The ''Adelphoi'' was a wooden

barque A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts having the fore- and mainmasts rigged square and only the mizzen (the aftmost mast) rigged fore and aft. Sometimes, the mizzen is only partly fore-and-aft rigged, b ...

built in Sunderland, UK, that spent most of her working life in Australian waters. She was wrecked off

Port Hacking Port Hacking Estuary ( Aboriginal Tharawal language: ''Deeban''), an open youthful tide dominated, drowned valley estuary, is located in southern Sydney, New South Wales, Australia approximately south of Sydney central business district. Po ...

, Australia, in 1879.

Service history

1865-74

1874-75

The ''Adelphoi'' seems to have first made its way into Australian waters in 1874 via

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mos ...

, leaving Cherilbon on 1 October with a full cargo of sugar. The vessel then arrived in Melbourne and began discharging and receiving cargo at the Sandridge town pier. In January 1875, the vessel was put up for sale by MacFarlan, Blyth, and Co. Upon her sale in June, the master made his return to London via the ''Northumberland''.

1876-79

On 19 May 1876, the ''Adelphoi'' sailed from

Newcastle, New South Wales Newcastle ( ; Awabakal: ) is a metropolitan area and the second most populated city in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It includes the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie local government areas, and is the hub of the Greater Newcastle area ...

harbour for

Lyttelton, New Zealand Lyttelton (Māori: ''Ōhinehou'') is a port town on the north shore of Lyttelton Harbour / Whakaraupō, at the northwestern end of Banks Peninsula and close to Christchurch, on the eastern coast of the South Island of New Zealand. As a landing ...

and arrived on 9 June 1876. In September 1876 it was reported that the ''Adelphoi'' and ''Natal Queen'' were loading at Lyttelton and bound for Melbourne, with 10,000 bags of oats. On 15 December 1876, the ''Adelphoi'' arrived back at her new home port at Newcastle harbour. She made several more trips between Newcastle and Lyttelton over the course of the next three years.

Shipwreck event

On the morning of 21 December 1879, the ''Adolphoi'' was bound from

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

to Newcastle when she struck a reef about a mile off

. The hold quickly began to fill up with water, and the captain and crew were forced to abandon the ship. They took to the lifeboats, and reached Port Hacking without incident. W H Gregory, the master of the ''Adelphoi'', was called upon to show why his certificate should not be suspended or cancelled for his error in navigating the barque so close to land. The master claimed that it would have been useless to anchor and that he did everything he could to save the vessel. He claimed he had been a careful navigator for upward of 19 years. The board considered the matter and could not overlook the fact that the barque might have been kept further from shore, and the anchor dropped. They decided to suspend Captain Gregory's certificate for three months from the time of the wreck. The ''Adelphoi'' was insured with the New Zealand Insurance Company for £2,000. The vessel was in ballast.The Argus Monday 22 December 1879
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References

{{coord, 34, 05, 48, S, 151, 10, 00, E, type:event_region:AU, display=title Shipwrecks of the Southern Sydney Region Ships built on the River Wear 1865 ships Maritime incidents in December 1879 1871–1900 ships of Australia Merchant ships of Australia Barquentines of Australia