The population of Jervis Bay reaches 1000 at peak times.

“The Shoalhaven News, Nowra (NSW : 1937)” 
I cut this interesting little snippet out of a larger story about Jervis Bay
and it’s expanded population over peak periods.

To read the whole story follow this link.

Flowering Wonderfully

The new exhibition of wonderfully detailed flower illustrations and pictures is on now.

Marchioness of Lorne.

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.

August 1893.
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

Lady Denman Markets and Antique Fair…

Botanic Art Exhibition opens this Saturday.

Amazingly detailed images by some of Australia’s most respected and prolific artists.
Opens 18th October

Wreck of the wooden Barque Juniper

It was after the Juniper wreck that the area became known as "Wreck Bay"

September 1st 1850
The Juniper 340 tons, under the command of Captain Stevenson was bound from Oporto to Sydney with a full cargo of wines in casks and cases.

August 27th – She rounded Cape Pillar and from that time till the 1st September had very thick weather and variable winds.September 1st 10pm – There was heavy squalls from the south east and east, and the ship labouring very much.
10.15pm breakers were reported ahead, the ship was put about, but before she could gather away she struck heavily abaft. The helm was then put up and the ship ran ashore to save lives and property.
As reported in the Daily Southern Cross 11th Oct 1850

The sea was running very high.Mr John S. account.This account of the last voyage of the Juniper is from a sailor on board at the time she was wrecked, know as
Mr John S. Since then he has resided near Kiama where he has a little farm.
They sighted land about midnight and immediately put the ship about but in half and hour afterwards she struck on the sand bank about three quarters of a miles to the northward of where the Walter Hood was wrecked.
The waves dashed over her with great force.
sometimes to the height of twenty feet and forced her gradually towards the the beach.
By 5am she had settled down in the sand to a depth of about fourteen feet. It being then daylight, one of the sailors, named James Hamilton swam ashore. Another seaman attempted to do the same with the long line and would have drowned but for the assistance of Hamilton, who at the risk of his own life, again dived into the waves and bought his shipmate ashore. Communications being thus established with the beach, they managed to not only save all those on board, but sub sequentially to land most of the cargo. This was done by having a hawser from the shore made fast to the vessel and sliding the goods along the hawser.
As reported in the Sydney Morning Herald  16th September 1870  - Trove

Much effort wasted.
Strange to say the the schooner on board of which the cargo thus saved was shipped for Sydney foundered off Black Head, a little to the south head of Kiama, The lives of her crew were saved, but all the cargo went to the bottom in her.

The remains of the Juniper can still be seen, and am told that some of her cargo is still in her, but it is so completely buried beneath the sand as to be beyond recovery.

The final resting place of the Juniper is in close proximity to the wrecks of the Hive and the Blackbird wrecked in 1835


Definitions:
Hawser - (Nautical Term) a large heavy rope -






Abaft - (Nautical Terms) closer to the stern than to another place on a vessel: with the wind abaft.




Usually a 3 masted vessel the fore and aft masts square rigged and the mizzen mast fore and aft rigged.

Brilliant Jervis Bay

Last week we had a magnificent moon, mixed the lights from Huskisson and Callala, add in a bit of wispy cloud and a long exposure you can get something like this.
Not sure what the bright light was emanating from the back of Callala was but it certainly lit up the sky.


















 

Without a witness

The waters surrounding Jervis Bay, and the Shoalhaven have been known as an area where “the most amount of caution needs to be observed”  by sailors since it was first explored, vessels and boats have come to grief in and around the waters of the south coast on many occasions.
Many leave port full of hope, filled with cargo and are never heard of again, crews are lost and relatives and authorities can never know their story.








The Cutter Brisbane.
One such story is about the 16 ton Cutter Brisbane in August 1832.
”Known as well adapted for the coasting trade”..
She left Nulladolla. (the early name for Ulladulla) for Sydney with a cargo that included cedar and cheese.
Selling products and produce like these were vital to the small coastal towns and ports, roads weren’t adequate for transporting large quantities' of goods, shipping the goods by sea was the most efficient way to get your goods to the markets and buyers.

Wreck found in Jervis Bay.
Captain Maraspin and her owner Kendall with her crew set off for Sydney and were never seen again.
The Wreck was later found in Jervis Bay by Aboriginals, but no trace of the crew was found, it was presumed the cutter over was lost after running into a severe storm.

Wreckage plundered.
Thomas Barker, on hearing of the tragedy, advised Thomas’s widow Jane to try to recover the missing papers from a Mr. Morris’s men, who had apparently plundered the wreck of the ship. The papers were never recovered.

Lucky escapes were also a part of the coastal trade.

It wasn’t the first time the cutter had been involved in an incident at sea.
”The Rev. Mr. Kendall and his boat’s crew had a miraculous escape, on Tuesday night, from a watery grave. They were sailing, with a stiff breeze, from Illawarra to Sydney; about 10 o’clock a sudden gust blew the boat completely over, and being eight miles from land, the unfortunate passengers gave themselves up for lost; the men contrived to get upon the keel, but Mr. K. was entangled in the boat, and could only just keep his head out of the water. After remaining in this perilous position for some time, inevitable death staring them in the face, the boat suddenly righted, and all hands were providentially saved.”
Extract from THE LIFE HISTORY OF MELINDA KENDALL THROUGH HER WRITINGS. by Peter Knox
http://peterknox.wordpress.com/thesis-in-progress/
There’s more to this story it’s a fascinating read.

Further evidence.
Investigations into history always finds contradictions and in this case the captain of the cutter in our initial research is named as “Captain Marispin”, but further research has provided other evidence by an ancestor claiming it was
“Captain James Florance on the ‘Brisbane’  wrecked near Jervis Bay, 1832”
Ref: http://www.roymorgan.com/~/media/Files/Papers/2009/20091206.pdf 

We will try and tell the story of these missing vessels as information becomes available and further research is carried out.
If you find a story/information and would like to contribute to this blog, please don’t hesitate to contact us
information is the key to knowledge.

Cutter definition.
The Cutter during the 18th and 19th centuries was a small, single-masted vessel, fore-and-aft rigged, with two or more headsails, a bowsprit, with a mast set further back than in a sloop.

Antique Fair wraps up.

The inaugural Lady Denman Antique Fair wound up on Monday night with a booked out dinner at Huskisson Community Hall where Gordon Brown was the special guest speaker.
The night was fantastic and Gordon had the guests entertained all evening.
It wrapped up a fantastic three days of exhibitions inside and outside the museum.
The Lady Denman would like to thank every one of our hard working happy volunteers for their tireless work before during and after the fair.
Without the help of every one of you this exhibition would not have been possible and you should be proud of your achievement..

Just one of the beautiful images that will be on display.

New Exhibition

It has been a busy year for exhibitions and it hasn’t finished yet, starting on the 18th of October the museum will be hosting a new exhibition of Floral Artwork. There will be some truly beautiful works on display, full of colour and life. The exhibition traces the botanic pursuits and passions of a group of 19th century women. Their documentation and illustrations of Australian flora, significantly contributed to a national appreciation of native plants and botanical art. The exhibition will feature illustrations from The Royal Botanic Gardens, Janet Cosh Herbarium, National Library of Australia and the State Library of NSW.

Antique Fair

Saturday saw the opening of the Antique Fair at the Museum.
And to add to Sheryl's (the organisers) workload the monthly markets were on as well.
One shouldn’t have feared, Sheryl and Ken and the intrepid hard workers from the Denman volunteers all sprung into action and the day went off fantastically.
The museum was a buzz with people, and the response from everyone I talked to was fantastic.
Here are a few photo’s from Saturday morning….I will try and get some more from Sunday and Monday
so check back soon.

Exhibitors getting ready for the doors to open.

Beautiful weather and the markets were busy early.

People starting to wonder into the museum and families enjoying the grounds.

Despite there not being a sinking ship the band kept playing.

Lyn and Josephine manning the stands. John recording the action. One side Jazz the other side rock and blues the “Lady” was rocking in her cradle…

Hey girls those scones look yummy.

Mokau – An Irish connection.

The story of the Mokau keeps making connections. I received a letter from Patricia Corrigan about her connection to the Mokau… Continue reading.

From Patricia Corrigan in Ireland.

Dear Lad, I stumbled upon your article this evening. I also believe I'm a descendant of B.M Corrigan. I am from the farm in kiltobranks Co roscommon in Ireland where I believe Bart is originally from. I think he is my great great grand uncle. Our family have always been farmers and have no connection to the sea so it is interesting to read a little about his life. I saw your message from Sue Rogers and would interested in hearing more about her book. Thanks, Patricia.

SEARCH BAR
Just in case you didn’t know by typing in a name of anything you find on this blog in the search bar on the right, it will bring up all the information relating to that name on one page…

Jervis Bay glows green - 1992

Julie Keogh sent us these amazing images of the bay from ground level showing just how bizarre the bay looked . Julie says it occurred in December 1992 which contradicts the CSIRO information attached to the previous picture. Thanks for your great pictures Julie.

Comment from Julie. Hi Rob, I have these photos of the water off Huskisson Beach when it was previously a milky green colour in December 1992.  We were holidaying in our on-site van in Huskisson White Sands Caravan Park. Julie Keogh

Well it’s finally here.

The biggest! and the Best Antique Fair to come to Huskisson ever..
It’s on this long weekend….the 4th –5th and 6th of October.
Saturday kicks off with the monthly markets as well as the fair.
There will be vintage trains, cars, boats, and all manner of fantastic things on display.
Gordon Brown will be there to appraise your old wears and give you some advice..
follow the link for more details.
Better still come along and see for yourself.
http://ldantiquefair.com.au/index.html