Sea Bird (1874/06/16)

Moore River

Sea Bird, described as a ‘little tub of a vessel’ by Jefferson Pickman Stow, was a two-masted schooner with one deck and a sharp stern. The first owner was Henry Yelverton of Vasse. In 1865 it took five of the crew of the small boat Forlorn Hope from Geraldton to Fremantle after their epic voyage from the Northern Territory. Captain Joseph Cooper was the master of the Sea Bird at that time. Yelverton sold the vessel to the joint owners Wallace Bickley and William Richardson in June 1866, and they then sold it to George Shenton (Snr) in October 1866. After his death by drowning on 25 March 1867 the schooner became the property of his son George Shenton (Jnr) who sold it to Charles Crowther of Champion Bay in November 1873.
On 15 June 1868 the Sea Bird dragged its anchor and went aground at Port Irwin. The lighter Albatross was sent from Geraldton to salvage the schooner along with the Twinkling Star, which had also dragged ashore. After successfully completing its task Albatross was swamped on 25 June while trying to return to Geraldton, and eight people drowned. Only two days later on 27 June the Sea Bird was again driven ashore at Port Irwin, but this time it was much more severely damaged. Although there was doubt that it would float again, it was repaired and put back into service. (See the letter from the Resident Magistrate, Geraldton, to the Colonial Secretary in the section on Albatross.)
THE LOSS
The Sea Bird left Fremantle on 11 June 1874 with ten passengers and a general cargo under the command of Captain Charles Gabriel Hanham. The majority of the passengers were ticket-of-leave men. Hanham had taken command at short notice and had not taken a patent log with him. He was not therefore in a position to measure his speed or distance run. The schooner was also unusually flat-bottomed and made more leeway than Captain Hanham realized. After fine weather the wind increased on 13 June. The Sea Bird beat into it for two days, latterly under jib only, until Captain Hanham took it into shelter behind a reef some 5 km from shore, not knowing where he was. On 16 June the wind swung to the north-west and the schooner began to drag its anchors. To save the passengers the anchor chains were slipped and the vessel was run ashore. It went onto the beach about 5.00 p.m. under reefed mainsail, fore try-sail and jib. The vessel was badly damaged with two large holes; one in the bow and one near the stern. It lay broadside on to the beach.
A wreck has been found in the shallows at the town of Seabird, very likely that of either Sea Bird or Sea Flower, more probably the former. These vessels probably lie very close to each other.
INQUIRY
An inquiry was held in Fremantle and Captain Hanham’s Certificate of Competency was suspended for two years because of negligence. He had not taken any sightings, nor had he kept a log book to allow him to make dead reckoning calculations.
INITIAL SALVAGE
All the cargo was saved but much was damaged. The wreck was auctioned at Gingin on 3 August 1874. There is also a record of the wreck having been sold to Lionel Samson on 4 March 1875.