Grace Darling (3687)

Off Edward Island, Lancelin

Date lost: 2 February 1914 (Newspaper article quoted in Marshall, 2001), 3 February 1914 (Chief Harbour-Master's report to The Under Secretary dated 9 March 1914 and the Decision of the Court of Marine Inquiry dated 18 March 1914), 4 February 1914 (Marshall, 2001), 11 February 1914 (Dickson, 1996),
4 February 1914 appears to be the correct date
Grace Darling was built at Battery Point in Hobart for Henry William Hopwood. It was carvel planked with a square stern and a medallion head. The vessel was sold to Thomas Edwards of Melbourne on 28 November 1870 and registered in Port Fairy. The Grace Darling was subsequently sold to W. Tulloch of Adelaide and registered in Port Adelaide in 1873, where it worked in the wheat trade. During this period the vessel was involved in a collision with the Amelia on 8 February 1883 in Avoid Bay, as a result of which the Amelia sank. Later the Grace Darling also rescued two survivors of the wreck of the schooner Experiment from Kangaroo Island. The schooner made voyages along the south coast of Western Australia at least as far as Geographe Bay, as in early September 1874 it is recorded as being stranded there after the anchor cable parted in a storm.
The Grace Darling was purchased on 12 May 1892 by Fred Douglas of Albany, and used in the coastal trade along the south coast between Fremantle and Adelaide. It must have been a fast vessel as it completed one trip from Esperance to Albany in nineteen hours. During this period it earned a good reputation, and became noteworthy for the rescue of the 196 passengers and crew of the iron steamer Rodondo from South East Island, about 128 km from Esperance. At one stage the Grace Darling was stranded on Middle Island for six weeks.
The Grace Darling was sold on 1 September 1910 to R.J. Lynne Ltd, shipowners and coal vendors of Fremantle. It then traded from Fremantle to Geraldton and northern ports. On 27 April 1913 it sprang a leak and had to put in to Geraldton for repairs. At that time it was valued at £600 and was carrying cargo to the value of £2?000.
THE LOSS
There is a difference in the dates given for the wrecking of the Grace Darling, but the early morning of Tuesday, 4 February 1914 appears to be correct. The schooner, under the command of Captain Frederick Schroeder and five crew, left the Abrolhos Islands on 28 January 1914 loaded with 1?000 bags of guano (a full cargo), bound for Fremantle. Captain Schroeder was the only person aboard who held a certificate for, being less than 100 tons register, the Grace Darling was not required to have a certificated mate. There were two compasses on board, both correct according to the master. After a position fix at noon on 3 February 1914 he allowed 20 miles leeway for possible currents setting his ship towards the shore. At about 4.10 a.m. on 4 February 1914 Captain Schroeder and the mate were both below deck, although it was Captain Schroeder’s watch. There was a strong wind blowing. The vessel, steering south-east by south and doing between 4 and 5 knots, ran onto the reef at Edward Island. The schooner was laid over on its beam ends.
Captain Schroeder ordered the mainsail lowered. His intention was to make for the mainland, about 800 m away, in the boat. Four of the crew got into the ship’s boat and held onto a line from the ship. Unfortunately the crew’s hold on the ship was broken in the rough seas and the oars washed away. This left the master and the cook, who had been collecting provisions, stranded on board the schooner. The fishing boat Wanderer (Captain Johnson), which had been anchored some 3?km away, picked up the men in the dinghy. It then went to the aid of the master and cook on the Grace Darling. These two endured four hours of constant battering by the waves until rescued. The Grace Darling broke up some ten minutes after their rescue.
The Wanderer took the rescued men to Fremantle, where Captain Schroeder was taken to hospital suffering from broken ribs and bronchitis. No cargo or crew’s belongings were saved. Captain Schroeder’s Master’s Certificate (No. 173 issued at Fremantle in 1897) was later picked up on the beach.
INQUIRY
The Chief Harbour-Master held a Preliminary Inquiry on 9 March 1914 at Fremantle, and a charge of careless navigation was laid against Captain Schroeder. A Court of Marine Inquiry consisting of Mr E.P. Dowling R.M., Captain Abrahams and Captain Yates, and Mr J.P. Dwyer (for the Chief Harbour-Master), was held in Fremantle on 18 March 1914. The Inquiry found Captain Schroeder:
…negligent in the navigation of the vessel while on a voyage from the Abrolhos Islands to Fremantle which said negligence resulted in the wreck of the said vessel on Edward Island on 3 February 1914. The Court therefore suspends the Certificate of the said Frederick Shroeder for three months.
Captain Schroeder’s explanation of the wrecking was that there must have been a strong set inshore. He had made allowance for leeway and had considered the vessel to be further offshore. According to a contemporary newspaper article, the mate, Lachlan McLean, had disappeared after the survivors landed at Fremantle and therefore did not give evidence. Only Captain Schroeder and the helmsman at the time of the wrecking, Joseph Doherty, spoke at the Inquiry.
INITIAL SALVAGE
As the vessel had to be abandoned in a hurry and subsequently broke up, nothing was salvaged. Its cargo of guano would have been irrecoverable. The vessel was valued at about £1?000.
SITE LOCATION
On the southern tip of Edwards Island near Lancelin, inside the reef in 4.5–6 m of water
EXCAVATION AND ARTEFACTS
There have been artefacts recovered from the wreck since its registered discovery on 5 May 1971. These include an anchor, a piece of planking, timber spars with copper bolts and a piece of cement ballast. The ship’s bell and a small compass were reported to have been recovered in September 1957 and sold to Les Douglas for £20.