Many ships have come to grief and many lives have been lost at this lonely spot at North Head
IT’S A small rock with a quaint name but to those in the know, the Old Man’s Hat is one of the most dangerous parts of Port Jackson, with many ship wrecks to its name.
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IT’S A small rock with a quaint name but to those in the know, the Old Man’s Hat is one of the most dangerous parts of Port Jackson.
Perched at a jaunty angle on the edge of the cliff on the southern side of North Head, the Old Man’s Hat has witnessed many tragedies below, as boats have gone aground and fishermen have been washed to their deaths.
While many in the colony in the early — and mid-1800s would not have heard of it, the Old Man’s Hat was on everyone’s lips after the clipper Catherine Adamson ran aground on the rocks below on the night of October 24, 1857, with the loss of 21 lives.
Only five people, three bulls and two horses survived the wreck, which followed the wreck of the Dunbar on South Head with the loss of 121 lives 65 days earlier.
Many other boats were wrecked below the Old Man’s Hat but many of the accounts of those wrecks simply referred to the location of each vessel’s demise as “North Head”, such as the Fly in 1829, the Liberty in 1830, the Sarah in 1839, the Emily in 1861, the Snowdon in 1863, the Brisk and the William Hill in 1865, the Spray, the Esk and the Eagle in 1866, the Rebecca in 1869, the Julia and the Oscar in 1873, the Friend in Need in 1876, the Lady Emma in 1880, the Emma Matilda and the Emily Ann in 1889, another vessel called the Emma Matilda in 1894 and the Failford in 1899.
But there were still sufficient accounts that specified the Old Man’s Hat as the scene of many wrecks to paint a grim picture.
On June 30, 1858, the barque Annie ran aground 100m from the Old Man’s Hat, without loss of life.
On July 10, 1881, the brigantine Sophia drifted on to the rocks below the Old Man’s Hat and was wrecked, although her 13 crew and passengers were saved.
The three-masted schooner Falcon went ashore below the Old Man’s Hat owing to thick fog and a fading wind.
The captain and most of the crew got ashore but one seaman died.
The barque Centurion ran aground below the Old Man’s Hat on January 16, 1887, after the rope by which it was being towed was fouled by another boat, but this time there was no loss of life.
On January 3, 1903, the ketch Phil Forbes almost went aground below the Old Man’s Hat but was saved in the nick of time by the pilot steamer Captain Cook, which towed it to safety.
On April 13, 1910, two immigrants quarantined at North Head were washed from the rocks below the Old Man’s Hat while fishing.
One of the men was able to scramble ashore but the other, Charles Bowie, disappeared from sight and drowned, leaving a widow and three children.
His remains were washed ashore on Store Beach six weeks later.
On December 6, 1920, the ketch Ruby went aground near the Old Man’s Hat, without loss of life.
A 26ft boat with man on board was driving on the rocks below the Old Man’s Hat on January 8, 1926, but the man was able to scramble ashore.
A 55-year-old Fairlight man, Charles Kevin, drowned on October 30, 1931, when the launch from which he, his son Clement and a friend were fishing was wrecked below the Old Man’s Hat.
The occupants of a passing launch, the OK, rescued Clement Kevin from the water and also recovered Mr Kevin’s body.
On August 5, 1952, eight naval personnel were lucky to survive the wreck of their vessel below the Old Man’s Hat at night.
The vessel was a Seaward Defence Motor Launch (SDML), called a Harbour Defence Motor Launch (HDML) during World War II, which was being towed from Sydney to Manaus Island.
But the towline broke between the Heads and the SDML drifted on to the rocks below the Old Man’s Hat and was wrecked.
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The eight seamen were able to scramble up the side of the headland to the quarantine station.
The rusting remains of one of the SDML’s engines can still be seen on rocks below the Old Man’s Hat.
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