page_title: SS Gothenburg
section_title: Description and history
hierarchical_section_title: SS Gothenburg / Description and history
caption_attribution_description: English: Gothenburg (Ship) docked at a wharf.
context_page_description: The SS Gothenburg was a steamship that operated along the British and then later the Australian and New Zealand coastlines. In February 1875, Gothenburg left Darwin, Australia and while en route to Adelaide it encountered a cyclone-strength storm off the north Queensland coast. The ship was wrecked on the Great Barrier Reef north-west of Holbourne Island on 24 February 1875. Survivors in one of the lifeboats were rescued two days later by Leichhardt, while the occupants of two other lifeboats that managed to reach Holbourne Island were rescued several days later. Twenty-two men survived, while between 98 and 112 others died, including a number of high-profile civil servants and dignitaries.
context_section_description: Gothenburg was built 1855 at Lungley's building yards in Millwall, Essex. The vessel was 501-tons, 197 feet long, with a 120-horsepower (89 kW), coal-burning engine. Records at the time described Gothenburg as barquentine rigged, with its funnel set well aft between the main and mizzen masts and was fitted with four lifeboats, two port and two starboard.
  Gothenburg was launched stern-first on 1 April 1854. Although on launching it collided with the steamship Clyde, which sank in the River Thames. Gothenburg was severely damaged at the stern, including extensive propeller damage.
  The North of Europe Steam Navigation Company, operated her between Irongate Wharf, near the Tower of London, and Sweden.  In 1857, she was acquired by the Union Castle Line and renamed as RMS Celt.  In June 1862, McMerkan, Blackwood and Co. of Melbourne purchased her for the Australian trade and in that year she made a protracted voyage from England to Australia by sail. She was one of the most modern vessels working around the Australian coastline in the 1860s, and became a popular ship as she was considered reliable. After many years on the Australia-New Zealand run, her owners transferred her to the Australian coastal service.
  In 1873, she was lengthened and refitted in Adelaide to enable longer distances under steam and greater passenger and cargo capacity.  Following her modifications, her name reverted once again to Gothenburg.
  In November 1874, several shipowners were contracted for two years from the South Australian government to provide ten round trips between the colonial capital of Adelaide and its furthest outpost, Port Darwin. Port Darwin was feeling the effects of a gold rush at Pine Creek and growing quickly as a trade post with the Dutch East Indies. However, all the local banks sent their money, together with government paperwork and the Royal Mail, around the east coast to Adelaide. On successful completion of each voyage, the South Australian government would pay the owners £1000 sterling.
  When Gothenburg left Port Darwin on Tuesday, 16 February 1875, Captain Robert George Augustus Pearce was under orders to make best possible speed. Pearce had been her captain on the Adelaide-Darwin run for some time and had built up a solid reputation. He was a man of the sea, a man of sobriety and kindness and was well respected by his fellow sea captains.
  Amongst the approximately 98 passengers and 37 crew (surviving records vary) were government officials, circuit court judges, Darwin residents taking their first furlough and miners. Also aboard was the French Vice Consul Edouard Durand and James Millner, the medical officer in George W. Goyder's 1869 expedition to found the first colony at Port Darwin. There were also several prisoners aboard, bound for the Adelaide jail. Locked in the Captain's cabin was approximately 93 kilograms (3,000 ozt) of gold valued at £40,000 consigned to the ES&A Bank in Adelaide. (approx US$2.6 million in 2008). Durand reportedly also carried a tin box with him containing gold sovereigns and coins worth in excess of £3,000.
  In three days of fine weather, Gothenburg travelled 1,500 kilometres (900 mi) from Palmerston (Darwin) to Somerset on Cape York. The weather began to worsen so the ship stopped to take on ballast at Somerset. While she was anchored, conditions deteriorated to a point where both anchor chains parted. After the loss of the anchors, Gothenburg was forced to prematurely steam out 13 kilometres (7.0 nmi) because of strong currents; at that point, she brought up for the night.
  Two days later, Tuesday 23 February, Gothenburg passed Cooktown at about 2:00 pm. The wind and rain severely increased and cloud cover became so thick it blocked out the sun. Despite this, she continued the journey south into worsening weather, in a deep water passage between the North Queensland coastline and the Great Barrier Reef, known as the inner route. Although taking this route provided some protection from the open sea, captains had to navigate and thread their way through a number of then uncharted reefs. All pas
caption: SS Gothenburg docked at Port Adelaide wharf after her lengthening in 1873.
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