The Adolphe was a sailing ship that was wrecked at the mouth of the Hunter River in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, Australia, in 1904. The ship is now the most prominent of several wrecks on what is now the Stockton breakwall, which protects

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

harbour. The rescue of the ship's crew has gone down in local maritime history as one of the most remarkable in local waters.

Ship description and construction

''Adolphe'' was a four-masted steel

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 1902 by

Chantiers de France The Ateliers et Chantiers de France (ACF, Workshops and Shipyards of France) was a major shipyard that was established in Dunkirk, France, in 1898. The shipyard boomed in the period before World War I (1914–18), but struggled in the inter-war ...

, Dunkerque. It was rigged with double top and topgallant sails.

Shipwreck event

On 30 September 1904, the ''Adolphe'' was being towed through the entrance of Newcastle harbour by the tugs ''Hero'' and ''Victoria'' after an 85-day voyage in ballast from

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

under the command of Captain Lucas. Heavy seas prevented the tugs from holding her, and after the tug hawser parted she was swept first on to the wreck of the ''Colonist'', then battered by waves that forced her on top of other submerged wrecks on what was then called the Oyster Bank. The lifeboat hurried to the scene and within two hours all 32 of the crew had been taken off. The northern breakwater of the entrance to the port of Newcastle was extended after the loss of the ''Adolphe''. The French consul made an official visit to Newcastle to recognise the efforts of the lifeboat crew. When the breakwater was extended in 1906 and reached the remains of the Adolphe, her remaining two masts and jib-boom were removed for safety reasons. She is actually resting across the remains of SS ''Wendouree, wrecked in 1898, and SS ''Lindus'', lost in 1899. The location of the wreck is approximately .

Gallery

File:Cawarra location.jpg, Location of Adolphe on Stockton breakwall in relation to other wrecks including that of

SS Cawarra The SS ''Cawarra'' was a paddle-steamer that sank on 12 July 1866 in Newcastle harbour, New South Wales, Australia sending sixty people to their deaths. The sinking was one of the worst maritime disasters in Australian history. Owned by the ...

File:Adolphe wreck1.jpg, The wreck of the Adolphe on Stockton breakwall

References

* {{Navbox shipwrecks of New South Wales, Wreckshunter Shipwrecks of the Hunter Region Ships built in France 1902 ships Maritime incidents in 1904 1901 – World War I ships of Australia Merchant ships of Australia Barquentines of Australia History of Newcastle, New South Wales