Captain's abstract log from SS WILCANNIA

Images(66)

Captain's abstract log from SS WILCANNIA

Author Captain Walter Pentin

Date1895 - 1902

Object number00005839

NameLogbook

MediumInk on paper, cloth

DimensionsOverall: 15 x 258 x 207 mm, 0.5 kg

ClassificationsBooks and journals

Credit LineANMM Collection

Terms

DescriptionThe Captain's abstract log from the SS WILCANNIA of the Blue Anchor Line. The log was recorded by Captain Walter Pentin and covers the period from 13 January through to March 1902. The WILCANNIA was part of the Blue Anchor Line passenger and cargo service from England to Australia.HistoryThe WILCANNIA was a regular visitor to Australian ports carrying pasengees and cargo. On one particular voyage, covered in this log, the WILCANNIA left London on 13 January 1895 and was involved in a rescue of the crew of the barque CRUSADER in the Bay Of Biscay. Capatin Pentin was subsequently rewarded for his actions on the day and the account of the event was written in The Argus. THE ARGUS, Melbourne, Monday 4 March 1895. A STORY OF THE SEA Rescue of a shipwrecked crew A barque abandoned "One of those violent gales for which the Bay of Biscay is especially remarkable was in full force when the steamship WILCANNIA, on her passage from London to this port, where she arrived on Saturday, opportunely sighted the barque CRUSADER in a sinking condition. The CRUSADER, which hailed from Liverpool, was bound from Cardiff to Santos, in the Brazils, with a cargo of coal and iron, and had been dismasted the night before the Blue Line Anchor so fortunately bore down in her direction. The snapping asunder, close down, of the barques mainmast had resulted in her decks being torn to pieces, and through large openings occasioned in this manner tremendous volumes of water poured freely in to holds. So great and rapid was the inrush that all efforts to keep the vessel by recourse to the pumps proved almost futile, and when the WILCANNIA hove in sight the barque was on the eve of disappearing. The situation was rendered additionally perilous from the fact that as the WILCANNIA's starboard lifeboat was launched, the gale showed no signs of abatement and the utmost difficulty was consequently experienced in navigating the boat towards the wreck. However, Mr Coulton Elliot, second officer of the WILCANNIA, and the six seamen with him, got within measurable distance after a hard struggle against dangerous seas. Owing to the heavy sea it was found impracticable to take the boat right alongside the barque, and in the emergency the expedient of hauling the men through the water by means of a rope was adopted. This method of rescue proved extremely painful in one instance, that of a seaman who had broken one of his legs by a fall aloft: but there was no help for it. He and 16 others, comprising the captain, officers and crew, were safely got to the lifeboat and soon afterwards their wants were being administered to on board the WILCANNIA. Captain J.W. Dunham, the master of the ill-starred barque, reported that during the gale which caused such destruction one of his crew was killed falling to the deck. The barque was abandoned altogether as soon as the work of the rescue had been completed, and the WILCANNIA landed the ship wrecked crew at Los Palmas on the 21st January. " SignificanceThe history of the SS WILCANNIA and the Blue Anchor Line is part of the story of immigation to Australia in the 19th century. It was also a period of continual growth of trade and industry in Australian ports that was fed by the rise of steamships.