The schooner Marchioness of Lorne was built in Huskisson in 1871 by George Dent Jnr
At 120 tons, she was used for the South Seas Island trade and along the Queensland Coast, she was registered at Maryborough.
Her cargo was varied and included timber and coal.
For the sailor, life aboard most of the sailing ships of that era was hard and dangerous, injury and death could be a daily hazard for the unwary.
With just a small amount of research a few incidents came to life.
Saturday 5 April 1873
She once came across a small dinghy with survivors from the wreck of the “Ceres” wrecked on the Brampton Reefs at midnight in August, They had spent 9 days at sea after abandoning ship and taking to the dingy.
Thursday 29 June 1882
One of her crew was missing, his partly dressed body was later found on a beach near the pilot station. The inquiry found ‘there were no marks of violence and it assumed that the deceased fell overboard accidently”
Wednesday 9 December 1885.
A very serious accident occurred on Monday last to a man named Martin Caspar, employed on the schooner Marchioness
of Lorne, while coal was being discharged from her into the dredge Lytton. The man, it appears, was engaged attending
to the coal baskets when by some means he fell into the hold of the vessel, being precipitated a distance of about 14ft.,
and alighting fair on his head ; as might be expected, concussion of the brain was the result. He was convoyed as soon as possible to the hospital, where ho now lies in a very critical state. He is a married man, his wife living in Maryborough.
Appalling floods, Ship Capsizes, Captain drowns.
Floods ravaged Maryborough and Bundaberg, downed bridges and caused enormous damage to property as well as claiming 30 lives.
At the time the Marchioness of Lorne was anchored on the Granville side of the river, she broke away and drifted 3 miles and capsized and captain Hughes was drowned.
Probably not the way a ship and her captain would have expected to end their days.
Description
Although a schooner may have up to seven masts, the typical schooner has only two, with the foremast shorter than the mainmast. There may be a bowsprit to help balance the rig. The principal issue with a schooner sail plan is how to fill the space between the two masts most effectively. Traditional schooners were gaff rigged, and the trapezoid shape of the foresail occupied the inter-mast space to good effect, with a useful sail area and a low centre of effort.
ref:
image: http://hdl.handle.net/10462/deriv/138872
http://trove.nla.gov.au/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schooner
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