Governor Endicott (1840/07/08)

Toby Inlet, Geographe Bay

Governor Endicott was built as a ship, having two decks, a square stern and a figurehead, and was registered at Salem on 1 May 1819. On 13 March 1823 the rig was altered to that of a brig, and then to that of a barque on 19 April 1836. The barque was sold to Charles K. Holmes in 1838 for $6 000. The Governor Endicott departed Mystic, Connecticut, in December 1839 under the command of Captain Thomas McKinstrey (or McKennistry) with a crew of 30. It arrived in Geographe Bay on 5 July 1840 and anchored off Toby Inlet.
THE LOSS
On the evening of 7 July 1840 the breeze freshened from the north-east, then shifted north-north-east and increased in ferocity. More cable was let out on the best bower anchor, and the starboard anchor was let go. At about 11.00 p.m. the Governor Endicott began to drag its anchors and, despite paying out a further 30 fathoms (55 m) of cable on the starboard anchor, it continued to drag and struck heavily. Briefly freeing itself, the ship dragged a little further then struck again, heeling to leeward. The fore and main masts were cut away. The pounding seriously damaged the stern post and rudder, and an examination showed water covering the second tier of casks in the hold. The Governor Endicott finished only about twice its own length from the shore and about two miles (about 3.7 km) west of Toby Inlet.
The following morning a boat with the third mate (Hempstead) and a crew of five managed to get a line ashore. This enabled all the crew to gain the shore safely. Tents made from old sails were set up to shelter them and some provisions that they had salvaged. The storm quickly subsided. Subsequent inspection by local residents determined that one of the anchors had fouled its cable, and therefore it had not properly held:
The loss of the Governor Endicott, American Whaler…arose from a now evident cause—a foul Anchor, as the cable is now to be seen in the Water with a Turn round the Fluke of the Anchor, besides when the Gale was comparatively moderate before it was near its height, she went on shore (Letter from John Molloy to his wife Georgiana Molloy, quoted in Hasluck 1966: 229).
INITIAL SALVAGE
The Governor Endicott was sold at auction for £400 to Francis Coffin, master of the Samuel Wright wrecked at Koombana Bay in the same storm (see entry), and who paid a further £300 for all the gear connected with it. Coffin also purchased the wreck of the Samuel Wright at an auction about the same time. He gradually dismantled much of the Governor Endicott, selling the salvaged material to local buyers.