Stinker’s History: The wreck of SS Florence Irving

FOR some unknown reason shipwrecks and islands have always intrigued me.

When a ship runs aground on an island I am doubly interested.

Such was the case of the SS Florence Irving which struck Fingal Island in 1877, 15 years after the Outer Lighthouse was established.

I wish to acknowledge the excellent research conducted by Kevin McGuinness.

Check out his website portstephenshistory.com

On 4 December 1877, the SS Florence Irving, a steamship belonging to the A. S. N Company of Sydney, foundered in a heavy fog, on a rock shelf below the Point Stephens lighthouse.

The ship was on a regular journey from Sydney to Brisbane carrying 42 passengers plus crew, together with cargo.

Given the dangerous rocky location of the shipwreck, it was fortunate that there was not multiple loss of life.

Tragically, a seven-month-old baby, who was travelling in the steerage section (third class) of the ship, drowned.

Fifty-two years later in 1929, the cargo ship SS Pappinbarra also foundered on the rocks near the site of the wreck of the Florence Irving, below the Point Stephens outer lighthouse.

The foundering of the Florence Irving resulted in considerable newspaper coverage in Sydney and Brisbane.

A Marine Board of Inquiry found that fault lay with the ship’s master for the disaster.

There was also newspaper speculation that sailing close to the shore in order to increase the speed of the voyage was also an unproved cause of the foundering.

Passengers also later complained that when being evacuated from the ship, a boarding class status was adhered to, whereby the third-class steerage passengers were not allowed to board the ship’s evacuation boats until the first and second class passengers had done so.

The newspaper reports also demonstrate how the outer lighthouse staff aided the stricken passengers by housing the female passengers in the lighthouse staff’s quarters.

In 1873, four years before it foundered at Point Stephens, the paddle steamer Florence Irving, sister ship of the Agnes Irving, was reengineered.

The paddlewheels were replaced with twin screws, and the ship was lengthened by nearly 28 feet, making her 43 feet longer than the Agnes Irving.

New, more powerful engines were also installed.

By John ‘Stinker’ CLARKE