Skip to main content
Advanced Search
Image Not Available for Letter from Matthew John Webb to his wife Ethel
Letter from Matthew John Webb to his wife Ethel
Image Not Available for Letter from Matthew John Webb to his wife Ethel

Letter from Matthew John Webb to his wife Ethel

DateJuly 1917
Object number00051839
NameLetter
MediumPaper, ink,
DimensionsOverall: 130 x 70 mm
ClassificationsEphemera
Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from Matthew and Dorothy Moore
DescriptionA handwritten letter from 'Jack' Matthew John Webb in Eden, New South Wales, to his wife Ethel. At this time Webb was working as an engineer on the attempt to bring SS CUMBERLAND back to the mainland for proper repairs. SS CUMBERLAND was the first civilian ship to be lost in Australian waters due to an enemy mine. The CUMBERLAND struck two mines on the morning of 6th July 1917 near Gabo Island just off the north eastern coast of Victoria. The crew were assisted by the Japanese naval vessel CHIKUMA. It was later established that the German raider WOLF had laid the mines in the area in addition to others in the waters off Cape Town, Bombay and New Zealand.HistoryOn the morning of the 6th July, SS CUMBERLAND was passing near Gabo Island just off the north eastern coast of Victoria when it experienced two explosions. After being assisted by the Japanese vessel CHIKUMA, it was initially thought that the explosions had come from within the hold and that somehow the vessel had been sabotaged as it was en route to the United Kingdom carrying supplies. It was quickly realised by divers however that the damage had been caused by mines and the Naval Board swept the area in an attempt to confirm and clear any remaining mines that may be waiting in this strategic shipping channel. The work was carried out by parts of the Royal Australian Naval Brigade and by mid-October it was publically confirmed that there was a minefield off Gabo Island. After the SS CUMBERLAND was beached there was an ongoing operation to re float the vessel enough to tow it back to the mainland to be repaired. Naval and Harbour Trust divers were called in to patch the estimated nine metre hole in the forward area with canvas sheeting and wooden planking. Several supporting vessels were involved in the work including the Illawarra and South Coast Steam Navigation Company’s steamers MERIMBULA and BERMAGUI and the tugs CHAMION and JAMES PATERSON. There were an estimated 11 pumps used and after five weeks an attempt was made to tow the CUMBERLAND to Twofold Bay. Despite all the efforts of the previous month, the project was unsuccessful as during the attempt the weather turned and a storm began battering the vessels. The CUMBERLAND crew were all evacuated but the vessel, with repair work now redundant, sank bow first just five miles southeast of Green Cape on 11 August, 1917. It was later confirmed that the German raider SMS WOLF had been responsible for laying the mines off Gabo Island. In addition to the 15 mines laid there, WOLF had laid mines near Cape Everard and internationally off Cape Town, Bombay and New Zealand. The SS CUMBERLAND would be one of 13 ships struck by a mine laid by the WOLF, but the only Australian vessel to become a casualty. SignificanceThe shock of the realisation that the SS CUMBERLAND had hit a mine was felt across Australia as the ship, without loss of life, had become the first wartime casualty in home waters, far from where the main theatre of war in Europe.
Of concern also was the minefield, being laid just off the north eastern coast of Victoria, was in the main track of vessels using the eastern Australia seaboard trade route on their way to deliver supplies to the United Kingdom.