A Narrative of the Melancholy Wreck of the "Dunbar," Merchant Ship, on the South Head of Port Jackson, August 20th, 1875 — John Shaqi
A Narrative of the Melancholy Wreck of the "Dunbar," Merchant Ship, on the South Head of Port Jackson, August 20th, 1875Anonymous
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A Narrative of the Melancholy Wreck of the "Dunbar," Merchant Ship, on the South Head of Port Jackson, August 20th, 1875
Anonymous
Dunbar (Ship); Shipwrecks -- Australia -- New South Wales
One good result of this will probably be that we shall at length have
proper arrangements for lighting the rocky portal of our harbour, and
for something less feeble and inefficient than our present Pilot
system; crying defects for which it is ungenerous and unjust to blame a
Government recently formed, and still struggling against a powerful
Opposition. These two discreditable items are legacies for which, others
are virtually, although no longer legally, responsible. The following
practical remarks from a well known Colonial author on these matters
appeared in the _Sydney Morning Herald_ of the 26th instant, and seem to
merit particular attention. "I begin," says the writer, "by denying the
assertion often made, that Sydney Heads are safe to enter in any
weather; still, let it be understood that I speak of nightwork only.
With the wind off the land, smooth water, moon, stars, and all other
assistances of that kind, it may be well enough, but even then it is fit
to shake the nerves of a man coming off a long voyage, when he gets
fairly in the entrance--for the light is then lost--and sees nothing but
the towers of black rock in one unbroken line frowning defiance at him.
If such be the coast when a weather-shore, what must it be when a lee
one. The harbour is well enough to _make_, no one can contradict that,
but with a strong wind blowing on the land--the ship scudding, and thick
sudden showers of rain, the characteristic of our east winds, making the
darkness impenetrable; there perhaps is not another port in the world
more terribly confusing to a seaman to _enter_ than the loudly-lauded
one of Sydney. In most other ports, or estuaries, many mistakes may be
made, and yet with little or no loss of life; here there only can be one
made, but that is the final and fatal one. An error of a little
half-mile, as in the case of the poor Dunbar, and all is lost; a single
look from the most inexperienced eye reads on that rampart of cliffs
nothing but rude and mangled death. If I have said anything to shake the
general belief that Sydney is such a safe port to enter, let us now see
what may be done to make it safer, and to prevent, if possible, by human
means, the recurrence of two such shipwrecks as have slain their
hundreds before our eyes. [Alluding to the wreck of the Edward Lombe in
1834.] Although with only an interval of some twenty-three years between
them, methinks we have had time to think over the matter, and now to
move ourselves.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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