North America (1843/04/11)

Koombana Bay

Located by water probe survey April 2016
North America (1804–1843)
Port of Building: New York, USA
Year built: 1804
Port of Registration: Warren, USA
Rig Type: Ship
Hull: Wood
Length: 95.5 ft (29.1 m)
Breadth: 26 ft (7.9 m)
Depth: 13 ft (4 m)
Tonnage: 285 gross
Port from: Warren, USA
Port to: Warren, USA
Date lost: 10 April 1843
Location: Koombana Bay
Chart Number: Aus 115 & WA 50976
Position: Lat. 33º 19' 24" S
Long. 115º 38' 54" E. This is not a GPS position
Finder: Theo Sophilis of Cable (1956) Ltd
Protection: State Maritime Archaeology Act 1973
Significance criteria: 2, 3, 6 & 8
THE VESSEL
The North America was ship-rigged and had two decks and a billet head. It was owned by Driscoll and Child, who had it insured for $8?000 in New Bedford, and the same sum in New York (Henderson, 2007: 268). It had departed on a whaling voyage on 12 June 1842 under the command of Captain Grinnell. By April 1843 when it arrived at Koombana Bay it had 500 barrels of whale oil on board.
THE LOSS
The North America was at anchor in Koombana Bay, having let go only one anchor and not lowered its topgallant and royal masts. (It was normal practice to lower the upper masts to reduce windage while a vessel was at anchor. In the event of severe weather the reduction in height of the masts also greatly reduced the strain on them and their standing rigging when the vessel rolled.) The wind had been easterly, but during the afternoon of Monday 10 April 1843 a squall of wind and rain brought the wind round to the north-east. About 7.00 p.m. this wind began to blow ‘in gusts with great violence, and between 8 and 10 the violence of these gusts increased to a perfect hurricane. Their fury was irresistible. The tide rose 4 ft, then in the course of 20 minutes fell 2 ft’ (Inquirer, 26 April 1843: 4b).
The North America began to drag its single anchor, so a second anchor plus the kedge anchor were let go. The kedge anchor went down foul and, as the vessel continued to drift, it struck on the east end of the bar at the entrance to Leschenault Inlet and there grounded. The newspaper report stated that while the vessel was drifting the crew ‘lost all self-possession when it began to drive, and were in a state of mutiny. The master could scarcely prevent them from taking to the boats’ (Inquirer, 26 April 1843: 4b).
When dawn broke on the Tuesday morning the ship was fast, but still had all its masts standing.
On Wednesday morning (12 April 1843) the crew of the North America hove up the first anchor, which proved to be twisted and with a broken shank. The second anchor which had been put down was also broken, but using it and the kedge the ship was hove off the bar into three fathoms (5.5 m) of water. As nothing was done that day regarding replacing its anchors, the North America again drifted back to the bar, this time going over it to become stranded on the beach, where it lay with apparently little damage.
Captain Daniel Scott purchased the wreck of the North America at an auction held on 15 May 1843, and, over the next month using anchors brought down from Fremantle, managed on 14 June to haul it off and back over the bar with little further damage. The Reverend Wollaston noted in his diary:
The person who bought the wreck of the North America (Mr Scott of Fremantle) has succeeded in getting her off the Sands, by hauling upon anchors he brought down with him, & she is now riding at anchor in our bay, not much the worse, I am told, for the accident. The Americans themselves might have done this, had they been properly found, & all this loss (to them) saved. However, it is an ill wind that blows nobody any good, & the purchaser will make sufficient profit by the late Gale. This is all in favour of our Port (Bolton, et al. 1992: 116).
Scott wished to register the vessel as a colonial ship. This was refused, and a little while later, on 10 July 1843, the ship was blown ashore again, this time permanently. It finished on its side, the bottom stove in, and lying not far from the wreck of the Samuel Wright. The press reported:
The unfortunate North America, which by enterprise of our brother settler Captain Scott, was got off the beach three weeks ago, is again on shore. On the evening of Monday, the 10th inst., it blew strong, and a heavy sea set into the anchorage, but yet the gale was not of that volume as to occasion any apprehension either for the North America or the Water Witch which was also at anchor in the bay. About 12 o’clock at night however, she parted from her anchor and went gently on shore near her old birth [sic], where, we lament to add, she lies on her side, and has the appearance of having her back broken. We do not pretend to know the cause of her cable being separated from the anchor. One statement says that the anchor had no ring when let down and that the chain cable was attached to it by a clove hitch which slipped by the jerk occasioned by the heavy seas. Another statement is that the chain cable snapped close to the anchor; as the ship dragged on shore with her 175 fathoms [320 m] of it which was nearly its whole length (Inquirer, 26 July 1843: 3a).
The press also reported that had the ship not been driven on shore by the gale it would have to have been beached, as it was more seriously damaged than previously thought. It was making more water than the pumps could cope with. The Reverend Wollaston considered Captain Scott’s loss to be not less than £500, which included his initial purchase cost, the expenses of getting the North America afloat and repairs including making a new rudder (Bolton, et al. 1992: 140).
INITIAL SALVAGE
Scott began to dismantle the wreck of the North America, loading the timber and shooks of barrel staves onto the schooner Elizabeth. Also loaded were 32 casks of whale oil which had been purchased by Luke Samuel Leake. On 17 November 1843 another gale struck, and the Elizabeth (see entry) was driven ashore and wrecked, nothing being saved except some of the casks of oil.
The Reverend Wollaston’s boat, then at Bunbury, was used to drag for the anchors lost from the North America and the schooner Chance (see entry), which had slipped its anchors and gone aground in the same storm. He complained of the damage done to his boat, which was taken without his permission (Bolton, et al., 1992: 75).
At the auction held on 15 May 1843 the Reverend Wollaston paid £1.15.0 for the ship’s bell for his church at Picton, and he also bought some flour and pork from what had been the ship’s stores.
SITE LOCATION
On 18 April 1843 the Reverend Wollaston traced a map of Bunbury originally drawn by Henry Mortlock Ommaney, assistant surveyor to John Septimus Roe, who had earlier surveyed Bunbury. Among other things, Wollaston marked on it the position of both ‘the North America ashore’ and the ‘wreck of ship Samuel Wright’. The map places the North America about 160 m north-east of the Samuel Wright. It also seems to depict the North America as a new wreck with its masts apparently little damaged, as all three masts are standing and have a reasonable correlation to their original height ratios. The Samuel Wright on the other hand is shown with only one mast and a shortened bowsprit, so it may be assumed that his map illustrates the North America wrecked only eight days previously.
SITE DESCRIPTION
The site of the wreck of the North America is now buried many metres under sand and lies in a carpark at approximately the latitude and longitude given above. When first uncovered by mining operations in 1963 the wreck was found to be lying in an approximately east-west direction close to the wreck of the Samuel Wright.
The North America was badly damaged as it was driven ashore for the third time, and was subsequently in the process of being dismantled over the second half of 1843. EXCAVATION AND ARTEFACTS
The mining company collected a number of artefacts including an axe head, tryworks bricks, a sheave and the bowl of a clay pipe. When the Museum was called in they excavated the site and recovered more bricks, fragments of glass bottles, plate, copper nails and a considerable quantity of rusty iron. The site was later reburied.
STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE
TECHNICAL (2)
Whaling vessels were noted for their robust construction. The North America was driven ashore three times within a comparatively short period, but only on the third occasion did it become a complete wreck.
SOCIAL (3)
A Perth newspaper decried the lack of seamanship of Captain Grinnell and crew:
It is lamentable that, from such neglect, and the bad equipment of the ship, discredit may be thrown on Port Leschenault, which it does not deserve. If the ship had been well found, and had made snug her masts and yards, she would have rode [sic] out the gale, notwithstanding its violence was that of a tornado; and after her accident, she might have got into deep water and security with common exertion. She will probably now be a wreck (Inquirer, 26 April 1843: 4b).
INTERPRETIVE (6)
Lying close to the Samuel Wright, the North America is included in the interpretive plaque erected in the car park to commemorate both American whalers.
REPRESENTATIVE (8)
The North America is representative of the multitude of American whaling vessels which worked along the south and west coasts of Western Australia in the 19th century.
REFERENCES
Bolton, G., Vose, H., Watson, A. & Lewis, S., (eds), 1992, The Wollaston Journals Volume 2, 1842–1844. University of Western Australia Press, Nedlands.
The Perth Gazette and Independent Journal of Politics and News, 25 November 1843.
Henderson, G., 2007, Unfinished Voyages: Western Australian Shipwrecks 1622–1850. University of Western Australia Press, Crawley.
McCarthy, M., 1982, Koombanah Bay wrecks: an investigation of the wrecks in the bay, for the State Electricity Commission of Western Australia. Report—Department of Maritime Archaeology, Western Australian Maritime Museum, No. 19.
The Inquirer, 26 April 1843: 4b & 26 July 1843: 3a.
Buried under carpark with Samuel Wright