On the 20th November 1952 SEC linesmen Stewart Aicken, Donald Odames and Desmond Veraker were working on the corner of Gisborne Road and Masons Lane in Bacchus Marsh. Veraker was in the air in a harness working on power lines when he was electrocuted. Aicken and Odames were on the ground and attempted to rescue him and revive him. Sadly Vereker died from his injuries. Aicken and Odames were later given bravery awards by the Royal Humane Society of Australasia for their actions.Royal Humane Society of Australasia certificate presented to Stewart Aicken to recognise the bravery of his actions on the 20th November 1952 in attempting to rescue fellow linesman Desmond Vereker from electrocution. It was awarded to him to accompany a bronze medal also awarded to Aicken for this act of bravery. The certificate and bronze medal are housed in a frame. Underneath the bronze medal is a black and white photograph of Aicken receiving the award from the Governor of Victoria Sir Dallas Brooks in 1953. Also in the photograph is an unidentified man and woman. The unidentified man is probably Donald Odames who was with Aicken on the 20th November 1952 and was also recognised for his bravery by the Royal Humane Society of Australasia.awards, accidents

The Royal Humane Society of Australasia (RHSA), formerly the Victorian Humane Society, is an Australian charity dedicated to the recognition of those who risk their own lives in saving or attempting to save the lives of others. It also provides assistance to persons injured as a result of their bravery, or to their next of kin if they perished in the attempt. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Humane_Society_of_Australasia) Further information may be found at website below. https://www.rhsa.org.au/about-us.html THE BENDIGO ADVERTISER (PUBLISHED DAILY.) PROGRESSION, OUR RIGHTS, AND OUR RESOURCES. SANDHURST, THURSDAY, DEO. 16, 1886 Article - Bendigo Advertiser (Vic. : 1855 - 1918)Thursday 16 December 1886 - Page 2Original Certificate from The Royal Humane Society of Australasia awarded to James Marshall. Dated 23rd February 1887. Printed in black ink on cream coloured parchment paper. Script surrounded by a black border with decorative emblems on each corner. The Certificate was stored in a brown leather roll lined with white paper with a gold geometric pattern. Printed in gold lettering " THE ROYAL HUMANE SOCIETY OF AUSTRALASIA"It was Resolved "" That the Courage and Humanity displayed by James Marshall aged 42 years, Miner in going down a ladder at Pearl Co's Mine, Sandhurst, pulling a lighted fuse from a blast just about to explode and rescuing James Gilbert his fellow miner from an instant death on 6th Dec. 1886, Call for the admiration of this Court and justly entitles him to the Gold Medal of this Society which is hereby awarded".bendigo, mining, james marshall rescue, mining accident, rescue, james gilbert

Item used to show awards gained by the 38th Battalion AIF.Croix de Guerre, French medal awarded for bravery.“1914 - 1918 Republique Francaise”numismatics- medals - military, passchendaele barracks trust

Associated with WW1 campaign medals and bravery awards. Items from the Joseph Nott collection WW1 soldier. Joseph Nott was a Military Cross recipient. WW1 colored ribbons associated with campaign medals and bravery awards. The Joseph Nott collection (Chiltern and Rutherglen resident). Medal and Award ribbons associated with WW1 : 1 x bright green with thin red striping (French 1914-1918 Croix de Guerre), 1 x red, cream, white and blue stripes (the 1914 Star), 1 x red and white flag shape cloth patch (2 ANZAC Corps)), and 1 x cream, purple and cream striped ribbon (The Military Cross). The thin ribbon strand consists of cream, crimson and royal blue colored ribbons (Empire colors and the 1914 Star colors). 2 anzac corps colours (light horse unit), joseph nott colleciton ww1 soldier rutherglen and chiltern resident., military cross, croix de guerre and 1914 star ribbons ww1, ww1 medals and awards ribbons

Framed memorabilia of "WORLD WAR ONE /THE ANZAC LEGEND". Frame: Moulded timber frame, dark brown, coloured with gold painted inner edge. Glass front. Mount: dark green cardboard with gold inner individual mounts. Memorabilia: top - a colourised black and white photograph depicting a large group of soldiers on a pyramid. Middle: Collection of black & white photographs of various ANZAC locations. Lower section: Service and Bravery Award medals with two Rising Sun badges.Gold coloured information label within the mount with the heading "WORLD WAR ONE"AND "THE ANZAC LEGEND" with black printed information on back of frame - handwritten, blue felt tip pen "DONATED TO BGO RSL/ BILL YATES" .framed memorabilia, ww1, anzac

Joseph Davies collection, bravery award medal awarded to Joseph Davies for an act of bravery in rescuing a fellow miner from a shaft of the Goldfields Consolidated mine Bendigo after an explosion on July 16th 1909. Circular medal with a blue and gold ribbon & pin clasp, showing 2 miners on one side and the word Courage, bust of Edward VII on other side, name Joseph Davies etched on rim. Encased in a red leather box with satin & velvet lining.trophies & awards, public events, bravery

1. Jim;s uniform and colour patch with an "A" on it indicates he served on Gallipoli, he appears to be wearing a bravery ribbon - possibly a Military Medal. Part of the Meade Collection, See Catalogue No. 10785P for details of service for Ernest James Meade (No 2112). Note - All four photographs contain reference to an unidentified soldier called 'Jim'. 1. Black and white studio portrait of an Australian WW1 soldier in uniform. Soldier's colour patch as an “A” on it. He also appears to be wearing a bravery award ribbon. Reverse is postcard format. 2. Black and white studio portrait of an Australian WW1 soldier in uniform. Reverse is postcard format. 3. Black and white studio photograph of an Australian WW1 soldier standing in uniform. Postcard format on reverse. 4. Black and white studio photograph of two Australian WW1 soldiers in uniform. One standing, one sitting. Both holding swagger sticks. Studio backdrop behind both. Postcard format on back.1. Handwritten on reverse in pencil: "From your ever sincere Pal Jim, 22 Quota, 4.5.19". 2. Handwritten on front in blue ink: "To Ern from Jim". 3. Handwritten on front in blue ink: " Yours Sincerely, Jim" Handwritten on back in blue ink: “From your old & true pal, Jim” 4. Handwritten in black ink on front, “Two of the Boys, Billie and Jim”.meade collection, photograph, ww1., ernest james meade

.1) White Hills - Sixty Four Local Heroes Hard, cardboard cover, glossy finish, black print on front, spine, illustrated black / white photo of Arch of Triumph, White Hills. Colour photos, portraits, medals & scenes. No page numbers. .2) Borough Bravery Eaglehawk - Possibly Australia's most decorated municipality in the Great War. Soft cardboard cover, black print on front & spine. Illustrated colour / sepia photo of map superimposed with numerous portraits of soldiers back & front. Cut, plain, glossy white pages. Illustrated black / white / colour phots of portraits, medals & scenes. No page numbers. .3) Bendigo's Bravest Recipients of Bravery Awards in the Great War. Hard cardboard cover, glossy finish. Block print on front & spine. Illustrated black / white sepia photo of a map superimposed with numerous portraits front & back. Cut, plain, glossy white pages. Illustrated black / white / colour phots of portraits & medals. No page numbers. All are slightly different in size.books, bendigo, white hills, eaglehawk, bravery, bravest

Story of the highest military award for bravery, with stories of 16 Australian soldiers and citations of all 119 ANZAC Victorian Cross recipients.Booklet, 40p, col. cover, black and white and brown print, photographsvictoria cross, albert jacka

1. King Albert Medal was instituted 1962 to Commemorate King Albert's service as Army Head 1914-18. It was for all who served in Armed Forces from Dec 1909 to Feb 1934. 2. Belgium Bravery Medal awarded to Belgium Armed Forces, Non-coms and other ranks for either Long Service Acts or Acts of Bravery or Distinguished Service. Slight variations to ribbon to distinguish between Bravery and Long Service.Two medals with ribbons, unmounted. 1. Commemorative medal for reign of King Albert. 2. Belgium bravery medal King Albert version with pins.1. No name but inscribed "ALBERT REX" & "1909-1934". 2. No name.ron mills collection, medal, belgium

Is a newsletter to friends and family of members of the 57/60th Battalion with the focus on raising funds for the welfare of troops while overseas. Part of the collection of V245464 "Pte David W Davies" Cat No. 9955.Cream colour folded over two page newsletter with black writing on front and two inside pages. Lists awards for bravery on front with a message from Commanding Officer. The letter is aimed at members of the Battalion and the friends and family at home. It is focused on raising funds for welfare of troops while overseas.david william ralph davies, welfare association, 57/60 battalion

Pictorial book contains the names of Victorians K.I.A 1914 - 1916 and those who enlisted during the same period. Also stories and a list of bravery awards. Each book has a place for a photo inside The MULLER Brothers. Two of the three boys photos are in the book, Albert & Edgar. They All came from Nhill Victoria. Albert Herbert Muller No 448 enlisted in the 4th L.H.Regt C Sqd on 19.8.1914 age 21 years 7 months. Embarked for Egypt 19.10.14 and then to Gallipoli on 20.5.15, KIA by a sniper on 1.8.1915 at Gaba Tepe Gallipoli. Buried Shell Green Gully 2.8.1915. John Herman Muller No 1102 enlisted in 8th reinforcements 8th L.H Regt on 2.7.15 age 22 years, embarked for Gallipoli 20.8.1915, hospital with Mumps 25.10.15, return to unit 17.11.1915, embark for Alexandria 25.12.1915, hospital 16.9.1916 with Tonsilitis, WIA 19.4.1917 GSW to chest, left leg & arm, hospital 28.11.1917 with Diarrheoa, hospital 1.9.1918 (unclear), promoted T/Sgt 13.3.1919, discharged from the AIF 9.12.1919. Edgar Percy Muller No 3227 enlisted in 26th reinforcements 8th L.H.Regt on 9.11.1916 age 18 years 7 months. Attended Signal School 10.11.1916 to 14.2.1917, embarked for Egypt 20.2.1917, hospital 26.6.1917 with Debility, return to unit, WIA 1.12.1917 GSW to Chest, return to unit 9.1.1918, hospital 4.6.1918 with Malaria, return to unit 31.7.1918, hospital again 9.8.1918 (appears to be Malaria severe), return to unit 29.10.1918, discharged from the AIF 20.10.1919.Memorial Book Australia's Roll of Honour 1914 - 1916. History, Heroes and Helpers. Includes illustrations, photos, drawings, maps, portraits, personal records. Includes fold out pictures inside front cover. Photo and details of A. H. MULLER pasted onto first page. Gilt edged pages. Leather bound cover.books - military - reference, memorials

A Royal Humane Society of Australasia silver medal for bravery was awarded to Mrs Isadore Susannah Smith who, although blind, went to the aid of her husband, Arthur who was also blind, when he fell against a gas fire on July 2nd, 1967. Mrs Smith suffered second degree burns to her hands and wrists when she removed his burning pieces of clothing. On the front shows a woman in Ancient Greek clothing standing at left placing wreath on head of young man kneeling at right below Southern Cross; around edge is ' Virtute Paratum' and on the back is at centre within olive wreath 'Awarded to Isadore Smith 2.7.67'around edge is , Royal humane society of Australasia Instd. A.D. 1874. 1 silver coloured medallion and ribbon bar with ivory, brown and yellow striped ribbon. Women in ancient Greek clothing with 'Virtute Paratum' on front. Back is inscribed with 'Isadore Smith 2.6.67' inside a wreath.medals, isadore smith

1. Indo-China Medal for those fighting Japanese 1945 and Viet Rebels Post WW2 (Vietnam). 2. French Military Medal established 1851 by Napoleon III. Award to Servicemen or Officer's commanding men in combat, awarded for Bravery Under Fire. Officers can only receive it if they had previously been an enlisted man.Two medals with ribbons - unmounted. 1. French Indo-China Far East Colony Medal and Clasp. 2. French WW1 Military Medal for Bravery.1. No name - Clasp marked "Extreme Orient". 2. Inscribed "Valour Et Discipline" - no name.ron mills collection, medals, french

A relaxed group of soldiers at Lone Pine, Gallipoli Peninsula in August 1915. Lone Pine, so named after a single Turkish pine on the battlefield was part of a diversionary attack to draw Turkish troops away from the main assaults elsewhere. The four day long battle, was ultimately won by the Australians but at a fearful cost that saw seven Australians awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest award for bravery. lone pine, gallipoli, 1915, soldiers, trench, australia, a.i.f, war, ww1, world war 1

1. Elizabeth II Army L.S.G.C. Medal - Army medal for Good Conduct and Long Service. 2. Wurttenburg Medal was awarded for bravery in WWI. The country is now part of Germany. 3. Photo of F.K. Ostermayer, presumably the recipient of the medal. 4. Khedives Star 1884 - Campaign medal established by Khedive Pasha to Award those in military campaign in Egypt and Sudan from 1882-91. 5. UN Korean Service medal - International Decoration awarded to all who served under U.N. Command in Korean War from June 1950 to July 1954.Four medals with ribbon - unmounted. 1. British Elizabeth II Army L.S.G.C. Medal with clasp. 2. Kingdom of Wurttenburg War Merit Medal. 3. Photo of F.K. Ostermayer (in with above medal 2.) 4. Victorian Medal - Khedives Star Egypt 1884-86. No ribbon. 5. Korean Service Medal - UN issue.1. Named to: "22256025 S.SGT A.G. Nicoll, RAOC". 2. Inscription in German. Name on rim but indecipherable. 3. Photo named "F. K. Ostermayer - Munchen". 4. No name. 5. Inscribed in Korean.ron mills collection, medals, photo

This frame contains two as yet unidentified soldiers from two of Australia’s earliest overseas conflicts. The WW1 soldier has the rank of Captain and the Boer War soldier has the three stripes of Sergeant. It is possible that he belongs to the Coronation Contingent of Edward V11 in 1902.These soldiers were selected form all over Australia with 42 coming from Victoria. The Australian War Memorial cites a number of approximately 16000 soldiers who fought in the Boer War from 1899-1902. Of that number 282 died in action or as a result of wounds while around 320 died as a result of disease and accidents. Six received the Victoria Cross as well as other awards for bravery. The First World War had more drastic consequences for Australia. From a population of less than 5 million, 416809 men enlisted of whom over 60,000 were killed with 156000 wounded gassed or taken prisoner. Australian fought from 1914-1918 from Egypt, Turkey, and the Western Front in Europe. These photographs are representative of many photos which are kept in remembrance of Australian soldiers who fought in wars particularly the two world wars. The Boer war photo is a rarer one.This bi- fold photo frame is rectangular in shape with a rounded section at each top. It is leather in composition and has the Rising Sun insignia in each arch which appears to be metal. There are glass covering two photographs one of a Boer War soldier and the other of WW1. It is hinged in the middle with a double layer of leather which is broken .The Boer war photograph has a coloured flag and medal ribbons. The two Rising Sun badges have Australian Commonwealth Military Forces. The frame itself has J C Vickery Regent St W stamped on the back in gold with a crown above it. The photograph of the WW1 soldier has Hana Studio Ltd 22**** which although unreadable has been matched with another photograph to read,” 22 Bedford St Strand London. The photograph of the Boer War soldier has no studio identity. warrnambool history, unknown soldiers of warrnambool, boer war soldier, world war 1 soldier

Herbert Trangmar Allan, refer Cat No 2755.4 for his extensive service records and awards.Pink, hard cover photo album used as a holder to display letters. .1) Letter from C in C Gen HQ Melbourne, 17.4.1942. From Gen BLAMEY to Major H T ALLAN 2/17 AIF. .2) MID Certificate dated 30.12.1941. Major H T ALLAN M C. .3) Letter dated 24.12.1944 from HQ 1Aust Corps to 'Blue' from 'Morshead'. .4) Letter dated 18.4.1946 from OIC NSW Echelon & Records to Mrs G M ALLAN, Bellevue, NSW, notifying her of Award of Mention in Despatches. It refers to NX12229 Lt Col Herbert Trangmar ALLAN HQ 5 Base Sub Area. .5) Letter dated 14.4.1945 from OIC NSW Echelon & Records to Mrs G M ALLAN notifying her of Award of Mention in Despatches. It refers to NX12229 Major T/Col Herbert Trangmar ALLAN, Finschhafen Base Sub Area. .6) Newspaper cutting titled Many NSW Men Receive Bravery Awards. Up to 31.3.1944. Marked down near bottom of the cutting is MID for T/LT Colonel H T ALLAN OBE MC ED. .7) Memo dated 11.1944 from 5 Aust Base Sub Area. Cover note for Record of Service for NX12229 Lt/Col H T ALLAN 5 Aust Base Sub Area. .8) Letter dated 2.8.1942 from NSW L of C Area Sydney to Mrs G M ALLAN Bellevue, NSW, notifying her of MID for Maj H T ALLAN MC NX12229 for his services 2.1941 - 7.1941. Signed by Lt Col H J Bennett. .9) Letter dated 14.4.1945 from OIC NSW Echelon & Records, Sydney to NX12229 Lt Col H T ALLAN HQ 5 Aust Base Sub Area. Aust Honours & Awards. MID. .10) Letter 7.12.1950 from HQ Eastern Command Vic Barracks Paddington to Col H T ALLAN OBE MC ED R of O. Watsons Bay re Change of address to 2MD. .11) Memo dated 28.12.1944 from HQ 1st Army AIF to 5 Aust Base Sub Area re Confirmation of Promotion of NX12229 Major H T ALLAN to Lt Colonel. .12) MID Certificate dated 15.3.1945 for Maj CT / LT Col H T ALLAN OBE MC ED Finschhafen Base Sub Area. .13) MID Certificate dated 19.7.1945 for Major CT / LT Col H T ALLAN OBE MC ED, Finschhafen Base Sub Area. .14) MID Certificate dated 21.2.1946 for LT Col H T ALLAN OBE MC ED, HQ 5 Aust Base Sub Area. .15) Letter. Letterhead is of Parliament of the Commonwealth Federal Members Rooms, Sydney, dated 1.12.1941. To: Dear Mr Allan. From: W M Hughes. Handwritten on 3 sheets of paper using 4 sides. Subject matters such as fighting, AIF, loss of HMAS Sydney, the Russian front. .16) Letter & envelope. Letter: Dated 18.4.? Letterhead: Guards Club Brook St W1. To: Dear ALLAN From: BIRDWOOD of ANZAC. Subject: Their friendship - then they have to deal with 'loathsome Japs & Germans'. Envelope. OHMS, 2-1/2 penny stamp. To: Major H T ALLAN MC & OBE AMF. C/o Defence Dept Melb, Australia. On the bottom is signature of BIRDWOOD M. Readdressed to C/o 9th Div HQ Abroad. Envelope rear is franked: PO 3D JE 42. .17) Memo dated 18.6.1946. From: HQ 8MB. To: H/Col H T ALLAN ANG PcB Rabaul. Releaes of NX12229 Lt Col (T/Col) H T ALLAN OBE MC. Posted to Retired list 7.5.1946. .18) Memo dated 6.11.1946. From: OIC, 2nn Echelon AHQ. AMF. To: Lt Col H T ALLAN OBE MC ED. C/- Mrs G M ALLAN, Queens Club, King St. Sydney NSW. .19) Letter dated 8.8.1941. Letterhead of Minister for the Navy. To: Dear Major ALLAN. From: W HUGHES. Subject: All facets of WWII to date & prospective war with Japan. .20) Memo dated 31.8.1945. From: AMF OIC NSW Echelon & Records. To: Mrs E M ALLAN, King St Sydney. Re: MID for NX12229 Maj (T / LT Col) Herbert Trangmar ALLAN OBE MC ED Finschhafen Base Sub Area.letters, albums, certificates, awards

This photograph was one of ten photographs donated to Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village by Fred Trewartha. Frederick John Fox Trewartha (Fred) was a well-known Warrnambool businessman. He was born in Beeac near Geelong in 1920 and came to Warrnambool with his family as a very young child. He was apprenticed to his father John, as a saddler and later opened his own shop on Raglan Parade. He then moved into working with tarpaulins and canvases for the trucking industry. Fred was keenly interested in photography (and was a member of the Warrnambool Cine Club), yachting and boat building. He kept his yacht moored at Port Fairy for many years and participated in sailing events locally and interstate. He also built boats with his sons. He had the opportunity to meet many older sailors and it's thought this photo (and others in the set) may have been given to him by one of these men. Fred Trewartha died in 2016 in Warrnambool. Shipping was the cheapest and most practical means of carrying produce and goods during the period 1840-1890. Regular domestic steamer services commenced in the Warrnambool district in the late 1850’s and by 1870 the passenger trade was booming. Four coastal traders made regular stops at Warrnambool in the 1880's - S. S. Julia Percy, S. S. Dawn, S. S. Nelson and S. S. Casino. The S.S. Julia Percy (later named Leeuwin) was an iron passenger-cargo steam ship built in 1876. At one point in time the Julia Percy would sail from Warrnambool to Melbourne every Friday and return from Melbourne to Warrnambool every Tuesday. The cost of a return ticket for a Saloon Fare was £1.0.0. The Julia Percy was built in Glasgow by Thomas Wingate & Company, Whiteinch, in 1876 for the Warrnambool Steam Packet Company, which commissioned it for trade in Victoria’s western district. It was first registered in Warrnambool, Victoria in 1876. Two steamships, the Julia Percy and the Nelson, collided on 25th December 1881. The Julia Percy was at that time owned by its first owners, the Warrnambool Steam Packet Company, and she sailed under the command of Captain Chapman. It had left Melbourne the evening of 24th December, with about 150 passengers, sailing in fine weather through Port Phillip Heads around 9pm. It was headed for Warrnambool, Belfast (now named Port Fairy) and Portland. The Julia Percy was off Apollo Bay when Captain Chapman was woken by the ship’s whistle after midnight, the steamer Nelson being on a collision course with the Julia Percy. The Nelson struck Julia Percy midship. Boats were lowered from the ship (apart from a damaged lifeboat) and about 30-40 of the passengers boarded the Nelson. The engine room and the forehold were checked and found clear of water. The company manager, Mr. Evans, had been on the Nelson, so he boarded and inspected the Julia Percy and the decision was made to continue on to Warrnambool with the passengers as there appeared to be no immediate danger. However, Captain Thomas Smith said the Nelson was taking on water, so Julia Percy followed it for about an hour towards Melbourne on standby in case of need. Then Julia Percy turned around towards Warrnambool again. Shortly afterwards the Nelson turned to follow her, the ships stopped and passengers were returned to Julia Percy, and three from Julia Percy boarded the Nelson. Both ships proceeded on their way. Julia Percy passed Cape Otway light afterwards, signaling that there had been a collision. It was discovered later that one of the passengers was missing, then thought to have boarded the Nelson but later thought to have fallen into the sea and drowned while trying to jump from Julia Percy to Nelson. There had been 3 tickets purchased under the same name of that passenger “Cutler”; a father, son and friend named Wordsworth, which had caused quite some confusion. No further mishap occurred to either ship and both the Julia Percy and the Nelson reached their destinations safely. An enquiry was instigated by the Victoria Steam Navigation Board regarding the cause of the accident between the two steamships, in connection with the death of Cutler who was supposed to have lost his life by the collision. The enquiry resulted in Captain Thomas Smith having his master's certificate suspended for six months. The Julia Percy changed hands several times. Its next owner was the Western Steam Navigation Co (1887), managed by Mr. T.H. Osborne (the company’s office was on the corner of Timor and Liebig Streets - its north-western wall is now part of the current Warrnambool Regional Art Gallery.) The Melbourne Steamship Co became the next owners (1890), followed by William Howard Smith and Sons (1901) for use in Queensland coastal trades and then it was bought by George Turnbull in 1903 and used for local mail contract in Western Australia. The Julia Percy was sold to the Melbourne Steamship Company Ltd. (1906) and re-named the “Leeuwin” but continued in her Western Australian coastal run. It was converted into a coal hulk in Melbourne in 1910 as a result of damaged caused when it was driven against the jetty at Dongara during a gale. The ship was eventually dismantled and scuttled off Port Phillip Heads on 28 December 1934. The steamship "Dawn" was a 522-ton coastal trader built in 1876 and the vessel operated around the Victorian west coast from 1877 until 1898 for the Portland & Belfast Steam Navigation Co. sailing between Melbourne and Portland, via Warrnambool. The vessel was then owned in October 1885 by the renamed company, Belfast & Koroit Steam Navigation Co., until March 1896 when its ownership moved to W Howard Smith & Sons Ltd. This Melbourne company used the ship to service most ports around Australia. Captain F. Chapman took over from Captain Jones and served on the SS Dawn from 1898 until 1900 when he took command of the SS Casino. On September 4th 1880, the three masted clipper ship, "Eric the Red" struck Otway Reef, near Cape Otway. The S. S. Dawn, under the command of Captain Jones, was returning to Warrnambool from Melbourne, its sailing time different to its usual schedule. The provedore of the Dawn, Benjamin Lear, heard cries of distress coming through the portholes of the saloon. He gave the alarm and the engines were stopped. Cries could be heard clearly, coming from the land. Captain Jones sent out crew in two boats, and fired off rockets and blue lights to illuminate the area. They picked up the three survivors who were in the long boat from "Eric the Red". Two men were picked up out of the water, one being the owner’s son who was clinging to floating kerosene boxes. At daylight the Dawn then rescued the 18 men from the floating portion of the deckhouse, which had drifted about 4 miles from where they’d struck the reef. Shortly after the rescue the deckhouse drifted onto breakers and was thrown onto rocks at Point Franklin, about 2 miles east of Cape Otway. Captain Jones had signalled to Cape Otway lighthouse the number of the Eric the Red and later signalled that there was a wreck at Otway Reef but there was no response from the lighthouse. The captain and crew of the Dawn spent several more hours searching unsuccessfully for more survivors, even going back as far as Apollo Bay. On board the Dawn the exhausted men received care and attention to their needs and wants, including much needed clothing. Four men (three crew and one passenger) died. A week after the shipwreck, the Australian Government had also conveyed its thanks to the Captain and crew of the S.S. Dawn - “Captain Griffith Jones, S.S. Dawn, The Hon. Mr Clark desires that the thanks of the Government should be conveyed to you for the prompt, persevering and seamanlike qualities displayed by you, your officers and crew in saving the number of lives you did on the occasion referred to. The Hon. The Commissioner has also been pleased to award you a souvenir in commemoration of the occasion, and a sum of 65 pounds to be awarded to your officers and crew according to annexed scale. I am, &c, W Collins Rees, for and in the absence of the Chief Harbour Master.” The Awards are as follows: - Crew of DAWN'S lifeboat-Chief Officer, Mr G. Peat, 15 pounds; boat's crew-G. Sterge, A.B., 5 pounds; T. Hammond, A.B., 5 pounds; J. Black, A.B., 5 pounds; H. Edwards, A.B., 5 pounds. Dinghy's Crew-Second Officer, Mr Christie, 10 pounds; boat's crew -F. Lafer, A.B., 5 pounds; W. Johnstone, A.B., 5 pounds; Mr Lear, provedore, 5 pounds; Mr Dove, purser, 5 pounds. Captain Jones receives a piece of plate. (from “Wreck of the ship Eric the Red” by Jack Loney). Medals of Bravery were awarded to the Captain and crew of the S.S. Dawn by the President of the United States, through the Consul-general (Mr Oliver M. Spencer), in July 1881 “ … in recognition of their humane efforts in rescuing the 23 survivors of the American built wooden sailing ship, the Eric the Red, on 4th September 1880.” The men were also presented with substantial monetary rewards and gifts. The city of Warrnambool’s care of the survivors was also mentioned by the President at the presentation, saying that “the city hosted and supported the crew ‘most graciously’. The Medal of Bravery awarded to Nelson Johnson is in the collection at Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village in Warrnambool. Prior to 1882, and the arrival of the S. S. Casino, the "Dawn" was the only steamer to be able to navigate up the Moyne River at Port Fairy and unload at the wharf. The other regular steamers had to anchor in the bay instead. In February 1891 (as reported in The Age newspaper) the "Dawn" became the first vessel to berth alongside the newly completed Warrnambool Breakwater. The occasion was celebrated with a number of prominent townspeople assembling on board to "participate of a glass of wine". In 1895 the owners of the S.S. Dawn, the Portland and Belfast Steam Navigation Co., wound up and sold out to the Belfast Company who took over the Dawn for one year before selling it to Howard Smith. It took over the Melbourne to Warrnambool run in 1906 when the S. S. Flinders was sold. The S. S. Dawn was condemned and sunk in Suva in 1928. The State Library of Victoria has a lithograph in its collection depicting the steamer Dawn and the shipwrecked men, titled. "Wreck of the ship Eric the Red, Cape Otway: rescue of the crew by the Dawn". The third ship depicted in the photograph was thought to be the S. S. Coorong but there was a question mark next to its name. The photograph was thought to have been taken in 1885 and it's possible the S.S. Coorong was working in Clarence River, N. S. W. by this time. The steamer "Coorong" was built in 1862 by J. G. Lawrie of Glasgow. It was an "iron screw" steamer of 304 tons. It had many owners including Joseph Darwent of Adelaide (1863 - 1871), McMeckan Blackwood and Company, Melbourne (1871 - 1877), Mount Gambier Steamship Company Ltd. (1877 - 1881). William Whineham, Port Adelaide (1882), John See and Company, Sydney (1884 - 1892) and the North Coast Steam Navigation Company Ltd, Sydney (1892 - 1910). In 1911 it was hulked in Sydney Harbour and in 1921 it was being used as a coal hulk at Sydney. It had been originally imported into South Australia for the Port Augusta trade (primarily transporting goods needed by the early settlers) however the owners recognized that it had too much space for that purpose, so it was moved to work on the Adelaide to Melbourne line. Its passenger accommodation was enlarged and it enjoyed a "first class reputation" and by 1874 had made 313 voyages between Melbourne and Adelaide. Its captains included Captain McLean, Captain Ashton and Captain Dowell. In 1867, when 25 miles west of Cape Otway, while travelling from Adelaide to Melbourne, it came across the crew of the schooner "Black Watch" who had abandoned ship after it began quickly taking on water. The crew (six men) were able to get away in a small boat with a compass, chart and few candles. They were "excessively cold from exposure to the weather" when the S. S. Coorong picked them up. In 1877 the Coorong ran aground when entering the Outer Harbour at Adelaide (but was not damaged) and in 1882 it was stranded (for a short time) near Curdies Inlet (Victoria) with some slight damage to its bottom plates. Note - A ship with the same name "Coorong" (a coal carrying barque) was often on the Newcastle / Wollongong to Adelaide route also stopped several times in Warrnambool in the mid 1880's. The photograph has the label "Chuck Photos" printed on the front. Thomas Foster Chuck (born 1826 in London) was a photographer and entrepreneur who arrived in Victoria in 1861. The following year he produced and toured a "Grand Moving Diarama" of dramatic painted scenes from the Burke and Wills expedition. By 1866 he had established a photography studio in Daylesford and later he returned to Melbourne where he opened a studio in the Royal Arcade. In 1874 a collection of Chuck's photographs won a gold medal at the Annual International Exhibition in London. Throughout the 1870's he took over 700 individual photographs of prominent citizens for his historical photographic montage titled "Historical Pictures of the Explorers and Early Colonists of Victoria" which is now in the collection of the National Library of Australia. By 1888 he had sold his Melbourne studio and had established a studio in Ballarat (with his son Thomas Henry Chuck). In 1886 they produced an album titled "Warrnambool and District 1886, Western Hotel - J. Fox proprietor" containing over sixty large photographs of local coastal scenes and seascapes, for the use of patrons of the Western Hotel. This photo (of the three steamers in Lady Bay) was taken at this time and is in the album. Thomas Chuck died on December 7th, 1898, in Albert Park, Melbourne and his son Thomas Henry continued to operate the photography studio in Ballarat into the 1920's.This photograph is a significant record of several of the well-known coastal traders (S. S. Julia Percy, S. S. Dawn and possibly S. S. Coorong) that sailed along the southwest coast of Victoria for many years - transporting goods and passengers between Melbourne and Warrnambool in the 1880's. They are also significant in the role they played in the history of Warrnambool and the other coastal ports they visited as well as being examples of the dangers and hazards associated with navigating the waters along the southern coast of Australia. It is also a good example of a photograph taken by a well-known and significant photographer of that era.Black and white photograph of three steam ships anchored in Lady Bay, Warrnambool. They each have a funnel and two masts and are side on to the beach. A small rowboat with a crew can be seen on the far right. The words "CHUCK-PHOTO" are on the bottom left of the photograph. On the back of the photograph is the name and telephone number of the donor (handwritten in black ball point pen) and the names of the three steamships and date written in uppercase letters in dark blue ink. There is a four-figure number stamped in the centre of the back.Front - "CHUCK-PHOTO" Back - Name of donor and telephone number "6944" "JULIA PERCY, DAWN & KOORONG(?) IN LADY BAY 1885"flagstaff hill maritime museum and village, warrnambool, great ocean road, fred trewartha, s. s. julia percy, s. s. dawn, s. s. nelson, s. s. casino, leeuwin, steamer, steamship, coastal trader, warrnambool steam packet company, captain chapman, victorian steam navigation board, western steam navigation company, melbourne steamship company, william howard smith and sons, portland and belfast steam navigation company, w howard smith and sons ltd, eric the red, captain jones, medal of bravery, rescue, moyne river, warrnambool breakwater, lady bay, s. s. coorong, mount gambier steamship company, black watch, thomas foster chuck, chuck photos, chuck photography

This piece of timber from the ship Eric the Red has been eaten through by the marine animals called Teredo Worms, sometimes called sea worms or ‘termites of the sea’. The worms bore holes into wood that is immersed in sea water and bacteria inside the worms digest the wood. Shipbuilders tried to prevent this problem by using coatings of tar, wax, lead or pitch. In the 18th and 19th centuries the outside of their ships were sheathed in copper or a combination of copper and zinc (called Muntz metal) and would be re-metalled periodically to ensure the sheathing would remain effective. In more recent times the ships are protected with a toxic coating. The American ship Eric the Red was a wooden, three masted clipper ship. She had 1,580 tons register and was the largest full-rigged ship built at Bath, Maine, USA in 1871. She was built and registered by Arthur Sewall, later to become the partnership E. & A. Sewall, the 51st ship built by this company. The annually-published List of Merchant Vessels of the U.S. shows Bath was still the home port of Eric the Red in 1880. The vessel was named after the Viking discoverer, Eric ‘the Red-haired’ Thorvaldsson , who was the first European to reach the shores of North America (in 980AD). The ship Eric the Red at first traded in coal between America and Britain, and later traded in guano nitrates from South America. In 1879 she was re-metalled and was in first class condition. On 10th June 1880 (some records say 12th June) Eric the Red departed New York for Melbourne and then Sydney. She had been commissioned by American trade representatives to carry a special cargo of 500 exhibits (1400 tons) – about a quarter to a third of America’s total exhibits - for the U.S.A. pavilion at Melbourne’s first International Exhibition. The exhibits included furniture, ironmongery, wines, chemicals, dental and surgical instruments, paper, cages, bronze lamp trimmings, axles, stamped ware, astronomical and time globes, samples of corn and the choicest of leaf tobacco. Other general cargo included merchandise such as cases of kerosene and turpentine, brooms, Bristol's Sarsaparilla, Wheeler and Wilson sewing machines, Wheeler’s thresher machine, axe handles and tools, cases of silver plate, toys, pianos and organs, carriages and Yankee notions. The Eric the Red left New York under the command of Captain Zaccheus Allen (or some records say Captain Jacques Allen) and 24 other crew including the owner’s son third mate Ned Sewall. There were also 2 saloon passengers on board. The ship had been sailing for an uneventful 85 days and the voyage was almost at its end. As Eric the Red approached Cape Otway there was a moderate north-west wind and hazy and overcast atmosphere. On 4th September 1880 at about 1:30am Captain Allen sighted the Cape Otway light and was keeping the ship 5-6 miles offshore to stay clear of the hazardous Otway Reef. However he had badly misjudged his position. The ship hit the Otway Reef about 2 miles out to sea, south west of the Cape Otway light station. Captain Allen ordered the wheel to be put ‘hard up’ thinking that she might float off the reef. The sea knocked the helmsman away from the wheel, broke the wheel ropes and carried away the rudder. The lifeboats were swamped, the mizzenmast fell, with all of its rigging, then the mainmast also fell and the ship broke in two. Some said that the passenger Vaughan, who was travelling for his health and not very strong, was washed overboard and never seen again. The ship started breaking up. The forward house came adrift with three of the crew on it as well as a longboat, which the men succeeded in launching and keeping afloat by continually bailing with their sea boots. The captain, the third mate (the owner’s son) and others clung to the mizzenmast in the sea. Then the owner’s son was washed away off the mast. Within 10 minutes the rest of the ship was in pieces, completely wrecked, with cargo and wreckage floating in the sea. The captain encouraged the second mate to swim with him to the deckhouse where there were other crew but the second mate wouldn’t go with him. Eventually the Captain made it to the deckhouse and the men pulled him up. At about 4:30am the group of men on the deckhouse saw the lights of a steamer and called for help. At the same time they noticed the second mate and the other man had drifted nearby, still on the spur, and pulled them both onto the wreck. The coastal steamer SS Dawn was returning to Warrnambool from Melbourne, its sailing time different to its usual schedule. She was built in 1876 and bought by the Portland and Belfast Steam Navigation Co. in 1877. At the time of this journey she was commanded by Captain Jones, and was sailing between Melbourne and Portland via Warrnambool. The provedore of the Dawn, Benjamin Lear, heard cries of distress coming through the portholes of the saloon. He gave the alarm and the engines were stopped. Cries could be heard clearly, coming from the land. Captain Jones sent out crew in two boats, and fired off rockets and blue lights to illuminate the area. They picked up the three survivors who were in the long boat from Eric the Red. Two men were picked up out of the water, one being the owner’s son who was clinging to floating kerosene boxes. At daylight the Dawn then rescued the 18 men from the floating portion of the deckhouse, which had drifted about 4 miles from where they’d struck the reef. Shortly after the rescue the deckhouse drifted onto breakers and was thrown onto rocks at Point Franklin, about 2 miles east of Cape Otway. Captain Jones had signalled to Cape Otway lighthouse the number of the Eric the Red and later signalled that there was a wreck at Otway Reef but there was no response from the lighthouse. The captain and crew of the Dawn spent several more hours searching unsuccessfully for more survivors, even going back as far as Apollo Bay. On board the Dawn the exhausted men received care and attention to their needs and wants, including much needed clothing. Captain Allen was amongst the 23 battered and injured men who were rescued and later taken to Warrnambool for care. Warrnambool’s mayor and town clerk offered them all hospitality, the three badly injured men going to the hospital for care and others to the Olive Branch Hotel, then on to Melbourne. Captain Allen’s leg injury prevented him from going ashore so he and three other men travelled on the Dawn to Portland. They were met by the mayor who also treated them all with great kindness. Captain Allen took the train back to Melbourne then returned to America. Those saved were Captain Zaccheus Allen (or Jacques Allen), J. Darcy chief mate, James F. Lawrence second mate, Ned Sewall third mate and owner’s son, John French the cook, C. Nelson sail maker, Clarence W. New passenger, and the able seamen Dickenson, J. Black, Denis White, C. Herbert, C. Thompson, A. Brooks, D. Wilson, J. Ellis, Q. Thompson, C. Newman, W. Paul, J. Davis, M. Horenleng, J. Ogduff, T. W. Drew, R. Richardson. Four men had lost their lives; three of them were crew (Gus Dahlgreen ship’s carpenter, H. Ackman steward, who drowned in his cabin, and George Silver seaman) and one a passenger (J. B. Vaughan). The body of one of them had been found washed up at Cape Otway and was later buried in the lighthouse cemetery; another body was seen on an inaccessible ledge. Twelve months later the second mate James F. Lawrence, from Nova Scotia, passed away in the Warrnambool district; an obituary was displayed in the local paper. Neither the ship, nor its cargo, was insured. The ship was worth about £15,000 and the cargo was reportedly worth £40,000; only about £2,000 worth had been recovered. Cargo and wreckage washed up at Apollo Bay, Peterborough, Port Campbell, Western Port and according to some reports, even as far away as the beaches of New Zealand. The day after the wreck the government steam ship Pharos was sent from Queenscliff to clear the shipping lanes of debris that could be a danger to ships. The large midship deckhouse of the ship was found floating in a calm sea near Henty Reef. Items such as an American chair, a ladder and a nest of boxes were all on top of the deckhouse. As it was so large and could cause danger to passing ships, Captain Payne had the deckhouse towed towards the shore just beyond Apollo Bay. Between Apollo Bay and Blanket Bay the captain and crew of Pharos collected Wheeler and Wilson sewing machines, nests of boxes, bottles of Bristol’s sarsaparilla, pieces of common American chairs, axe handles, a Wheelers’ Patent thresher and a sailor’s trunk with the words “A. James” on the front. A ship’s flag-board bearing the words “Eric the Red” was found on the deckhouse; finally those on board the Pharos had the name of the wrecked vessel. During this operation Pharos came across the government steamer Victoria and also a steamer S.S. Otway, both of which were picking up flotsam and wreckage. A whole side of the hull and three large pieces of the other side of the hull, with some of the copper sheathing stripped off, had floated on to Point Franklin. Some of the vessels yards and portions of her masts were on shore. The pieces of canvas attached to the yards and masts confirmed that the vessel had been under sail. The beach there was piled with debris several feet high. There were many cases of Diamond Oil kerosene, labelled R. W. Cameron and Company, New York. There were also many large planks of red pine, portions of a small white boat and a large, well-used oar. Other items found ashore included sewing machines (some consigned to ‘Long and Co.”) and notions, axe and scythe handles, hay forks, wooden pegs, rolls of wire (some branded “T.S” and Co, Melbourne”), kegs of nails branded “A.T. and Co.” from the factory of A. Field and Son, Taunton, Massachusetts, croquet balls and mallets, buggy fittings, rat traps, perfumery, cutlery and Douay Bibles, clocks, bicycles, chairs, a fly wheel, a cooking stove, timber, boxes, pianos, organs and a ladder. (Wooden clothes pegs drifted in for many years). There seemed to be no personal luggage or clothing. The Pharos encountered a long line, about one and a half miles, of floating wreckage about 10 miles off land, south east of Cape Otway, and in some places about 40 feet wide. It seemed that more than half of it was from Eric the Red. The ship’s crew rescued 3 cases that were for the Melbourne Exhibition and other items from amongst the debris. There were also chairs, doors, musical instruments, washing boards, nests of trunks and fly catchers floating in the sea. Most of the goods were saturated and smelt of kerosene. A section of the hull lies buried in the sand at Parker River Beach. An anchor with chain is embedded in the rocks east of Point Franklin and a second anchor, thought to be from Eric the Red, is on display at the Cape Otway light station. (There is a photograph of a life belt on the verandah of Rivernook Guest House in Princetown with the words “ERIC THE RED / BOSTON”. This is rather a mystery as the ship was registered in Bath, Maine, USA.) Parts of the ship are on display at Bimbi Park Caravan Park and at Apollo Bay Museum. Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village also has part of the helm (steering wheel), a carved wooden sword (said to be the only remaining portion of the ship’s figurehead; further research is currently being carried out), a door, a metal rod, several samples of wood and a medal for bravery, awarded to Nelson Johnson, a crew member of the S.S. Dawn by the U.S. President, for the rescue of the crew. Much of the wreckage was recovered by the local residents before police and other authorities arrived at the scene. Looters went to great effort to salvage goods, being lowered down the high cliff faces to areas with little or no beach to collect items from the wreckage, their mates above watching out for dangerous waves. A Tasmanian newspaper reports on a court case in Stawell, Victoria, noting a man who was caught 2 months later selling tobacco from the wreckage of Eric the Red. Some of the silverware is still treasured by descendants of Mr Mackenzie who was given these items by officials for his help in securing the cargo. The gifts included silver coffee and tea pots, half a dozen silver serviette rings and two sewing machines. A Mr G.W. Black has in his possession a medal and a purse that were awarded to his father, another Dawn crew member who was part of the rescue team. The medal is inscribed and named “To John Black ….” (from “Shipwrecks” by Margaret E. Mackenzie, 3rd edition, published 1964). The wreck and cargo were sold to a Melbourne man who salvaged a quantity of high quality tobacco and dental and surgical instruments. Timbers from the ship were salvaged and used in the construction of houses and sheds around Apollo Bay, including a guest house, Milford House (since burnt down in bushfires), which had furniture, fittings and timber on the dining room floor from the ship. A 39.7 foot long trading ketch, the Apollo, was also built from its timbers by Mr Burgess in 1883 and subsequently used in Tasmanian waters. It was the first attempt at ship building in Apollo bay. In 1881 a red light was installed about 300 feet above sea level at the base of the Cape Otway lighthouse to warn ships when they were too close to shore; It would not be visible unless a ship came within 3 miles from it. This has proved to be an effective warning. Nelson Johnson, recipient of the medal for bravery, married Elizabeth Howard in 1881 and they had 10 children. They lived in South Melbourne, Victoria. Nelson died in 1922 in Fitzroy Victoria, age 66. In 1895 the owners of the S.S. Dawn, the Portland and Belfast Steam Navigation Co., wound up and sold out to the Belfast Company who took over the Dawn for one year before selling her to Howard Smith. She was condemned and sunk in Suva in 1928. The State Library of Victoria has a lithograph in its collection depicting the steamer Dawn and the shipwrecked men, titled. "Wreck of the ship Eric the Red, Cape Otway: rescue of the crew by the Dawn".The wood (timber) sample is listed on the Collections Australia Database, Heritage Victoria, number 239 00010 A “The Eric the Red is historically significant as one of Victoria's major 19th century shipwrecks. (Heritage Victoria Eric the Red; HV ID 239) The wreck led to the provision of an additional warning light placed below the Cape Otway lighthouse to alert mariners to the location of Otway Reef. The site is archaeologically significant for its remains of a large and varied cargo and ship's fittings being scattered over a wide area. The site is recreationally and aesthetically significant as it is one of the few sites along this coast where tourists can visit identifiable remains of a large wooden shipwreck, and for its location set against the background of Cape Otway, Bass Strait, and the Cape Otway lighthouse.“ (Victorian Heritage Database Registration Number S239, Official Number 8745 USA) Wood sample from the wreck of the ship Eric the Red. Triangular shaped, full of sea worm (Teredo worm) holes. The wood is dark in colour and is very light in weight.flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, shipwreck-artefact, eric-the-red, zaccheus-allen, sewall, 1880, melbourne-exhibition, cape-otway, otway-reef, wood-sample, s.s.-dawn

This piece of timber from the ship Eric the Red has been eaten through by the marine animals called Teredo Worms, sometimes called sea worms or ‘termites of the sea’. The worms bore holes into wood that is immersed in sea water and bacteria inside the worms digest the wood. Shipbuilders tried to prevent this problem by using coatings of tar, wax, lead or pitch. In the 18th and 19th centuries the outside of their ships were sheathed in copper or a combination of copper and zinc (called Muntz metal) and would be re-metalled periodically to ensure the sheathing would remain effective. In more recent times the ships are protected with a toxic coating. The American ship Eric the Red was a wooden, three masted clipper ship. She had 1,580 tons register and was the largest full-rigged ship built at Bath, Maine, USA in 1871. She was built and registered by Arthur Sewall, later to become the partnership E. & A. Sewall, the 51st ship built by this company. The annually-published List of Merchant Vessels of the U.S. shows Bath was still the home port of Eric the Red in 1880. The vessel was named after the Viking discoverer, Eric ‘the Red-haired’ Thorvaldsson , who was the first European to reach the shores of North America (in 980AD). The ship Eric the Red at first traded in coal between America and Britain, and later traded in guano nitrates from South America. In 1879 she was re-metalled and was in first class condition. On 10th June 1880 (some records say 12th June) Eric the Red departed New York for Melbourne and then Sydney. She had been commissioned by American trade representatives to carry a special cargo of 500 exhibits (1400 tons) – about a quarter to a third of America’s total exhibits - for the U.S.A. pavilion at Melbourne’s first International Exhibition. The exhibits included furniture, ironmongery, wines, chemicals, dental and surgical instruments, paper, cages, bronze lamp trimmings, axles, stamped ware, astronomical and time globes, samples of corn and the choicest of leaf tobacco. Other general cargo included merchandise such as cases of kerosene and turpentine, brooms, Bristol's Sarsaparilla, Wheeler and Wilson sewing machines, Wheeler’s thresher machine, axe handles and tools, cases of silver plate, toys, pianos and organs, carriages and Yankee notions. The Eric the Red left New York under the command of Captain Zaccheus Allen (or some records say Captain Jacques Allen) and 24 other crew including the owner’s son third mate Ned Sewall. There were also 2 saloon passengers on board. The ship had been sailing for an uneventful 85 days and the voyage was almost at its end. As Eric the Red approached Cape Otway there was a moderate north-west wind and hazy and overcast atmosphere. On 4th September 1880 at about 1:30am Captain Allen sighted the Cape Otway light and was keeping the ship 5-6 miles offshore to stay clear of the hazardous Otway Reef. However he had badly misjudged his position. The ship hit the Otway Reef about 2 miles out to sea, south west of the Cape Otway light station. Captain Allen ordered the wheel to be put ‘hard up’ thinking that she might float off the reef. The sea knocked the helmsman away from the wheel, broke the wheel ropes and carried away the rudder. The lifeboats were swamped, the mizzenmast fell, with all of its rigging, then the mainmast also fell and the ship broke in two. Some said that the passenger Vaughan, who was travelling for his health and not very strong, was washed overboard and never seen again. The ship started breaking up. The forward house came adrift with three of the crew on it as well as a longboat, which the men succeeded in launching and keeping afloat by continually bailing with their sea boots. The captain, the third mate (the owner’s son) and others clung to the mizzenmast in the sea. Then the owner’s son was washed away off the mast. Within 10 minutes the rest of the ship was in pieces, completely wrecked, with cargo and wreckage floating in the sea. The captain encouraged the second mate to swim with him to the deckhouse where there were other crew but the second mate wouldn’t go with him. Eventually the Captain made it to the deckhouse and the men pulled him up. At about 4:30am the group of men on the deckhouse saw the lights of a steamer and called for help. At the same time they noticed the second mate and the other man had drifted nearby, still on the spur, and pulled them both onto the wreck. The coastal steamer SS Dawn was returning to Warrnambool from Melbourne, its sailing time different to its usual schedule. She was built in 1876 and bought by the Portland and Belfast Steam Navigation Co. in 1877. At the time of this journey she was commanded by Captain Jones, and was sailing between Melbourne and Portland via Warrnambool. The provedore of the Dawn, Benjamin Lear, heard cries of distress coming through the portholes of the saloon. He gave the alarm and the engines were stopped. Cries could be heard clearly, coming from the land. Captain Jones sent out crew in two boats, and fired off rockets and blue lights to illuminate the area. They picked up the three survivors who were in the long boat from Eric the Red. Two men were picked up out of the water, one being the owner’s son who was clinging to floating kerosene boxes. At daylight the Dawn then rescued the 18 men from the floating portion of the deckhouse, which had drifted about 4 miles from where they’d struck the reef. Shortly after the rescue the deckhouse drifted onto breakers and was thrown onto rocks at Point Franklin, about 2 miles east of Cape Otway. Captain Jones had signalled to Cape Otway lighthouse the number of the Eric the Red and later signalled that there was a wreck at Otway Reef but there was no response from the lighthouse. The captain and crew of the Dawn spent several more hours searching unsuccessfully for more survivors, even going back as far as Apollo Bay. On board the Dawn the exhausted men received care and attention to their needs and wants, including much needed clothing. Captain Allen was amongst the 23 battered and injured men who were rescued and later taken to Warrnambool for care. Warrnambool’s mayor and town clerk offered them all hospitality, the three badly injured men going to the hospital for care and others to the Olive Branch Hotel, then on to Melbourne. Captain Allen’s leg injury prevented him from going ashore so he and three other men travelled on the Dawn to Portland. They were met by the mayor who also treated them all with great kindness. Captain Allen took the train back to Melbourne then returned to America. Those saved were Captain Zaccheus Allen (or Jacques Allen), J. Darcy chief mate, James F. Lawrence second mate, Ned Sewall third mate and owner’s son, John French the cook, C. Nelson sail maker, Clarence W. New passenger, and the able seamen Dickenson, J. Black, Denis White, C. Herbert, C. Thompson, A. Brooks, D. Wilson, J. Ellis, Q. Thompson, C. Newman, W. Paul, J. Davis, M. Horenleng, J. Ogduff, T. W. Drew, R. Richardson. Four men had lost their lives; three of them were crew (Gus Dahlgreen ship’s carpenter, H. Ackman steward, who drowned in his cabin, and George Silver seaman) and one a passenger (J. B. Vaughan). The body of one of them had been found washed up at Cape Otway and was later buried in the lighthouse cemetery; another body was seen on an inaccessible ledge. Twelve months later the second mate James F. Lawrence, from Nova Scotia, passed away in the Warrnambool district; an obituary was displayed in the local paper. Neither the ship, nor its cargo, was insured. The ship was worth about £15,000 and the cargo was reportedly worth £40,000; only about £2,000 worth had been recovered. Cargo and wreckage washed up at Apollo Bay, Peterborough, Port Campbell, Western Port and according to some reports, even as far away as the beaches of New Zealand. The day after the wreck the government steam ship Pharos was sent from Queenscliff to clear the shipping lanes of debris that could be a danger to ships. The large midship deckhouse of the ship was found floating in a calm sea near Henty Reef. Items such as an American chair, a ladder and a nest of boxes were all on top of the deckhouse. As it was so large and could cause danger to passing ships, Captain Payne had the deckhouse towed towards the shore just beyond Apollo Bay. Between Apollo Bay and Blanket Bay the captain and crew of Pharos collected Wheeler and Wilson sewing machines, nests of boxes, bottles of Bristol’s sarsaparilla, pieces of common American chairs, axe handles, a Wheelers’ Patent thresher and a sailor’s trunk with the words “A. James” on the front. A ship’s flag-board bearing the words “Eric the Red” was found on the deckhouse; finally those on board the Pharos had the name of the wrecked vessel. During this operation Pharos came across the government steamer Victoria and also a steamer S.S. Otway, both of which were picking up flotsam and wreckage. A whole side of the hull and three large pieces of the other side of the hull, with some of the copper sheathing stripped off, had floated on to Point Franklin. Some of the vessels yards and portions of her masts were on shore. The pieces of canvas attached to the yards and masts confirmed that the vessel had been under sail. The beach there was piled with debris several feet high. There were many cases of Diamond Oil kerosene, labelled R. W. Cameron and Company, New York. There were also many large planks of red pine, portions of a small white boat and a large, well-used oar. Other items found ashore included sewing machines (some consigned to ‘Long and Co.”) and notions, axe and scythe handles, hay forks, wooden pegs, rolls of wire (some branded “T.S” and Co, Melbourne”), kegs of nails branded “A.T. and Co.” from the factory of A. Field and Son, Taunton, Massachusetts, croquet balls and mallets, buggy fittings, rat traps, perfumery, cutlery and Douay Bibles, clocks, bicycles, chairs, a fly wheel, a cooking stove, timber, boxes, pianos, organs and a ladder. (Wooden clothes pegs drifted in for many years). There seemed to be no personal luggage or clothing. The Pharos encountered a long line, about one and a half miles, of floating wreckage about 10 miles off land, south east of Cape Otway, and in some places about 40 feet wide. It seemed that more than half of it was from Eric the Red. The ship’s crew rescued 3 cases that were for the Melbourne Exhibition and other items from amongst the debris. There were also chairs, doors, musical instruments, washing boards, nests of trunks and fly catchers floating in the sea. Most of the goods were saturated and smelt of kerosene. A section of the hull lies buried in the sand at Parker River Beach. An anchor with chain is embedded in the rocks east of Point Franklin and a second anchor, thought to be from Eric the Red, is on display at the Cape Otway light station. (There is a photograph of a life belt on the verandah of Rivernook Guest House in Princetown with the words “ERIC THE RED / BOSTON”. This is rather a mystery as the ship was registered in Bath, Maine, USA.) Parts of the ship are on display at Bimbi Park Caravan Park and at Apollo Bay Museum. Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village also has part of the helm (steering wheel), a carved wooden sword (said to be the only remaining portion of the ship’s figurehead; further research is currently being carried out), a door, a metal rod, several samples of wood and a medal for bravery, awarded to Nelson Johnson, a crew member of the S.S. Dawn by the U.S. President, for the rescue of the crew. Much of the wreckage was recovered by the local residents before police and other authorities arrived at the scene. Looters went to great effort to salvage goods, being lowered down the high cliff faces to areas with little or no beach to collect items from the wreckage, their mates above watching out for dangerous waves. A Tasmanian newspaper reports on a court case in Stawell, Victoria, noting a man who was caught 2 months later selling tobacco from the wreckage of Eric the Red. Some of the silverware is still treasured by descendants of Mr Mackenzie who was given these items by officials for his help in securing the cargo. The gifts included silver coffee and tea pots, half a dozen silver serviette rings and two sewing machines. A Mr G.W. Black has in his possession a medal and a purse that were awarded to his father, another Dawn crew member who was part of the rescue team. The medal is inscribed and named “To John Black ….” (from “Shipwrecks” by Margaret E. Mackenzie, 3rd edition, published 1964). The wreck and cargo were sold to a Melbourne man who salvaged a quantity of high quality tobacco and dental and surgical instruments. Timbers from the ship were salvaged and used in the construction of houses and sheds around Apollo Bay, including a guest house, Milford House (since burnt down in bushfires), which had furniture, fittings and timber on the dining room floor from the ship. A 39.7 foot long trading ketch, the Apollo, was also built from its timbers by Mr Burgess in 1883 and subsequently used in Tasmanian waters. It was the first attempt at ship building in Apollo bay. In 1881 a red light was installed about 300 feet above sea level at the base of the Cape Otway lighthouse to warn ships when they were too close to shore; It would not be visible unless a ship came within 3 miles from it. This has proved to be an effective warning. Nelson Johnson, recipient of the medal for bravery, married Elizabeth Howard in 1881 and they had 10 children. They lived in South Melbourne, Victoria. Nelson died in 1922 in Fitzroy Victoria, age 66. In 1895 the owners of the S.S. Dawn, the Portland and Belfast Steam Navigation Co., wound up and sold out to the Belfast Company who took over the Dawn for one year before selling her to Howard Smith. She was condemned and sunk in Suva in 1928. The State Library of Victoria has a lithograph in its collection depicting the steamer Dawn and the shipwrecked men, titled. "Wreck of the ship Eric the Red, Cape Otway: rescue of the crew by the Dawn".The wood (timber) sample is listed on the Collections Australia Database, Heritage Victoria, number 239 00010 A “The Eric the Red is historically significant as one of Victoria's major 19th century shipwrecks. (Heritage Victoria Eric the Red; HV ID 239) The wreck led to the provision of an additional warning light placed below the Cape Otway lighthouse to alert mariners to the location of Otway Reef. The site is archaeologically significant for its remains of a large and varied cargo and ship's fittings being scattered over a wide area. The site is recreationally and aesthetically significant as it is one of the few sites along this coast where tourists can visit identifiable remains of a large wooden shipwreck, and for its location set against the background of Cape Otway, Bass Strait, and the Cape Otway lighthouse.“ (Victorian Heritage Database Registration Number S239, Official Number 8745 USA) Wood sample from the wreck of the ship Eric the Red. Oblong shaped, full of sea worm (Teredo worm) holes. The wood is dark in colour and is very light in weight. flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, shipwreck-artefact, eric-the-red, zaccheus-allen, sewall, 1880, melbourne-exhibition, cape-otway, otway-reef, wood-sample, s.s.-dawn

The Bronze Medal and Certificate of Merit of the Royal Humane Society of Australasia were awarded to James Patten for the bravery he displayed on 18th April 1890, and presented to him on 21st May 1890. The Royal Humane Society of Australasia was founded in 1874 with the aim to recognise those who risked their lives to save others and to assist those whose acts of bravery caused them or their surviving dependants to be disadvantaged in some way. The producers of the certificate were Fergusson & Mitchell, a Melbourne organisation established by 1858 that was an engraver, lithographer and printer. Details of the incident were published in the Argus, Saturday 19 April 1890, page 11 - "FATAL BOATING ACCIDENT, (BY TELEGRAPH FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT.), WARRNAMBOOL, FRIDAY A fatal boating disaster occurred in Lady Bay this morning, the victim being Joseph Lowe, licensee of the Bay View Hotel, South Warrnambool. The deceased, in company with two lads named James Ferrier and James Patten, went out in a small dingy to shoot musk ducks. The water was perfectly smooth, and the party were tempted to proceed as far as the mouth of the Hopkins River. In their eagerness they neglected to keep clear of the breakers, and were presently carried in on the crest of a large wave, and the boat cap sized within a cable's length of the shore, precipitating the occupants into the water. Patten and Lowe stuck to the overturned boat, Ferrier striking out for the shore, which he reached in an exhausted state. In the meantime his companions had been washed off the boat, and were struggling in the breakers. Lowe was unable to swim, and Patten kept him afloat, at the same time making gallant attempts to get him ashore, but finally had to leave him to his fate. Ferrier, seeing Lowe's danger, undressed and swam out, but became exhausted. Ferrier and Patten were both found in a fainting condition by persons who saw the catastrophe from the jetty, and ran along the beach to render assistance. Attempts were subsequently made to rescue Lowe's body, which could be seen washing abort in the surf. These proved unsuccessful, and no hope is now entertained of recovering it. Lowe was a smart young man, 28 years of age, and unmarried. He was formerly bar-man at the Commercial Hotel here, having been engaged in Melbourne...." The bronze medal and accompanying certificate of the Royal Humane Society of Australasia recognise the bravery of James Patten, a Warrnambool citizen who risked his life in the attempt to save the life of his friend Joseph Lowe.Certificate, cream paper, rectangular, decorative border and headings, printed and handwritten in pen and ink. Letterhead of The Royal Humane Society of Australasia. Awarded on 21st May 1890 to James Patten of Warrnambool. for his bravery on 18th April 1890.Print and writing includes - "The Royal Humane Society of Australia under the patronage of Her Majesty the Queen and their excellencies, the Governors of all the Australian Colonies and Fiji. At a general court of directors holden at the Offices of the Society Melbourne on the 21st day of May 1890, it was resolves that the courage and humanity displayed by James Patten, aged 20 years, labourer Warrnambool in attempting to rescue Joseph Lowe from drowning in the North Eastern bight of Lady Bay 18th April 1890. Call for the admiration of this court and justly, entitles him to the Bronze Medal of this society which is hereby awarded." Signatures [Secretary] and [President]flagstaff hill, warrnambool, flagstaff-hill, maritime museum, maritime village, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff hill maritime museum & village, bronze medal 1890, royal humane society of australasia, james patten, medal, australian award medal, commemorative medal, numismatics, life saving, lifesaving, rescue, bravery, drowning, joseph lowe, james ferrier, lady bay, hopkins river, boating accident, certificate of merit, lithograph, north eastern bight

This certificate acknowledges 21 years of service given by James Patten, one of the original 1859 Lifeboat Warrnambool as a boatman and bowman. At the time, all retiring Volunteer lifeboatmen were honoured with this award. It was made as a lithograph that was created by F. W. Strahle at the request of the Department of Lands & Survey, Melbourne, Victoria. During his time of service, James Patten was awarded a medal and certificate by the Royal Humane Society of Australasia for his bravery. Patten and his friend Joseph Lowe, who couldn't swim, were with their friend James Ferrier in a boat on the Hopkins River, Warrnambool, when their boat capsized. Ferrier made it to shore, and Patten tried unsuccessfully to hold onto Lowe and bring him to shore. The event occurred on 18th April 1890. The images on the Certificate show a collage of rescue events performed by the lifesavers; a shipwreck rescue in progress, lifeboat conveying five boatmen using two oars each, and a bowman standing at the bow, a linesman wearing a life jacket and holding a rescue line, a lifesaver ring with images of three sailing ships inside it, a shipwreck near shore, a woman and girl in shallow water, a rescue using a breeches buoy on the lifeline, two rescuers walking towards the survivor, rescue crew wearing waterproof clothing, a rocket machine with a pulley to bring the survivor in a breaches buoy to shore, and a rescue crew member holding a flare. Volunteers at the time received a small payment, or 'retainer'', for their practices and a payment of gratitude for the rescues they attended. Across the years between 1856 to 1979 the combined service in Victoria saved 260 lives. Amazingly, some of the volunteers could not even swim.This certificate shows the State and Local Government's appreciation for the years of service spent by in the endeavour to save lives in peril in and on the local waters in the early 20th Century. The lithographed design depicts the many skills and services performed by the lifesavers of the era.Certificate of Service, unframed, awarded to James Patten on 23rd August 1907, recognising his 21 years of service with the original Warrnambool Life Boat Service as a Boatman and Bowman. Certificate is on rectangular, cream paper, lithographed design, printed and handwritten. Letterhead with the Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom and a French motto. Images depict lifesaving crew, lifeboat, rescue equipment and a rescue in progress. The border is waves inside of frame of looped rope. Signatures of Commissioner of Public Works, Secretary of Public Works, and Engineer in charge of Ports and Harbours, Melbourne. Printed from a lithograph produced by F.W. Strahle on 23rd June 1907.MOTTO: "Dieu Droit Et Mon, Ni Soit Qui Mal y" TREXT: "Certificate granted to James Patten as a mark of appreciation of his esteemed services of 21 years as Boatman and Bowman connected with the Departmental Life-Boat service at Warrnambool - dated the 23rd day of August 1907." SIGNATURES: [Commissioner of Public Works], [Secretary of Public Works], [Engineer in charge of Ports and Harbours Melbourne] "Lithographed at the Dept of Lands & Survey - Melb/ by F.W. Strahle, 23.6.07"flagstaff hill, warrnambool, flagstaff-hill, maritime museum, maritime village, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff hill maritime museum & village, james patten, life-saving, lifesaving, rescue, bravery, drowning, joseph lowe, james ferrier, hopkins river, boat accident, certificate of service, 1890, 1907, bowman, boatman, departmental life-boat service, life-boat service, lifeboat service, august 1907, commissioner of public works, public works, ports and harbours melbourne, lands & survey melbourne, f w strahle, lithograph, 1856-1979, 260 lives saved, victorian volunteers, lifeboatmen, retired lifeboatmen

The letter to William Ferrier of South Warrnambool from the Prime Minister and the Parliament of the Commonwealth recognised the significance of William’s brave and courageous lifesaving act to the people of Australia; “They all feel that your conduct was worthy of the best deeds done by British sailors in the past and they are proud to know that Australia can produce such as you.” The story of that brave rescue follows on below … The ship from which the sailors were rescued was the three-masted, iron and steel barquentine the La Bella, built in Norway in 1893. She was one of two iron and steel ships by Johan Smith, The company was one of the leading shipping families in Tvedestrand, Norway. She was significant to Norwegian shipping, being one of only 27 iron and steel ships ever built in Norway. She was registered in New Zealand and engaged from 1902 in inter-colonial trading of timber in the Pacific, between New Zealand and Australia and was often in Port Phillip Bay, Victoria. On 5th October 1905, the twelve-year-old La Bella left Lyttleton, New Zealand carrying a cargo of timber bound for Warrnambool, Australia. She was manned by a crew of twelve: the Master, (Captain Mylius, previously 1st Mate of La Bella, appointed Captain to La Bella on 6th February 1903) 2 Mates, Cook, six able seamen, one ordinary seaman and a boy. Bad weather en route caused her to shelter at Burnie on Tasmania's North West coast. On November 10th, the 37th day of her journey, La Bella approached Warrnambool. Captain Mylius steered her towards Lady Bay Channel in heavy south-west seas and evening mist. He ordered the helmsman to steer for the light. As the ship came round, a tremendous sea struck her on the port quarter, causing her to breach broadside in a north-westerly direction into breakers. The helm was brought round twice more, but each time heavy seas broke over her, the third time throwing the La Bella on to a submerged reef in Lady Bay now known as La Bella Reef (about 100 yards from the Warrnambool breakwater). The sea was so rough that it even wrenched a one-and-a-half ton anchor from its fastenings and into the sea. As Captain Mylius headed to the steel wheelhouse, intending to send up a rocket flare, a huge sea slammed the steel door into him (resulting in massive bruising front and back) Despite his injuries he still managed to set off a blue light, which he held up in his hands. La Bella’s lifeboats were filled with seawater and broke up on their chocks. The blue light was the first indication to people on the shore that there was a ship in distress. The Harbour Master, Captain Roe (who lived in the Harbour Master’s House opposite Flagstaff Hill), organised a group of volunteers to crew the lifeboat because the trained crew was unavailable; the crewmen were working on a steamer in Port Fairy at the time. He then poured oil onto the water to try and smooth the sea. At around 11 pm three of the crew took shelter in the steel forecastle but the sea crashed into it and broke it up. While the rest of the crew and onlookers watched helplessly in the moonlight the bodies were washed away into the sea, never to be seen again. Some of the crew lashed themselves to the weather rail to keep from being washed away. Watson, the ordinary seaman, became tangled in the rigging lines and was too weak to move, so the 2nd Mate, Robertson, put a line onto him so that he wouldn’t wash off. Around 11 pm three of the crew were unconscious from exhaustion. The situation on La Bella was becoming dangerous. The 2nd Mate moved to the ‘house’ and soon afterwards the ship slipped in the heavy sea. The lashings of the 1st Mate and the ‘boy’ Denham had kept them safe until about 2 am when they were washed overboard; no one was able to help. One by one, the exhausted crew were being washed overboard, too weak to hold on any longer. During the night the La Bella had broken into two and the deckhouse ran out towards the sea. Two more men drowned when trying to reach the lifeboat. By sunrise, the only survivors of the twelve were the Master, 2nd Mate and three seamen. Early in the morning, Captain Roe used the rocket apparatus on shore to try and shoot a line to the ship for a safer rescue but each attempt fell short of the target. Several attempts were made by the lifeboat to rescue the stricken sailors, but the rough conditions made this difficult for the boat to get close enough to the ship and the lifeboat had to return to shore. During a final attempt to reach the ship Captain Mylius ordered his men to jump into the sea. Leonard Robertson, 2nd mate, jumped and swam towards the lifeboat, taking hold of the boat hook offered to him. Oscar Rosenholme managed to reach the boat floating on a piece of timber from the ship’s load and a third survivor, Noake, also made the boat. Along with the lifeboat rescue crew, 25-year-old William Ferrier rowed his small dingy through the heavy seas and managed to rescue the Captain, whom he landed on the breakwater. Ferrier then returned to the ship to attempt a final rescue, losing his oars and rowlocks into the high sea. Using just a spare paddle he skulled towards the La Bella, reaching her stern in time to cut loose the lone surviving sailor, Payne, from the lashing that held him to the ship; the terrified sailor dropped from the ship and into the dingy. Shortly after the last man was rescued, the La Bella was lifted by a huge wave and crashed back down on the reef; she broke up and sank. The ordeal had lasted ten hours. The survivors were taken to the nearby Bay View Hotel and gratefully received warm food and clothing, medical attention and a place to sleep. In the following days, an unidentified body of a young person has washed ashore; it was either Watson or Denham. The body was buried in the Warrnambool cemetery with an appropriate gravestone and inscription. William Ferrier became a national hero as news of the daring rescue spread. In recognition of his bravery in the two daring rescues, he was awarded the Silver Medal for Bravery by the Royal Humane Society and was honoured in the letter from the Prime Minister and the Parliament of the Commonwealth, telegrams and a cheque for £20 from the Governor-General, over £150 subscribed by the public, including Warrnambool and district and readers of The Argus, and a gold medal from the Glenelg Dinghy Club of South Australia. Ferrier’s rescue efforts are one of the most heroic in Victoria’s shipwreck history. (William Ferrier’s son, Frank, received a similar award almost fifty years later when he helped rescue four members of the crew on the yacht Merlan after it ran on to a reef near the Point Lonsdale Lighthouse. ) The wreck of La Bella now lies on her port side in 13 metres of sheltered water inside the reef she struck. The bow section is relatively intact and part of the stern has drifted north-easterly towards the mouth of the Hopkins River. The reef the La Bella struck now bears its name. Those five rescued from the La Bella were Captain George Mylius, Leonard Robertson (2nd Mate, 21 years old), R. Payne, Oscar Rosenholme and Jack Noake. Those seven who lost their lives were Mr Coulson (1st mate), Charles Jackman (cook) Gustave Johnson, Pierre Johann and Robert Gent (all able seamen), Harry Watson (ordinary seaman) and Jack Denham (ship’s boy), Captain Mylius was found guilty of careless navigation; he had sailed into the bay without the services of a pilot. His Master Certificate was suspended for twelve months. Later he was also charged with the manslaughter of one of the crew who had died when the La Bella was wrecked but found not guilty. The event’s adverse publicity and damage to his career took a toll on his health and he died of a heart attack six months after the wreck; he was only thirty-seven. His body was buried in the Melbourne General Cemetery. The La Bella was “the best documented of all sailing ships owned in New Zealand”. Her record books, ship logs, correspondence and supporting papers are still available. At the time of the tragedy, she was owned by Messers David C.Turnbull and Co. of Timaru, New Zealand timber merchants and shipping agents, who had purchased her on 13th December 1901. A detailed account of the last journey of La Bella can be read in “Leonard Robertson, the Whangaroa & La Bella” written by Jack Churchouse, published in 1982 by Millwood Press Ltd, Wellington, NZ. As well as this letter, Flagstaff Hill’s La Bella Collection includes a photograph of the wrecked La Bella, a brass rail holder and a postcard of William Ferrier with four of the survivors. Some 15 – 17 ships are believed to have sunk in Lady Bay, but only two have been discovered on the seafloor; the “La Bella” and the “Edinburgh Castle”. Both wrecks are popular diving sites and are preserved as significant historical marine and marine archaeological sites. This original congratulatory letter sent to William Ferrier by the Prime Minister and Government of Australia demonstrates the importance attached to his efforts for Victoria and to Australia. The letter is part of the La Bella Collection and is significant at both a local and state level. Its connection to the La Bella shipwreck and the rescue of five survivors highlights the dangers of Victoria’s Shipwreck Coast. The letter to William Ferrier from the Australian Government acknowledges the bravery of ordinary Australians who risked their lives to save victims of shipwrecks along the coast. The letter is significant to the history of Warrnambool as it honours William Ferrier, a local fisherman whose descendants continue to live in the area. It highlights the way of life of people who lived in coastal towns in 19th century Victoria and the effects of shipwrecks upon them. The letter connects to the postcard of William Ferrier with four of the five rescued crew, the photograph of the wreck of the La Bella and the artefact from the wreck, the rail holder. This letter is significant because of its association with the sailing ship “La Bella”. The “La Bella” is of local and state and national significance. It is one of the only two shipwrecks discovered in Lady Bay, Warrnambool, out of the 15-17 shipwrecks in the bay. Letter to William Ferrier of South Warrnambool from the Prime Minister and Members of Parliament commending him on his bravery. The printed letterhead includes a coat of arms in the top centre and the official address. The letter is very neatly hand written in black pen and includes 4 signatures of Members of Parliament. The rectangular paper is cream coloured with some yellow/brown discolouring. It has the letterhead on the right hand side of it and the written letter begins below the letterhead. The paper has been folded so that the right side becomes the cover page of the letter. The writing is continued onto the inside right hand page of the folded paper and the writing ends here. There is more recent writing on the bottom right hand corner of the back page. The paper has been officially folded in half a total 3 times and there is heavy discolouration on the sections that form the front and back of the folded letter. There is a 4th fold line that is less pronounced that the other folds and would make the paper the size to fit into a pocket. At several fold creases the paper has worn through. The edges of the paper have minor tears. The printed coat of arms is that of the House of Representatives. Underneath is printed “The Parliament of the Commonwealth, / Parliament House / Melbourne”. The hand written, letter is dated “14th November, 1905” and addressed to “Mr. William Ferrier / South Warrnambool” The letter begins “The Speaker, the Prime Minister and Members of the Ministry and its supporters, the Leader and Members of the Opposition, the Leader and Members of the Labour Party, being all the Members of the House of Representatives of the Federal Parliament of Australia” … It continues “desire to express to you their appreciation of your bravery in skulling out to the wreck of the “La Bella” at Warrnambool on Saturday, 11th November, 1905, and recovering therefrom two of the crew who were in imminent danger of their lives. They all feel that your conduct was worthy of the best deeds done by British sailors in the past and they are proud to know that Australia can produce such as you.” The letter is “Signed on behalf of the Members – Speaker (Frederick Holder ), Deputy Leader of the Opposition (Joseph Cook ), Prime Minister (Alfred Deakin), Leader of the Labour Party ( J.C. Watson)” On the back of the letter is blue ink handwriting “OWNER / G. FERRIER / TO. BE. PHOTOGRAPHED / 27-4-76”la bella, william ferrier, bill ferrier, lady bay, 1905, 10th november 1905, 11th november 1905, parliament of the commonwealth, prime minister, australian government, new zealand, flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked coast, flagstaff hill maritime museum, maritime museum, shipwreck coast, flagstaff hill maritime village

The photograph shows the wreck of La Bella in Lady Bay, Warrnambool, Australia. It was probably taken on 11th November 1905, the morning after she was wrecked. “Foyle” written on the photograph is the name of Foyle’s Photographic studio. At the time of the photograph the studio was owned by both Charles and Lilian Foyle (sometimes known as Lillian or Lily), either of whom could have taken this photograph. They also worked together at a later date on the photographs, sketches and paintings of the famous and historical Pioneers’ Honour Board, which is currently on view in the Warrnambool Library. Foyles Photography was the studio of James Charles Foyle. He owned “Foyle’s Photo Card Studios” in Liebig St , Warrnambool, which operated between 1889 – 1919 . A letter to the editor (by Mr Edward Vidler) in the Melbourne Argus, 3rd August, 1907, mentions that in that year Warrnambool would celebrate its 60th anniversary of its proclamation as a town, and that talented local artist Miss Lily Foyle would paint 200 portraits in watercolour of the pioneers who settled in the district prior to 1860. The Pioneer Honour Board can still be seen on display in the Warrnambool Library. In the Warrnambool Standard, Dec. 1917, “Mr Foyle’s studio was awarded contract to decorate rail cars on newly opened Trans-Continental railway, assisted by his sister, Miss Findlay.” The subject of the painting, La Bella, has its own tragic story. Read on for further details … On November 10th, 1905, the Norwegian-built barquentine La Bella approached Warrnambool at the end of her 37 day voyage. She was carrying a cargo of timber from Lyttleton, New Zealand, in heavy seas and evening mist. (On its only other visit to Warrnambool a year earlier the master had gone to shore to find a tow. He returned to the ship to find the crew drunk and unwilling to take up their posts, even though the ship was dragging its anchors and in a dangerous position.) As Captain Mylius steered La Bella to Lady Bay Channel the ship was tossed onto its side by heavy breakers and ran aground on what is now known as La Bella Reef. The sea was so rough that it wrenched a one-and-a- half ton anchor from the vessel. Several attempts were made by parties of volunteers in lifeboats to rescue the stricken sailors, but the rough conditions made this difficult for the boats to get close enough to the ship and the parties had to return to shore. The La Bella’s crew became exhausted and sailors were being washed overboard, one by one. By sunrise only five of the twelve crew still clung to the wreck. A local fisherman, 25 year old William Ferrier, rowed his small dingy through the heavy seas and managed to rescue the captain, whilst the volunteer lifeboat crew rescued a further three sailors, returning to shore. Ferrier made a final attempt at rescue and was able to reach its stern as the conditions eased slightly, saving the last remaining, terrified sailor just before the ship broke up and sank. William Ferrier became a national hero as news of the daring rescue spread. He was awarded the Silver Medal for bravery by the Royal Humane Society and was honoured by the Prime Minister and the Governor. He was presented with several other awards for his daring rescue. Ferrier’s rescue efforts are one of the most heroic in Victoria’s shipwreck history. The wreck now lies in 13m of water and is home to an abundance of marine life. Flagstaff Hill’s La Bella Collection includes a rail holder from La Bella, a photograph of William Ferrier with four of the five men rescued, a rail holder from the ship and the letter from the Prime Minister and other Members of Parliament that was sent to William Ferrier to commend him for his bravery. La Bella has been protected under the Commonwealth Historic Shipwrecks Act (1976) as a Historic Shipwreck since 23 April 1982 (VHR S401). It is archaeologically significant as the remains of an international and inter-colonial passenger and cargo ship. Flagstaff Hill’s collection of artefacts from the La Bella is of historical and archaeological significance because of its association with the La Bella, which is on the Victorian Heritage Register, and because of the relationship between the objects. The collection represents aspects of Victorian history, and the letter to William Ferrier demonstrates how important his rescue efforts were to Victoria and Australia. Black and white photograph of the wreck of the sailing ship La Bella in the bay at Warrnambool. The photograph shows the ship lying on its side in rough sea, with mast and rope rigging hanging loosely. Several large rocks are also visible. The photograph is a rectangle shape, mounted on heavy card, with slightly ragged edges. The photographer’s name, a title for the photograph and the location are hand written in white along the bottom third of the photograph. The back of the photograph is blank. Printed in white hand writing “Foyle”, “WRECK OF “LA BELLA”, “W’Bool”foyle, la bella, william ferrier, lady bay, lifeboats, lilian foyle, lillian foyle, charles foyle, james foyle, royal humane society medal, flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked coast, flagstaff hill, flagstaff hill maritime museum, maritime museum, shipwreck coast, flagstaff hill maritime village

This black and white photograph shows the crew of the barque Newfield. They are pictured seated on a grassy slope and rock, a lifebuoy from the Newfield, Liverpool, resting on the men in the front row. The men are formally dressed, some with bowler hats, a bow tie and pipe, rather than in their sailing uniforms. ABOUT THE NEWFIELD The Newfield left Sharpness, Scotland, on 28th May 1892 with a crew of 25 under the command of Captain George Scott and on 1st June left Liverpool. She was bound for Brisbane, Australia, with a cargo of 1850 tons of fine rock salt, the main export product of Sharpness. At about 9pm on 28th August 1892, in heavy weather, Captain Scott sighted, between heavy squalls, the Cape Otway light on the mainland of Victoria but, due to a navigational error (the ship’s chronometers were wrong), he assumed it to be the Cape Wickham light on King Island, some 40 miles south. He altered his course to the north, expecting to enter Bass Strait. The ship was now heading straight for the south west Victorian coast. At about 1:30am the Newfield ran aground on a reef about 100 yards from shore and one mile east of Curdie’s Inlet, Peterborough. The ship struck heavily three times before grounding on an inner shoal with 6 feet of water in the holds. Rough sea made the job of launching lifeboats very difficult. The first two lifeboats launched by the crew were smashed against the side of the ship and some men were crushed or swept away. The third lifeboat brought eight men to shore. It capsized when the crew tried to return it to the ship for further rescue The rescue was a difficult operation. The Port Campbell Rocket Crew arrived and fired four rocket lines, none of which connected with the ship. Peter Carmody, a local man, volunteered to swim about one mile off shore to the ship with a line to guide the fourth and final lifeboat safely to shore. He was assisted by James McKenzie and Gerard Irvine. Seventeen men survived the shipwreck but the captain and eight of his crew perished. The Newfield remained upright on the reef with sails set for a considerable time as the wind slowly ripped the canvas to shreds and the sea battered the hull to pieces. The Marine Board inquiry found the wreck was caused by a "one man style of navigation" and that the Captain had not heeded the advice of his crew. According to Jack Loney ‘… when the drama was over . . the Newfield was deserted except for the Captain’s dog and two pigs.’ Peter Carmody was awarded the Bramley Moore medal by the Liverpool Shipwreck and Humane Society for Saving Life at Ssea, which he received by mail on January 21st 1893. Flagstaff Hill’s collection of artefacts from the Newfield is significant for its association with the shipwreck Newfield, which is listed on the Victorian Heritage Registry. The collection is significant because of the relationship between the objects. The Newfield collection is archaeologically significant as the remains of an international cargo ship. The Newfield collection is historically significant for representing aspects of Victoria’s shipping history and its association with the shipwreck. The Letter accompanying the Medal for Bravery awarded to Peter Carmody is significant because the attempt to save lives is associated with the shipwreck Newfield. Black and white photograph of the crew of the sailing ship “Newfield”. The men in formal dress are seated on rocky slope with the ship’s lifebuoy showing the name “NEWFIELD, LIVERPOOL”. Photograph taken 1889-1892 flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, newfield, photograph, crew of the newfield, 19th century sailing ship, peterborough, cape otway, medal for bravery

This brass rail holder fixture would have been used to hold the end of a rail in place. There is no information as to where the fitting or rail would have been placed on the ship; sailing ships had many brass fittings. It was recovered from the wreck of the La Bella, which lies at the bottom of the Warrnambool Harbour. Some 15 ships are believed to have been wrecked in Lady Bay, but only two have been discovered on the sea floor; the La Bella and the Edinburgh Castle. Both wrecks are popular diving sites and are preserved as significant historical marine and marine archaeological sites. The story of the final voyage of the La Bella is summarised as follows … The ship from which the sailors were rescued was the three-masted, iron and steel barquentine the La Bella, built in Norway in 1893. She was one of two iron and steel ships by Johan Smith, the company being one of the leading shipping families in Tvedestrand, Norway. She was significant to Norwegian shipping, being one of only 27 iron and steel ships ever built in Norway. She was registered in New Zealand and engaged from 1902 in inter-colonial trading of timber in the pacific, between New Zealand and Australia and was often in Port Phillip Bay, Victoria. On 5th October, 1905, the twelve year old La Bella left Lyttleton, New Zealand carrying a cargo of timber bound for Warrnambool, Australia . She was manned by a crew of twelve: the Master, (Captain Mylius, previously 1st Mate of La Bella, appointed Captain to La Bella on 6th February 1903) 2 Mates, Cook, six able seamen, one ordinary seaman and a boy. . Bad weather en route caused her to shelter at Burnie on Tasmania's North West coast. On November 10th, the 37th day of her journey, La Bella approached Warrnambool. Captain Mylius steered her towards Lady Bay Channel in heavy south-west seas and evening mist. He ordered the helmsman to steer for the light. As the ship came round, a tremendous sea struck her on the port quarter, causing her to breach broadside in a north-westerly direction into breakers. The helm was brought round twice more, but each time heavy seas broke over her, the third time throwing the La Bella on to a submerged reef in Lady Bay now known as La Bella Reef (about 100 yards from the Warrnambool breakwater). The sea was so rough that it even wrenched a one-and-a-half ton anchor from its fastenings and into the sea. As Captain Mylius headed to the steel wheelhouse, intending to send up a rocket flare, a huge sea slammed the steel door into him (resulting in massive bruising front and back) Despite his injuries he still managed to set off a blue light, which he held up in his hands. La Bella’s lifeboats were filled with sea water and broke up on their chocks. The blue light was the first indication to people on shore that there was a ship in distress. The Harbour Master, Captain Roe (who lived in the Harbour Master’s House opposite Flagstaff Hill), organised a group of volunteers to crew the lifeboat because the trained crew was unavailable; the crewmen were working on a steamer in Port Fairy at the time. He then poured oil onto the water to try and smooth the sea. At around 11pm three of the crew took shelter in the steel forecastle but the sea crashed into it and broke it up. While the rest of the crew and onlookers watched helplessly in the moonlight the bodies were washed away into the sea, never to be seen again. Some of the crew lashed themselves to the weather rail to keep from being washed away. Watson, the ordinary seaman, became tangled in the rigging lines and was too weak to move, so the 2nd Mate, Robertson, put a line onto him so that he wouldn’t wash off. Around 11pm three of the crew were unconscious from exhaustion. The situation on La Bella was becoming dangerous. The 2nd Mate moved to the ‘house’ and soon afterwards the ship slipped in the heavy sea. The lashings of the 1st Mate and the ‘boy’ Denham had kept them safe until about 2am when they were washed overboard; no one was able to help. One by one, the exhausted crew were being washed overboard, too weak to hold on any longer. During the night the La Bella had broken into two and the deckhouse ran out towards the sea. Two more men drowned when trying to reach the lifeboat. By sunrise the only survivors of the twelve were the Master, 2nd Mate and three seamen. Early in the morning Captain Roe used the rocket apparatus on shore to try and shoot a line to the ship for a safer rescue but each attempt fell short of the target. Several attempts were made by the lifeboat to rescue the stricken sailors, but the rough conditions made this difficult for the boat to get close enough to the ship and the lifeboat had to return to shore. During a final attempt to reach the ship Captain Mylius ordered his men to jump into the sea. Leonard Robertson, 2nd mate, jumped and swam towards the lifeboat, taking hold of the boat hook offered to him. Oscar Rosenholme managed to reach the boat floating on a piece of timber from the ship’s load and a third survivor, Noake, also made the boat. Along with the lifeboat rescue crew, 25 year old William Ferrier rowed his small dingy through the heavy seas and managed to rescue the Captain, whom he landed on the breakwater. Ferrier then returned to the ship to attempt a final rescue, losing his oars and rowlocks into the high sea. Using just a spare paddle he skulled towards the La Bella, reaching her stern in time to cut loose the lone surviving sailor, Payne, from the lashing that held him to the ship; the terrified sailor dropped from the ship and into the dingy. Shortly after the last man was rescued, the La Bella was lifted by a huge wave and crashed back down on the reef; she broke up and sank. The ordeal had lasted ten hours. The survivors were taken to the nearby Bay View Hotel and gratefully received warm food and clothing, medical attention and a place to sleep. In the following days an unidentified body of a young person was washed ashore; it was either Watson or Denham. The body was buried in the Warrnambool cemetery with an appropriate gravestone and inscription. William Ferrier became a national hero as news of the daring rescue spread. In recognition of his bravery in the two daring rescues he was awarded the Silver Medal for Bravery by the Royal Humane Society and was honoured in the letter from the Prime Minister and the Parliament of the Commonwealth, telegrams and a cheque for £20 from the Governor General, over £150 subscribed by the public, including Warrnambool and district and readers of The Argus, and a gold medal from the Glenelg Dinghy Club of South Australia. Ferrier’s rescue efforts are one of the most heroic in Victoria’s shipwreck history. (William Ferrier’s son, Frank, received a similar award almost fifty years later, when he helped rescue four members of the crew on the yacht Merlan, after it ran on to a reef near the Point Lonsdale Lighthouse. ) The wreck of La Bella now lies on her port side in 13 metres of sheltered water inside the reef she struck. The bow section is relatively intact and part of the stern has drifted north-easterly towards the mouth of the Hopkins River. The reef the La Bella struck now bears its name. Those five rescued from the La Bella were Captain George Mylius, Leonard Robertson (2nd Mate, 21 years old), R. Payne, Oscar Rosenholme and Jack Noake. Those seven who lost their lives were Mr Coulson (1st mate), Charles Jackman (cook) Gustave Johnson, Pierre Johann and Robert Gent (all able seamen), Harry Watson (ordinary seaman) and Jack Denham (ship’s boy), Captain Mylius was found guilty of careless navigation; he had sailed into the bay without the services of a pilot. His Master Certificate was suspended for twelve months. Later he was also charged with manslaughter of one of the crew who had died when the La Bella was wrecked, but found not guilty. The event’s adverse publicity and damage to his career took a toll on his health and he died of a heart attack six months after the wreck; he was only thirty-seven. His body was buried in the Melbourne General Cemetery. The La Bella was “the best documented of all sailing ships owned in New Zealand”. Her record books, ship logs, correspondence and supporting papers are still available. At the time of the tragedy, she was owned by Messers David C.Turnbull and Co. of Timaru, New Zealand timber merchants and shipping agents, who had purchased her on 13th December 1901. A detailed account of the last journey of La Bella can be read in “Leonard Robertson, the Whangaroa & La Bella” written by Jack Churchouse, published in 1982 by Millwood Press Ltd, Wellington, NZ. Some 15 – 17 ships are believed to have sunk in Lady Bay, but only two have been discovered on the seafloor; the “La Bella” and the “Edinburgh Castle”. Both wrecks are popular diving sites and are preserved as significant historical marine and marine archaeological sites. As well as this letter, Flagstaff Hill’s La Bella Collection includes a photograph of the wrecked La Bella, a brass rail holder and a postcard of William Ferrier with four of the survivors. This original congratulatory letter sent to William Ferrier by the Prime Minister and Government of Australia demonstrates the importance attached to his efforts for Victoria and to Australia. The letter is part of the La Bella Collection and is significant at both a local and state level. Its connection to the La Bella shipwreck and the rescue of five survivors highlights the dangers of Victoria’s Shipwreck Coast. The letter to William Ferrier from the Australian Government acknowledges the bravery of ordinary Australians who risked their lives to save victims of shipwrecks along the coast. The letter is significant to the history of Warrnambool as it honours William Ferrier, a local fisherman whose descendants continue to live in the area. It highlights the way of life of people who lived in coastal towns in 19th century Victoria and the effects of shipwrecks upon them. The letter connects to the postcard of William Ferrier with four of the five rescued crew, the photograph of the wreck of the La Bella and the artefact from the wreck, the rail holder. This item is significant because of its association with the sailing ship “La Bella” . the “La Bella” is of local and state and national significance. It is one of the only two shipwrecks discovered in Lady Bay, Warrnambool, out of the 15-17 shipwrecks in the bay. Brass rail holder from the wreck "La Bella". This rail holder would have been used as a fitting for the end of a rail. It is made up of two parts and looks a little like a goblet in shape. The top is a hollow spherical shape with a circular hole cut out on one side, into which the end of a round rail would fit. There are two gouge marks close to each other on one side of the hole, about one centimetre apart, at 1 and 2 o’clock position. The sphere has a hollow pipe-like stem with a screw thread turned into the outside of the lower section and the bottom of the stem has been flared out after having the base fitted. The base is round and has a mound in the centre. The edge has four evenly spaced fixture holes around its edge. The metal shows signs of pitting and has mild encrustation. The fitting of the base is loose, allowing it to swivel in a complete circle. The top of the sphere is rough and has a dent in it. Underneath the base there is verdigris; some has flaked off and reveals a bright golden colour underneath. rail holder, brass rail holder, la bella, lady bay, norway, 1893, new zealand, captain mylius, william ferrier, flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked coast, flagstaff hill maritime museum, maritime museum, shipwreck coast, flagstaff hill maritime village

The medal was presented to Captain Thos. Smith (Thomas Smith) for his assistance in saving the crew of the wrecked barque, the Eleanor Lancaster, at Newcastle in N.N.S.W. (New South Wales). The ship was wrecked during a storm on November 7th, 1856. This medal is significant as a form of recognition of the bravery of Captain Thos Smith.Medal; round, silver, with silver rope border, anchor and rope decoration on top and central inscription on the front, plain back. Black leather-covered case with blue velvet-covered insert and white silk-lined lid. The medal was hand engraved and later presented to Captain Thomas Smith."Presented to CAPT THOs SMITH As a public testimonial of his successful exertions in assisting to save the crew of the Barque ELEANOR LANCASTER during the storm of the 7th Novr" "NEWCASTLE" "N.S.W." "1856"flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, medallion, shipwreck eleanor lancaster, captain thomas smith, shipwreck newcastle november 7th 1856, eleanor lancaster, newcastle, thos smith, storm, thomas smith, 7th november 1856, n.s.w. shipwreck, newcastle shipwreck, silver medal, hand engraved, life saving, australian award