Alinora

The Alinora was built at Fremantle by William Alexander Chamberlain and George Cooper, and launched in 1904 (vessel No. 21 of 1904). The ship was valued at £500.

This vessel is referred to in Perth newspapers as Elenora, or Ellenora, and owned by Dennis ‘Dinny’ Ahern at Geraldton, but there is no record of Ahern owning a vessel of this name. There is, however, a record of his ownership of the pearling lugger, Alinora (B320) sometimes referred to as Allinora.

This vessel was one of several pearling luggers which Ahearn acquired as part payment for a farm in Chapman Valley, which he had sold to John Byrne, pearler of Broome. Byrne had previously owned the luggers Ada, Clara, Isabel, Clonen, Rosella and Alinora, and all six were part payment of the debt to Ahearn. The boats left Broome in June 1929, and on their arrival at Geraldton, Ahearn used the vessels in the fishing industry.

In November 1929, the crew of the Alinora were the skipper, Broer (or Bruer) Soolsma, a Dutch national aged 34, Frederick Erickson aged 60 (described by the newspaper as a Swede), and James Gourley. Soolsma had lived aboard the Alinora for the previous 12 months and had no shore residence. All three were from Geraldton, with Gourley being reported as a well-known identity of the town.

The Alinora was struck by a north-westerly gale and heavy rain while fishing about 15 miles west of Port Gregory. The vessel had not been able to make Port Gregory before dark so was forced to beat up and down outside, waiting for daylight. Without warning at 4.30am on 14 November 1929, the vessel was thrown on its beam ends by a large wave, the masts touched the water and the Alinora was swamped.

The three crewmen managed to cling to the keel until the ketch started to sink about an hour later. James Gourley dived under the water several times to try to cut away the dinghy, but did not succeed, and when the Alinora sank, his companions went down with it. Neither of them could swim.

After about 10 minutes, an ice box rose to the surface and Gourley managed to scramble onto it. He was blown ashore about 25 kilometres north of Geraldton at 8pm that night, having had to swim the last 20 to 30 metres to the beach.

Gourley walked all night towards Geraldton, and early in the morning was given some water by a Japanese tomato grower. It was his first drink since the capsizing over 24 hours previously. At 9.30am, he reached the farm of a man named Hall, who fed him and then took him into Geraldton where he reached the Police Station a little after 11.45am.

Mounted constables Tunstill from Geraldton, and Reeves from Northampton, unsuccessfully searched the coast for the bodies of the missing men. Pieces of wreckage, including an icebox, a dinghy, an oar, a deck broom and some vegetables were found on the beach during the search.

The loss of two lives as a result of the sinking of the Geraldton based fishing boat, Alinora, illustrates what must have been a fairly common situation prior to the 1950s.

Neither Soolsma, nor Frederick Erickson could swim, even though Soolsma, at least, had spent a considerable time at sea. Folklore suggests that many sailors deliberately failed to learn to swim, preferring a quick death in the event of their vessel sinking.