Swift (1896/08/31)

1.2Km Metres offshore Twilight Cove

Swift was built by S. Griffiths on the Mersey River in northern Tasmania. It had one deck, a round stern and a scroll head. It was built with a centreboard, a fairly unusual feature for coastal trading vessels in Australia. The centreboard and its case took up the equivalent of 0.89 tons of space. It was owned by John Thomas Shimmins (or Skinner), master mariner, and registered at Hobart. On 19 June 1896 it was purchased by John Richard Arthur Connolly of Esperance. He registered the ketch at Fremantle (No. 1/1896). Under the command of Captain John Cockcroft the ketch was delivering enough material for 65 miles of the overland telegraph line between Eyre and Ponton’s station along the south coast. This was to be landed at Twilight Cove.

The Swift had a reputation for being difficult to steer unless all sail was set. This made it unusual amongst Tasmanian-built ketches of the late 19th century, which were generally well regarded.

THE LOSS
The Swift was sailing under full sail in a fresh south-west breeze into Twilight Cove from the south-west with a crewman taking soundings. The man reported two and a half fathoms (9.6 m), but before he could again cast the lead the ketch struck a flat rock. The heavy sea carried the vessel over that rock and onto another. The Swift began leaking badly, and was abandoned by the crew, all of whom reached shore safely. After the Preliminary Court of Inquiry had been completed at Esperance, Captain Cockcroft and some of his crew travelled to Albany on board the coastal steamer Macgregor, arriving there on 23 September.

INQUIRY
A Preliminary Court of Inquiry into the loss of the Swift was held at Esperance on 21 September 1896. Captain Cockcroft’s evidence showed that the ketch struck a rock which was not shown on the chart. At the hearing evidence was given that the Swift ‘was unmanageable unless under full sail’ (West Australian, 23 September 1896: 5a). The members of the preliminary hearing decided to charge Captain Cockcroft, but the subsequent Court of Inquiry exonerated him from blame.

INITIAL SALVAGE
A telegram sent from Eyre to the Postmaster-General by the officer-in-charge of the telegraph construction party stated that up to the morning of Monday 7 September, 35 tons of material from the wreck of the Swift had been recovered. Conditions were difficult:
Since Saturday the salvage operations had been hampered by heavy surf at the wreck, and the only boat remaining had been stove in. A raft had, however, been made, and with this it was hoped, if the weather permitted, to bring the balance of the material ashore in a day or two (West Australian, 9 September 1896: 4g).

SITE LOCATION
The coast here is moving out to the sea at the rate of a little over 3 m a year. The Swift is now situated 55 m inland from the first sand ridge above high water mark. In May 1977 the wreck was inspected by Scott Sledge of the Department of Maritime Archaeology, Western Australian Museum. At a depth of 90 cm fresh water entered the archaeologists’ trench causing the sides to collapse, which seriously hindered a full inspection.

SITE DESCRIPTION
The wreck of the Swift lies on its starboard side roughly parallel with the shore line, bow towards the east-north-east. The stern is buried under a large sand ridge, and the port side has collapsed. The measurable length of the site is 19.7 m with a width of 3.6 m amidships. The frames measure 140 mm by 110 mm with an average spacing centre to centre of 400 mm. The ceiling planking is 60 mm by 300 mm and most of the fastenings are of iron. A substantial part of the hull is still intact, and the timber appears to be in excellent condition. There are an iron hawse pipe, two iron cog wheels believed to be part of the windlass, two iron knees and other artefacts at the site.

EXCAVATION AND ARTEFACTS
Three samples of the timber were collected, together with a number of the iron fastenings of different sizes.