The two-masted wooden ketch Sir Wilfred Lawson was wrecked on Gilbert Reef at Port Moorowie on 20th March 1908. The ketch had been built by James Eden Heron at Southport in Tasmania in 1878. Its Official Number was 57588. Its dimensions are given as having been 72.2 feet x 20.2 feet x 5.8 feet, and either 47 or 52-ton.
As I wrote in the MLSSA
Newsletter for May 1999, “Both books (Peter Christopher's book " South
Australian Shipwrecks - A Data Base 1802-1989" and Ron Parson's book
"Ketches of South Australia") give her measurements and tonnage,
although Parsons gives 52 tons (measured tonnage) whilst Christopher gives 47
tons which he describes as a "measure of volume, not weight, with one ton
equalling 100 cubic feet". Parsons describes tonnage as "Measurement,
not displacement or deadweight but calculated upon all enclosed space, less
certain legal deductions, and worked out at an arbitrary rate of so many cubic
feet to a ton (originally 'tun')". For more details on this topic refer to
my article "More About the Tonnage Of Ships" in our November
1998 Newsletter (No.250).”
Jack Loney says ‘41 tons’ in “Wrecks on the South Australian
Coast”.
Port Moorowie was once considered to be the best site for a
deep seaport (instead of Giles Point) but this was probably decided against
because it is subject to southerly gales. It had always been a “nightmare” port
due to exposure to the rough seas of the Southern Ocean.
Around 1995, a team of divers recovered the bell from the Sir
Wilfred Lawson at Port Moorowie.
Three divers and
the bell from the Sir Wilfred Lawson
(Photo courtesy of
Greg Adams, The Advertiser & DEWNR)
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