The Kent Group are a grouping of six

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

s located in Bass Strait, north-west of the

Furneaux Group The Furneaux Group is a group of approximately 100 islands located at the eastern end of Bass Strait, between Victoria and Tasmania, Australia. The islands were named after British navigator Tobias Furneaux, who sighted the eastern side of ...

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

, Australia. Collectively, the group is comprised within the Kent Group National Park. The islands were named Kent's Group by Matthew Flinders, "in honour of my friend captain

William Kent William Kent (c. 1685 – 12 April 1748) was an English architect, landscape architect, painter and furniture designer of the early 18th century. He began his career as a painter, and became Principal Painter in Ordinary or court painter, bu ...

, then commander of ''

Supply Supply may refer to: *The amount of a resource that is available **Supply (economics), the amount of a product which is available to customers **Materiel, the goods and equipment for a military unit to fulfill its mission *Supply, as in confidenc ...

''" when Flinders passed them on 8 February 1798 in '' Francis'' (on her way to salvage '' Sydney Cove'')., entry for 8 February 1798 The largest island in the group is Deal Island; the others, in order of descending size, are Erith Island, Dover Island, North East Isle, South West Isle and

Judgement Rocks The Judgement Rocks, part of the Kent Group, is a small unpopulated granite islet and some associated bare rocks, located in the Bass Strait, lying off the north-east coast of Tasmania, between the Furneaux Group and Wilsons Promontory in Victo ...

History

Seal hunting took place on the islands from at least 1803.

Shipwrecks

Murray Pass, named for the explorer John Murray, between Deal and Erith Islands has long been used by ships to shelter from gales in Bass Strait, but it is a dangerous, partly open, roadstead, and many ships have been wrecked after sudden changes in wind direction and speed. Others have hit the island either while attempting to shelter or through poor navigation in darkness or bad weather, several with heavy loss of life. They include:Broxam & Nash, ''Tasmanian Shipwrecks'', Volumes 1 and 2, Navarine Publishing, Canberra, 1998 and 2000, and * 1816, ''

Brothers A brother is a man or boy who shares one or more parents with another; a male sibling. The female counterpart is a sister. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to non-familia ...

'', schooner, 40 tons, Captain

William Hovell William Hilton Hovell (26 April 1786 – 9 November 1875) was an English explorer of Australia. With Hamilton Hume, he made an 1824 overland expedition from Sydney to Port Phillip (near the site of present-day Melbourne), and later explored the ...

, one life lost. * 1819, ''

Daphne Daphne (; ; el, Δάφνη, , ), a minor figure in Greek mythology, is a naiad, a variety of female nymph associated with fountains, wells, springs, streams, brooks and other bodies of freshwater. There are several versions of the myth in whi ...

'', brig, 151 tons, Captain John Howard, no lives lost. * 1819, '' John Palmer'', schooner, 37 tons, Captain Bastian, two lives lost (one ex ''Daphne'') * 1831, ''Ionia'',

snow Snow comprises individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water throughout ...

, 226 tons, Captain Buck. ?Three lives lost. * 1850, ''Ida'', schooner, 50 tons, no loss of life. * 1851, ''White Squall'', schooner, 104 tons, Captain Chattock, no loss of life. * 1852, ''

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...

'', brig, 82 tons, Captain Birdwood, no loss of life. * 1852, ''Mary'', brig, 308 tons, no loss of life. * 1855, ''Elizabeth Mason'', schooner, 79 tons, Captain McIntyre, no loss of life. * 1856, ''Kendall'', schooner, 157 tons, Captain Read, no lives lost. * 1862, ''Reindeer'', schooner, 104 tons, Captain Morris, all hands (about 8) lost. * 1863, ''General Jessup'',

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 ...

, 193 tons, Captain Hodge, no loss of life. * 1866, ''Boscarne'', schooner, 63 tons, Captain Black, no loss of life. * 1875, ''Essie Black'', barque, 281 tons, Captain Sivier, all hands (about 10) lost. * 1877, ''Bulli'', iron steamship, 524 tons, Captain Randell, no loss of life (a popular dive wreck). * 1921, ''Karitane'', steel steamship, 1376 tons, Captain Spain, no loss of life. * 1930, ''Ida N'', new fishing boat, 25 tons, Captain Busk, no lives lost. * 1961, ''St Nicholas'', newly completed fish carrier, 45 tons, no loss of life.

References

{{Islands of Tasmania , state=collapsed Islands of Bass Strait Shipwrecks of Tasmania Islands of Northern Tasmania Seal hunting

History

Shipwrecks

See also

References