Cecilie

The Cecilie, (named Cecelie in some newspapers) was a 24-foot wooden engineless fishing boat, manned by Frank Arcorato (48), with crewman Joseph (Giuseppe) Basili/Basile (19).

The latter was described as a strong swimmer, but Arcorato could not swim. The vessel was valued at £65.

The boat left the Fishmarket Jetty at midnight on 7 November 1933 with the men intending to fish about 13 miles (24 kilometres) to the west of Garden Island. There was a fair wind from the east.

About 3am. the following morning the Cecilie was about 12 miles (22 kilometres) out when a large wave hit the boat and swamped it. It sank almost immediately, stern first in 24 fathoms (44 metres) of water. Because Arcorato could not swim, Basile gave him two oars, the only items to float up from the wreck, to support him in the water.

The fishing boat, Matchiotti, was following the Cecilie when the accident occurred. It was only about 50 metres behind, so the two men called out for help.

The skipper of the Matchiotti, Liano Beagio, heard them, but had to make a number of tacks in his endeavours to go to their aid. This took about half an hour. Basile started to swim towards the Matchiotti when he called out, but then disappeared. Arcorato was hauled aboard the boat by rope, and the men then started to search, unsuccessfully, for Basile. The Matchiotti returned to Fremantle later that day.

There does not appear to have been any inquiry into the loss of the Cecilie. There is no record in the contemporary newspapers of an inquest being held into the death of Joseph Basile, probably because no body had been recovered.

Frank Arcorato stated that two months previously a large shark had leapt out of the water when the Cecilie was sailing between Rottnest and Fremantle. It had struck Basile in the face, and since then he had been extremely afraid of sharks. Arcorato thought that Basile had suffered cramp, and ‘succumbed to heart failure engendered by a fear of sharks’ (Daily News, 9 November 1933: 5a).

The fisheries inspector, J. Brown, and Constable Taylor, left Fremantle in the Fisheries Department launch early in the afternoon of 9 November to search for the body of Basile and the sunken boat. The search covered the area from Garden Island to Safety Bay south of Rockingham and north to Rottnest. They returned two days later having been unsuccessful in finding any sign of the fisherman’s body or the boat.

It is likely Giuseppe Basile arrived in Fremantle 1 February 1928, onboard the Regina D’Italia.His stated age at the time is 12, meaning he was likely born in 1916. His address on arrival is given as “Fish Markets Fremantle”.

While Basile lost his life in this accident, other members of the Basile family went on to become prominent members in Western Australia’s fishing industry.