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The ketch PHIL FORBES and barque MEDWAY near Sydney Heads, Sydney Harbour
The ketch PHIL FORBES and barque MEDWAY near Sydney Heads, Sydney Harbour

The ketch PHIL FORBES and barque MEDWAY near Sydney Heads, Sydney Harbour

Photographer
Date1910-1918
Object numberANMS1092[082]
NameGlass plate negative
MediumEmulsion on glass
ClassificationsPhotographs
Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from Mr and Mrs Glassford
HistoryThis photograph appeared in newspaper The Sydney Mail on 17 May 1922, page 18, with the heading: 'The Ill-Fated Ketch PHIL FORBES : Passing through Sydney Heads. The vessel on the right is the British training ship MEDWAY'. The caption for the photograph reads: 'After an adventurous career in trading round the coast of Australia the ketch PHIL FORBES, owned by Messrs. Langley Bros., foundered near what is known as the Two-fathom Rock, about three miles north of Broughton Island. The ketch (a well-known coaster) had been refitted in Sydney after being chartered by a syndicate for the recovery of copper and other cargo from the steamer KARITANE which was wrecked at Deal Island in Bass Strait, and was on the way from Newcastle for the North Coast when she foundered. The crew reached Broughton Island safely after their vessel had sunk and were taken to the mainland in fishermen's boats. They spent the night at Nelson Bay, then came on to Sydney. The master (Captain Muir) reported that they had suffered no ill-effects from the disaster...' The training ship MEDWAY that appears in this image alongside PHIL FORBES was built in 1902 as AMA BEGONAKOA. The vessel was built by McMillian & Son, Dumbarton, of Scotland and registered in Montevideo. In 1910 British shipping company Devitt and Moore purchased the vessel for use as a sail training ship, changing the name to MEDWAY. The company also used MEDWAY in the Australian wool and wheat trade and the South American nitrate trade. In 1920 the vessel was sold to the Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Company and its name changed to MYR SHELL. In 1933 the ship was sold to Japanese shipbreakers.SignificanceRoderick Winchcombe Glassford had a long and varied maritime career during which he worked as a Passenger Superintendent with P&O and served with the Coast Artillery at South Head during WW2. The rich Glassford collection at the Australian National Maritime Museum provides a valuable record of Australian maritime history that includes books, images and archives.