Ivy

The Ivy, a 35-foot, 39-ton unregistered wooden fishing lugger, left Fremantle on 21 August to make for the Abrolhos Islands.

It was the property of Messrs Winter, Brandt. and Co., previously named Corfu Greece. They owned a fleet of vessels working from Geraldton bringing the catch to their ice works.

Onboard the Ivy were;

Martin Petersen, the Captain
George Jensen, a Seaman
Paul (unknown surname), also a Seaman

The Ivy would usually operate from Fremantle, but during the winter months would visit the Abrolhos Islands. It had caught over a ton of bait fish using nets between Gun Island and Wooded (Woody) Island.

Due to heavy weather, she took shelter near Gun Island and remained there over the Thursday and Friday. By Saturday the 29 August, the weather had improved and fishing was resumed between the two islands. They were nearly ready to return to Fremantle with a full load of fish. There was not much wind, but a heavy swell was running.

At about 9am, they were fishing with all sails being up and idly flapping in the breeze. The waves were becoming heavier and a tremendous one was seen coming. Petersen called out to his crew to hold on, but just at that moment the wave caught the boat and capsized her.

On coming to the surface, Jensen saw the Ivy with her keel uppermost. Petersen was clinging to the stern keel and Paul was swimming towards the upturned boat. Petersen called out to the two men to make for the dinghy. Jensen’s leg was injured and he struggled to make the dinghy.

At that time another huge wave came through and righted the Ivy, but her mast and all rigging had been carried away. Jensen managed to make his way to the boat and climbed aboard, which was nearly filled with water.

He looked everywhere but could see no trace of his companions. In the not far distance he could see a boat heading towards Geraldton. This boat was owned and sailed by the Burton Brothers of Geraldton. He tried to signal them, but he was too low in the water to be seen.

With the boat nearly full of water, and nothing to bail her out with, and without food or drinking water, Jensen drifted with the tide and wind all day and night, the waves continually washing over him. At daybreak on Sunday morning, he was gladdened by the sight of land and found himself lying just off Wooded Island. Jensen saw two fishing boats, the Marie of Geraldton, and the Two Friends, of Fremantle a short distance away as they had sought shelter. For two hours Jensen hailed the boats, but was not heard.

He stuck to the wreck until she drifted as far as he thought she would go, and then struck out for the shore, being then “nearly done up.”

His cries for assistance were heard by Frank Morrison, Captain of the Marie, as he was just reaching the shore. He put off in a dinghy and rescued Jensen, taking him back to the Marie. He was provided with dry clothes, given food, placed in bed and carefully nursed by the Italian crew. Owing to heavy seas, they were not able to leave for Geraldton until Tuesday morning, arriving in Port at 8pm that evening.

A wire received by the Commissioner of Police (Mr. R. Connell) from Inspector Holmes of Geraldton, stated that due to unfavourable weather, the vessel, which intended to take the Police to Gun Island in search of bodies, was unable to make the Island, and he considered it useless to make this trip to a place “infested with shark and crayfish”.

Mr. Nelson, the local manager of Winter, Brandt and Co. had also returned back to Geraldton after reaching the scene of the wreck, and reported to Holmes that he considered the effort futile. The Ivy had drifted about 13 miles from the scene of the disaster in the strong south easterly onto Wooded Island. The wreck eventually broke up and disappeared.

Given the weather conditions and the distance it had drifted, there was no possibility of recovery.

Jensen had followed a sea faring life for 16 years, but this was his maiden trip on a fishing boat. The papers reported that this was also his last ever trip on a fishing boat.

He was born in Sweden and had been in Western Australia for 18 months, but some papers refer to him as a Dane. He had already experienced tragedy on the Nor’West coast. Whilst being a member of the crew of the schooner, Queenie Alice, the previous year, he had lost his Captain and a fellow Sailor.

Petersen, reported as a Swede, left behind a widow and son in Fremantle. Paul (unknown surname), described as a German, was unmarried with a stated age between 28 and 40.