Shipwreck over the land bridge
A World Beneath the Sea
By Adam Courtney | Over the waves. on the land and in the sky
It’s a small footnote in Australian nautical history, but nonetheless an important one – Bass Strait, once a land bridge between the continent of Australia and the island of Lutruwita/Tasmania, was crossed by 17 desperate men and boys in a longboat in March 1797. This was the first recorded navigation of the strait by non-Indigenous people.
Their ship, the Sydney Cove, sailed from Calcutta loaded with Bengali rum and supplies for the fledgling colony of Sydney. It had met with serious trouble off the east coast of Tasmania and was forced to run aground on a sandbank.
They had struck what they then dubbed Preservation Island, one of the southernmost islands of the Furneaux chain, just north of Tasmania. (The Palawa, the Traditional Owners of Preservation Island, call it Waytakupana). The crew stored the precious liquid cargo on a nearby smaller island, which they unimaginatively named Rum Island.
Rum Island, where the precious alcoholic cargo from the shipwrecked Sydney Cove was stored.
Photograph by Jack and Jude. ©jackandjude.com. All rights reserved.
Waytakupana/Preservation Island, as seen from Rum Island, with Truwana/Cape Barren Island in the background.
Photograph by Jack and Jude. ©jackandjude.com. All rights reserved.
Now with the ship’s longboat, five British men and twelve Indian sailors (known as Lascars), some of whom it is thought were children as young as ten years old, intended to sail direct to Sydney to bring help back for their shipwrecked crewmates left behind on the island.
There were more than 30 men stranded and sick on the island – not to mention 7000 gallons (35,000 litres) of alcohol. The 17-strong longboat crew were tasked with saving their shipmates’ lives….and the precious liquor.
READ MORE HERE Including the account of the first ever non-Indigenous overland expedition by 17 men and boy sailors who set out to seek rescue for their stranded fellow shipmates of the Sydney Cove in 1797.
Rum Island by Jack and Jude
Uncharted Rocks on Preservation Island
Furneaux Group images
Furneaux Group Online Guide
The Land Bridge
Documentary – Wind & Sky Productions
In this engaging film, experts wind the clock back 40,000 years to investigate the ancient landscape and deep human history of the Bass Strait land bridge.
Peter George
Independent Candidate for Franklin
Australian House of Representatives
Because we believe Peter George can make a difference, we are supporting his candidacy in the next Federal Election. If you are a resident of Franklin, Tasmania, all we suggest is that you peruse his statements and background, and then ask yourself: do we want Nature and our natural assets like the waterways and old-growth forests to be further degraded? Since the fish farms, Macquarie Harbour is rife with green algae that pollutes the World Heritage shores, and their plastic runaway ropes break down into micro-fibres further polluting those same shores used by swans and pelicans, plus the harbour waters now contain hundreds of thousands of tiny inedible mussels. These new pests dirty our vessels, mooring lines, piles—anything in the water. And then there’s the endangered Maugean Skate, a cute little creature from the age of dinosaurs that, since the farms expanded, suddenly can’t get enough oxygen.
Destination: Recherche Archipelago
Investigator Islands
Away from the crowd, deep into Nature.
Wild stopover at Investigator
In 1802, Matthew Flinders wrote, “Rocky Islets (Investigator Islands): low, smooth, sterile, frequented by seals”
Facing the Great Southern Ocean, this remote outpost for Nature seemed to beg to be investigated, so we planned to anchor there overnight if conditions allowed. Lying 55 miles west of Esperance and 15 miles from the mainland, the Investigator Islands, originally called Rocky Isles and then renamed to honour Flinders’ ship, are no more than two gigantic granite boulders rising out of tempestuous seas.
When first sighting them ten miles ahead, we were in seventh heaven, flying a full main with headsail poled out, both filled by a gentle breeze—our first since leaving Adelaide eight weeks earlier. Gazing at the approaching humps gaining colour and taking shape, Jack was on the aft deck cleaning a recently caught two-meal tuna while Jude prayed the mild swell would not have much effect in the bay trapped between the islands.
These islets are the furthest west in the Recherche Archipelago, which contains many areas not surveyed. Therefore, on full alert and using our chart only as a guide, we sailed into a bay surrounded by rising granite islets after first skirting the shallow patch off its head. With extreme caution, we edged in, expecting the bottom to rise suddenly. Looking about, we saw no sand beaches—just steep bare rock—so it did not surprise us to have to sink our anchor into great depths.
