Fiji (1875 - 1891)

Eleven crew drowned and a young local settler also lost his life when he tried to save the ships carpenter.

There was a great deal of public criticism at the slow and disorganized rescue attemp to save those on board.

At the time "rocket apparatus" was used to rescue passengers and the crew stranded on a wrecked ship. The apparatus could fire a rocket and heavy rope from a beach or cliff top to the ship.

A bucket chair or breech buoy could be attached to the rope and by using a pulley, the crew and passengers could haul themselves one by one to shore.

When the rocket crew arrived at the wreck of the Fiji, the chair was found to be missing. Apparently it had been removed so the local photographer could fit his equipment in the cart.

This was a tragic error and crew of the fiji had to pull themselves hand over hand along the rope and many were washed into the wild surf.

Of course, the wreck of the Fiji was well documented on film, many of the images of the rescue are still in existence today.

Ships Construction

It measured 229.4ft (69.9m) in length, 36.3ft (10.9m) in breadth and 23.1 ft (7m) in depth. The ship had a gross tonnage of 1,471 tons.

The Final Voyage of the Fiji

In the early hours of Sunday, 6th September, the Fiji was under full sail and the Otway lighthouse was in sight. This was a reassuring sign for the ships passing by this treacherous stretch of coast.

But what seemed like an uneventful night ahead soon turned into disaster.Captain Vickers heard the crashing of breakers and to his horror found that the Fiji was sailing perilously close to land.

The Captain tried to tack and turn the vessel around but his efforts were unsuccessful. Strong southerly winds were propelling the Fiji toward a rocky reef.

As a last resort the Captain tried to manoeuvre the ship out of difficulties, but it was impossible, and the Fiji was driven onto rocks near moonlight head.

As dawn broke, the crew and passengers were horrified to findselves surrounded by towering cliffs. The only beach in sight, now known as Wreck Beach, was hundreds of metres away beyond the breakers.

Two brave sailors attempted to swim ashore attached to a line from the ship. One of the men drowned while the second sailor returned to the ship but made a second successful attempt.

After scaling a cliff, he collapsed exhausted in the scrub where he was found by a group of prospectors from Warrnambool. It took quite some time before help arrived. No-one could be raised in Warnambool and Port Campell, the telegraph wire was down and out of action.

Camperdown was contacted and rocket gear was brought overland from there to the wreck site.When the rocket crew and line arrived at the scene, the chair and heavy rope had been replaced by photographic equipment and were in a second cart which never arrived.

A light line was fired from the rocket apparatus to the wreck. The crew and Captain could not wait for the stronger rope and chair to arrive and began hauling themselves, hand over hand along the line and through the breakers.

Eleven of the 26 crew drowned. A young local settler, Arthur Wilkinson saw the ships carpenter struggling in the surf and swam out to rescue him. They both swam back to the ship where Wilkinson collapsed Exhausted on the deck.

He could not be roused and disappeared when the ship finally disentergrated. The ships carpenter was one of the lucky few to eventually reach shore.The remains of seven bodies were washed up on the beach and their coffins were constructed from timbers of the wrecked Fiji.

As news of the shipwreck quickly spread, organized bands of looters arrived to salvage what they could. A Customs Officer trying to prevent cargo being stolen was assaulted and thrown over a steep cliff by looters.

The Court of Marine Inquiry reprimanded Captain Vickers for his incompetent handling of the ship. His Masters Certificate was suspended for twelve months.

Check this wreck on the Shipwreck Map

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