The London Liner Sussex on Shore at Barw…

Colonial engraving of wrecked ship breaking up, with attempts to save passengers and material from the ship.

The Sussex was a three-masted wooden ship, 1305 tons. Built at Glasgow, 1853. Lbd 230 x 32.2 x 22 ft.  Captain Collard. Ran on to a reef one and a half miles west of Barwon Heads, Victoria, 31 December 1871.  A light seen was mistaken for Cape Schanck; the ship’s course was changed and the mistake discovered too late. She had left Plymouth on 9 October with forty-seven passengers and general cargo on her  twenty- eighth visit to Australia. Immediately the ship struck blue lights and rockets were fired and all passengers were warned to prepare to abandon her. The seas drove her over the rocks on to sand before a boat was launched but this capsized and six crew drowned. Nothing could be done from the shore as the sea was sweeping over the ship. The tug War Hawk arrived from Queenscliff and passengers and crew were transferred. The ship’s dog swam ashore. Other vessels to attend included the paddle steamers Titan and Challenge, tug Mystery, and the Queenscliff lifeboat. The ship and cargo were sold at auction; a wire rope from the foremast to the beach was used for hauling boats loaded with cargo to and fro, the boats being towed into shallow water by a team of twelve bullocks, and an iron tramway was laid down the sandhill to haul the goods from the beach to drays which carried them to the Customs.

From the original edition of the Illustrated Australian News. Rare.