Yesterday and Today

The old boat frame arriving at Lady Denman Park. John Hatton secured the frame from a boat builder in Batemans Bay. Originally housed under cover in the Settree Boat Shed it had to make way for the Crest Restoration project and today it stands in the open alongside the old boat shed. This old frame gives you an insight into the process that goes into making a boat.   Hopefully once the Crest if complete this old frame will again find some shelter from the elements..

Present day. The blackened area on the bow was caused by the 2001 Xmas Bushfires that ravaged the area…….The old frame was lucky to survive…

Aberation of Intellect

As reported in the South Australian Chronicle and Weekly Mail 14 Feb 1880.

838 gross tons, 615 net. Lbd: 251'4" x 28'3" x 16'6". Iron steamship, 3 masts Barque rigged, built by J & G Thomson of Govan, Glasgow for the ASN Co. Designed as a passenger vessel, carrying 194 in two classes on the Australian coastal run. Ref: http://www.flotilla-australia.com/hrsn.htm

Whaling Jervis Bay.

These small pieces of information are important insights into the movement of steamers into and out of Jervis Bay. They appear hidden away amongst long lists of shipping movements advertised in the old newspapers.

The plight of the mariner.

A typical Barque – a public domain image. 1875 the “good”  ship Indus. Setting sail and leaving the safety of the harbour for the open sea must have been quite an amazing experience.  The early sailors had to have trust in many things,  the captain they would hope had the experience and knowledge to get them to their destination,  they would have to have faith in their vessel to be able to handle extremes in weather that could push the limits of man and equipment. How bad a condition must a vessel be in to make sailors  refuse to go to sea. January 12th 1875. The Indus left Newcastle port laden with coal for Dunedin,  around Nobby’s Head she was becalmed and with no wind to drive her windmill the pumps failed to relieve her of the water now seeping through her hull, as a  consequence she returned to port for repairs. January 13th 1875. Four seamen off the Indus were sentenced by the courts to eight weeks jail with hard labour for refusing to go to sea , alledging she was unseaworthy. February 20th. News was received from Captain Mc’Coll that the “ Indus had gone down south of Jervis Bay,  all crew were saved”. In this case the opinion of the crew members that refused to go to sea appears to have been justified. As reported by the correspondent from the 1875 Newcastle Chronicle.

But the final word must go to the correspondent from the Morning Bulletin.

Back to the elements

I have been watching this old boat in amongst the mangroves on Currambene Creek for the last couple of years slowly being reclaimed and dissolved back into the natural elements from which it was made.

I took the photograph below a few weeks ago,  the basic structure had broken up,  there was not much left.

Today the remains have completely disappeared. The recent high tides have broken up what was left into small pieces and distributed them across the mud flats never to be seen again..

Ships Compas

This beautiful fluid compas is one of the may items in the museums collection. The presence of fluid acts to damp the horizontal circular oscillation of a compass card and allows the card to settle on north much faster than air-damped compasses.  Liquid-damped compasses traditionally have a floating compass dial that turns instead of a moving needle supported over a fixed card. A special compas oil is used these days, alcohol, e.g. Gin, was used by ancient mariners if nothing else was at hand,  purified kerosene has also been used.  The opinions on what is best, seem to be as varied as the oils and alcohols available. WARNING. As beautiful as these old compases are, some can be very dangerous, those manufactured between 1904 and the 1960s could contain the highly dangerous radioactive element Radium. The Radium was used in the paint to give it luminocity,  the fluid around the paint would also be radioactive after many years of contact with the Radium. These types of compases should only be opened by qualified persons. If  inhaled or entry into the body through a cut,  it would be wise to seek urgent medical help. Read More (http://www.trademarklondon.com/Compass-Fluid/index.html )

Samuel Elyard Painting.

A beautiful watercolour of the Cape St George Lighthouse by Samuel Elyard in 1871. We are very lucky the artist Samuel Elyard was drawn to the beauty of the lighthouse and the surrounding coast line.  He visited the lighthouse a number of times, painting and photographing the scenery, providing us with beautiful images that faithfully depict the area from his time.    Continue Reading to discover some of his other images that have been matched with photographs taken from the same vantage points today.

Continue reading.

East Coast Low - 1974

In a previous post we covered a devestating East Coast Low that formed off the coast in 1974 named the Sygna Storm” Named after the 53,000-tonne Norwegian bulk carrier Sygna that went aground near Newcastle.. During the 74 storm,  15 meter waves ravaged the coast causing widespread damage to shipping and coastal properties.  The semi protected waters of Jervis Bay didn't escape the onslaught of swell. Callala Beach had extensive damage and nearly lost houses, The beach along Elizabeth Drive had meters of sand scoured away and there were some very nervous property owners at the height of the storm During the last storm on the 6th of June 2016  HMAS Creswell suffered extensive damage to the break wall and infrastructure.    Two navy yachts were badly damaged, one being totally wrecked and is still at the time of writing laying on Soldiers Beach with a large hole and two concrete pontoons attached.  The other yacht was dragged back behind the wall but suffered a large hole in her side and other damage. During the 74 storm Creswell also suffered sever damage, the break wall was broken and the sea swept past the buildings carrying stones and boulders from the wall and surrounding reef. These two photographs were sent to us by local surfer and photographer Russ Quinn. He wrote the following words.    ”They were taken by my father John Quinn. His dad, Stan Quinn, was commander of Creswell from 1974 to 1975 , the family lived out there for years on the base”.

The first amazing shot shows the wall of water reaching higher than a telegraph post smashing on the reef that lays just in front of the wall. Richard Quinn … “The photograph was also taken looking down from the quarter deck aprox 50 ft above sea level, so it’s anyones guess how big the sea was”…

The photograph above show us the aftermath of the waves intrusion.  The photograph is very similar to the recent photographs of the June storm damage to the base sent to us by Paul Newman. See those photographs and post here.

Thank you Russ for sending us these incredible photographs.

Huskisson - brisk winter morning

A lone fisherman walks beside the breakwall hoping to catch his breakfast.  While a catamaran heads out of the creek and into the morning sunrise.

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Cape St George Light House

http://jervisbaymaritimemuseum.blogspot.com.au/

The vegetation that usually obscures your view of the ruins from where this photograph was taken was totally burnt out in 2006 as bush fires ravaged Booderie National Park, the charcoal rendered coastal heath yeilds a rare view of the ruins.

Click Here - Further reading about this once magnificent lighthouse and the controversy surrounding it’s location.

Whale Tail–Wreck Bay

Whale season is upon us and if you are lucky enough to be near our beautiful coast especially near wreck bay,  you are more than likely to have a close encounter or two.

Migrating whale “tail slapping” with Pidgeon House mountain in the background.

Old buildings of Huskisson.

Bessy Stewart tea room, Owen Street Huskisson – Later turned into the first chemist shop in Huskisson.

Museum Artifacts.

Here are just a few glimpses of some of the items in the museum’s collection that aren’t on display at the moment.

Head of a whale harpoon, launched from a harpoon gun.

Detail of the the firing mechanism of a hand held rifle used to launch small harpoons.

Tip of the bomb lance from the gun above.

Flight from the bomb lance above.

The gun is very heavy and I should imagine would produce quite a kick on firing.

The hand-held shoulder gun was invented by the American whaler Captain Eben Pierce around 1868. Used in whaling during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The projectile was a bomb lance or whaling bomb, which exploded when it hit the whale. Bomb lances were introduced with shoulder guns to solve the problem of getting close enough to a whale to lance it, particularly in ice fields, and eliminate the often hazardous hand lancing operation. The bomb is provided with a fuse which is set to fire automatically when it is discharged,  and burns for three seconds before exploding the bomb itself. This arrangement gives the bomb plenty of time to strike the whale and become embedded in the flesh before it explodes. The bombs are filled with a pound of powder, so the result of the explosion is likely to be fatal. REF: http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/167756867?q=bomb+lance&c=picture&versionId=182879775 Firing a bomb lance. The recoil from such a gun often resulted in the whaler being thrown into the water.

S.S. Koonya - seeking shelter in Jervis Bay.

The Koonya was a wood carvel screw steamer built in 1887 at Hobart. The vessel Koonya was placed into weekly trips between Sydney and Moruya. The vessel had a relatively uneventful life till her shaft broke off near Jervis Bay on the 10 June 1897. She was towed into the bay by the steamer Murray during the night. It took approximately a fortnight till the vessel returned to her regular journeys.

Public Domain Image.

Eventually her luck ran out.

The Koonya was wrecked on January 25th when it struck  Doboy reef off Cronulla Beach,  Port Hacking whilst carrying passengers & cargo between Moruya and Sydney. Officially the wreck has never been found,  but divers have recovered many small artifacts from the wreck strewen amongst the rocks.

Public Domain image.

Huskisson 1957

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This is from a series of photographs of Huskisson taken by B. Mendon in 1957.

Owen Street Huskisson. 1916

Originally thought to be the same house, we have had and interesting email from "Dee Boys" adding to our information... Dear Archivists, Maybe I can help with some of your houses.  The photos below are of two different houses on Bowen St. which I remember from childhood. The top house was at 41 or 43 Bowen Street and the property at the rear included fruit trees and lawns going down to the creek.  It belonged to my grandmother, Mrs Amelia Jennings (d 1929)  who m2 William George Dent (d 1939) of Huskisson. The photo was taken at time of sale in 1950s by my mother and had been unoccupied for some years. The purchaser built a motel on the site. My mother’s grandparents were all original settlers to Nowra and the Shoalhaven . Regards Dee Boys, Mrs USA

Jess Rossen House Owen Street Huskisson 1916.

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Jervis Bay

Early morning magic over the bay

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