Edinburgh Castle (1863-1888)

Ships Construction

The Final Voyage of the Edinburgh Castle

The first journey of the ship under the command of its new owners was to deliver a cargo of 4,900 barrels of concrete for construction of the Warrnambool breakwater.The voyage from England was long and exhausting for the crew.

The ship had struck rough weather for most of the journey including hurricane in the Atlantic. One hundred and one days passed before the south coast of Australia was sighted on the 13th January. 1888.

The Edinburgh Castle was posted as overdue. But when news spread that the ship was approaching Lady Bay, a large crowd gathered to welcome the vessel to Warrnambool.

The relieving Harbour Master, Pilot Carless boarded the ship at the entrance to Lady Bay to bring it into safe anchorage. However the lighthouse keeper could see that the vessel was too close to shore.

He signalled, "stand out running to danger", but the ship did not see the signals and continued on the same course.When the Edinburgh Castle was less than two kilometers from its destination and close to the Hopkins River, a squall blew-up.

Pilot Carless tried to change the ships direction, but it continued sailing toward shore. Anchors were dropped, but all attempts to turn around failed. The Edinburgh Castle drifted sideways and lodged firmly in the sand.

The cement barrels were thrown overboard to lighten the load. A distress call was telegraphed to the coastal steamer, the Julia Percy asking for assistance to pull the Edinburgh Castle off the sandbar.

The steamer arrived at 6.00am the next morning and spent several hours pulling on full steam but still could not budge the cargo ship.

As all rescue attempts had failed, the Captain decided to take his crew off the ship. At the request of the Captain, the first mate, seaman and local lighterman stayed on board.

The weather was changing for the worse and the locals were worried about the safety of the three men on board. They brought rocket gear to the beach but as they prepared to fire a line across the ship, the men on board dropped a message in a bottle overboard saying they were quite comfortable on the ship.

During the night the weather worsened and this time , the three men sent out distress signals which we're picked up by the lighthouse keeper. The rocket crew were alerted and rushed to the beach. Several rockets were fired across to the ship.

A breech buoy was attached to the third line and the men were hauled from the ships deck.That same morning, the Edinburgh Castle was offered for auction in Melbourne as a "sound ship with all fittings and in the best order".

The ship fetched $520 pounds and the sale was completed before news reached the auction rooms that the ship was in fact a total wreck.

The Edinburgh Castle disaster was investigated by the Pilot Board and Pilot Carless was found guilty of and error of judgement. Despite the loss of the ship and all its fittings, the pilot was merely cautioned and warned to be more careful in the future.

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