A Narrative of the Melancholy Wreck of the "Dunbar," Merchant Ship, on the South Head of Port Jackson, August 20th, 1875Anonymous
History
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
The excitement in the city continued very great all day, and thousands
of persons went down to the Heads. The description of what had been so
appalling to the gazing multitude on Friday, still remained but too
strictly applicable to the same scene in the vicinity of the Gap at the
foot of the rocks (_see Engraving_). To quote the vivid language of the
_Era_ Newspaper.--"It was manifest that the ill-fated vessel must have
struck when all on board had retired to rest, as the majority of the
bodies were in a state of complete nudity or only covered with night
dresses.
Corpses of men, women, and children, some of them fearfully mutilated,
were dashed against the beetling crags, and as rapidly borne back again
by the relentless surge, while here and there, heads or limbs which had
been torn off by repeated concussions against the rocks, were thrown up
as if in jeering mockery by the very element that had caused their
destruction.
The sea was strewn with portions of the wreck, bedding, and wearing
apparel; in fact, it was impossible for a vessel to move a yard without
encountering fresh evidence of the extent of the heart-rending
calamity."
At about noon, it was reported that a solitary survivor from the wreck
had been seen alive, far below, under the cliffs, and that exertions
were being promptly made in the hope of rescuing him from his dreadful
situation. Coffins were sent off down the harbour by the Washington, for
the dead, and such mangled remains as could be recovered, and tackle
&c., to draw up the living man, if such there were, to the top of the
precipice. This report as to one poor fellow having escaped, proved
true, but it gave rise to many others, as to three or four similar cases
having occurred, which were unhappily without foundation. More than four
or five brave hearts signalized themselves in this affair, and in their
hazardous and often successful efforts at rescuing the lifeless bodies
from the action of the waves. The man thus found alive and comparatively
uninjured (although of course in a very exhausted state) gave his name
as James Johnson, one of the crew of the Dunbar as soon as he came a
little to himself. An interesting account of this will be found
subjoined in the form of a letter, from the Mayor of Sydney, published
in the "Herald" Newspaper of Monday. He seemed to think that the Captain
must have mistaken the Gap for the true entrance to the harbour, as he
went on all sails set. He remembered little or nothing after, until he
found himself on the ledge of the rocks, stunned and stupid. Further
particulars were now constantly received of portions of the wreck,
which, from want of space, we cannot here state in detail. The following
particulars appeared in the second supplement of the "Herald" of this
day (Saturday.)
[FROM A VISITOR TO THE HEADS.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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