The Foundering of the Inflexible
Just after midnight on the morning of Monday 26 August 1889, Charles Goard, master of the harbour steam tug, Inflexible, steered his ship out from Lavender Bay on a course towards Coalcliff in search of inward-bound sailing vessels requiring a tow.
All was well until 3:30am when the Inflexible, now 10 miles off the ‘Sisters Rocks’ to the south of Port Hacking, pitched in the lumpy sea and fell heavily into a trough with a hard jolt. Alarmed by the shock, Captain Goard, who had been lying below in his berth, clambered up on deck to ascertain the cause of the abrupt bump. But as the steamer hadn’t collided with anything obvious and appeared to have escaped unharmed, the captain soon returned to his bunk and the Inflexible continued on her passage.
Suddenly at 5:30am, a tremendous rush of steam and loud hissing from the engine room sent the fireman rushing to raise all hands. As water gushed in towards the furnaces and heated boiler, the fireman – fearing a blow up – urgently tried to rake out the flames. This was no easy task and by the time he had finished hauling out the last of the blaze, the water was waist deep – and rising.
The Inflexible’s crew of six worked desperately at the donkey and hand pumps, but with the water gaining at the rate of 1ft every 15 minutes in a shallow vessel of just 8ft, there wasn’t a second to lose. After half an hour at the pumps Captain Goard saw no alternative but to order all to abandon the foundering ship.
For the next 45 minutes the crew stood by in the lifeboat and watched as the doomed Inflexible gradually sank, stern first, beneath the angry waves. There was no time to save any effects other than the compass and glasses.
It was then that the crew noticed some large pieces of wrecked timber – some 60-70ft long – afloat in the water. Was this what the ship had fallen upon as it crashed about in the waves and thereby caused the fateful crack in the bottom of the steamer?
With the Inflexible gone, the men found themselves alone on the rough seas some 12 miles from shore. Together they pulled their lifeboat in a north-westerly direction in an attempt to pick up with the collier, the Governor Blackall, but the dark and squally night prevented their being seen. There was nothing for it but to turn the dinghy around and row towards shore. Finally seven hours later, the drenched and exhausted crew, pulled in safely to Port Hacking. They then proceeded to the Oriental Hotel at Cronulla where the proprietor, Joseph Springall, ensured that Captain Goard and his crew were ‘most hospitably entertained.’
This, however, was not quite the end of the story.
The following week, the Inflexible’s crew – William Langstone (engineer), Thomas Halstead (fireman and nephew to the owner), Duncan McDonald (fireman), Thomas Holmes (mate), Ralph Thompson (deck hand), and Charles Goard (master) – were called up before the Marine Board for an inquiry into the foundering of the steam tug; the cause of which the insurance company believed was ‘enshrouded in mystery’. Not only had the amount covering the Inflexible been raised from £3000 to £6000 just three months prior to its sinking – with no special survey conducted of the vessel – but the owner, James Halstead, had visited the Commercial Union Insurance Company several times in the preceding weeks in connection with the steam tug. Just three days before it sank, Halstead again visited the CUIC office to make enquiries into whether the company would cover the Inflexible on a projected trip to Melbourne. There were even allegations from a previous commander of the Inflexible, a William Jewell, that Halstead had once instructed him to ‘take her outside and sink her.’ The intriguingly named Dr Sly, who appeared on behalf of the master and owner of the vessel, objected strongly to this evidence.
After deliberation, the Marine Board found the Inflexible had indeed sunk after unaccountably springing a leak which caused her to founder, and there was no evidence with which they could charge the captain, Charles Goard, with default.
All was well until 3:30am when the Inflexible, now 10 miles off the ‘Sisters Rocks’ to the south of Port Hacking, pitched in the lumpy sea and fell heavily into a trough with a hard jolt. Alarmed by the shock, Captain Goard, who had been lying below in his berth, clambered up on deck to ascertain the cause of the abrupt bump. But as the steamer hadn’t collided with anything obvious and appeared to have escaped unharmed, the captain soon returned to his bunk and the Inflexible continued on her passage.
Suddenly at 5:30am, a tremendous rush of steam and loud hissing from the engine room sent the fireman rushing to raise all hands. As water gushed in towards the furnaces and heated boiler, the fireman – fearing a blow up – urgently tried to rake out the flames. This was no easy task and by the time he had finished hauling out the last of the blaze, the water was waist deep – and rising.
The Inflexible’s crew of six worked desperately at the donkey and hand pumps, but with the water gaining at the rate of 1ft every 15 minutes in a shallow vessel of just 8ft, there wasn’t a second to lose. After half an hour at the pumps Captain Goard saw no alternative but to order all to abandon the foundering ship.
For the next 45 minutes the crew stood by in the lifeboat and watched as the doomed Inflexible gradually sank, stern first, beneath the angry waves. There was no time to save any effects other than the compass and glasses.
It was then that the crew noticed some large pieces of wrecked timber – some 60-70ft long – afloat in the water. Was this what the ship had fallen upon as it crashed about in the waves and thereby caused the fateful crack in the bottom of the steamer?
With the Inflexible gone, the men found themselves alone on the rough seas some 12 miles from shore. Together they pulled their lifeboat in a north-westerly direction in an attempt to pick up with the collier, the Governor Blackall, but the dark and squally night prevented their being seen. There was nothing for it but to turn the dinghy around and row towards shore. Finally seven hours later, the drenched and exhausted crew, pulled in safely to Port Hacking. They then proceeded to the Oriental Hotel at Cronulla where the proprietor, Joseph Springall, ensured that Captain Goard and his crew were ‘most hospitably entertained.’
This, however, was not quite the end of the story.
The following week, the Inflexible’s crew – William Langstone (engineer), Thomas Halstead (fireman and nephew to the owner), Duncan McDonald (fireman), Thomas Holmes (mate), Ralph Thompson (deck hand), and Charles Goard (master) – were called up before the Marine Board for an inquiry into the foundering of the steam tug; the cause of which the insurance company believed was ‘enshrouded in mystery’. Not only had the amount covering the Inflexible been raised from £3000 to £6000 just three months prior to its sinking – with no special survey conducted of the vessel – but the owner, James Halstead, had visited the Commercial Union Insurance Company several times in the preceding weeks in connection with the steam tug. Just three days before it sank, Halstead again visited the CUIC office to make enquiries into whether the company would cover the Inflexible on a projected trip to Melbourne. There were even allegations from a previous commander of the Inflexible, a William Jewell, that Halstead had once instructed him to ‘take her outside and sink her.’ The intriguingly named Dr Sly, who appeared on behalf of the master and owner of the vessel, objected strongly to this evidence.
After deliberation, the Marine Board found the Inflexible had indeed sunk after unaccountably springing a leak which caused her to founder, and there was no evidence with which they could charge the captain, Charles Goard, with default.
References
- Latest intelligence (1889, August 27). Goulburn Evening Penny Post, p. 2.
- Foundering of the steamer Inflexible (1889, August 28). The Sydney Morning Herald, p. 10.
- Foundering of a Steam Tug (1889, August 29). The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, p. 6.
- The foundering of the steam tug Inflexible (1889, September 3). The Sydney Morning Herald, p. 3.
- Marine Board inquiry (1889, September 10). The Sydney Morning Herald, p. 4.
- Marine Board inquiry (1889, September 14). The Sydney Morning Herald, p. 14.