Courtesy of TROVE Northern Star, Saturday 18 January 1947
SAGAS OF THE EARLY DAYS by WINDSOR LANG.
Early Shipwrights Built Stout Craft
JUST as the disaster to the schooner “George” in 1851 had no direct association with the Richmond bar, although of some moment to the river settlement, a mishap of later years which was of material interest to the district had its setting just outside the precincts of Byron Bay waters.
Whilst James Ainsworth was engaged in the building of a small vessel at East Ballina in 1864, one of Mr. Edmund Ross’ aboriginal workers, who had been patrolling the beaches to the north of Ballina on the lookout for a draft of bullocks from Fairymount cattle station, brought tidings to Mr. Ainsworth that he had noticed much wreckage on the beach about 14 miles north of Ballina. The investigating party discovered 114 casks of tallow. Subsequently it was learned that another portion belonging to the same cargo had been washed up on to the beaches north of Byron Bay. It transpired that the tallow had been washed from the deck of the schooner “Volunteer,” wrecked off Cape Byron whilst bound for Sydney from Baffle Bay, in Queensland. Thus the beach, south of Cape Byron, became known as Tallow Beach, although it is known to some as Talla Beach. The collected tallow was loaded, as cargo, on to the schooner “Wallaby” a vessel owned by Mr. Coleman, of Lismore, and Mr. Nicholls, of Bexhill. Mr. James Ainsworth said that this cargo of tallow was the first freight shipped from Byron Bay.
Incidentally this strip of beach was a much-used depot from which a quantity of log timber, taken from the surrounding district, was either taken on board a waiting schooner, or towed in rafts to Ballina. The timber was hauled to the beach by bullock teams. Part of the loading operations was the use of these teams in the water. They would be made to breast the water, and haul the logs into the surf, where the logs would be secured to hawsers, and towed by pulling boats out to the waiting vessel, there to be hauled by derrick on to the cargo vessel.
At times, as I have already stated, they would be formed into a raft, and towed to Ballina. The late Captain Thomas Fenwick supervised much of the necessary tug work. His son, Captain Thomas Fenwick Jnr., who still lives at Ballina, often accompanied his father on these trips. He told me that at times the raft of logs would be lost through an unanticipated squall striking the tug, with raft in tow, before it reached the bar and the raft had to be sacrificed.
On one occasion the tug boat was anchored off shore, whilst Tom and his father rowed to the shore in a whale boat. A gale worked up from the east, and the sea became so rough that to return to the tug in the whale boat would have been hazardous. Therefore the whale boat was hauled up the beach, and on to the higher ground well above sea level. Tom and his father had to tramp back to Ballina, where another tug boat was secured to enable them to return to the anchored tug off Tallow Beach.
THE movements of the sailing ship “Peony,” which was wrecked south of the river entrance in 1876, in addition to being attended by fatality, for some time had caused much uncertain speculation in the mind of the witnessing signalman, Mr. James Stanger.
The master of the “Peony,” Captain Kirby, was enroute to Shanghai from Sydney with a cargo of coal, and was accompanied by his wife. This 700-ton barque first attracted the critical attention of the signalman one very late afternoon as she was making heavy weather whilst she was sailing with a stiff east-south-east breeze astern.
To Mr. Stanger she appeared to be strikingly low in the water, and showing far too scanty free-board. His gaze followed her closely, until she faded out of view beyond Black Head. Early next morning Signalman Stanger had a surprise when out of the north, and bearing south, the same barque came into view. As she passed the headland, although she showed no signals, her behaviour was erratic. Puzzled, he watched her movements closely, and uneasily. Suddenly the ship put about, and under full sail, headed directly for the South Beach. Gathering speed she struck the beach heavily, three miles south of the river entrance, and under the merciless and continuous attack from heavy seas, broke up rapidly.
Meantime, the signalman had raised the alarm, and in a short space of time the pilot, Captain Easton, with members of his crew, local police and a number of residents were on the scene of the disaster, prepared to render any assistance, but the ship had struck before they could possibly arrive.
Among the spectators was the skipper of the schooner “Dancing Wave.” He swam out to the wreck, without belt or line, and was successful in rescuing Mrs. Kirby, the captain’s wife, who, tied to a lifebuoy, was on the lee side of the ship. A seaman was the only other rescued. Five of the crew perished in the surf, and their bodies were washed ashore. These were buried in the sand dunes nearby. Every other member of the crew had disappeared.
From the survivors it was gathered that the barque had sprung a leak, and for some time had been rapidly taking in water. She had become well-nigh unmanageable in her water-logged condition, so the skipper had deemed it expedient to beach her.
Two years previously Captain Thomas Fenwick had commenced his tug service at Ballina, and it was a coincidence that the latest addition to his fleet, the “Francis Hixon,” made her initial crossing of the bar that day, but unfortunately events had moved so rapidly that she was unable to render assistance because of the speedy breaking-up of the “Peony.”
MR. J. G. SNOW, of Bangalow, had an interesting list published in the “Northern Star” during May or June of last year. This was of the wrecks either on, or in the vicinity of, the Richmond Bar, from that of the “Frolic” on July 16, 1856, down to those of the steam tug “Rescue” and the “s.s. Sophie Ann” on April 19, 1908. Recently Mr. Tom Lewis, of Cherry Street, Ballina, supplied me with a list compiled from his own records, and somewhat similar to that of Mr. J. G. Snow. I shall deal with some of these at a later stage.
Naturally, from these lists can be gathered the names of several sailing vessels that were trading to the river before the late “80’s.” On both those lists appears the name “Josephine,” wrecked on November 25, 1865. The schooner “Josephine” belonged to Mr. Joe Eyles, which gentleman played an active part in the early history of the river. He conducted the first hotel, the “Sawyers’ Arms,” at West Ballina. He also acquired the first town lots sold in Ballina. The “Josephine” was a speedy craft. One outstanding performance was when, fully laden, she sailed from Ballina to Melbourne, calling at Sydney on both the forward and return trips. She collected freight at each of the ports, in addition to discharging it, and completed the round trip within six weeks-no mean performance for the type of craft in those early days. Two other early vessels were the “Agnes Irving” and the “Florence Irving.” These two had been named after the daughters of Mr. Clark Irving, owner of Tomki cattle station. The “Saucy Tom” and “Susannah Cuthbert” were still others of the early timber schooners.
Mr. James Ainsworth said that the first two vessels built on the river were the three-masted schooners “Dart” and “Prince of Wales,” launched at Woodburn in 1851 or 1852, by Mr. Davis.
However, we know from other records that Mr. William Yabsley built the “Pelican” at Ballina about the “mid-40’s.” When this gentleman settled in Coraki in 1849 he established ship building yards, and soon after built the schooner “Coraki” and the barque “Schoolboy.” At a later period he launched a fine steam barque the “Examiner,” the paddle-wheeled tug “Index,” and the screw steamer “Beagle.” Doubtless other lesser craft were launched from these yards. In connection with the vessels launched from Mr. Yabsley’s slips, I have been told that in addition to his ship building activities, he supervised the general subject night-studies of his apprentices. That would account for the book flavour of the names selected. By the way, the schooner “Dart” and “Prince of Wales” later entered the Sydney-Melbourne service.
The “Examiner,” built, owned, and mastered by Mr. William Yabsley, was a steam-barque of 260 tons, strongly constructed of hardwood timber obtained near Coraki. In 1872 she went ashore north of the Clarence Heads, approximately at the spot now occupied by the breakwater. The salving of the stranded barque added much luster to Mr. Yabsley’s fame, both from the manner of its achievement, and because the expert craftsmanship put into the ship’s construction was thereby proven.
The vessel had taken a cargo of pine to the Clarence from the Richmond, and met with the mishap when crossing out. All efforts to refloat her were of no avail. Mr. Yabsley then formulated a plan which, as a beginning, involved the use of screwjacks for lifting the boat out of the sand where she lay embedded to a depth of eight feet. The suction of the sand itself at this spot must have proved to be a heavy handicap. The plan next provided that the boat would have to be hauled up from the beach, over a terrace, and then refloated in the river-involving a total journey of over a mile.
With modern equipment, and a full staff, the task would be a big one even for today. In the “70’s,” in addition to its magnitude, its success must have been problematic right up to the last. Timbers for levers, blocking, etc., had to be cut from a scrub a mile away, and hauled in by a bullock team. At an early stage an easterly gale had moved all the blocking timber under the vessel, and left her hanging by the middle. Another serious mishap was caused when a large fragment from a shattered lever struck Mr. Thomas Yabsley, knocking him some yards across the deck, and leaving him insensible for some hours. Messrs. John Yabsley, John Robinson and Patrick Hyland rowed to Grafton and brought Dr. Houson back. Mr. Thomas Yabsley was on the road to recovery within a few days.
As a preparatory step, the sailors removed the spars and sails from the ship, after which the party spent a month in felling and squaring the necessary timber, digging a saw-pit, and using such pit for sawing cleats for bolts on to the side of the vessel. In all 40 levers-20 on each side were used in conjunction with the screw-jacks to lift the vessel out of the sand. Next the heavy rudder was removed by the use of a lever. It was at this juncture that Mr. Thomas Yabsley had his accident when the lever broke.
Eventually, aided by four teams of bullocks working together, the “Examiner” slowly moved forward, until on September 24, after nearly five months of salvage operations, she was launched into the Clarence River.
Much to the pride and satisfaction of Mr. William Yabsley, so tight and sound was she that she did not “leak a drop.” The totalcost of the salvage operations was about £1,400. A salvage firm today, engaging experts, would present an account that would run into a few thousands.
The operating staff consisted of Captain William Yabsley, his brother John, his four sons, William, Henry, Charles, and Thomas, in addition to Messrs. Thomas King, John Robinson, Oliver Jones, John Flynn, Robert Thompson, John Lenox, James Cook, Patrick Hyland, William Green, Charles Benger, Samuel Baxter, John Ford, two sailors who had come from Grafton, and three of the original crew who had stayed on after all the other sailors had left.
Mr. Tom Lewis told me of the salvage of a much smaller schooner which, after grounding on the North Spit at Richmond entrance, was hauled over the spit, and re-floated in Shaw’s Bay.
(To be continued.)