2022. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
  24. ↑ "Hereward cannon comes home". The Daily Telegraph. 19 December 2017. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
  25. ↑ Gilchrist, Catie (2015), "Maroubra", The Dictionary of Sydney, Sydney: Dictionary of Sydney Trust.
  26. ↑ Keep, Georgina (2023/2024),"Shipwrecks to Marauders", Randwick Scene, (Summer 2023/2024), pp.16-17.

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.