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"Shame On You Men" The terrifying sinking of  ss Keilawarra
 The ss Keilawarra in its heyday. Courtesy Mitchell Library, Sydney.
 Captain Buttrey of the Keilawarra who went down with his ship. Courtesy Peter Jonstone. How could a respected ship with a well-known skipper be rammed by another vessel when both were in sight? Why did over forty people perish in such tragic circumstances? Why did so few women survive? These questions are still being answered today with the discovery of the wreck in deep water near North Solitary Island in New South Wales. After 114 years, the historic site serves as a permanent marker to those drowned and a reminder of the dangers of coastal sea travel during the 19th century. 1886 was to be a bad year for shipwrecks in New South Wales. Already the magnificent steamer Ly-ee-Moon had smashed ashore at Green Cape with 70 lives lost, the battered hull wrenched in two. Unbelievably, the steamer Corangamite ran ashore at St Georges Head, Wreck Bay, on 7th December, the day before the Keilawarra's loss. In all 26 shipwrecks were to occur by the end of that year. The Keilawarra was a fine iron steamship of 200 feet (61 metres) and 784 tons gross. Launched in 1878 at Fife in Scotland, the vessel was ordered by the Howard Smith line. Keilawarra departed for its regular trip to Brisbane and Queensland ports on 8th December 1886. At 8.20 that evening the calm was shattered when the Keilawarra was rammed by a southbound steamer, Helen Nicoll. Smoke from the funnels had partly obscured the view ahead, as both vessels maintained full steam. In the final moments, Captain Buttrey unwittingly ordered the Keilawarra across the Helen Nicoll's path. The impact threw many off their feet as the vessels became tangled together. Aleck Mathews, a steerage passenger on Keilawarra, was reading the paper with an account of the loss of the steamer Corangamite the previous day. He raced on deck and saw passengers "crowding up the companion stairs - men in their shirts and after them women and children, some partly dressed and others almost uncovered". Others recalled the initial moments, "terrible shouts and cries were heard proceeding from the passengers and crew and great confusion prevailed at the time". The Keilawarra was to last just another seven minutes. Looking at the terrible damage, several jumped from the Helen Nicoll to the apparent safety of the other ship. Of the eleven who made the fateful decision to cross over, four were to drown on the Keilawarra. A passenger, Reverend Gray, was one of those who made the audacious leap, immediately realising his error. Stripping to his singlet, he tried to assist the Keilawarra's crew in getting boats out. He then ran frantically to try and find some lifebuoys for the women, but they were all taken. "I saw a lot of men jump overboard with lifebuoys". Seeing all hope gone, he also jumped and swam as far as he could from the stricken vessel. On the Keilawarra Aleck Mathews, having put down his newspaper, rushed on deck and ran for the first lifeboat. He noted "a panic seized all and they bustled and crowded into her. I heard the captain cry out "Shame on you men! Have you no thought for the women?". Washed overboard, he scrambled back on deck and was greeted with a scene that would never leave him. "Women rushed at me and clung to me, and prayed me in God's name to save them. Little children, some quite naked were running shrieking with fear about the deck, quite demented, and some were clinging to their mothers so tightly that they could not be torn away".
 Those in the water, including the Reverend Gray and Aleck Mathews, saw the ship stand straight up on her end and then plunge right down into the sea, with all the remaining passengers. Mathews recalled that "the last shriek from the vessel as she went head first into the water made my blood run cold". Another Keilawarra survivor stated that the deathlike calm and quiet that prevailed at this time was one of the most dreadful experiences he had ever known. Planks, merchandise and debris were strewed about the surface of the dark sea. There were many tragic stories, one entire family of eight perished with the vessel. The only adult female to survive frantically tried to hold her injured husband out of the water, until he died in her arms. Twelve year-old Alice Cornwall, the only child to survive, had been recovering from a major eye operation. She lost her mother in the panic and was found clinging helplessly to a bag of chaff. Captain Buttrey was last seen standing at the bridge and purposely went down with his ship. He had earlier refused the offer of a lifebelt, passing it to a female passenger. In all, over 40 people perished in the disaster. The exact death toll is difficult to establish today. But it included most of the woman and children. In contrast, many of Keilawarra's crew survived, including all of the officers and engineers. Stories of cowardliness and panic were soon to circulate. The site was located on 18 September by a dive team led by shipwreck enthusiast, John Riley. Using mixed gas equipment, they completed exploratory dives at the shipwreck located in 75 metres of water. Today the historic shipwreck serves as a memorial to those who tragically drowned in 1886. It is an important discovery and provides an end to one of New South Wales' greatest peacetime maritime tragedies. The archaeological site is protected by the provisions of the Commonwealth Historic Shipwrecks Act 1976. The Heritage Office is working closely with the dive team, local dive shops, commercial fishermen and the Solitary Islands Marine Park to manage the fragile site for the future. Divers and commercial fishermen are urged to respect the historic shipwreck remains and not to disturb the site in any way. Research is continuing both in Australia and overseas, to gain a better understanding of the vessel and its important place in the maritime history of New South Wales.
 Contemporary painting of the Helen Nicoll - Keilawarra collision. Courtesy Clarence River Historical Society, Grafton. |