Ballina, New South Wales, September 1850

Richmond River shipwrecks, 1850

Quick Statistics

14 Fatalities

In September 1850, three schooners were wrecked due to stormy weather near the Richmond River.

Fourteen people died in the shipwrecks:

one crew member on the Lucy Ann
from the Bramble, seven drowned
from the Heroine, six drowned.

A fleet of nine vessels laden with cedar & bound for Sydney struck a severe south-easterly squall shortly after they left the Richmond River on 28 September. The "Lucy Ann," a wooden schooner of 36 tons, built in Sydney in 1838, was lost with 14 lives but four were saved after they had clung to their overturned vessel. Of the nine schooners which started off, five turned back shortly after sailing. Only one schooner, the "Anna Maria," reached its destination.

Sources

New South Wales Government, ‘Maritime Heritage Online’, viewed online 24 May 2011.
New South Wales Government, ‘New South Wales Shipwrecks’, New South Wales, viewed online 24 May 2011.
Stone P 2006, Encyclopedia of Australian Shipwrecks and other Maritime Incidents, pp 118, 410, 553.