Historical information

This nail was recovered from the wreck of the Cataraqui in the 1970s.

The nail is most likely to have been machine cut and the head hand formed by a blacksmith.

THE CATARAQUI

The Cataraqui, which was built in 1840 in Quebec, Canada, and wrecked in 1845 off King Island, Australia.

The lives of 400 people on the emigrant ship were lost. Many of them were on government assisted passages from Britain and Ireland. Only nine people, one passenger and eight crew, survived the shipwreck. A man who lived on the island, sheltered them and five weeks later the group was rescued by the ship Midge, which took them to Melbourne.

It was the largest civilian maritime disaster.

Significance

The nail is significant as an example of the hardware used in the mid-19th century for ship building.
The nail is also significant for its association with the 1840 Canadian built ship, Cataraqui, The Cataraqui is significant in maritime history as the largest civilian maritime disaster.

Physical description

Copper nail, four sided shank, flattened tip with rounded end, pitted and rough, concretion on the shank. The nail is bent.
Recovered from the wreck of the 1840-1845 "Cataraqui".