Photograph of memorial to drowned seamen from the 'Walter Hood', sank at Wreck Bay, in 1870 / possibly taken in 1927

PXE 1571

fonds

1927

Graphic Materials, Photographs

903951

2 photoprints - copy, black & white - 6 x 8 in.

Built in 1852 this wooden clipper ship Walter Hood was the largest sailing vessel ever built in Aberdeen.
The Walter Hood left London on 22 January 1870 carrying beer, iron bars, railway irons, cork, cement, wine, salt and theatrical costumes and a large quantity of tiles.
On Tuesday 26 April the vessel encountered a heavy storm when turning up the eastern coast of Australia. The vessel sank in Wreck Bay, just south of Jervis Bay.
Of the 35 hands on board the Walter Hood there were 23 survivors.
The memorial and reserve was opened on 9 March 1927 in the presence of a survivor, Robert Williams, and a rescuer, Mr. John Harrison. It incorporated ceramic tiles from the wreck and a marble tablet listing the names of those drowned, made in Wollongong.

(Source: http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/MaritimeHeritage/researchcentre/walterhood.htm)

The monument is 12 feet high, in rough sandstone, with a base 20ft. square. The bones of five persons lie buried under the memorial, the captain, 36, and a passenger, Joshua Rowley Haynes, 19, in one grave, and three sailors in another.

(Source: 1927 'WALTER HOOD.', The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), 12 March, p. 18, viewed 17 July, 2013, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article28057688)

1. Copy of photograph of the memorial to the wreck "Walter Hood' with 2 unidentified men standing in front of the memorial. It is possible that the men is a survivor, Robert Williams and a rescuer, John Harrison, at the unveiling held on the 9 March 1927.

2. Copy of photograph of the plaque on the memorial to the "Walter Hood".

Copyright status:: In copyright - created after 1955
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales

Pic.Acc. Upgrade Project - Information transferred from Pic.Acc.6938 as part of the eRecords Project 2013-14

Good condition