Historical information
Between the years 1888 - when the Marine Board had been constituted - and 1901 there had been no fewer than 52 wrecks in Victorian waters. The Maritime Archaeological Unit list 736 shipwrecks in Victorian waters from the years 1800 to 1986.)
Physical description
Black and white photograph showing sailing vessel 'Artisan' aground near Cape Paterson, Victoria
Keywords
References
- Artisan 1881 - 1901 The Artisan was built in 1881 by Stewart and Ritchie, at their New Brunswick, Canada shipyard. The British registered vessel is described in her original registry certificate as being 189.6 ft (57.8 m) long, 37.7 ft (11.5 m) in breadth and 22.4 ft (6.8 m) in depth. She was a 1155 ton (gross), single decked, three masted barque. The Artisan left Manila, Philippines on 18 February 1901 under the command of Captain Samuel Purdy, a crew of 15 and one passenger the captain's wife. The Artisan's route via the Indian Ocean had been without incident and on Saturday 21 April the barque entered Victorian waters. That evening a storm struck, and at 3 am on Tuesday 23 April the wind and set of the sea had carried the Artisan broadside into huge breakers. The crew endeavoring to attract attention fired blue distress rockets. Driven slowly through the breakers their only hope was that the vessel might somehow get over the breakers and into deep water. Their hopes were short lived for suddenly they struck with a tremendous jolt shaking the barque from stem to stern.
