In late May 1857 Dunbar departed London on its second voyage to Australia, carrying 63 passengers, 59 crew and a substantial cargo, including dyes for the colony’s first postage stamps, machinery, furniture, trade tokens, cutlery, manufactured and fine goods, food and alcohol. After a relatively fast voyage the vessel approached Port Jackson on the night of 20 August 1857 in a rising south-easterly gale and bad visibility. The Macquarie Light near South Head could be seen between squalls, however the night was very dark and the land almost invisible, Shortly before midnight Captain Green – a veteran of eight visits to Sydney – estimated the ship was six miles away from the harbour entrance and ordered the vessel on, keeping the Macquarie Light on the port (left) bow.

Shortly afterwards the urgent cry of ‘Breakers Ahead’ was heard from the second mate in the forepeak. Captain Green, confused by the squalls, and believing the vessel had sailed too far towards North Head mistakenly ordered the helm hard to port. In doing so the vessel sailed closer towards the cliffs instead of the entrance to The Heads and struck the cliffs just south of the signal station at South Head – midway between the lighthouse and The Gap. Within a few minutes the ship had begun to break up. All 63 passengers and 58 of the 59 crew perished in the disaster.

Part of the cargo of the Dunbar consisted of two shipments of stoves from the company Garton & Jarvis of Exeter in Devon, England. One consignment was shipped by Reed & Hawley, Shipping Agents, London destined for Australia and thence to New Zealand. The second was a consignment ordered by William McDonnell, who was connected with the Colonial Stores in Sydney. The total number of stoves on board (packed in sections for shipping and ready for assembly) was in excess of 40. The models shipped included the Medium, Exonian and the Cottage.

What remains of these stoves – still identifiable – are two vents. On assembly a vent would have been fixed to the door enabling the controlled flow of air.

Ambrose Parker Jarvis and John Garton formed the company Garton & Jarvis in 1836 (although the history of the company can be traced back to 1661) and specialised in wrought iron work, gates, railings, fire grates and fire fenders. With the purchase of Kingdom & Sons in the mid-1840s Garton & Jarvis branched out into greenhouse heating, commercial, large domestic and cottage stoves.

At the Great Exhibition of 1851, Garton & Jarvis won two bronze medals for their portable stoves and following a commendation from Prince Albert, who had installed a Garton & Jarvis Cottage stove in his Model Cottage in Hyde Park, they were appointed stove makers to Queen Victoria. By 1857 Garton & Jarvis stoves were being exported all over the world including the Australian colonies.

In 1865 Ambrose Jarvis died and John Gould King joined the firm which was renamed Garton & King. Two years after the name change John Garton died – and a new partner named Munk briefly joined the firm creating King & Munk, but this was not a success, the partnership dissolved, and the Garton & King name was reinstated.

Stoves like this were shipped to Australia on the Dunbar

Garton & King became a limited company in 1925 and the foundry was relocated to the outskirts of the city in 1939. It was involved in wartime manufacture but reverted back to production of municipal castings such as gullies, inspection covers, bollards, lamp standards, gear wheels and pulleys. The production of cast iron ranges declined in the early 1900s although the company became one of the first agents for the AGA cooker in the very early 1930s. The foundry closed in 1990 and following a buy-out continues to trade as it did in Garton & Jarvis’s day under the ‘Sign of the Golden Hammer’. Today it trades as GartonKing Appliances retailing quality kitchen equipment and AGA and Rayburn cookers.

These two surviving vents are tangible links to a company with a very long heritage indeed.

With thanks to Richard Holladay who provided much of the company  information above. The complete history of the company is to be found at www.exeterfoundry.org.uk

Lindsey Shaw

Senior curator

Latitude: 38⁰ 01’S

Longitude: 134⁰ 18.0’E

Distance travelled: 125 NM

Average Speed: 5.2 knots

Weather: Strong Gale, Southerly Winds with 6 meter sea’s.

Sooo… here we are again! And the conditions are exciting!

Late in the afternoon of the 29^th, the voyage crew and professional crew were making preparations for the heavy weather ahead. This has been forecasted for a couple of days now and all the crew have been very excited with its expected arrival. As the Barometer drops, the typical cold front type of clouds appear on the horizon, with a change of wind direction and a coldness in the air….all the signs that we will be expecting some bad weather soon. All light air sails have be handed (put away) and both our Top’sails have been reefed ( shortened) Safety lines being rigged on deck and everything little object or door/hatch being lashed so there is no movement or noise whatsoever during the night, Endeavour and the crew are ready!

Once all the lashing was done and dusted, dinner was called. Just after the first sitting there was a strange gathering of people formed in the 20^th deck and to the surprise of not only the voyage crew, but some of the professional crew too, a surprise birthday celebration was announced. Malcolm of Mizzenmast watch obviously didn’t want his birthday to be a big fuss, but having a birthday on board the HMB Endeavour is always a big fuss amongst the crew.

During the night, the 2000hr to 2400hr watch (Fore Mast) experienced a subtle change and freshness of the wind, by the end of their watch Endeavour was sailing a respectable 6 knots cutting through a grey and rising sea bathed with an array of Bioluminescent creatures of all shape and size with 25 knots of wind that made an eerie spectacle. By the time Main Mast took their Watch 2400-0400 hrs the wind had dramatically increased to 40 knots, then 45 knots with gusts of over 50 knots, the sea and ship now became alive and was launching Endeavour to speeds of up to 11 knots!!. All the wishes of our voyage crew to experience an A 1 storm was now becoming a reality…..by the time our Mizzen Mast watch took the deck from 0400-0800hrs the sea’s had now built up to over 6 meters, with Endeavour now sailing at 10 knots she was now surfing down the backs of these waves to produce an all-time record of Endeavour for the Circumnavigation, a very impressive speed of 13 knots!

These watches definitely took all the strength of the voyage crew, with the wind battling against them as they worked the helm and did their best to keep their balance. A lot of the crew must’ve been very glad that they had brought wet weather clothing with them by the end of their watch as the spray over the deck and occasional rain which both kept them nice and damp.

Once the sun had risen and crew started to open their eyes, many were excited to see the weather conditions that they hadn’t been able to see whilst they were on watch during the night in the pitch black. So once they had rugged up, many took their first steps up on deck to be greeted with a wonderfully large swell, screaming winds and a lot of creaking and rolling of the ship. All of the crew wore huge grins as they walked carefully around on deck observing the perfect sailing weather that had surrounded them.

During breakfast and lunch the crew were gaining skills they hadn’t really thought about in the last few days let alone have to use them… A lot of the crew have now learnt to eat with one hand while holding onto a plate and a cup with the other, as this morning at breakfast and lunch things got rather wild and food seemed to be swapping plates as we rolled from side to side.

As we sail ever closer to our goal, the excitement within the voyage crew just seems to grow and grow, knowing that their experiences on board so far have been amazingly rewarding with perfect weather and an amazing bunch of crew mates…

All is well

Latitude: 39⁰ 37.4’S

Longitude: 132⁰ 50.7’E

Distance travelled: 52 NM

Average Speed: 2 knots

Weather Conditions: Light winds, Skies clearing.

Hello again! And as requested I have added the weather into the above information so you all know the conditions we are in during the day.

So the last 24 hours have been quite exciting for the crew, especially during the night when they were up on deck during their watches.

On the evening of the 28^th we all settled into to the ship for the night, but little did we know that over the horizon, a large blanket of fog was slowly rolling in, creating an amazing sight (or lack of sight) from up on deck. During the night the fog enclosed the ship in a huge white blanket and the damp air spread its way through the companion ways to the different decks, dampening all surfaces it could find.

Also during the night, more bioluminescence was spotted in the water, lighting up the majority of the water surrounding the ship. After a small while of gazing into the stunning “submerged stars”, another crew member spotted a large school of fish slowly making its way through the lit up water.

So with all of the surrounds being taken into account with the fog blanket tightly hugging the ship, the bioluminescence in the water and the school of fish, it made to be quite a magical watch for those who witnessed it.

During the morning of the 29^th while many of the voyage crew were just relaxing in the 18^th century deck after happy hour, all hands were called up on deck. Not for the normal reason to hand sails, but all were told to bring their cameras up on deck to capture some photos of the pod of pilot whales that were visible in the distance. As more crew emerged from below the whales slowly began to swim closer to the ship and soon enough were playfully swimming through the small wake that the Endeavour was creating as she sailed. Many of the voyage crew took photos of the pod of pilot whales, there was at least 15 in the pod including some smaller calves swimming with their mothers.

The last few days have been very smooth sailing, although over the last few hours the professional crew have been preparing for the cold front that is due to pass over in the late hours of tonight, voyage crew will be helping to prepare the sails for some heavy weather sailing as we are expecting south to south easterly winds with a strength up to about 35 knots.

After such a magical 24 hours, I am pleased to say that all is well…

Latitude: 40⁰ 11.4’S

Longitude: 132⁰ 55.9’E

Distance travelled: 140 NM

Average speed: 5.8 knots

So yet again we have had a quiet 24 hours, all went as normal during the afternoon and the evening of the 27^th. As for the night time activities, during the Captains watch he took the voyage crew through the chart room, familiarising them with equipment such as radios, GPS units, Radar displays and some aspects of chart work.

In the morning there were a couple of stories about seeing bioluminescence in the water during the night, a voyage crew described this as “stars that have fallen onto the water” as it shone brightly under the small swell.

The next day patience seemed to wearing a bit thin since we have been motoring for a few days, so what does the Captain do?? “ALL HANDS ON DECK!!”. It seems that the weather patterns are now favourable for us to sail so it is all hands to set all of our squares, fore and aft’s by a very enthusiastic voyage crew! The ship is soon under billowing canvas with the “iron staysails” silent. HMB Endeavour once again becomes a ship under sail Huzzah!

After the ships sails have had set her motion on the water changes, you can almost feel Endeavour sigh in relief….as she gently cuts her way through the water now with the wind abaft the beam and gentle rolling sea’s

Fair winds and following sea’s…..for now

All is well.

Latitude: 40⁰ 12.8’S

Longitude:  130⁰ 02.0’E

Distance travelled: 158 NM

Average speed: 6.5 knots

So yet another exciting day in the Great Australian Bight! After the egg drop just after lunch a lot quietened down, until, much too every one’s surprise, all hands were called up on deck for a special “proceeding” at sunset. As the crew all waited eagerly on deck to see what the fuss was about, they watched as the captain came up from below all dressed in his official Captains uniform with his hat on and his hair tied back (that doesn’t happen very often). Much to everyone’s delight, one of our Upperyardies Eddie also suited up for the “proceeding”. Once everyone was up on deck it was announced that a couple on board had organised a special treat for us all but especially for themselves. Now as we were now in International Waters, the captain now has the authority to marry people and also renew wedding vows.

Paul and Christine have been married for 35 years and have two wonderful children out of their marriage and what better opportunity to renew your wedding vows than in the middle of the Great Australian Bight on an 18^th century tall ship?

All of the crew gathered around as the Captain made a small speech about Christine’s and Paul’s marriage and to congratulate them on their amazing success’s during that time. Afterwards, Chris and Paul made a small speech about the definite highlights of their time together, followed by a kiss, which of course, had to be followed by a cannon fire!!! As the sun set, the cannon was fired and the flag was taken down. Many photos were taken by the entire crew, who were incredibly happy and excited about the outcome of the “proceeding”.

Once again, everyone went down to the 18^th to sling their hammocks and got ready for a quiet night.

During the night the ship sailed calmly over an invisible border suddenly changing the time and of course, changing the state!!! HMB Endeavour is now in South Australia!! And conveniently enough around the same time, we also sailed to 40⁰ Latitude, so we are also in the roaring forties! As a small tradition of the professional crew, everyone dressed accordingly for the celebration of entering a new state….

The next morning was quiet with the normal routine going ahead and also a morning lecture with the Captain about weather patterns and meteorology.

And just to make it slightly odd for the next couple of days, we have decided to change to the right time over the next three days, adjusting the time half an hour a day.

All is well.

Latitude: 38⁰ 41.0’S

Longitude: 127⁰ 29.4’E

Distance travelled: 126 NM

Average speed: 5.2 knots

So here we are on day 7, half way through our 14 day voyage across the Great Australian Bight and everyone on board have quite happily fallen into a daily routine, ensuring that they get enough sleep, relaxing time and of course time on watch.

In the evening of the 25^th there was a buzz of excitement as the watches gathered in their spare time to produce their “space crafts” for the infamous “egg drop” eggstravaganza scheduled for the next day and some also worked on their performance for the last night SODS event.

During the night while the captain was up on watch, he took the members of the voyage crew who were on deck, through the stars, showing them different constellations and showing them how to “star walk” by sighting a prominent star that can refer to another prominent star and then to the another…….being over 300 Nautical Miles out to sea with a 360 degree horizon was the perfect setting.

Huzzah!! It is now Australia day! And to start the celebrations we of course began the day with!! …Happy hour… but once that was out of the way the crew were allowed to put some more work into their “space crafts”  before the competition was to begin after lunch.

For lunch yet again we had to keep another Australia day tradition, so we had some snags, lamb chops and salad while sitting up on deck listening to a playlist of some Australian classics that some of the crew had prepared earlier, not to mention a lot of the crew dressing as “Australian” as they could…

Once lunch had finished and all was packed up, the decision was made that the “egg drop” would commence at 1330 hours, so there was a quick rush for the watches to put the very final touches on their “space crafts”.

As soon as 1330 was called, all crew raced up onto the waist to watch the event, with the space crafts being scored on not only the ability to keep the egg intact, but their “technical design” their accuracy of hitting the target on deck, and how well they presented their craft.

Under the watchful eye of our Health and Safety Technicians…

The event was allowed to proceed. First came the creation from Main mast named “The Green Flash” after the phenomenal sighting at sunset a few days ago, it was made from cardboard with an “aeroplane jelly” filling and let’s just say…. Things didn’t end well for “the green flash” nor did it end well for the egg pilot inside as it was rather smashed.

Next up was Foremast’s creation, the “Spirit of Eggbert”. It was quite well made and quite solid compared to “the green flash”  also made out of cardboard but the inside was different… it had a small egg casing inside and the egg itself was cushioned with tallow. Even though it didn’t land anywhere near the target, it did however land in someone’s lap before falling to the deck, with the egg still intact.

The last contestant was Mizzenmast’s creation, “The Eggdeavour” and some of the expressions on the crews faces were easily showing what they were thinking… The Eggdeavour was a simple design with just a large cone made out of paper with rice bubbles and honey in the nose of the cone to provide some padding when it landed. Once it came time to drop it from the main course yard, the watch member who let it go chose a spot in front of the mast, to allow for wind since their space craft was so light, and with that, they let it go and it landed no more than 5cms from the Target… with the egg still INTACT!

So it was a clear win for “the Eggdeavour”… and the time to settle down after all the excitement of the morning…

All is well

Latitude: 37⁰  27.6’ S

Longitude:  124⁰  50.4’E

Distance travelled:  120 NM

Average speed:  5 knots

So after all the excitement of yesterday, the last 24 hours has been rather quiet and relaxing for the crew. During the afternoon they all settled back into their watch routines, though this time they were required to be all rugged up on deck due to the cold wind and rougher seas that had graduated during the first hours of the afternoon, causing spray over the bow and a few sets of cold hands. Once night set in, the engines were turned back on so we could gain some more ground while the majority of the crew slept.

Although during the 12-4 watch this morning, according to some of the crew there was a lot of sing-a-long happening up on the quarter deck, with the theme songs from The Lion King, The Jungle Book, The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast, along with some good old sea shanties.

Once everyone was awake for the day and the voyage crew had sat down for their morning meeting on the waist, the Captain made a special announcement. As tomorrow will be Australia Day, there have been a couple of organised activities for the day, one being the infamous “egg drop” challenge. Where each watch must design a “space craft” made out of fully biodegradable materials, to house a raw egg from the galley, it then must be able to survive the drop from the main topsail yard with the egg in one piece.

So many of our voyage crew gathered in their spare time to begin preparations for the event.

The rest of the day was normal routine and standing watches… but only until tomorrow…

All is well.

Kanimbla is moving to Hope Islet today to spend our last day of the survey.  We pulled up anchor at 8 am, it only takes half an hour to get there.  Wayne our technician from James Cook University is a mad keen fisherman.  He threw a hook in as we left and within 10 minutes he had a fish. Tonight’s dinner looks like this!  Wahoo!

We arrived at Hope Cay at 9.30 am and by 10 am the mag team was away in their boat. We also had a team on the cay to survey and metal detect there.  There was nothing of historical significance, but much more evidence of modern visitation than at West Islet.  There were iron star pickets driven into the cay and the shallows in the reef.  There also appears to be the remains of an engine block.  Possibly these were anchorage points left by fishermen who visit the area.

The mag teams came back with a few anomalies buoyed for investigation.  Two teams of divers went out for what is likely to be our last dives.  They will be back by lunchtime and we will make a decision to either stay anchored here for the afternoon or start our trip back to Gladstone.  We hear that there are gale warnings out for the Queensland coast, so that may slow us down the closer we get.

Anyway, once we start to move we won’t be able to connect to our satellite to send back any further information.  So this is it, our last  update from the field.  We will give you a final wrap-up once we are back in the office.  Hope you have enjoyed our reports on the progress we made.  It has been a tremendously busy and productive time.

Cheers
Paul and the rest of the team

P.S As Xanthe stayed on Silentworld she wasn’t here to provide our usual quality images.  And just so you don’t think Xanthe is a figment of our imagination… Here is one of the rare photographs of our photographer!

People woke up early this morning.  They are excited at the prospect of finding another wreck today. The conditions are perfect!  The wind had swung to the east and the waves are nearly flat.  Our intrepid mag team can’t wait to get out, so a boat is launched off the top deck and Nigel, Lee and Wayne from James Cook University head out at 6 am.

They came back an hour later with reports of a large anomaly in the gutter spotted yesterday.  In magnetometer speak it is a multiple di-polar anomaly with a maximum amplitude of 800 gamma lasting at least 6 seconds.  In simple English, it means a scattered site of iron debris covering an area of 30-50 metres.  Our reference tables for the magnetometer allow us to convert the strength of the anomaly to weight of iron. In 10 metres of water an anomaly of 800 gamma equates to a mass of iron of approximately 10 tonnes!

After breakfast we sent out the two magnetometer teams again.  The morning team went back to the west side of the north reef to confirm the earlier find.  The other team was working in the lagoon around the coral cay.  By mid-morning dive teams were sent into the gutter with metal detectors to try and isolate the source of the anomaly.  Three successive dives were unable to locate the source.

At lunchtime we debriefed on the results of our mag and metal detector surveys.  Consensus of opinion is that the source of the anomaly is buried beneath the coral sand at such a depth that it is beyond the metal detector’s sensitivity, but is so large that it easily definable on the magnetic signature of the magnetometer.  As we are not allowed to disturb the bottom sediments by any excavation, we are unable to confirm the source iron.

From the historical records we know that the Lion had a 316 lb iron anchor, two iron try-pots weighing a total of 676 lbs., 500 iron harpoons and lances which would weigh over 1 tonne, and 6 tonnes of hoop iron to bind the whale oil barrels.  We also assume that the Lion was armed with at least one cannon, as the accounts for the fit-out of the voyage lists two casks of cannon powder.  We also know that on its previous voyage Captain Hardwick used canon to ward off an attack by South Sea Islanders. This would seem to correlate very closely to the observed anomaly.

Photographer: Xanthe Rivett

All divers were up by 4 pm.  We moved everyone onto the coral cay for the annual team photo.  Unfortunately, with the two second time delay Xanthe wasn’t able to get into her own photo!

The Dive team. Photographer: Xanthe Rivett

The ANMM team (R-L) Kieran, Paul, Lee, Nigel with Peter from Oceania Maritima. Photographer: Xanthe Rivett

We had our final dinner together tonight.  Tomorrow Silentworld II is having a rest day.  Kanimbla will be moving to Hope Islet to spend our last day of the survey.  The guano vessel Lone Star is known to have been lost there.

More tomorrow…

Paul

The anomoly. Photographer: Xanthe Rivett

We woke up to great conditions this morning. The wind is still coming from the north, but it has dropped off considerably and the seas are much calmer as well.  Today we are off on a Lion hunt!

After breakfast we sent out two magnetometer teams on the north side of the reef.  One team was working from the northern entrance moving to the west and the other from the entrance to the east.  By mid-morning the west team had come back in with a moderate anomaly to be checked out.  A dive team was sent out and at the bottom (at 17 metres depth) was coral sand with gently undulating ridges from the surge and current.

After lunch the mag teams went back out again.  Another dive team went in search of the anomaly and a team of snorkel divers searched the shallow lagoon on the west side of the entrance.  They noticed a deep gutter of water varying between 4 to 10 meters deep just to the south inside the outer reef and just north of the shallow lagoon.  This fits the captain’s description of the wrecking of the Lion.

…the lookout-man discovered broken water right ahead; the helm was immediately put down (to star board,) but too late to clear the reef, the vessel grounding immediately. She soon after forged over the outer reef-and became fixed, falling over with her deck to the reef.

We remained on the reef three days, employed in getting ready the boats and securing water and provisions, to carry us to Wide Bay or elsewhere. The vessel was entire when we left her, and, as she was well protected by the outer reef which she beat over, there is every probability of her holding together a considerable time-more especially as she is in a basin in the north side of the reef, and the heaviest winds here are from S. and S. E.

Debbie, from Flinders University snorkelling on the reef at West Islet. Photographer: Xanthe Rivett

We will have to check this out with the magnetometer tomorrow.

The last divers were back on Kanimbla by 6 pm.  The end of our first day at Wreck Reef and everyone is really tired, but excited by the work we had done.  People didn’t last long after dinner, not a person up past 9.30 pm!

Paul