Shipwreck Databases Western Australian Museum

Planet (1890/05/10)

Port Irwin (Port Denison)

Year built: 1876 (Dickson, 1996), 1877 (Totty, 1979; Jackson, 1879)
Date lost: 10 May 1890 (Totty, 1979; Cairns & Henderson, 1995) or 9 May 1890 (McKenna, 1959; Dickson, 1996)

Robert Howson built the Planet at Fremantle in 1876/77. McKenna states that the registered date of building is given as 1 February 1877. As this was the first vessel registered at Fremantle in 1877 it is obvious that it was built during 1876 and the very early part of 1877. A two-masted schooner, it had one deck and an oval counter stern. Howson was from Sunderland in England and was brought out to Fremantle by John Bateman to build vessels for his fleet. As far as can be ascertained the Planet was the first vessel Howson built after arriving in Fremantle aboard the Spinaway in December 1875.
The first owner was William John Cousins Lakey, master mariner and boat owner of Fremantle. The schooner was sold in February 1883 to a consortium consisting of Samuel Fortescue Moore, merchant of Dongara, Henry James Saw, merchant of Fremantle, Edward Clarkson, pearler of Cossack and William Dalgety Moore, merchant of Fremantle. The Planet was involved in several strandings during its working life. In July 1878 it dragged moorings off Fremantle and was blown onto South Beach. On 4 June 1880 it was driven ashore during a gale at Geraldton. On this occasion it was refloated with little damage. A third incident occurred when it struck a reef off Delambre Island in July 1881.
THE LOSS
The Planet had sailed from Geraldton on 8 May 1890 with a cargo of 235 bags of wheat (Totty, 1979) or 230 tonnes grain and 6 tonnes of general cargo (Cairns & Henderson, 1995) for Fremantle. The figure given by Totty would seem to be more correct as the vessel had a registered tonnage of less than 65 tons and was only 22.2 m in length. Arriving at Dongara on 9 May, Captain Henry Makaals at first anchored off but later picked up the government mooring. During the night the wind freshened and became a storm, the pin came out of the shackle on the mooring and the schooner was washed onto the rocks about 100 m north of the jetty at 3.10 a.m. There had been no time to drop the Planet’s anchor as the mooring was only 45 fathoms (80 m) from the shore. This wrecking therefore occurred during the early morning hours of 10 May 1890. The same storm caused the schooner Electra to be stranded at Dongara.
INQUIRY
An inquiry on 20 May 1890 exonerated master and crew, as it was found that the parting of a link in the government mooring chain was the cause of the wrecking. Evidence given at the inquiry was that the chain had not been examined for fourteen or fifteen months. Leonard Worsley Clifton, Collector of Customs, stated ‘I would observe that on a rocky bottom like that at Dongara the best chain would be liable to part if kinked around a rock so that the strain would not come fair and true’ (quoted in Totty, 1979: 33).
INITIAL SALVAGE
Only six packages of the cargo were saved. The crew were taken to Fremantle by the steamer Rob Roy. The vessel was not insured.

Ship Built

Owner W. Lakey

Master Charles Morgan

Builder Robert Howson

Country Built WA

Port Built Fremantle

Port Registered Fremantle

When Built 1877

Ship Lost

Gouped Region Mid-West

Sinking Chain unshackled

When Lost 1890/05/10

Where Lost Port Irwin (Port Denison)

Port From Cossack

Port To Fremantle

Cargo Grain, general

Ship Details

Engine N

Length 22.20

Beam 5.00

TONA 64.79

TONB 61.30

Draft 2.40

Museum Reference

Official Number 75295

Unique Number 367

Sunk Code Wrecked and sunk

File Number 115/80

Chart Number A 752

Protected Protected Federal

Found N

Inspected N

Confidential NO