The Coastal Steamer Mokau

By the 20th century shipping goods and people between ports was a thriving business.

Coastal Shipping was the fastest and most convenient way of transporting people and goods over the great distances between ports right around the world. Australia was a vast country, communities were spread across great distances. Reliable rail and road transport were virtually nonexistent.  The nation's resources needed transporting, wool, timber, oil, coal, silica were all transported by ship.
In the 1900s, coastal steamers made from timber and steel plied the sometimes treacherous coast. Without the weather forecasting equipment we take for granted in this age, these small hard working ships could easily run into trouble. Captains and crews were usually made up of experienced hardened sea going men, use to a life controlled by the elements.

The Australian coastline is littered with shipwrecks, stories and legends, the area around Jervis Bay and Wreck Bay was regarded by captains and crews as a particuarly dangerous place, many vessels were lost. The Corangamite, The Walter Hood, The Wandra,The Plutus, The Merimbula, The Hive, The Summer Cloud are just a few of the many wrecks in the area, a fine collection of relics from some of these ships are on display at the museum.



The Mokau
194 tons 35m x 6,9m x 2,7 meters Built at David Drake Limited in 1901 located at Balmain.
In 1922.


The Coastal Steamers Mokau, was transporting Silica from Ulladulla to Newcastle when she sprung a leak under her boiler, the leak was considered serious enough to seek shelter at the entrance to Sussex Inlet.

The cargo - Silica.
Occurs as the mineral quartz, a major constituent in many igneous and sedimentary rocks.
Bannister Headland at the northern end of Mollymook beach was the site of a silica crushing facility and loading jetty in the early 20th Century. In 1924, a tramway was constructed across Narrawallee Inlet to transport silica from mining leases near Conjola for preparation and shipping. The industry declined during World War II.
Flint Point was the main area mined for silica. Rocks were found to be almost pure silica were transported to Ulladulla, then shipped to Port Kembla and Newcastle to be crushed and made into refractory bricks to line the furnaces of the steelworks.

History of events leading to the loss of the Mokau.

January 18th Red Head:
The Mokau had been engaged in salvaging a punt that had sunk during wharf construction.
This required the Mokau to anchor bow to shore directly over the punt with lines fixed stem and stern.
The punt was raised by means of tackle rigged at the bow, and the ship was then hove in towards the shore, pushing the punt ahead of it, until the punt was on the beach.

A diver employed by the contactor had stated he saw evidence of damage to the Mokau on the port bow and along the garboard strake and had advised the captain to head straight to Sydney for docking.
Instead, the Mokau headed straight to Ulladulla and loaded with 110 tons of silica rock.

Garboard strake illustration. click to enlarge.

January 19th Ulladulla:

The next morning it was noticed the Mokau was making water much faster than usual, and at lunchtime, the engineer informed the captain that it was about 13 inches per hour, He also stated she was “out of shape” after the loading was completed.

January 19th 4.30pm.
She left port bound for Wollongong, with the fore hatch uncovered, but shortly after leaving the harbour a strong southerly gale broke accompanied by heavy rain, thunder and lightning.

January 19th 6.30pm
The engineer had been continually monitoring the leak and by 6.30pm advised the master to head for the nearest port, They eventually made for Sussex Inlet, and got under the reef in smooth water dropping anchor.

January 20th.
As she was being moved the next day she touched bottom and never came off again. Meanwhile, the engineer pumped the ship dry but the master did not think it safe to go on. Later while moving cargo, water was found rushing in through the deadwood. The captain informed Red Head by telephone as soon as he could.

January 24th.
The underwriter's surveyors arrived to access the damage to the ship.

January 26th
On his advise the crew were landed and the vessel was abandoned by her owners Messrs, Kirton and Earnshaw as a total loss. By then the sea was breaking over the stern, the anchors having carried away, she later came onto the beach and broke her back.

March 14th. The court case.
An enquiry into the circumstances attending the beaching and subsequent wreck of the steamer Mokau. The court found that William Robinson master of the Mokau had been guilty of miss conduct in taking the vessel to sea in the face of an approaching storm in an unseaworthy condition and with her fore hatch uncovered, as a result of which she was compelled to run for shelter in Sussex Inlet, where she became a total loss and was abandoned.
The court called upon Captain Robinson to show cause why his certificate should not be cancelled.

The Wreck Now.

The narrow entrance to Sussex Inlet is made up of constantly shifting sand bars. Floods and large southerly and easterly swells shift large amounts of sand. 
Sonia Cropper, the owner of the holiday cabins located near the entrance to Sussex Inlet contacted the Museum saying she could see the outline of the Mokau in the shallow entrance to the river.

Sonia was familiar with the story of the Mokau, and this was the first time she had seen any evidence of the wreck appear.

Since then I have dived the wreck a number of times and have put together this short video of the last days of the Mokau and some vision of what remains today of this once proud coastal steamer.







Here is the link to a video of the last voyage of the Mokau and what remains underwater of her today. CLICK HERE TO SEE THE VIDEO – best viewed full screen.

David Drake Ship Builder coincidentally died in 1922.


This was only the beginning of this fascinating story, continue reading.

https://youtu.be/f8mNqif3pQE?list=UU_R7tNHlYo50zihH3rVkuAQ

NOTE: best viewed in HD and ENLARGED to full screen.