Donald,
Also in 1859 the Jerrems family migration began from the Gainsborough England area to Sydney Australia. The Jerrems Journal edition #15 July 2006, chronicled the lengthy voyage of Thomas and Elizabeth and their children.
If you have any archived Jerrems photos in the attic or stories to share, send them in.
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A typical crew |
Ray Jerrems, Our Genealogist, Historian, Explorer
Introduction. This article continues the story of the Portland Lifeboat and its crew. In the previous article I also traced the story of the Dusting family and described where they came from in Cornwall.
The ship shown in the painting top above is the “Admella”.
The nearby photo is of a later crew of the Portland Lifeboat, probably taken in the late 1800s. One of the men would have been Arthur Dusting, the son of John Dusting who took part in the famous rescue.
John’s occupation at Portland was “lighter man”. A lighter is commonly a flat-bottomed unpowered barge or punt used in loading or unloading ships, or in transporting goods for short distances. This would have provided John with the fitness and skills necessary for his berth on the lifeboat.
It is obvious from the photo that beards and moustaches were in vogue at the time, and its shows the men wearing life jackets, probably made from cork wrapped in heavy canvas.
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The Admella |
The ship where the Portland lifeboat played a famous role was the Admella, a single screw (ie single propeller) iron steamship of 395 tons and a length of nearly 60 metres (200 feet) which plied between South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria (its name was in fact made up from the first letters of the names of the ports of Adelaide, Melbourne and Launceston). At the time she was one of the fastest and most luxurious ships on the Australian colonial trade routes. On the regular Adelaide – Melbourne run her fastest voyage had once been made in a sizzling 42 hours.
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The Admella runs aground |
The Admella was on a trip between Adelaide and Melbourne when it ran aground on a reef off Cape Banks in South Australia, 150 km to the west of Portland.
“The wreck of the ship in the early hours of August 6th 1859 was only the beginning of a horrific week for survivors who remained on board, in sight of land, while authorities struggled to rescue them from the stricken steamer.
It was winter, which is very cold in itself in this area, and temperatures in the area would have fallen to freezing point at night. However strong winds and storms which would have come from the Antarctic made conditions much colder and whipped up the waves.
The ship broke into three parts soon after impact, leaving some passengers on one part without any protection. Some of these passengers, including women and children, were drowned while trying to cross by rope to another part of the wreck. The middle part sank, taking passengers with it.
Later, others were swept off both remaining parts and drowned as conditions worsened and waves broke in. Several passengers became insane (attributed to drinking seawater) and threw themselves into the sea.
There was little food and no fresh water remaining on board after the ship broke up.
Probably the most tragic part of the situation was that the people on the Admella could be seen clearly from the erstwhile rescue ships and spectators on the shore.
Perhaps the most poignant aspect was that my research has shown that the nineteen people rescued (ten passengers and nine crew) only included one woman, a Miss Ledruth. No children are shown except a cabin boy.
The loss of 89 lives, mostly attributed to drowning, starvation or exposure (which would now include hypothermia), makes the wreck one of the most tragic maritime disasters in Australian history.
Early rescue attempts
By this time the steamships Corio (from Adelaide) and Ladybird (from Melbourne and Portland) were assembled near the shipwreck, assisted by local boats including “The Ant”.
Over the next few days, several rescue attempts were made by the Corio and Ladybird rescue boats. Rockets were fired to try to get lines aboard but mountainous seas and severe winter storms drove the rescuers back.
By Saturday, one full week after the wreck, the Admella’s and Corio’s lifeboat boats were launched from the beach and managed to crash through the surf and reach the wreck. A total of four men (including the captain) were rescued, however this was at the cost of one man who was was drowned when one of the boats capsized. ”
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The Portland lifeboat comes to the rescue |
Here is a photo of the Portland Lifeboat under sail.
The Portland lifeboat, which had been towed a distance of 150 km (100 miles) to the scene from Portland by the steamship Ladybird (owned by the Henty Brothers) had made an earlier attempt to reach the wreck but was driven back by the raging seas and damage to its oars and rudder.
Now it was finally successful in coming alongside the wreck. There, in the words of one newspaper report, the remaining 19 survivors “threw themselves into the lifeboat and were caught as they fell by the boatmen”. They were then rowed to the Ladybird which returned to Portland.
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Public subscription and awards for crew |
This is a photo of an Admella Medal, referred to later.
The fact that there was a telegraph station comparatively close by meant that newspaper journalists could telegraph their reports to Melbourne very quickly. From Melbourne the other major Australian cities were also kept informed.
A measure of the public interest and concern was that “The ill-fated Admella continued throughout Tuesday to furnish the one topic of conversation in Adelaide. Both Houses of Parliament adjourned…”.
In the same vein, according to The Age newspaper in Melbourne, the tragedy “brought all of Australia to a halt. There was immense bravery and self-sacrifice, and immense suffering”.
Afterwards, each lifeboat crew member was presented with an Admella Commission Medal, a Board of Trade medal and cash bonuses to honour their bravery and their names are inscribed on a bronze plaque that now resides next to the lifeboat in the Portland Maritime Discovery Centre.
This followed a public appeal by the “Admella Reward and Relief Fund” formed for that purpose, resulting in donations amounting to nearly 8000 pounds (the modern-day equivalent of possibly a million dollars).The presentations took place in an elaborate ceremony at the Melbourne Exhibition Hall carried out with great pomp and circumstance, where bands played and the Governor presented the medals (minted in Sydney) individually.
The cash bonuses were calculated on a sliding scale, the lifeboat members (apart from the skipper) receiving the princely sum of twelve pounds ten shillings. This was probably the current-day equivalent of $5000. The lifeboat crew members received silver medals.
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The bronze plaque |
Unfortunately the only photo I can find of the Memorial Plaque shows it lying down.
John Dusting’s name is inscribed on the bottom left.
Later career of the boat
The lifeboat also took part in rescues at the Jula shipwreck in 1863 but I do not have any details of this.
The lifeboat was decommissioned in 1915 and spent until 1989 in Portland Botanic Gardens. Although in later years it was sheltered from rain it was still open to the wind and salt spray and gradually deteriorated. The Portland Maritime Museum was developed to house the boat. The Lifeboat is one of the oldest lifeboats remaining in the world.
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John Dusting and his son Arthur |
John died in Portland in 1885. His son Arthur (1869-1945) continued in his father’s shoes by being a crew member, receiving the above certificate from the Government.
The certificate is very elaborate and demonstrates the high regard in which crew members were held.
The certificate reads in part::
GRANTED to Arthur Dusting as a mark of appreciation for his esteemed services for fifteen years as bowman connected with the Departmental Lifeboat service at Portland.
The signatories included the Commissioner of Public Works and the Secretary for Public Works.
Conclusion
I hope you have enjoyed my articles about the Portland Lifeboat, which had a connection with one of our readers. In a later article I will tell you about another famous shipwreck, the Loch Ard.