Whale sinks boat in Jervis Bay - One man drowns. 1878

A tragic incident which illustrates the precarious nature of life on a whaling vessel.

The whaling barque Asia from Hobart Town was a regular visitor to the waters around Jervis Bay.  Asia had been at sea hunting whales for approximately 9 months before casting anchor in Jervis Bay in November 1878 to "try out" their most recently caught whale. The process involved the ships smaller boats fastening a whale to their gunnels before hauling the whale alongside the larger ship.  Once alongside the blubber would be stripped from the whale then drawn onboard by large hooks and rigging where the process of boiling down the blubber in large vats to render out the oil would take place. The remaining oil was poured into barrels, this process was called "trying."




Poor "Hyderabad."

First mate Thomas Graham and a small party of men were aboard one of the boats with a whale held fast to its side,  without warning,  another whale stove in their boat by biting it. The crew were consequently thrown into the water and submerged, one of them, named John Cannooard, known by the sobriquet "Hyderabad"  could not swim and was drowned immediately despite the efforts
of the first mate to save him.  In his attempt to save Cannooard, Graham almost drowned himself.  The remainder of the crew were rescued after being in the water for about half an hour.

Floundering in the water near a bleeding dead whale would have been a frightening ordeal. The possibility of being attacked by sharks attracted by the smell was very real. Once a whale was brought alongside a vessel, crews had to work quickly to strip the valuable blubber off the carcass before sharks could do to much damage.

No further information is has been found on this incident. It was quite common for sailors to be buried at sea, or taken to the nearest land for burial as ships didn't have the facility to store a body for any length of time.