The Bee was a ship that sank off the coast of Newcastle

Newcastle, New South Wales

The Newcastle metropolitan area is the second most populated area in the Australian state of New South Wales and includes most of the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie Local Government Areas...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 in 1806.

The Bee, an 11 ton sloop

Sloop

A sloop is a sail boat with a fore-and-aft rig and a single mast farther forward than the mast of a cutter....

, was under the command of Thomas Bryant when it set sail from Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 for the Hawkesbury River

Hawkesbury River

The Hawkesbury River, also known as Deerubbun, is one of the major rivers of the coastal region of New South Wales, Australia. The Hawkesbury River and its tributaries virtually encircle the metropolitan region of Sydney.-Geography:-Course:...

 on 25 June 1806. On 28 June the ship ran into a storm that shifted the ballast, damaged the rigging and mast. All the food was washed overboard and the water barrell was smashed. On 29 June the storm abated and the Bee joined with another small ship, the Contest on the way to Newcastle. While the Contest managed to get into harbour, the Bee was becalmed just outside. A strong current took the ship southwards when the anchor dragged. Further squalls sprung up over the next couple of days and shredded what was left of the Bee's sails. The two men crewing the ship, Bryant and the ship's owner, Benjamin Crew, were exhausted, hungry and thirsty as the current then took them northward. On 12 July, Bryant killed the ship's cat and they drank its blood. On 16 July Bryant died. On 18 July, Crew was able to get the attention of a passing whaler, the Brothers

Brothers

Brothers are male siblings.Brothers may also refer to:- Film :* Brothers , an American silent film directed by D. W. Griffith* Brothers , an American film starring Vonetta McGee and Bernie Casey...

which rescued Crew. The Bee was left to drift and was never seen again. Crew was landed in Sydney on 21 July 1806.