This played such a big part in my life as I had lead such an angelic perfect life without loss or tragedy until that moment.
In contrast my mother had not lead an easy life up to her 18th birthday.
Hers was 360 degrees different to the life my sister and I enjoyed.
Our mother worked hard to ensure we had what we needed and where kept away from what we did not need to see or know until 'life' could not be controlled by her any longer. Our family unit was strong and the setting for our youth was perfect, safe, calm.
Hers was 360 degrees different to the life my sister and I enjoyed.
Our mother worked hard to ensure we had what we needed and where kept away from what we did not need to see or know until 'life' could not be controlled by her any longer. Our family unit was strong and the setting for our youth was perfect, safe, calm.
In 1958 though at the age of 18 my mother, a worker at the Port of Ulverstone, Tasmania experienced a loss of her own and it remained with her for the remainder of her days.
I understand how it changed her, for I felt the same after my loss at 21.
I understand how it changed her, for I felt the same after my loss at 21.
She knew the men aboard the 96 ton Ketch, WillWatch. She waved it goodbye on the day the Willwatch sailed for King Island and she heard much of the radio chatter on the fateful morning of Wednesday 17th December 1958 as the 2 hour long drama of the her sinking played out and Captain George McCarthy spoke his final words.
My mother cried regularly and felt the loss all throughout my childhood and adult years. The Willwatch was as much our family as a third child would have been. It was an invisible sibling that we all knew too well had not survived.
Few people know the story of the WILLWATCH.
I feel it necessary to impart some facts and advise a new era of people the sad loss of some great men, who left their tragic mark upon our family throughout the fifty or so years since they disappeared.
From here on in, I will get back to food and being a chef, for my role as a son to an amazing mother has finally drawn to a close.
I was a son , I am a chef. Life needs to move forward.
THE WILLWATCH
The Willwatch a 96
ton auxiliary ketch with general cargo and three horses was on its way from
Ulverstone ,Tasmania, to King Island when she was lost with all hands at sea on
Wednesday December 17th 1958.
The members of the missing crew were as follows;
George “Mac” McCarthy
29, master, married with three children of Spreyton, near Devonport.
Peter Hanson, 45,
engineer married of Devonport
Neville Chitts,
20, deck hand, single of Currie King Island
Anthony Dick,18,
deckhand, single of Devonport
John Leslie Marcerer,16
deckhand of Devonport.
The search for the Willwatch began soon after signals were
picked up that’s the ketches decks were awash and that it was in danger of
sinking.
It’s position was given as 27 miles off the north-east tip
of Three hammock island, off the North West coast of Tasmania.
The sequence of messages from the Willwatch was;
8.15am the
skipper reported that the ship had sprung a leak and the pumps were going.
8.30am; Request
for a ship to stand by
8.45am;reported
that the ship was under way, steering north-north east at three knots.
The vessel was then heading away from land evidently running
before the wind and sea to minimize the
possibility of further damage.
9.15am;
conditions are deteriorating, decks were awash and some 50 drums of deck cargo
had disappeared into the Bass Strait and they had tried unsuccessfully to
launch the dinghy.
9.30am Reported
that the bows were down in the water
10.15am;
conditions getting worse, unable to launch boat. Crew standing by in lifejackets.
About 10.30am ;
Skipper George McCarthy reports that he
had ordered his four crew overboard while he remained in the wheel house.
About 1035 am; he
conceded that “the sea has her”.
Another radio transmission around 10.37am heard Mac’s voice penetrate once more through the static
and noise of the radio spectrum, “It looks like this is it….see you later,
cheerio.”
Rescuers arrived onto the scene within the hour yet nothing
was found of the vessel or crew.
Two fishing boats the Olympic from Victoria and the VSP from
Stanley Tasmania carried out a wide and difficult 12 hour search and two RAAF
aircraft as well as an Ansett ANA DC 3 on a scheduled flight from King Island
to Tasmania.
Late Thursday afternoon the following day, wreckage had been
spotted although no life raft. Just before darkness halted the search about 8pm
on Thursday the fishing boats picked up a lifebelt, two bales of straw, cases
of apples and a gas cylinder.
Pilots of the searching aircraft reported huge seas , high
winds and poor visibility.
Captain George McCarthy, a Queenslander by birth, was a well
known figure in the sailing community along the north west coast of Tasmania,
having been the master of the Rawlinna and second mate of the Elmore. He first
went to sea as a cadet in the employ of the Australian Shipping Board.
His vessel the Willwatch was owned by Mr A.Kimberley of
Ulverstone, Tasmania and it had seen a colorful career since it had come off
the sips in 1895 at Blackwall, NSW.
The Willwatch first went into the New Zealand timber trade,
where it was considered on of the fastest in its class.
During World War II it was commandeered by the Americans for
service in the islands. Later it was bought by a New South Wales fisherman.
Then it came to the Tamar Valley and was subsequently
transferred to Devonport from where it entered the Flinders Island trade.
At Devonport in 1953 it was fitted with a new stern and put
on the King Island run.
In 1957, a year before the sinking it was fitted with new
diesel engines.
The Willwatch was 84 feet long and had a 21 foot 6 inch
beam.
Will Watch. Auxiliary ketch, 96/64 tons. # 101141. Built
Blackwall, Brisbane Water, NSW, 1895; reg. Melbourne 5/1947. Lbd 84 x 21.5 x
7.3 ft. Master George McCarthy. From Ulverstone for King Island with general
cargo, lost in a gale off the far north-west coast Tasmania, between the Hunter Group and King Island, Wednesday
17 December 1958.
Bibliography;
·
The Front
Page of Sydney Morning Herald, Thursday 18th December 1958
·
Additional
information from page 7 Sydney Morning Herald December Monday 22nd
1958.
·
Additional
information from book titled, In the South; Tales of Sail and Yearning by Geoff
Heriot (published 2012 ISBN 978-0-9873698-2-6).
·
Photo from
Motorboating magazine January 1962 edition.
·
Encyclopedia
of Australian Shipwrecks-online.
I am reading a book 'THERE WAS A SHIP' by author Patsy Adam Smith first published 1967 who at the time 17th December 1958 was the radio operator of Tasmanian East Coast ( Hobart to Flinders island steamer Naracoopa and was listening to the drama on the ships radio). I don't know if you are aware of this book but Patsy spent many years on this vessel and vividly captures unimaginable storms and the life of the crew.
ReplyDeleteI picked this book to read as I like sailing and I am going to Tasmania at the end of the year for a conference. vbeerling@optusnet.com.au
The Engineers name was Peter Hansen, I clearly remember that day as do my siblings, Peter Hansen was my Father
ReplyDeleteThank you Anonymous for sharing and I am sorry if the Blog stirred up old memories . I did honor your father with a mention of his name and position, age and the fact he was married.Peter Hanson, 45, engineer married of Devonport.. My mother was a young 18 year old at the time working on the Ulverstone Wharf and the loss of the Willwatch haunted her until her death. Many many times over the years she cried and remembered the vents of that day. Ulverstone was and is such a small community that this must surely have rocked the town back in those days.It took me many years to compile the little information I have of the will watch, and became interested only because it haunted my mothers life all throughout my childhood. I appreciate you comment and thank you for sharing. AARON MAREE
ReplyDeleteNo, thank you for sharing it is a distant memory now, however, I am sorry your mother was so haunted by the sinking of the WILLWATCH.
ReplyDeleteRegards Peter Hansen Jnr
A strange twist my mother died in 2009 on the same day 17th Dec
Thank you for sharing your family knowledge on the Willwatch / Will Watch. The 21 year-old crew member Neville Chitts, was returning home to Currie where his fiance was waiting. Chitts was not a permanent crew member but was allowed to travel on the vessel, in return that he would cook for the crew during the voyage. Chitts was employed on the Willwatch but had not been working on the vessel for quite a few months. I know this for a fact, as I'm know his cousin who related the story and still lives on King Island. Chitts had just turned 21 two months before the tragedy.
ReplyDeleteHello Aaron
ReplyDeleteJust found and read your blog re the 'AK Willwatch'.
My eldest brother (Ron Wells) was a journalist with the Herald Sun (Melb) and your Mother was in contact with him (as were some 10 other people) during 1998 as he was seeking more details and memories about the demise of the Willwatch.
I have the note that your Mother wrote to my brother re her association with this disaster.
In fact it was only last week that I was talking with a John Clarke who stood down as a crew member to allow Anthony Dick to crew as he (Anthony) was getting married a short while after this voyage and it would give him some more money. Terry Wells (terryfw63@outlook.com)