Treacherous Bass Strait and One of The Worst Shipwrecks in Australian History

The three-masted barque, Neva, made two voyages transporting convicts to Australia.

On her second voyage, the Neva departed Cork, Ireland, on 8 January 1835 for Sydney, carrying 150 female convicts with 33 children and nine free women (probably wives of convicts).

Three-masted ship

The ship's lookout called out that dreaded warning, “breakers ahead!” and about 5 a.m. on 13 May 1835, Neva hit a reef near King Island in Bass Strait.

As the ship filled with water and began to break up, 200 panic-stricken women and children came up on deck and raided the rum stores.

The women were soon hopelessly drunk, and as the ship became swamped with water and collapsed, many were unable to save themselves. 

The deck then broke away from the rest of the ship and broke into two sections, with the remaining survivors on these raft-like floating structures.

The survivors were carried toward the shore of King Island.

One raft grounded and broke up, and of the about 20 people on board, only three, including Captain Peck, made it ashore.

 

The other raft, with 19 aboard, drifted easily to shore. 

A keg of rum also rolled ashore providing the survivors with small comfort as they huddled together for the night.

The horrors were not yet over. By morning, four women and a boy had died from exposure, and then two more women died, leaving only 15 survivors. 

 Only 95 bodies were found and buried in shallow graves.

Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1803 - 1842), Thursday 16 July 1835