General Gordon (1889/20/06)

At sea off Geraldton

General Gordon was a two-masted topsail schooner built in NSW in 1885. It had one deck, a fiddle head and a round stern. It is stated as being not very strongly built. The schooner was owned by Alfred C. Jolly (Cairns & Henderson, 1995) or Messrs Jolly and Luxton (Totty, 1979), of Darwin. The vessel had left Darwin on 10 March 1889 with 30 tons of general cargo for Port McArthur, Northern Territory. The master was William Ware, with a crew of five, and his instructions were that after discharging the cargo he was to sail to Cossack and try to sell the schooner. After discharging the cargo at Port McArthur the General Gordon took on ballast consisting of clay and sand. However, the vessel leaked and the clay and sand as it puddled, shifted and then clogged the pumps. The ballast was replaced with stone at Lewis Island in Hampton Harbour. Not being able to sell the schooner at Cossack, Captain Ware sailed for Fremantle to see if a sale could be made at that port. The vessel continued to leak during the remainder of its voyage.
THE LOSS
The General Gordon departed Cossack on 1 June 1889. The weather was fine until 16 June, when a gale from the north-west struck and continued until 18 June. By this time the vessel was some miles south of Dongara and well offshore. As the weather moderated Captain Ware went below to rest, but was recalled on deck with the news that the rudder had gone. The blade had sheared off leaving the stock, but because of its method of construction this could not be unshipped to make repairs. Large canvas bags were therefore made and placed over the side, then towed astern from each quarter to act as drogues. This enabled the schooner to be steered by heaving on one or other of the ropes. As the wind had by now swung to the west south-west, the General Gordon was turned by using the drogues and headed towards Champion Bay. The vessel appears to have been strained by the adverse weather, and the leaks worsened as the wind again increased. The rudderless General Gordon eventually became unmanageable, and was abandoned about 12.30 p.m. on 20 June 1889, when about 30 miles from Champion Bay. The crew left in the dinghy, and arrived near Geraldton about midnight the same day. They had no knowledge of the port, so anchored off until 7.00 a.m. on 21 June when they came alongside the jetty.
INQUIRY
An inquiry was held at the courthouse in Geraldton on 24 June 1889 before Maitland Brown and Charles Crowther. The finding was that there was no blame attached to the master or crew, as the storm had caused the loss of the General Gordon’s rudder.
INITIAL SALVAGE
Captain Ware considered that, despite the leaks, the General Gordon might still be afloat. She was a fairly new vessel and was, even though strained, still in fairly good condition. The cutter Una was sent to search for the General Gordon but no trace was found.