Rip (1900/04/01)

Whalers Beach, west of Waterbay Point Frenchmans Bay

Rip was a schooner almost identical to the famous racing yacht America. Built by Francis Smith at Cedar Point in New Brunswick, the Rip arrived in Melbourne on 2 May 1860, 122 days out from Canada. After registering the schooner at Melbourne the owners, Lorimer, Mackie and Rome, sold it only two days later to the Port Phillip Sea Pilots for £4 528. They bought it as a replacement for their pilot cutter Anonyma, which had been wrecked at Londsdale.

On 15 July 1873 near Point Nepean the Rip’s mainsail was struck by a series of tremendous breaking seas which set the schooner on to its beam ends, before carrying away the main mast. One pilot and three crewmen were washed overboard and drowned, and the interior of the vessel smashed. Repairs were carried out at a cost of £1 600.

In 1901 W. Oxley of Melbourne purchased the Rip for fishing in Western Australian waters. In 1904 he sold it to Alex Armstrong of Albany for £350. Armstrong was in partnership with George Waters, and they intended to use the Rip as a lighter, so it was not registered. There were problems in that the vessel was leaking badly due to worm damage in the keel and garboard strakes.

THE LOSS
The Rip was careened in the calm waters of Frenchman Bay in order that an assessment of the damage could be made. This was found to be so severe that the vessel was abandoned as not being worth repairing. However it subsequently dragged ashore, so the owners attempted to burn it. This was only partly successful, with just the seaward side burning. The remains lay broadside on to the beach, canted towards the sea at a steep angle and rapidly began to go to pieces. Howard L. Hartman, in a letter to the Western Australian Museum, states that he remembers fishing from the wreck when he was a child. At that time it still had a great deal of fishing gear inside, suggesting that it was not cleaned out after use as a fishing boat, and may therefore never have gone into use as a lighter.

SITE LOCATION
The wreck of the Rip lies about 100 m south-east from the wreck of the Elvie, closer to the watering place shown on chart BA 2619, and now commonly referred to as Vancouver Springs.

SITE DESCRIPTION
The wreck of the Rip lies in the surf zone in less than two metres of water at the north-western end of Whalers Beach. The overall length of the site is 15.62 m, and there are a number of pieces of timber, including the keel and some frames, together with pieces of charred timber lying on the sand nearby.

EXCAVATION AND ARTEFACTS
Some of the deck planks from the wreck of the Rip were used soon after the end of World War I to construct a deck on a lighter built by William Douglas on the banks of the Kalgan River. The planks had washed ashore some years earlier.

In March 1999 the wreck of the Rip was inspected by Adam Wolfe on behalf of the Western Australian Museum. Some samples of timber were obtained as well as some tarred felt. The timber was analysed and found to be larch, birch and Eucalyptus melaleuca leucadedron.