Ly-ee-moon
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The Ly-ee-Moon was a steamship entered service in 1859 . It was initially used in merchant shipping between Great Britain and Asia , but from 1877 it belonged to the Australian shipping company Australasian Steam Navigation Company. On May 30, 1886, the Ly-ee-Moon sank on the New South Wales coast after a collision with a rock , in which 71 people died.
Early years
The Ly-ee-Moon was built at the Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company shipyard in the East End district of Blackwall on the River Thames in London . The 991-ton ship was used as a paddle steamer built and ran in September 1859 from the stack . The ship was designed by J. Ash and powered by a coal -fired steam engine that propelled the ship via two paddle wheels on the sides. In addition, the ship had two chimneys and three masts with the rigging of a schooner . The steamer was 86.07 meters long, 8.32 meters wide and had a maximum draft of 5.06 meters. The Ly-ee-Moon was three decks high and could carry 94 passengers in three classes.
It was built for Dent & Company, one of the UK's most important trading companies at the time . The exterior design of the ship was very similar to the royal yacht Victoria and Albert launched in 1855 . The ship's first captain, Norman Hill, built a house in South Norwood, London, which he named after the ship. It no longer stands today.
The Ly-ee-Moon was specially built for the opium trade between Great Britain and China, which flourished in the mid-19th century . The name of the ship is an Anglicized version of the name of the Lei Yue Mun community in Hong Kong . During the test drives, the Ly-ee-Moon reached a speed of 17 knots. This was the best speed a ship built in the UK had ever seen. It was not only particularly fast, but also very elegantly equipped. At the beginning of the 1860s, the Ly-ee-Moon was used as a blockade breaker during the American Civil War and made several calls to the port of Charleston ( South Carolina ). This turned out to be much more profitable than its original purpose.
After the end of the war she was sold to Hong Kong , where she initially worked for Jardine, Matheson & Co. for several years in Chinese waters. The ship also sailed under the Japanese flag until 1872 and was renamed Taihei Maru . In 1874 there was a collision in the port of Hong Kong, after which the ship at anchor sank. It was lifted and sailed to Great Britain on her own .
There the ship was completely repaired, fitted with new machinery and new steam boilers , and the side wheels and one of the masts were removed. The new machines made 160 nominal horsepower. From now on it was driven with a screw . It also got its old name back. As a result of the modifications, the ship's displacement increased to 1202 tons.
In 1877 the Australasian Steam Navigation Co. Ltd. bought (ASNC), an Australian shipping company based in Melbourne , founded in 1840 . The shipping company maintained connections from Melbourne to ports in southern Australia and Tasmania , but also to New Zealand and Fiji . Captain WR Stevens brought the Ly-ee-Moon to Australia. Immediately after her arrival in Sydney a fire broke out on the Ly-ee-Moon , which completely destroyed the ship. It had to be repaired for about £ 4,000 in the docks at Pyrmont, a suburb of Sydney. On this occasion, a new compound steam engine from Ouseburn Engine Works from Newcastle upon Tyne was installed.
After the repair, the Ly-ee-Moon was able to quickly restore its good reputation. She had the prow of a clipper , so she didn't swing up and down as much in rough seas as other steamers . In addition, it was able to maintain its high speed even in adverse conditions. This made them very popular with travelers. From 1878 the Ly-ee-Moon shuttled between Melbourne and Sydney.
Sinking off Cape Green
On Saturday, May 29, 1886, the Ly-ee-Moon ran around noon in Melbourne under the command of Captain Webber for another crossing to Sydney. There were 41 crew members and 45 passengers on board, including 26 first class and 19 third class. The ship's ample cargo included tobacco , gasoline, vegetables , tea , soap , office supplies , wine , flour and 250 cases of whiskey . About 7.45 p.m. on the evening of May 30th, Captain Webber withdrew. It was his first ride on the Ly-ee-Moon . He was just as ignorant of the coastal waters of the area as the third officer James Fotheringhame, who was on watch on the bridge that night .
The Ly-ee-Moon approached the small island of Gabo Island north of the border between the states of New South Wales and Victoria . The lights of the Gabo Island lighthouse could already be turned off. Webber had instructed Fotheringhame on the course and told him to be called when Cape Green was in sight. Cape Green was a headland on the south coast of New South Wales 26 km south of the city of Eden . There was also a lighthouse there that had only been built three years earlier. Its beacon was 44 meters above sea level and could still be seen 18 km away.
At about 9 p.m. Webber returned to the bridge unannounced and found that his ship was headed straight for the cliffs of Cape Green. When he ordered full force back, the Ly-ee-Moon hit the craggy rocks on the bank of the promontory just below the lighthouse. It was very stormy and the heavy seas made it impossible to launch the lifeboats . The engines were backing up at full power, but that didn't get the Ly-ee-Moon off the rocks.
The ship broke apart in ten minutes. While the stern was stuck on a ledge, the severed bow was washed towards the bank and torn around so that it pointed to the aft section of the steamer. In the forward area of the ship was the saloon and the foremast, on which many passengers climbed in their panic . However, he broke off and threw the people into the troubled sea. The mast fell on the rocks so that three men of the crew could climb onto the bank. Then it broke in two. With the help of the Cape Green lighthouse keepers, they tried to save the people who were still on the ship. An attempt to throw a line from the bank to the bow of the wreck failed. Then, with the help of a fishing rope, a connection to the Ly-ee-Moon could be established, with which the passenger Herbert Lumsdaine was able to save himself on land.
By the early hours of the morning, eleven other people made it from the bow to the bank, including the third officer Fotheringhame and Captain Webber, who was the last to leave the ship. During the night the torn stern of the Ly-ee-Moon sank , on which the tween deck passengers and some crew members were still. It was reported that they could be heard until morning.
Aftermath
71 people were killed in the accident, including 31 crew members, all 19 tween deck passengers and 21 first class passengers, including six women and three children. 15 people survived. News of the tragedy reached Sydney on June 1st. The Prime Minister of New South Wales , Sir Patrick Jennings, then dispatched the pilot ship Captain Cook to Cape Green, where it arrived at 5.15 p.m. that same day. The steamer Bega was also sent from Eden to assist with the rescue. The crew of Captain Cook searched for bodies in the days that followed and recovered most of the fatalities. On June 4, she arrived in Sydney with the survivors (except Webber and Fotheringhame) and some of the bodies.
A few of the recovered fatalities were buried near the lighthouse in a specially laid out cemetery, which is now open to visitors and has many markings. On June 1 and 2, 1886, the investigation of the accident took place in Eden under the chairmanship of examining magistrate Magnus. The final verdict awarded Captain Webber a high degree of negligence . He lost his captaincy license . The third officer James Fotheringhame was not blamed.
Among the dead was Flora MacKillop from Melbourne , mother of Mary MacKillop . She would have celebrated her 70th birthday on June 11th. Mary MacKillop attended the memorial service at St Michael's Church, Sydney on June 7th and the subsequent burial in St Charles Cemetery. In 1973 her bones were reburied in the Nun's Lawn Section of Macquarie Park Cemetery, where they still lie today. The remains of the Ly-ee-Moon lie at a depth of twelve to 14 meters off Cape Green and are widely scattered. The site can only be visited by divers on very quiet days . Some parts of the wreck are still on the rocks on the shore, including hull plates and parts of the cauldrons.
Web links
- Very detailed and well-illustrated description of the ship, its history and the last voyage
- Illustrated and detailed list of ship accidents in Twofold Bay (including the Ly-ee-Moon )
- Brief overview of the basic data of the ship and its sinking
- Technical and historical data of the Ly-ee-Moon in a listing of Australian merchant ships (pretty far below)
- The Ly-ee-Moon Cemetery on Cape Green