Countess (1925)

Between Geraldton and Point Cloats

Countess, originally named Coolanup, was built by members of the Lawrence family. Unfortunately it is often unclear as to which members of this family were actually involved in the building of any particular vessel. William senior worked with his two sons, William and Samuel. He had arrived in Western Australia by jumping ship (an American whaler) at Albany in 1841 at the age of 19, and was involved in boat building at his yard in Perth for the next 75 years.
Countess had a counter stern and straight head. Vauxhall of England, who also supplied the single steel boiler, built the 2-cylinder compound engine that had a stroke of 508 mm. This engine and boiler required an engine room length of 4.34 m. The speed attainable with the engine was 7 knots.
The builder stated that the original owner of the Coolanup was the ‘Fresh Food and Fish Company, Mandura’. This probably referred to the Murray Fish and Freezing Company situated at Yunderup at the mouth of the Murray River. Richards (1993) states that this company owned the Coolanup. The vessel was used in the Peel Estuary and Murray River before being sold to the South Perth Ferry Co. Ltd. That firm renamed the steamer and added two open cabins on its deck, one forward and one aft of the engines. An extra top deck above these made the Countess both top heavy and almost unmanageable when the wind increased.
The vessel, despite being built in 1897, was not registered until March 1905. This presumably was the date of sale and its future use as a ferry required that it be registered. At that time the South Perth Ferry Co. Ltd mortgaged it to Samuel William Copley, financier of Perth, for £13?000 at 7% interest. This mortgage was discharged on 4 March 1912, and the Countess was sold to the Government of Western Australia (the Fremantle Harbour Trust) on the same date. In 1921 the Government sold the steamer to Alf. E. Tilley & Co. Ltd for £115. Tilley used the Countess as a lighter to carry salt from Rottnest Island to the mainland.
As Dickson (1992: 36) describes the Countess as a barge when it was being towed to Point Cloates, it is probable that it had been stripped of its engine and its intended use was as a dumb barge. Being built for river work, it would have been unsuitable for use as a whale chaser or indeed any form of ocean going work under its own steam. However, with the engine and boiler stripped out there would have been much more internal space for its use as a barge. Although Alf Tilley was the skipper at the time it was wrecked, the steamer was actually under charter from his firm.
THE LOSS
According to various sources the Countess was being towed to Point Cloates by the whale chaser Fynd when it was towed under and lost. Another source of reliable information indicates that the Countess may instead have been returning south after completing a contract when it was towed under by the Fynd. The position where this happened is referred to as being ‘near Geraldton’ (Dickson, 1992: 36), and ‘between Geraldton and Point Cloates’ (Dickson, 1996: 133; Loney 1994: 120; McKenna, 1959, Book 4: 72).