Dead End – The loss of the Caroline.

Point Perpendicular 1859.

During the early 1850s. the Australian coastline was a very busy place for coastal shipping.  Many ships were lost without a trace, in this case reports were naturally very short on detail, often filled with speculation by seasoned mariners. At other times when a vessel was known to be wrecked,  the report would still only be a few lines of text in a local newspaper, leaving us wondering about the cause and fate of the crew and passengers. I came across information about the loss of the Brigantine, “Caroline”   and despite much research these few brief references are all I can find..

Caroline - A wooden vessel of 111 tons, built in Bathurst Canada in 1851, by N Tuite,  21.5 meters long. Wrecked off Point Perpendicular, Jervis Bay on 27/01/1859 on a voyage from Melbourne to Newcastle.  The Master at the time was Captain Gascoyne. Wind failed, drifted. Cargo – Ballast

Caroline. Wooden brigantine, 130 tons. Built Canada, 1851; reg. Liverpool. Length 70 ft.  Lost ashore at Point Perpendicular, Jervis Bay, 27 January 1859.

The Brigantine Caroline, 111 tons went ashore near Jervis Bay in January and became a total loss.

The wreck has never been found.

A brigantine is a two-masted vessel with her foremast fully square rigged and her mainmast rigged with both a fore-and-aft mainsail (usually a gaff sail) and square topsails (and possibly topgallant sails)