Part 2

Here also was picked up an interesting relic--a child's straw hat with a feather in it which when shown to Johnson (the survivor) was by him identified as worn by one of the children in the Tropics. We have heard that a piece of crochet-work with the needle stuck in it, and a reel of cotton attached, was picked up at North Harbour. This relic of the calamity seems as if it were only just laid aside by the fair fingers that but a few moments after must have been lifeless. The steamer after calling at Manly Beach and sending a boat up North Harbour (which however discovered nothing) stretched straight across for Watson's Bay and received on board the bodies of three men, evidently seamen by the marks on the arms--one, with the exception of the top of the scull, and the loss of part of the left arm, was entirely whole, and seemed to have been a fine man. The other two were only trunks, the mutilated remains of unfortunate sailors.

Mr. P. Cohen of the Manly Beach Hotel reported that he saw two bodies floating and tried to recover them, but in consequence of the number of sharks, and the ferocity with which they fought for their prey, he was unable to do so. The steamer having thus closely searched every nook and corner, returned to Campbell's Wharf in the evening; leaving the bodies brought up to Sydney at the Dead-house for identification. Thousands of people in vehicles and on horseback, and an immense number on foot visited the heads during the day.

The appearance of the Gap is described as having undergone a considerable change. Fragments of the wreck were fast disappearing, and the sea having greatly abated, several boats had approached close to the base of the fatal spot. An intrepid fellow named Mulhall, in his skiff ran down the coast to a considerable distance past the Semaphore, but without seeing indications of any survivors from the wreck. Nearly abreast of the Signal Staff several spars are to be seen, and as the sea recedes portions of sail became visible shewing that some part of the hull remains here. Part of a woman's apparel, marked J. Logan, was picked up near the body of some poor unfortunate in a sadly disfigured state.

MONDAY, 24th. The principal item of news this morning connected herewith was a communication addressed by the Right Worshipful the Mayor, to the Editor of the _Sydney Morning Herald_, comprising the statement of Johnson, the sole survivor. This letter was to the following effect.

[LETTER FROM THE MAYOR OF SYDNEY TO THE "SYDNEY MORNING HERALD."]

SIR--I have been all day down at the scene of the wreck of the DUNBAR, and had a long interview with Johnson, the man who was saved. If the statement he made to me, and which I carefully noted, be of any service to you as information of a correct character for the public, who all feel a deep interest in this melancholy event, I shall be glad that I have taken this course to forward it. He stated that they were off Botany at half-past eight o'clock p.m., Thursday; the captain then stood off shore, on the starboard tack, ship with double-reefed fore and main topsails; a very dirty dark, and rainy night, two men were placed at the wheel; Captain Green instructed them to keep their luff; he (Captain Green) had not been off the deck for two hours since they first made land, some days previously; at half-past eleven p.m., the captain gave orders to square away, which was done; the ship then ran under close-reefed fore and main topsails and foresail. As they neared the "light" the captain ordered the foresail to be clewed up, sent the second mate to the foresail to keep a look-out, then very dark; told him to "keep a good look-out for the North Head." The captain asked if he could see the Head. The mate replied no, it was solid darkness. The second mate suddenly called out "Breakers a-head." The captain ordered the helm to be put hard to starboard to bring the ship round, then blowing strong; ship on a dead lee shore, having such small sail upon her, the ship would not come round, (this was about 12 o'clock), and the sea lifting her in, she almost immediately struck; the passengers, who had been in bed, rushed up on deck in their night dresses; their shrieks were dreadful (Johnson describes the scene at this time the most terrible part of the whole; the ladies asked the captain, and entreated the seamen to know if there was any hope; the ship was still holding together, and the men thought and said there was hope.) Almost immediately after, as if in angry denial of that expression, the decks burst up from the pressure of the water, the ship was rent into a thousand pieces, and all on board (except him) were hurried into the foaming terrific sea.

Johnson, with the old boatswain, and two Dutch seamen, were about the last who were washed from the wreck, they four holding on a piece of plank, from which the two Dutchmen were soon after washed; a huge sea then threw Johnson and the boatswain on shore amongst some pieces of timber, from which Johnson scrambled to a higher shelving rock to avoid the next sea, which he did, but the poor old boatswain, less active, was carried way, and perished. Johnson then climbed to a still higher position, and, being much exhausted, laid down and slept. The next day he saw a steamer (the Grafton) go into the Heads; he made signals to her, but was not seen. During the day he saw another steamer (the Washington) pass, and tried to attract her attention; as, also, that of a schooner running in. Friday night was passed in this state. On Saturday morning he endeavoured to get along the rocks; he could see people on the cliffs above, but could not make himself seen, until a brave lad, (Antonio Wollier, an Icelander,) who had gone down "Jacob's Ladder," and along the rocks, noticed Johnson waving a handkerchief; relief came, and he was soon after hauled up to the top of the cliffs, which are there about 200 feet high.

The noble fellow, Wollier, was then hauled up, and received the hearty manifestations of the thousands there assembled. I opened a subscription, which was suggested by Captain Loring, of H.M. ship Iris, and in a few minutes, about L10 was collected, and handed over to the courageous boy, who, in answer to my compliment when handing him the money, said, in broken English, "He did not go down for the money, but for the feelings of his heart."

Johnson says that a blue light was burned when the ship struck, but it was very dim, and could scarcely be seen; Captain Green must have taken the bluff north end of the Gap for the North Head, for, in ordering the helm to starboard, he must have supposed that to have been his position, and North Head a lee shore; for had the helm been put to port, the ship would have cleared, and run for the entrance to the Heads.

Afterwards, at the "Gap," another brave fellow, whose name I have not yet learned, volunteered to go down to send up some of the mangled corpses, now and then lodging on the rocks beneath us--now a trunk of a female, from the waist upwards--then the legs of a male, the body of an infant, the right arm, shoulder, and head of a female, the bleached arm, and extended hand, with the wash of the receding waters almost as 'twere in life, beckoning for help! then a leg, a thigh, a human head would be hurled along, the sea dashing most furiously, as if in angry derision of our efforts to rescue its prey; one figure, a female, tightly clasping an infant to the breast, both locked in the firm embrace of death, was for a moment seen, then the legs of some trunkless body would leap from the foaming cataract, caused by the receding sea, leaping wildly, with feet seen plainly upward in the air, to the abyss below, to be again and again tossed up to the gaze of the sorrowing throng above.

We procured a rope, lowered the man, with some brave stout hearts holding on to the rope above, and in this manner several portions of the mutilated remains were hauled up to the top of the cliff, until a huge sea suddenly came, and nearly smothered those on the cliff, wetting them all to the skin. I caused the man to be hauled up, thinking it too dangerous to continue. It was a heartrending scene and I was glad to leave it, which I did soon after, and returned to Sydney about dark.

Wonderful to say, Johnson has not as much as a scratch about him, and is otherwise quite well. He states that there were a great many bodies near to one place where he was rescued, and his great fear was that he would be starved. The ship was eighty-one days out.

Saturday evening.

THE INQUEST.

At nine o'clock a.m. (on the 24th), Captain M'Lerie attended by a body of Inspectors and several other persons repaired to the Dead House, and began the harrowing task of attempting to identify the bodies.

A large crowd surrounded the place, who unfeignedly, so far as deportment and general appearance went, sympathised with the mourners who sought among the mutilated remains inside for relatives and friends. This continued up to eleven o'clock, when all that it was possible to identify were marked off, and in some cases given to their friends, the remainder with the unknown and unrecognisable being placed in shells and viewed by the jury already sworn on the inquest. These gentlemen, attended by the coroner, assembled in the large room of the King's Arms (Mrs. Stone's), a little after eleven, for the purpose of resuming the inquiry adjourned from yesterday morning.

Thirteen gentlemen had been sworn on the jury, and these all attended, Mr. J. V. Gorman being foreman. The first witness called was--

James Johnson, seaman, late of the DUNBAR, being sworn, stated, Belonged to the DUNBAR, commanded by Captain Green. We sailed for Plymouth first; the DUNBAR, is a first-class Ship; we sailed from Plymouth on the 31st May, with general cargo; would not say how many passengers--there were cabin passengers, male and female; there were also second-class passengers, male and female, on board; I cannot state the exact number on board; am positive of the day of sailing; we sailed on Sunday morning; there were fifty-nine seamen on the ship's articles, including captain, officers, able-bodied seamen, boys, and all; the chief officer's name was Mr. Struthers; we had a prosperous voyage till we reached the coast of New Holland; we first made King's Island a week last Sunday, the 16th August, the wind fresh and blowing from west, under double-reefed topsails; we had been looking out for land, and we made it out according to the captain's calculation; there was a watch kept on deck, and time called every half-hour; King's Island was the land we first expected to make; we saw the island very plain; when first seen the wind was from the westward; we then shaped our course for the Straits; from where we made the land the weather was thick, wet, and hazy; the sails were shortened from stress of weather; two reefs of the topsail were taken; we did not shorten sail to meet the land; I cannot exactly say what was the course we shaped; we made the Straits that night, the 16th; King's Island was the land we were looking out for before; we made it according to the captain's calculation, and saw the island very plain; the wind, at this time, was from the westward; we then shaped our course through the Straits; from the time we made the land the weather was thick and squally the whole time, and sail was shortened from stress of weather; our course was somewhere to the east, but I cannot say the point we steered exactly; we made the Straits that same night; we saw a light about two o'clock the next morning that was said to be upon some land in the middle of the Straits; we also saw the land; we did not alter our course; the light was rather on our port bow; no change took place till next day, when the wind headed us, and we made two boards which carried us clear of the islands, I have never been here before, but I have been in Melbourne; I am an able seaman, and have been eleven years at sea; I served my time on the coast of England, out of Lancashire, principally trading between England and Ireland; after we passed Kent's Group the next land we saw was the light at Cape Howe; I was told that was the Cape Howe light; we made this light in the evening; I do not know that there was any change of course; we were under double reefed topsails, with all the yards braced sharp up; there was no great stress of weather at the time; it was thick, hazy weather; we saw the land at times, but not always; there was no heavy sea on; a correct look-out was kept from the time we made the land; a person was stationed forward, but there was no look-out from aloft; I have never seen looks-out from aloft in ships that I have been in; we carried the same sail throughout until we made the land at Botany; this was on the Thursday evening: all hands saw the land distinctly; after that the Captain ordered us to close reef the topsails, and we were close hauled to the wind; the wind was then about E. and by S.; we were close to the wind and lying about N.E. and by N., and lying along the coast; at the time we made this land to the best of my opinion we were about ten or twelve miles off, and the ship had her starboard tacks aboard; we were under easy sail, sail having been shortened after we saw the land; we had on no topgallant-sails, and we had three reefs in the main, and four reefs in the fore-topsail; the mizen-topsail was stowed, and the spanker was brailed up; the inner jib, and the maintopmast-staysail, were taken in; the weather was squally with thick rain; when we made the land at Botany, we kept on our course; this was between six and seven o'clock, and when night came on, we still kept our course, and shortly afterwards we saw the Sydney light; I saw it about seven o'clock, shortly after getting supper; it was known to be the Sydney Head light; the vessel was then lying a course about N.E. and by N.; she was lying her course in that sort of manner that we had no difficulty--we had plenty of room; she was not at all labouring with the sail she had on; I know that she was making heavy lee-way; it is my impression that she had not got enough sail on her, to prevent her making this lee-way; this was not said on board ship, but I think so; Captain Green was on the deck; they were not shaking the ship up into the wind, but keeping her clear full; the Captain was not conning the ship; the chief officer was on the poop likewise; the watch on deck went below according to orders, and were relieved at eight o'clock; it was raining hard; the light was only seen at intervals, but distinctly; it is a revolving light; I was on deck at eight o'clock, as I belonged to the chief officer's watch; the captain remained on deck when the watch was relieved, and gave orders the same as usual; everything was attended to, and his orders were punctually obeyed; everything went straightforward, and there was no annoyance of any kind; all the men were quite correct and obeyed orders; we stood along the coast till we fetched the light up to the lee mizen rigging; the vessel was not labouring: she came to her helm willingly; one man only was at the wheel until we began to square yards, when two men were sent there; the lee mizen rigging was on the port side of the ship; the Captain was on the weather side of the deck; he had no night glass, but the second mate had a case of what we call opera-glasses; when the light was brought to bear upon the lee mizen rigging, all hands were piped up by the boatswain; the hands turned up; the boatswain sung out for "All hands to wear ship;" these were the words that were passed along; the usual orders were given; when we came on deck, orders were given to square away the yards; we got the orders to square away; after a short time, the Captain gave orders to haul up the foresail; it was then reefed; the ship then kept before the wind; the light was clearly visible at times; when the words were given to square the yards, the light had previously been seen; the vessel was running in on a heavy sea; it was blowing very fresh in squalls, with thick small rain; it was about eleven o'clock when the hands were called up; there were two men on the forecastle with the third mate, on the look-out for the land; the third mate was on the forecastle with the two men, and the second mate was afterwards sent there also; the captain sang out "Do you see anything of the North Head?" and the mate said "No, I see nothing of it;" I was on the poop at this time, standing by the braces; she had the light a bit on her port bow when I saw it at this time; then the captain sang out to the man at the wheel to keep his luff; the yards were about a point or so to port; I heard these words; it was done; the course of the ship was changed a small bit by this; shortly after this the second mate sang out "Breakers ahead;" this was a few minutes afterwards; the captain sung out to the man at the wheel to port his helm; we were all at the braces: he told us to haul in the port braces, and brace the yards sharp up; it was done quickly, without delay; there were thirteen able seaman in each watch; there was no want of hands; we were well manned, and we could see the light; it appeared to be right over us; I heard no further orders given; a few minutes after we hauled the yards round--about two minutes after--she went side on to the rocks; she was trying to stretch out to the eastward, her head lying along the land to the north; then we struck, and then the screaming began, the passengers running about the deck screaming for mercy; the captain was on the poop; he was cool and collected; there was great confusion and uproar on the deck with the shrieks of the passengers; with the first bump the three topmasts fell; the first sea that came over us stove in the quarter-boats; none were lowered; the mizen-mast went first, then the main-mast. The foremast stood a long time; it was not more than five minutes after she struck that she began to break up; I was on the poop at the time; I caught hold of the mizen chains; when these gave way, I made for the cabin, but the sea was coming down there enough to smother one; I went below and got out of the cabin skylight to leeward, and got up the side of the chain-plates of the fore-rigging; this broke up at last, and I was thrown over still holding by the chain plates, which held some four planks together, and I was thrown upon the rocks in a heap of timber and rubbish; we made one signal before we struck; we burnt a blue-light; the steward held it in a bit of paper and burnt it all; he held it over the port side; this light was visible for three or four minutes; he got orders from the captain to do this before the vessel struck; no one was near me when I was washed away; she kept breaking up from aft, and I kept getting forward until at last I reached the chain plates of the fore-rigging; I was washed away with planks and broken timber upon a shelf of rock, but immediately on the sea receding I got up a bit higher out of reach of the back current; we saw no vessel; we could not stand off the land more than we were doing; I heard nothing said about the captain not wishing to get further off the land for fear of being driven to the northward; the captain could not stand off the land more than he did; he did all that he could to keep off the land so far as I can judge; I expected, when we squared away, that we were going into the entrance of the harbour; I did not hear anybody say this, but I thought from the squaring away that we were so; nobody said that they saw the North Head; there was no opening that I could see that would lead any one to believe that they were going into port; I only saw the light; I was not frightened of anything; I thought it was all right, and that we were going into harbour; this was my idea until the second mate gave the alarm; the part that struck first was the port bow; she struck the rocks below first, and then bumped heavily over them; the vessel herself could not have formed a breakwater for lowering boats to the leeward; besides, the boats went with the first sea; the sea did not break right over her, and even when the weather side broke up the lee side offered some shelter; there is no truth in the report that the long boat was launched, and that some of the passengers were put into it; I am sure there had been no drinking aboard; we had a glass of grog at 12 o'clock; the men were all very steady; they were good men, and many of them were working their passages out at a shilling a month, intending to stop in the country; when I got ashore I could see nothing, for the rain and darkness, and I could hear nothing but the roaring of the surf; I saw nobody besides myself anywhere; the first thing I saw in the morning was the dead bodies brought in by the sea, and carried out by the under tow; the ship was completely broken up, nothing remained but her fore yard; I could see no persons; I was about ten yards above the sea, and the spray came over me as the seas broke below; there was no hollow or anything; underneath me, on the lower ledge, you could go a long way in under the rock, but I liked to get higher up rather than to go in under there; I had on a blue shirt, a singlet, and drawers; I hove everything off--boots, trousers, and pea coat, when the first alarm was given; we saw the light only a few minutes before the vessel struck. The witness, who was further interrogated at some length by the Coroner and the Foreman, gave his testimony in a very frank and straightforward manner, and was followed by Captain Wiseman, of the Grafton, steamer, at the conclusion of whose evidence the Court adjourned for the purpose of allowing the jury to attend the funeral procession.

When the inquest was subsequently resumed, Mr. A. Fletcher (master of the Nora Creina Steamer, trading to Shoalhaven) gave his evidence, followed by Messrs. Gorman and Raphael. In the course of the melancholy enquiry, the Coroner took occasion to speak in high terms of the zeal exhibited by Captain M'Lerie, Mr. North, Inspectors Brown, Weale, and Cowell, and the police and citizens generally, in the painful task of recovering the bodies of the sufferers, and in preserving the property belonging to the wreck. The evidence having been finished the Coroner addressed the Jury on the duty they owed to the public, themselves, and the lamented captain of the wrecked vessel, and urged upon them the necessity of acting justly and conscientiously in the discharge of their important functions.

THE VERDICT.--After some deliberation, the following verdict was returned:--"The jury find that the bodies viewed are those of some of the passengers and crew of the ship Dunbar, out of London, commanded by Captain Green, and bound to this port, and that the ship Dunbar was wrecked outside the Sydney Heads, close to the Gap, on the night of Thursday, the 20th August last, causing the death of the said parties; there may have been an error of judgment in the vessel being so close to the shore at night in such bad weather, but the jury do not attach any blame to Captain Green or his officers for the loss of the Dunbar. The jury consider it their duty to put on record their opinion that the present Pilot arrangements for this port are most inadequate, and desire to draw the attention of the Government to the matter."

This concluded the proceedings, and the jury were discharged.

THE FUNERAL.

The procession moved from the dead-house at a little before five o'clock. There were seven hearses, preceded by two officers of the Mounted Police force. Each hearse was attended on its side by mounted policemen, under the command of Captain M'Lerie. The last hearse contained the remains of Captain Steine, a retired naval officer, and the coffin was wrapped in the Union Jack, and was followed by a company of sailors and two officers of her Majesty's ship _Herald_ and _Iris_.