SS Ferret
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SS ''Ferret'' was an iron screw
steamship A steamship, often referred to as a steamer, is a type of steam-powered vessel, typically ocean-faring and seaworthy, that is propelled by one or more steam engines that typically move (turn) propellers or paddlewheels. The first steamships ...
of 460 tons built in
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(
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) in 1871 by
J & G Thomson John Brown and Company of Clydebank was a Scottish Naval architecture, marine engineering and shipbuilding firm. It built many notable and world-famous ships including , , , , , and the ''Queen Elizabeth 2 (ship), Queen Elizabeth 2''. At its ...
, Glasgow. The ship was built for G & J Burns of Glasgow for use in the
River Clyde The River Clyde ( gd, Abhainn Chluaidh, , sco, Clyde Watter, or ) is a river that flows into the Firth of Clyde in Scotland. It is the ninth-longest river in the United Kingdom, and the third-longest in Scotland. It runs through the major cit ...
ferry service. In 1873, Dingwall & Skye Railway Co Ltd bought it for use in the construction of the Tay Rail Bridge. Later, as part of a merger, it was acquired by Highland Railway Co. of
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. In 1880 the ship was stolen as part of a conspiracy in which it disappeared from its home in
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and mysteriously reappeared several months later in
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under a new name.pg 305 - It remained in Australia for the remainder of its working life.


Theft

While the ship was laid up in
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in October 1880, several men approached the owners seeking to charter the ship for a
Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...
pleasure cruise. The men were James Stewart Henderson, alias Smith, alias Bernard; Edward Rashleigh Carlyon, alias Wright, alias Leigh; and Joseph Walker, alias Wallace. Henderson presented himself as the leader and managed to convince the owners that he had substantial financial credentials, and that the cruise was for his wife who was unwell. He claimed to be a relative of
W.H. Smith WHSmith (also written WH Smith, and known colloquially as Smith's and formerly as W. H. Smith & Son) is a British retailer, headquartered in Swindon, England, which operates a chain of high street, railway station, airport, port, hospital and m ...
, First Lord of the Admiralty. A six-month lease was agreed, and bills for the first month's charter paid, later to be found worthless. Henderson operated a fraudulent London shipbroking office named Henderson & Co. to support the scam. Provisioning for the voyage began immediately, and crew and officers were hurriedly recruited. Walker and Carlyon were appointed Purser and
Chief officer A chief mate (C/M) or chief officer, usually also synonymous with the first mate or first officer, is a licensed mariner and head of the deck department of a merchant ship. The chief mate is customarily a watchstander and is in charge of the ship ...
respectively. A man named Watkins was recruited as
Sailing master The master, or sailing master, is a historical rank for a naval officer trained in and responsible for the navigation of a sailing vessel. The rank can be equated to a professional seaman and specialist in navigation, rather than as a military ...
and another man, Griffin, as Chief engineer. The conspirators bought and loaded provisions and premium wine worth £500, and £1,400 worth of "stores, plate and coal", again all paid for with bills later found to be worthless. The ship sailed from Glasgow to Cardiff, and another Welsh port where they bunkered 260 tons of coal. Henderson's wife came aboard at Cardiff. ''Ferret'' then sailed through the
Straits of Gibraltar The Strait of Gibraltar ( ar, مضيق جبل طارق, Maḍīq Jabal Ṭāriq; es, Estrecho de Gibraltar, Archaic: Pillars of Hercules), also known as the Straits of Gibraltar, is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Medit ...
, ostensibly for the "Mediterranean cruise", ensuring that shore-stations clearly saw the "All Well" signal. However, during the night with lights out, it passed back through the Straits, apparently unobserved—the ruse being that people would assume its disappearance meant the ship had been lost with all hands somewhere within the
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. While at sea in the
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, Henderson told the crew and officers he was on a secret mission, that he was a colonel in the
United States Cavalry The United States Cavalry, or U.S. Cavalry, was the designation of the mounted force of the United States Army by an act of Congress on 3 August 1861.Price (1883) p. 103, 104 This act converted the U.S. Army's two regiments of dragoons, one ...
, and that he needed to destroy all traces of his identity. He also told them he owned the ship and was entitled to do with it as he pleased, that he was immensely wealthy, and that anyone who did not cooperate with the scheme would be shot. Under his instructions, the ship was radically changed in appearance: the yellow funnel was painted black, previously blue lifeboats were painted white, and various items identifying the ship were tossed overboard. The wheelhouse and chartroom were dismantled and rebuilt on the aft-deck, further disguising the ship's profile. The ship was ''renamed'' ''Bantam'', taking the name of another ship of similar tonnage on the
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, and forged shipping documentation was created to support the false name. The crew were instructed to say the ship had sailed from Singapore if questioned. The ship next sailed to the Cape Verde Islands and then to Santos, Brazil, where it arrived on
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1880. The crew took on a consignment cargo of
coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulant, stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. S ...
for
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. Henderson then sailed for
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, changing the ship's name en route, for the second time, to ''India''. On arrival, he sold the coffee for £13,000. He then sailed for
Port Phillip Port Phillip (Kulin languages, Kulin: ''Narm-Narm'') or Port Phillip Bay is a horsehead-shaped bay#Types, enclosed bay on the central coast of southern Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The bay opens into the Bass Strait via a short, ...
in
Victoria, Australia Victoria is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state with a land area of , the second most populated state (after New South Wales) with a population of over 6.5 million, and the most densely populated state in Au ...
via
Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It incl ...
and
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arriving at Victoria in April 1881. Henderson told Australian port authorities that he had come from
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. Meanwhile, the owners, Highland Railway Co., had heard nothing of the ship and had advertised its disappearance widely. An observant wharf policeman on duty at Queenscliff, Constable James Davidson, who had recently arrived from
Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
, was at his post as the ''India'' steamed past. At the time, he happened to be reading a copy of ''
The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its par ...
'' newspaper which included an article taken from the ''
Glasgow Evening Citizen The ''Evening Citizen'', was an evening version of ''The Glasgow Citizen'' (a daily newspaper founded in 1842 by James David Hedderwick). It was first published in August 1864, was one of the first of three evening newspapers to be printed, publ ...
'' and which described the mysterious disappearance of the ''Ferret'' from the Clyde. The article read in part:
Vessel Lost, Stolen, or Strayed from the Clyde. Under this singular heading the Glasgow Evening Citizen of Saturday prints a curious narrative, of which the following is a summary of the principal statements:
"About the middle of October last a gentleman giving the name of Walker called on a leading firm of ship store merchants in Glasgow, represented that he was acting as broker for a gentleman of means who was going on a long yachting cruise, and desired to favour the firm with the contract for the provisioning of the vessel. References were asked, and found to be satisfactory. It was stated that the vessel had been chartered from the Highland Railway Company. It was also given out, more by ambiguous allusion than by direct assertion, that the person for whom Mr. Walker appeared was named Smith, and a relative of the late First Lord of the Admiralty. The goods were therefore supplied, including it is rumoured, a large stock of the highest class wines from London. The vessel was then lying at Greenock undergoing an overhaul at the hands of Messrs. Steel and Co., to make her more suitable for the new work and waters in which she was to be engaged for the next six months. The name of the vessel is (or was) the ''Ferret''; and, to give an idea of her appearance, it may be mentioned that she is a screw steamer, 170 feet long, 23 feet broad, and 12 feet deep, having a gross measurement of 347 tons. She is fitted with compound inverted engines of 90 h.p., having two cylinders of 23 inches and 40 inches diameter. Both vessel and engines were constructed by Messrs. J. and G. Thomson, of Glasgow, in 1871..."
Seeing that the ''India'' fit the description well, Davidson noticed certain unusual behaviours coming from the ship, and noted that it had broken a number of port regulations. His suspicions raised, he kept it under observation and alerted his superiors. Customs officials seized the ship, and the faint appearance of another vessel's name under the lettering "India" soon confirmed the hoax. Henderson and his accomplices tried to escape but were soon apprehended, charged, and brought to trial by jury in
Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
before Justice Williams. Henderson, Carlyon, and Walker were each charged with conspiracy on the high seas, attempt to defraud the ship's owners, and customs and other maritime offenses, including changing the name and official number of a ship. Chief Engineer Griffin, who had been recruited in Glasgow, provided much of the evidence that convicted the three. Watkins, the sailing master, had left the ship in Cape Town after which Wright had taken over the sailing duties. The three defendants fabricated a story that Watkins had led Peruvian arms smuggling racket, and that he told them to attempt to sell the ship. The court rejected the story and found the three men guilty. Henderson and Walker each received seven years and Carlyon received three and a half years in gaol. Police investigations later found that Henderson had been offered £8500 for the ship through Melbourne shipbrokers Duthie & Co. but had declined and asked for £10,000. His intention had been to sail it to
Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
to sell. The Melbourne press reported extensively on the details of the trial. ''
The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...
'' and '' The Argus'' both provided daily accounts of the proceedings, and ''The Argus'' published depositions from key witnesses.


Later years

On instructions from the Highland Railway Co. the ship was sold to William Whinham, of Adelaide in 1881. It was registered as the ''Ferret'' in
Port Adelaide Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is the main port for the ...
in November 1883 and taken over by Adelaide Steamship Company the same year. SS ''Ferret'' was employed for general cargo work in the
Port Adelaide Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is the main port for the ...
-
Spencer Gulf The Spencer Gulf is the westernmost and larger of two large inlets (the other being Gulf St Vincent) on the southern coast of Australia, in the state of South Australia, facing the Great Australian Bight. It spans from the Cape Catastrophe and ...
trade and on the southern Australian coast for many years. It made weekly round trips from
Port Adelaide Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is the main port for the ...
to Port Lincoln, Moonta, Wallaroo and Cowell, carrying passengers and cargo. In November 1903 it was involved in an incident in which it ran aground on Walrus Rock near Long Point,
Spencer Gulf The Spencer Gulf is the westernmost and larger of two large inlets (the other being Gulf St Vincent) on the southern coast of Australia, in the state of South Australia, facing the Great Australian Bight. It spans from the Cape Catastrophe and ...
. About eight hours later, after sixty tons of cargo had been unloaded, it was successfully refloated. A Marine Board enquiry was held, receiving evidence from the master, Captain G.T. Joss who was cautioned. It was wrecked on 14 November 1920 after running onto a beach during a storm at Reef Head near Cape Spencer on the south coast of Yorke Peninsula. All 21 crew were rescued after walking overland to Stenhouse Bay. The ship was under the command of a Captain Blair. Coincidentally, the same beach had been the site of a wreck in January 1904, 17 years previous. A stricken Norwegian barque, ''Ethel'', had run onto the beach and the SS ''Ferret'' had been the first vessel to arrive to report and assist with the rescue of its crew and passengers.


See also

*
List of shipwrecks of Australia This a list of shipwrecks located in Australia. New South Wales Norfolk Island Northern Territory Queensland South Australia Tasmania Victoria Western Australia See also * Australian National Shipwreck Database * HMAS ''H ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferret Ships built on the River Clyde Maritime incidents in October 1880 Maritime incidents in 1881 Maritime incidents in 1920 Shipwrecks of South Australia Iron and steel steamships of Australia