West Australian

Matteo Cipriani and Vincenzo Leo were fishing in the boat, West Australian, (vessel no. 84) on a Saturday afternoon, approximately 1.5 to two miles off the west coast of Rottnest Island, when a puff of wind capsized the boat in moderate seas, leaving the two struggling in the water.

They both attempted to swim for the shore in darkness, but Cipriani was unable to make the distance, became exhausted and drowned. Leo reached Bare Hill Beach (near Catherine Beach) in an exhausted state and for some time did not have the energy remaining to walk.

He slowly made his way to the settlement, falling once or twice along the way.

At 9pm that night, Leo walked into the settlement at Rottnest Island and reported the fishing boat and his mate were missing to the pilots. Captain Symonds onboard the steamer Pelican was at once dispatched around the outside of the reef to search for Cipriani and the boat.

Captain Cleary boarded an incoming steamer to join the search, and another party also searched the beach. The place where the boat capsized was about the same place as the scene of the wreck of the City of York, in approximately 16 or 17 fathoms of water.

The initial search failed to find anything of substance, but at 10:30am on the morning of Friday 17 July, one of the officials at Rottnest Island observed a human body floating in the sea about 300 yards from the Bathurst Point lighthouse, which was later identified to be Cipriani.

The body was greatly decomposed and the whole of the face and portion of the left leg had been eaten away by crabs, or fish. The body was brought over from the island in the afternoon by the launch, Reliance. The next day, an inquest was held before Mr. Henry Field J.P at Fremantle. The jury returned a verdict of accidental drowning.

Matteo Cipriani was born 6 November 1874 in Molfetta, Bari, Italy to Francesco Paolo Cipriani and Isabella Raimondi. He had no family in Australia, but left behind four sisters and two brothers in Molfetta.

His Estate, which was valued at £68 10s 4p, was initially placed under the Charge of the Curator of Intestate Estates. In September 1904, Carl Peter Ludwig Ratazzi, Fremantle Merchant and Consular Agent for Italy in WA applied for administration of the Estate for the purpose of transmitting the proceeds to the Foreign Office in Rome with the intention of dispersing the Estate to his remaining family.

Vincenzo Leo was born around 1861 in Lipari, Sicily, to Antoni and Niolo Caterina Nomanoz.He arrived in Fremantle onboard the Ophir on the 8th of January 1903. He died on the 11th of June 1904, almost one year after surviving the tragedy.

He left behind two younger brothers – Bartolo and Domenico. His brother Dominico Leo, of Bayley street in North Fremantle, was the owner of the vessel and organised his burial.