Leading citizens went down with the ship

Queensland has suffered some severe storms in the last few days, echoes of a disaster 140 years ago which took more than 100 lives.

A wood engraving of the wreck of the Gothenburg, north of Bowen on February 24, 1875, published in The Australasian Sketcher. Picture: State Library of Queensland.

Cyclone Marcia was a sign of how severe the weather can be along the coast of Queensland. Coincidentally it was 140 years ago today that a steamship found itself caught up in a cyclone with tragic results. The SS Gothenburg was carrying gold, mail and dignitaries from Port Darwin to Adelaide, but it never reached its destination.

The ship struck the Great Barrier Reef and sank, killing more than 100 people. It was one of the worst, most infamous, shipwrecks in Australian history.

In the days before Australia had sealed highways and transcontinental railways the sea was the fastest way between most coastal cities. Going overland from Port Darwin to Adelaide was a dangerous journey that could take months and was not ideal for carrying cargo, much less passengers or mail.

By the 1870s coastal steamships had cut the sailing time between ports. Many still used sails but new ships combined these with coal-fired steam engines to keep moving when the winds dropped or were not in a favourable direction.

One such was the Gothenburg, commissioned in 1855 and built at Lungley shipyards in Millwall, London. At 105 ton (95 tonnes) and 60m long, its first route was between England and Sweden for the North of Europe Steam Navigation Company but in 1862 it was acquired by the Union Castle Line, renamed Celt and sent to Australia for trips between Australia and New Zealand.

One of the most modern and reliable ships then sailing in this part of the world it became a popular vessel with passengers. Reverting to its original name of Gothenburg, it was given an extensive refit in 1873 to serve the intercolonial routes in Australia. The refit increased cargo capacity, its length and improved its long distance carrying capacity.

In 1874 its owners, McMerkan, Blackwood and Co., secured a contract with the South Australian government to travel between Port Darwin, then a far flung outpost of the colony of South Australia, and the city of Adelaide.

A settlement had been established at what is today Darwin in 1869. Called Palmerston it was served by Port Darwin and the discovery of gold by workers on the Overland Telegraph in 1871 had increased its population to more than 300 by 1874 making it necessary to implement a shipping service to carry the gold, mail and the increasing number of people wanting to go to and from Port Darwin. The ship made several successful voyages in 1874 before leaving port on February 17, 1875, under the command of experienced Captain James Pearce.

Apart from thousands of pounds worth of gold, on board were also many important colonial officials including former South Australian premier Thomas Reynolds, Supreme Court judge Mr Justice Wearing, editor of the Northern Territory Times Richard Wells, Darwin’s medical officer Dr James Millner, government surveyor A.L. McKay and the French vice-counsel Eduard Durand.

The passage was routine until the weather began to turn as the ship took on ballast at Somerset, at the tip of Cape York. Pearce was under orders to make the journey as quickly as possible so he pushed on, passing Cooktown in February 23.

The weather continued to worsen until visibility became a serious problem. Pearce had decided to chance the inner passage, a deep channel between the Great Barrier Reef and the coast of Queensland but appears to have made a miscalculation. Trying to move away from the coast he steered on to the reef on February 24 at low tide.

Initially there didn’t appear to be any major problem, since the reef was likely to keep the ship afloat long enough that the high tide might free it or at lease enable the launch of the lifeboats.

Cargo was jettisoned as the captain attempted to free the ship using reverse engines. But as winds whipped at the stricken vessel, high seas swamped the boat, flooding the engine room and dousing the coal-fired engines.

The ship began to sink but there was no time to get all of the lifeboats away and only 22 people were able to escape. About 112 people went down with the ship. One of the most tragic stories was that of magistrate Edward W. Price who had remained in Darwin while his wife and six children perished on the ship.

A diver was later sent to recover the gold. As he did so a support team killed sharks that made the task difficult. Some of the sharks were found to contain human remains, including one with a hand still wearing a ring.