Do Not Read This Title

I have random things saved on the phone too :)


Wreck of the Rainbow Warrier

Gallery from which that came

You might recall my bit from last year on the wreck of the George III.

Tonight, I came across this song in Farewell to Old England, by Hugh Anderson, 1964, a collection of broadsides with accompanying background material. I haven't seen it elsewhere and a web search didn't turn anything up. The only reference given for it is: 4to. N.P. N.D. [c. 1835] Copies: University of Cambridge Library (quarto, no place, no date). Helpful, indeed.

Melancholy News of the Convict Ship
George the Third

Farewell, dear friends and comrades all,
On England's fertile soil,
No more I'll view your cheering smiles,
In slavery's hardest toil.
Farewell, my mother, dearest friend,
For ever fare you well,
May you enjoy all happiness
While on earth you dwell.

If they advice I had listen'd to,
I ne'er would have gone astray,
To work in chains in a foreign land,
'Neath the sun's burning rays.
A dreadful wreck we did sustain,
Near Derwent river's mouth;
On a reef of rock we did there strike--
The wind being then due south.

The dreadful sufferings to relate
Would take a scholar's skill,
To see us in the hold secured--
The water rushing in;
A guard was round the hatchway plac'd,
To shoot us if he mov'd,
When death was making rapid strides,
'Mong some of those we lov'd.

One hundred and thirty-four were lost--
Oh! Dreadful was the woe,
To see them clinging to the wreck,
Which caused and their children young,
Clasp'd in love's embrace,
When sinking underneath the waves,
Ne'er more to see each face.

O, mother, to see us struggling with
Th' impetuous bursting surge,
Would caus'd your tender heart to break,
When some were overboard,
Crying, "Oh, Lord! forgive my sins,
For many have they been";
Then clasp'd their hands--sunk in rest,
And never more seen.

Another tale of a wrecked ship, also on King Island.

In 1835, the Neva, bound for Sydney from Cork, hit a reef off King Island. There were 241 people on board, including 150 female prisoners with 33 children, 9 free women with 22 children, and 26 officers and crew.

From "Wrecks in Tasmanian Water" by Harry O'May:

"At 4 pm on 14 May, when Captain Peck considered she was well clear of King Island, the dreaded cry rang out, "Breakers Ahead!". She was bowling along with a good breeze and though the helm was put hard down, it could not save her. The boats were lowered but all capsized and were swept away. The sea took charge and she quickly broke up."

Of the twenty two who survived the wreck and reached shore, seven died before they could be rescued.

That's about as much detail as most accounts of the wreck provide. Although there is often a story added of the some of the women breaking into the storeroom where the grog was kept. If you're going to die, might as well have a good time first?

Villiers, in 'Vanished Fleets' gives a longer version:

"Then the helpless ship was at the mercy of the sea; she was altogether unmanageable and was driven hard up on the rocks. She swung round and heeled heavily over, while the seas which had seemed so gentle while she ran before them, swept over her and broke all round. The mast began to go, and it was evident that the shop would go to pieces quickly. The boats were lowered, but each of them in turn capsized, and every one in them was speedily drowned. In a few moments more the ship broke into four pieces -- an indication of her sea-worthiness; or lack of it -- and, with the exception of twenty two people who clung to fragments of wreckage, every one on board was drowned. The women had been asleep in their prison in the hold when the ship struck, and so little time passed between the striking and her falling to pieces that they were still barricaded behind their bars when they went to their doom.

"The few who survived the tragedy said that they could never forget the horror of those moments, the terrible screams of the helpless women mingled with the crash, and grind of broken timbers, and pervading all, the appalling roar of the thundering breakers. Of the twenty-two who reached the shore, two went mad with sheer horror of the calamity and wandering into the bush, died there. Five others died from exposure, leaving only fifteen survivors from the whole 240. Of these six were prisoners and nine were crew; no child lived. The prisoners who survived came out of their prison when the ship fell to pieces and floated ashore on hatches, broken beans and the like."

The best account I've seen in on King Island Online site

The wreck of the Neva was just a month after the wreck of the George II, on April 10, also a convict transport. On that, there is a lot written so it might be a while before I get around to posting about it.