The SS Georgette Shipwreck and Rescue

Shipwreck and rescue at Calgardup Bay

On 1 December 1876, a steamship broke up on the coast south of Margaret River. The people who came to the rescue included a sixteen-year-old girl and an Aboriginal stockman whose part in the story was long overlooked.

From Scotland to Western Australia

The Georgette was built to carry coal. Four years after leaving a shipyard in Scotland, she lay wrecked in the surf near Margaret River, her passengers struggling to reach shore. Between those two events, the little steamship had carried mail, timber and travellers along the Western Australian coast, survived an earlier grounding and even taken part in the pursuit of an American whaler involved in a prison escape.

She was built in October 1872 by McKellar, McMillan & Co. at Dumbarton, on the River Clyde in Scotland. An iron-hulled steamship, she measured about 46 metres long and nearly seven metres across the beam. Her compound engine, built by Smith Brothers of Glasgow, produced around 48 horsepower and drove a single screw. She also carried two masts and sails, a useful addition when steam power failed or coal ran short.

Her registered tonnage is usually given as about 212 tons, although some sources quote a gross tonnage of approximately 337. These figures measure different things, so they are not contradictory. In either case, she was a modest coastal steamer rather than a ship built for long ocean crossings.

Thomas Connor of Fremantle bought her in Britain for £14,000. Associated with the local firm Connor and McKay, he brought the vessel to Western Australia, where she arrived in September 1873. A proposal to rename her Western Australia apparently came to nothing. She remained the Georgette.

The colony needed reliable links between its scattered settlements. Overland journeys were slow, and sailing vessels depended on winds that did not always cooperate with a timetable. The Georgette entered a government-contracted service carrying mail, passengers and cargo between Fremantle and ports including Bunbury, Busselton, Albany and Champion Bay, now Geraldton. She also made voyages to Adelaide for maintenance and overhaul.

Her career began badly. In October 1873, only weeks after arriving in Western Australia, she grounded on Murray Reef. The hull was damaged, and the ship was in danger of sinking as she made her way to Careening Bay for repairs. She eventually returned to service.

In April 1876, she found herself involved in an affair rather more political than her usual coastal run. Six Irish Fenian prisoners had escaped from Fremantle Prison with the help of the American whaling ship Catalpa. The colonial authorities sent the Georgette, carrying police and armed with a 12-pounder gun, to intercept the whaler. The steamer fired a warning shot, but the Catalpa's captain claimed protection under the American flag and asserted that he was in international waters. The Georgette withdrew, and the escaped prisoners continued their journey to America.

The ship had been in Western Australian waters for only a few years. Her last voyage was approaching.

A cargo of jarrah and a boatload of passengers

On 29 November 1876, the Georgette left Fremantle for Adelaide under Captain John Godfrey. She was to call at Bunbury, Busselton and Albany along the way. About fifty passengers were aboard, accompanied by a crew of around twenty-two.

Among the passengers was Thomas Connor, the ship's part-owner. The Dempster brothers, James and William, were also travelling, as was George Leake, a young man who would later become Premier of Western Australia. Other passengers included Mrs Herbert Dixon and her children, Mrs Stammers, Mrs Simpson and her child, Mrs Maxwell and her children, and Mrs Davis and her child. Several of the women were travelling with young children, a detail that would become painfully important the following morning.

The crew included chief officer William Dundee, second mate John Dewar, chief engineer William Sinclair and second engineer Joseph Hourigan. There were stewards, a stewardess named Ann Breman, firemen, able seamen, a cook and boys. Spellings of some names vary in the surviving accounts.

The cargo was largely made up of local produce and materials bound for sale elsewhere. At Bunbury, the ship took on 145 loads of jarrah, worth £870. Some of the pieces were more than nine metres long, and one heavy piece fell into the hold during loading. From Fremantle came twenty-five bales of leather, two casks of whale oil and 260 hides. The combined value of the cargo was recorded as £1,257 10 shillings.

The Georgette left Busselton, then generally known as the Vasse, on the afternoon of 30 November. The voyage south and east towards Albany should have been routine. Before midnight, however, water began entering the vessel.

The leak

The leak developed around midnight on 30 November. The ship's pumps, including the steam pump, could not keep up with the incoming water. By about four in the morning, passengers and crew were bailing with buckets. The ship was turned towards the coast in the hope of reaching land before she sank.

As the water rose, it eventually extinguished the boiler fires. Around six o'clock, the engine could no longer power the vessel. The sails were set, and the Georgette continued towards the shore.

James Dempster, one of the passengers, later wrote to his parents about the disaster. His account is particularly useful because he had witnessed the events himself. He recalled seeing crew members pouring water into the engine pump before departure, suggesting that the machinery may already have been faulty. He described the sea as rough but did not consider it beyond what a seaworthy ship ought to have withstood.

There had, in fact, been an earlier warning. During the evening of 30 November, an engineer had reported trouble with the bilge pump. Unusual water levels had also been observed, but nobody properly investigated the problem before the situation deteriorated. The inquiry that followed would focus heavily on this failure to act.

The initial cause of the leak was never established with certainty. It was possible that the ship had struck something after leaving Busselton, but there was no conclusive proof. The loading of the heavy jarrah was also examined, since a falling piece of timber might have damaged the hull. The inquiry found no evidence that the loading had caused the damage.

With the engine out of action and the coast still some distance away, the crew began launching the lifeboats.

The first boat was already leaky. It was lowered and loaded with about three men and fourteen women and children. In the confused conditions, it was brought alongside and then moved beneath the ship's stern. A wave forced it against the vessel, and it filled and capsized. Passengers were thrown into the sea. Some clung to the overturned boat while others struggled to reach the ship or the people trying to help them.

The second mate, John Dewar, and passengers James and William Dempster joined crew members in pulling survivors into the ship's gig. That boat was hardly a safe refuge. It leaked, had no proper sail or rudder, and had only three oars. About twenty people, including ten adults and ten children, eventually crowded aboard.

They spent hours working towards land, bailing water as they went. At one point, they rigged a towel to make a crude sail; later, a blanket was used, with an oar serving as a mast and a piece of timber as a yard. It was improvised seamanship in desperate conditions.

The boat reached shore at about ten o'clock that night, after roughly twelve hours at sea. The landing was somewhere in the vicinity of Quininup Brook, north of the wreck, although accounts identify the location variously as Injidup or Indijup. Exhausted and wet, the survivors made their way inland in search of help. A bullock team eventually carried members of the group, including the Dempsters and several crew members, to Yelverton's sawmill at Quindalup.

Their escape was a rescue in its own right. The Dempster brothers, Dewar and the other crew members had pulled people from the water and then navigated a small, damaged boat to shore. Without their efforts, the loss of life might have been greater.

Meanwhile, the Georgette was still in trouble.

Sam Isaacs sees the ship

As the ship drifted towards the coast, Sam Isaacs was out looking for cattle in the hills. Known by his Noongar name, Yebble, he worked for the Bussell family and knew the country well. From higher ground, he saw the vessel in distress, dangerously close to shore.

There was no radio and no organised rescue service to call upon. Sam had to recognise the danger and decide what to do. He rode roughly twenty kilometres to Wallcliffe House, the Bussell family's home near the Margaret River, and raised the alarm with Alfred Bussell. According to the account preserved by the Margaret River and Districts Historical Society, Bussell told him to take ropes and equipment and return to the coast.

Sam's background is worth knowing. His father, Sam Isaacs Senior, was an African American whaler who arrived in the Busselton district in the 1830s. His mother was a Wardandi Noongar woman who died when he was born in 1845. He was raised by Anne Dawson alongside her own son and grew up to become a skilled bushman. He later worked for the Bussell family at Ellensbrook and Wallcliffe.

When Sam set out again, Grace Bussell, Alfred's sixteen-year-old daughter, insisted on accompanying him. Her father initially refused, according to later family accounts, but she persisted and went with Sam on horseback.

They returned to the coast near Calgardup Bay, close to the mouth of Calgardup Brook and the beach now known as Redgate. The Georgette had been driven towards a sandbank and was breaking up in heavy surf. People were still trying to get ashore, and another attempt to use a boat had ended with it being swamped or capsized. Survivors were clinging to the wreckage and overturned boats in the breakers.

The sea was dangerous even for experienced swimmers. Waves of around two metres were reported. Sam and Grace rode their horses down the coastal slope and into the water. The horses became a means of bringing people through the surf to safety. Survivors clung to the saddles, manes and tails, or to the riders themselves, as the animals made their way back towards shore.

The popular version of the rescue tends to give Grace the leading role. Newspapers of the time compared her to Grace Darling, the young Englishwoman celebrated for her part in a sea rescue in 1838. But the account Sam later gave, recalled to Edward Kinsella and preserved through his family, describes events somewhat differently.

In this version, Grace entered the water only once. Sam warned her to be careful because a horse moving among people in the surf could knock them down or drown them. A woman and child caught hold of the horse's tail, and the animal carried them towards shore. Sam, meanwhile, went into the water repeatedly.

The family recollection also describes a man who had reached land with a rope lifeline made from the ship's mast. Once it was secured ashore, others were able to use it to reach safety.

Other accounts describe Grace making repeated trips through the surf. The precise division of work between the two rescuers remains uncertain. Sam's recollection was recorded later rather than written down at the scene, and should not be treated as the final word on every detail. It does, however, provide a useful counterweight to early newspaper accounts that celebrated Grace while giving little attention to Sam.

What is clear is that Sam first spotted the ship, travelled to Wallcliffe for help and returned with Grace. Both took part in the rescue. The work continued for more than four hours, and the remaining survivors were brought ashore.

Shelter at Wallcliffe

The rescued passengers were taken to Wallcliffe House, where the Bussell family gave them shelter, food and dry clothing. In a district where settlements were widely separated and transport was slow, the homestead became a temporary refuge for people who had lost their ship and, in some cases, members of their families.

Not all the survivors had come ashore at Calgardup Bay. The Dempsters' boat had landed farther north, and those passengers and crew had made their own way to safety. On the Sunday morning, the schooner Ione left the Vasse to search for the wreck. It could not get close to the stricken vessel but picked up some survivors who had reached shore and carried them to Busselton.

News of the disaster travelled by telegraph. Offices in Perth and Fremantle stayed open as people sought information about those aboard. The distance between the wreck and the colony's main settlements made the wait difficult; there was no quick way to establish who had survived and who had been lost.

Among the survivors was George Leake, who would later become Premier of Western Australia. Thomas Connor, the ship's part-owner, also survived.

The death toll is less clear than one might expect. The Western Australian Museum's shipwreck database records twelve deaths, while a memorial at Redgate Beach, erected in 1960, gives eight. Other accounts identify seven people lost in the first lifeboat disaster, including Mrs Davis and her child, Mrs Maxwell and two children, and the eight-year-old daughter of Mrs Herbert Dixon. A boy named Osborne was also reportedly found dead in his bunk. The records do not reconcile neatly, so the commonly reported figure of twelve should be treated with some caution.

The inquiry

The Court of Inquiry met at Busselton from 21 to 26 December 1876. Five charges were brought against Captain John Godfrey. They covered the loading of the jarrah at Bunbury, the condition and number of the lifeboats, placing passengers in a leaky boat, the chief officer's certificate and the state of the pumps.

The heavy timber came under scrutiny because one piece had fallen into the hold during loading. It was a reasonable line of enquiry: if the timber had struck the hull hard enough, it might have caused damage. But the inquiry found no evidence that the cargo had been loaded so carelessly as to cause the leak. Edward Henry Withers, who had helped load the timber, argued that other pieces would have absorbed the impact. He thought the ship might instead have struck something after leaving Busselton.

Some passengers suspected deliberate scuttling, but the allegation was investigated and dismissed. It did not become a formal charge.

The inquiry's findings pointed instead to neglected warning signs and failures in the handling of the emergency. Godfrey was acquitted of the five formal charges but found guilty of a grave error of judgement for failing to investigate the reported pump problem on the evening before the wreck. The chief engineer, William Sinclair, was acquitted of neglect because he had not directly reported the unusual water level to the captain. Second engineer Joseph Hourigan was found guilty of neglect for failing to investigate the leak he had noticed. Chief officer William Dundee was found guilty of disobeying an order to veer the lifeboat astern, a decision linked to the loss of life.

Godfrey's master's certificate was suspended for eighteen months. Dundee's certificate of competency was cancelled, and Hourigan's was suspended for twelve months. The inquiry suggested manslaughter charges against Godfrey and Dundee, although the final outcome of any such proceedings is unclear in the surviving records.

The precise cause of the leak remained unresolved. What the inquiry did establish was that a warning about the pumps had not been properly investigated and that the lifeboats were poorly suited to the conditions. By the time the ship was abandoned, there was little margin for error.

Godfrey later commanded the brig Laughing Wave. He died at sea off North West Cape in 1882. Later accounts describe his death as suicide, while an older recollection suggested that he had disappeared while sleepwalking. The circumstances are uncertain.

The ship and its cargo

The Georgette was a total loss. In January 1877, the remains of the vessel, its engines, machinery and unsaved cargo were put up for auction. The sale notice listed 546 pieces of sawn jarrah, about 140 loads, along with the remaining whale oil, leather and hides. The hull sold for just £40.

Some items survived the wreck and the subsequent salvage. The ship's bell, recovered by members of the Yelverton family, is held by the Augusta Historical Museum. A small cabinet from the captain's cabin is in the Busselton Museum. In March 1964, divers recovered the ship's nearly three-metre, four-bladed iron propeller, but it was later lost beneath sand after being dragged ashore.

The wreck lies about 90 to 100 metres offshore from the mouth of Calgardup Brook, in roughly five metres of water. Parts of it may be visible beneath the surface in calm conditions. A memorial and plaque overlook the site at Redgate Beach, and the remains are protected under Australian underwater cultural heritage law.

Remembering the rescuers

Grace Bussell received letters of congratulations from far beyond Western Australia, along with marriage proposals. The Royal Humane Society awarded her a silver medal, and the British Government's Board of Trade presented her with a gold watch. Her certificate of bravery, dated 8 January 1878, is held by the State Library of Western Australia.

Sam Isaacs received a bronze medal from the Royal Humane Society and a grant of 100 acres of land, known as Location 243, near the Margaret River. The land became his farm, Fernbrook. He had been the person who first spotted the vessel in distress and rode to seek help, yet his public recognition never matched Grace's during his lifetime. Newspapers often referred to him in passing, while Grace's story travelled widely.

Other rescuers also received recognition. John Dewar and James Noonan were awarded certificates of merit by the Royal Humane Society, and James Dempster received a bravery certificate for his part in saving passengers from the lifeboat. His brother William, who had also helped, did not receive the same acknowledgement.

Later historical work has helped restore Sam's part in the story. In 2021, the locality of Yebble was officially named in his honour, following a community initiative supported by the Undalup Association and his descendants.

The wreck of the Georgette is still there, just offshore from Redgate Beach. The iron hull has broken apart and much of it lies beneath sand, but the story survives in survivor accounts, inquiry records, newspaper reports and local family histories. They tell of a ship whose pumps failed, a lifeboat that capsized, passengers who struggled for hours to reach land, and people on shore who acted without knowing how many lives they might save.

The image of Grace Bussell on horseback in the surf has endured for nearly 150 years. Alongside it belongs the story of Sam Isaacs, who saw the danger and went for help, and of the passengers and crew who fought to save one another before the rescuers arrived.

Sources and further reading