Chance (1843/05)

Albany, Michaelmas Isalnd

The Chance was built on the Kalgan River at Albany by Solomon Cook, who completed the schooner on 5 July 1842. Cook had deserted from the American whaler Mayflower (350 tons, Captain Henry Colt) on Thursday 27 February 1840. The owner of the Chance was Thomas Brooker Sherratt, who used it, with a crew of four, as a tender for his bay whaling and sealing venture. The Chance had been to Lombok to purchase supplies (mainly rice) for use by the whaling parties. When it arrived at Fremantle on the voyage north, the local press stated that the Chance ‘is pronounced to be an excellent sea boat’ (Perth Gazette, 10 December 1842: 2a).

Returning from Lombok the Chance was anchored in Koombana Bay when, on 10 April 1843, a north-easterly gale caused the anchor to drag. The master, Captain Johnson Hume, steered for the mouth of the Leschenault Inlet and the schooner passed over the bar, striking twice. It then ran aground inside the inlet. After unloading the cargo of rice and selling the damaged portion, the schooner was refloated on 19 April and anchored once more in Koombana Bay where the undamaged rice was reloaded and it sailed for Albany soon after.

THE LOSS
There are five contemporary references to the loss of the Chance at Albany. The Reverend Wollaston mentions in his journal that less than two months after departing Koombana Bay it was wrecked and went to pieces. A Perth newspaper reported ‘the Cheerful touched at King George’s Sound, and brings us the report of the loss of the cutter Chance off Michaelmas Island’ (Perth Gazette, 20 May 1843: 2a). Two months later a Sydney newspaper stated: ‘The schooner Chance, of King George’s Sound, had also been totally lost’ (Sydney Morning Herald, 13 July 1843: 2a). This same information was also reported in The Australian the following day. A letter from the Government Resident at Albany to the Colonial Secretary dated 15 October 1843 regarding the disappearance of Captain Hume also mentions the loss of the Chance (CSR 119/159).

The builder of the Chance was Solomon Cook, who, in 1840, had deserted from the American whaling ship Mayflower. The Mayflower’s log entry regarding that incident reads:
Thurs, Feb 27th; Commences with strong winds and pleasant weather. Employed with two boats awooding. At night the liberty men came on board. At 11pm Solomon Cook, Benjamin Owens, William Lynch and Neil Chamberlain and John Mitchell loard the bow boat down and landed on shore careing thare cloths and a weeks provisions. Latter part, at daylight found the boat gone. I went on shore in persute of them, found the boat and took her to the ship. At 6½am Captain Colt went on shore and sent the constables in persute (spelling as per log book, quoted in Dickson, 2007: 132).

Cook escaped capture, later becoming a naturalized citizen. After being involved in building another boat for Sherratt (the 92-ton brigantine Emma Sherratt built at Torbay by Mr Jenkins) he moved to Perth, where he was involved in many other projects. These included the original Canning Bridge and the first steam boat on the Swan River.

It would appear that the master of the Chance when it was wrecked, Captain Hume, not only lost his ship but also his employment with Sherratt, and a short time later his life. A letter from the Government Resident at Albany, John Randall Phillips, to the Colonial Secretary dated 15 October 1843 states:
I have received news that Mr Hume late Master of the Chance which cutter was wrecked last year here, was missing from his place of residence at Wilson’s Inlet where he had become Hut Keeper for John W. Andrews. I sent out a party in search of him, but have not been enabled to gain any trace so far of him. Some Natives have reported having seen him with his face very bloody, and that he had been ill used by a man of the name of Cole – who is shepherd to J.W. Andrews flock of sheep and has been an Old Van D.L. Convict. Hume’s shoes and hat were found in the Hut, by the extra constable sent on this search as both the other Constables were away executing Warrants at Two People Bay. And as Hume has been missing for more than three weeks I am sadly afraid no trace will be found of him (CSR 119/159).