Hereward on Maroubra Beach in 1898
History
United Kingdom
NameHereward
NamesakeHereward the Wake
Owner
  • 1878: John Campbell, John Potter & others
  • 1896: The "Hereward" Ship Co
Operator1896: Potter Brothers
Port of registryLondon
BuilderRobert Duncan & Co, Port Glasgow
Launched14 August 1877
Identification
FateStranded and wrecked, 1898
General characteristics
Typeiron-hulled clipper
Tonnage1,593 GRT, 1,513 NRT
Length254.0 ft (77.4 m)
Beam39.0 ft (11.9 m)
Depth23.2 ft (7.1 m)
Sail planfull rig
Crew25
Armamentbronze signal cannon

Hereward, was British clipper ship that was built in Scotland in 1877. She had an iron hull, three masts and full rig.

The ship was wrecked at Maroubra, New South Wales in 1898. Parts of the wreck survive in situ. The Underwater Cultural Heritage Act 2018 automatically protects the wreck and its contents, as they are more than 75 years old.

Details

Robert Duncan and Company built Hereward at Port Glasgow, launching her on 14 August 1877.[1] Her registered length was 254.0 feet (77.4 m) her beam was 39.0 feet (11.9 m) and her depth was 23.2 feet (7.1 m). Her tonnages were 1,593 GRT and 1,513 NRT.[2]

Her first owners were John Campbell, John Potter, John Ashton and others. They registered her at London. Her United Kingdom was official number 77010 and her code letters were RBKV.[3]

By 1896 her owners were The "Hereward" Ship Company of London, and her managers were Potter Brothers.[4][5]

Stranding

In May 1898 Hereward was sailing from Surabaya in the Dutch East Indies to Newcastle, New South Wales to load a cargo of coal to take to South America. Her Master was Captain Poole Hickman Gore (1861–1920).

On 5 May a storm forced her aground at the north end of Maroubra Beach, Sydney.[6] All 25 crew members safely got ashore, where they reached a nearby wool scouring works.[7][8][9][10]

Attempted salvage

The wreck in 1898 with a crowd of onlookers

The ship was insured for £6,000. After a few months it was sold for £550 to Mahlon Clarke Cowlishaw (1844–1900), of Cowlishaw Brothers, Sydney merchants and ship-owners,[11] who bought the wreck for salvage.[12][13]

On 9 December 1898 it was attempted to refloat the Hereward. With the two tugs, Commodore[14] and Irresistible,[15] pulling on cables connected to the anchor 1,000 feet (300 m), and using steam winches aboard, they got the ship into 14 feet (4.3 m) of water. However, as the ship was nearly free, a southerly gale blew up and pushed her back onto the beach, where she was battered by high seas and broken in two.[16]

Wreck and heritage

The wreck was slowly washed out to sea afterwards and by 1937 only a triangle dorsal fin was visible above sea level.[17] In 1950, Randwick Council feared of the danger that the remains posed to surfers and swimmers and had the remains blasted such that by 1967 it appeared that there was nothing left of the ship.[18]

In recent times, on various occasions, swells and sweeping currents have moved large amounts of sand on the sea floor and had exposed extensive portions of the Hereward. In March 2013 after large seas, extensive parts of her iron hull, along with mast parts were exposed more than they ever had been before. In 2013 a bronze signal cannon was recovered from the wreck and is now on display in the foyer of the Maroubra Seals Club, across the road from the beach.[19][20][21][22][23][24]

Hereward Street

Hereward Street in Maroubra is named after the ship.[25]

References

  1. ↑ "Hereward". Scottish Built Ships. Caledonian Maritime Research Trust. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
  2. ↑ Lloyd's Register of British and Foreign Shipping. Lloyd's Register. 1878. HER. Retrieved 30 May 2022 – via Internet Archive.
  3. ↑ Mercantile Navy List. 1878. p. 303. Retrieved 30 May 2022 – via Crew List Index Project.
  4. ↑ "Sailing Vessels". Lloyd's Register of British and Foreign Shipping. Lloyd's Register. 1896. HER. Retrieved 30 May 2022 – via Internet Archive.
  5. ↑ Mercantile Navy List. 1896. p. 504. Retrieved 30 May 2022 – via Crew List Index Project.
  6. ↑ "The Stranding of the Hereward: Marine Board Inquiry". The Sydney Morning Herald. 13 May 1898. p. 3. Retrieved 14 February 2018 – via Trove.
  7. ↑ "Wreck of the Hereward: Ashore at Maroubra Bay: A Wild Night at Sea". The Daily Telegraph. 7 May 1898. p. 9. Retrieved 14 February 2018 – via Trove.
  8. ↑ "The Mate's Story: Rockets Fired Without Avail: How the Crew Landed". The Daily Telegraph. 7 May 1898. p. 9. Retrieved 14 February 2018 – via Trove.
  9. ↑ "The Hereward Wreck: Sunday at Maroubra Beach: Thousands of Spectators". The Evening News. 10 May 1898. p. 3. Retrieved 14 February 2018 – via Trove.
  10. ↑ "Last Week's Disastrous Gale". The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser. 14 May 1898. pp. 1018, 1019, 1040. Retrieved 14 February 2018 – via Trove.
  11. ↑ "An Australian Merchant Prince". The Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate. 21 July 1900. p. 5. Retrieved 14 February 2018 – via Trove.
  12. ↑ "Maroubra Bay — Prospects of Floating Off The Hereward". The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser. 21 May 1898. p. 1072. Retrieved 14 February 2018 – via Trove.
  13. ↑ "The Stranded Ship Hereward". The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser. 16 July 1898. pp. 150, 151. Retrieved 14 February 2018 – via Trove.
  14. ↑ "Commodore". Tyne Tugs and Tug Builders. Shipping and Shipbuilding Research Trust. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
  15. ↑ "A Stubborn End: Tug Irresistible Sunk". The Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate. 28 August 1931. p. 8. Retrieved 14 February 2018 – via Trove.
  16. ↑ "The Stranded Ship Hereward: Now a Complete Wreck: She Gets Out But the Big Cable Breaks". The Sydney Morning Herald. 12 December 1898. p. 7. Retrieved 14 February 2018 – via Trove.
  17. ↑ Rutherford, RL (13 December 1947). "Hereward — Unpopular Wreck". The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 12. Retrieved 14 February 2018 – via Trove.
  18. ↑ "The Hereward is gone at last". The World's News. 5 December 1953. p. 20. Retrieved 14 February 2018 – via Trove.
  19. ↑ "Hereward". NSW Government Office of Environment & Heritage. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
  20. ↑ "Hereward Cannon" (PDF). Newsletter of the Australasian Society for Historical Archaeology. 43 (2): 16–18. June 2013. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
  21. ↑ "Maroubra Shipwreck Cannon Recovered". NSW Department of Planning and Environment. 27 March 2013. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
  22. ↑ "Hereward Cannon" (PDF). Seals Sayings. No. 2330. Maroubra Seals Sports & Community Club. 26 February 2015. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
  23. ↑ "Hereward Cannon: Handover Ceremony". Maroubra Seals Sports & Community Club. 7 December 2017. Archived from the original on 26 February 2022. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
  24. ↑ "Hereward cannon comes home". The Daily Telegraph. 19 December 2017. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
  25. ↑ Gilchrist, Catie (2015), "Maroubra", The Dictionary of Sydney, Sydney: Dictionary of Sydney Trust.

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