Oleander (1884/03/01)

48 Km off Wedge Island

Oleander was built under Special Survey by Haswell in 1861 at Sunderland, England. It was copper fastened and sheathed with yellow metal over felt. It had a raised quarterdeck 8.2?m long. The owners were Alfred Rixon & Co. of London.
The barque had loaded 80 tonnes of guano at Shark Bay in late 1883. While there it had grounded for about five hours but without causing any apparent damage. It then left for Barrow Island but, as there was no cargo available there, returned to Shark Bay for further guano. Twice again the vessel touched bottom, but again there appeared to be no reason for concern. However as a precaution the master, Captain James Joass, limited his cargo to 400 tons rather than the Oleander’s 550 tons maximum capacity. The vessel left Shark Bay on 23 February 1884. The ship was to call at Champion Bay for provisions before sailing for Hamburg.
THE LOSS
On 25 February 1884 the Oleander was about 80 km west of the Abrolhos Islands when heavy weather blew up. The heavy seas caused the vessel to ‘work’ and leak badly, so all hands were required at the pumps. When the gales abated the leak became less severe, although hourly pumping was still needed. Captain Joass decided it was safe to head directly for Fremantle in order for repairs to be made. On 1 March when the vessel was about 48 km north-west of Wedge Island the leak worsened. Despite all hands at the pumps again, the water continued to rise in the hold.
About 9.00 a.m. Captain Joass decided to make for the shore under shortened sail. The crew prepared the ship’s boats with provisions and readied them for abandoning ship. By noon there was 2.5 m of water in the hold and the cargo of guano was washing about. Captain Joass realized that he could not save the vessel and ordered the crew to abandon ship. They stayed near the Oleander for about an hour, with a crewman going aboard to sound the pumps. As the water was found to be still rising, they left the vessel and the boats made for the shore, which could now be seen.
INQUIRY
An inquiry was held at Fremantle on 6 March 1884. Captain Joass was found to be free from blame; the members of the inquiry did however feel that he was imprudent not to have returned to Shark Bay when the leak occurred. Captain Joass praised the behaviour of his crew during the crisis.