The City of York was a 1,194 ton iron barque

Barque

A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts.- History of the term :The word barque appears to have come from the Greek word baris, a term for an Egyptian boat. This entered Latin as barca, which gave rise to the Italian barca, Spanish barco, and the French barge and...

 which sunk after hitting a reef off Rottnest Island

Rottnest Island

Rottnest Island is located off the coast of Western Australia, near Fremantle. It is called Wadjemup by the Noongar people, meaning "place across the water". The island is long, and at its widest point with a total land area of . It is classified as an A Class Reserve and is managed by the...

 in the last few kilometres of its voyage from San Francisco to Fremantle

Fremantle, Western Australia

Fremantle is a city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle was the first area settled by the Swan River colonists in 1829...

, Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

 in 1899.

The three masted, 68 metre (223 feet) long, iron hulled ship was built in 1869 by Glasgow

Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

 shipbuilders J. Elder and Company. The British owners were the 'Ship City of York Company'. It had been only just been beaten by the famous Cutty Sark

Cutty Sark

The Cutty Sark is a clipper ship. Built in 1869, she served as a merchant vessel , and then as a training ship until being put on public display in 1954...

in the 1885 Great Race, a race from China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

 to London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 in which large profits were earned by the ship to arrive with the first tea

Tea

Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by adding cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant to hot water. The term also refers to the plant itself. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world...

 of the year.

The sinking of the City of York

The vessel departed San Francisco on 13 April 1899 under Captain Phillip Jones with a cargo of 743,444 feet

Board foot

The board-foot is a specialized unit of measure for the volume of lumber in the United States and Canada. It is the volume of a one-foot length of a board one foot wide and one inch thick....

 of Oregon

Douglas-fir

Douglas-fir is one of the English common names for evergreen coniferous trees of the genus Pseudotsuga in the family Pinaceae. Other common names include Douglas tree, and Oregon pine. There are five species, two in western North America, one in Mexico, and two in eastern Asia...

 timber

Timber

Timber may refer to:* Timber, a term common in the United Kingdom and Australia for wood materials * Timber, Oregon, an unincorporated community in the U.S...

 and 3,638 doors. After making a record passage to Western Australia in just 90 days, she approached Rottnest on the afternoon of 12 July 1899 in stormy weather including blinding rain and heavy seas. At that time, Rottnest had a single lighthouse

Lighthouse

A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses or, in older times, from a fire, and used as an aid to navigation for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways....

 in the centre of the island and the ship was seen by the lighthouse keeper at 4:30 p.m. on a north-westerly bearing about 29 km (18 mi) off the coast of the island, heading north-east.
The keeper telephoned the news of the sighting to the head pilot who was on duty in the main island settlement at Thompson Bay who readied himself and his pilot boat to go to the assistance of the ship once it signalled for a pilot.

At 6:45, the ship had still not signalled for a pilot and the assistant lighthouse keeper challenged the ship by lighting a flare-up at the base of the lighthouse, meaning for the ship to stand off until the pilot had arrived.

The captain however mistook the signal for the international code as being from a pilot boat itself and that the ship should continue towards it (the pilot boat). The ship was now unwittingly sailing straight towards the shallow reef

Reef

In nautical terminology, a reef is a rock, sandbar, or other feature lying beneath the surface of the water ....

s which surround the island.

Lead was cast three times over 15 minutes to gauge the depth, and readings of 15, 9 and 5 fathom

Fathom

A fathom is a unit of length in the imperial and the U.S. customary systems, used especially for measuring the depth of water.There are 2 yards in an imperial or U.S. fathom...

s were taken respectively. Shortly after the last cast, breakers were sighted. The captain gave immediate orders to turn the ship but was unsuccessful and she struck remaining high on the reef 200 metres offshore from what is today the City of York bay, midway along the north side of the island.

11 men drown

Captain Jones ordered the 26 crew into the two lifeboats. Six men including First Mate William Pape managed to get in the first lifeboat before its holding rope broke and it drifted free from the stricken vessel. The remaining 20 men managed to get into the remaining lifeboat and stood a short distance off for an hour or so while Captain Jones considered his options. As the ship appeared to be holding steady of the reef, Jones ordered the lifeboat to return to the ship, but while doing so, the small boat was hit by a large wave and overturned, tipping all of the men into the heavy seas.

Eight men managed to re-board the City of York and one man was picked up by the first mate's boat. 11 others including Captain Jones were drowned. After several hours battling the seas, the seven men in the remaining lifeboat managed to get to shore and several walked, exhausted, several kilometres through the bush to the lighthouse to raise the alarm. The remaining men onshore were recovered shortly afterwards and the following morning, the master and owner of the steam tug Dunskey, Captain William Douglas, rowed his vessel's 4.5 metre dinghy to the wreck from seaward and was able to rescue the remaining eight men on the ship.

Court of inquiry

An inquiry was held a week later which found that the wreck was caused by the "gross carelessness and want of judgement shown by the master, Phillip H. Jones". The finding was based on Admiralty Sailing Directions

Admiralty

The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...

 which direct that a ship must not approach Rottnest on its west or north-west side to a depth of less than 30 fathoms.

The ship's owners challenged the finding, arguing that the international code of practice said that flare-ups were used as a signal from a pilot boat to show that the boat was in safe water. As was the practice, Captain Jones had replied with blue lights to signal his acknowledgement of the safe water flare-up signal. By implication, the assistant lighthouse keeper had been negligent in using an incorrect signal.

Concern about the signalling procedures grew and a Joint Select Committee of both Houses of Parliament was established to investigate the harbour and pilot services of the colony. The committee overturned the findings of the initial inquiry and exonerated Captain Jones.

The owners instituted a claim for damages of £7,000 from the Government of Western Australia

Government of Western Australia

The formation of the Government of Western Australia is prescribed in its Constitution, which dates from 1890, although it has been amended many times since then...

 on the basis that the ship was lost due to misleading signals and that the government, as operators of the lighthouse was responsible. The case was pursued as far as the Privy Council

Privy council

A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a nation, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the monarch's closest advisors to give confidential advice on...

 in London in October 1902. The Privy Council case was not heard however, as the respondents allowed the appeal to lapse.

A settlement of £3,000 was negotiated in early 1903.

The City of York was abandoned with general agreement of there being no likelihood of the hull being salvaged. Much of the timber cargo was salvageable however and was bought for £323/5/- by a Perth syndicate who also bought the cargo from the Carlisle Castle.

Current condition

The wreck is located at 31°59.72′S 115°29.25′E, lying in 7 metres of water on a reef bottom with the bow facing to shore. It appears the vessel may have broken in two amidships with two sections of deck framing off centre. Several sections stand proud of the sea-bed. The hull has largely disintegrated with only the vessel's floors and the stern section recognisable. Plating, frames and stringers are strewn throughout the wreckage with one deck winch and sections of windlass the only machinery apparent.

The anchor from the ship has been retrieved from the wreck site and currently stands prominently outside the accommodation office on the Island.

Another wreck and aftermath

The same storm also caused the wrecking of the Carlisle Castle, a 1,484 ton, 70 metre (230 feet) barque which hit Coventry Reef, a few kilometres south of Rottnest and 3 kilometres west of Penguin Island

Penguin Island (Western Australia)

Penguin Island is a 12.5 ha island off the coast near Perth Western Australia, 700 m from Rockingham. It is home to a colony of Little Penguins, the largest population of the birds in Western Australia. The waters surrounding the island make up the Shoalwater Islands Marine Park...

. The ship had been carrying general cargo as well as locking bars which were for the construction of the Goldfields Water Supply Scheme

Goldfields Water Supply Scheme

The Goldfields Water Supply Scheme is a pipeline and dam project which delivers potable water to communities in Western Australia's Eastern Goldfields, particularly Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie...

. Between 24 and 26 people were estimated to be on board. All on board were drowned. Initially, it was unclear if there was one or two shipwrecks after debris started floating ashore near South Beach in Fremantle. A pilot sent out from Fremantle

Fremantle, Western Australia

Fremantle is a city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle was the first area settled by the Swan River colonists in 1829...

 ascertained the fate of the Carlisle Castle at about the same time as the City of York was first sighted, however delays in communications and the severe weather added to the confusing situation.

A short time after the storm, the government recognised the need for additional lighthouses to assist with navigation in the waters around the island and the approaches to Fremantle. A second lighthouse at Rottnest at Bathurst Point on the eastern end was built soon after, being completed just 13 months after the City of York incident.

A memorial at Fremantle Cemetery

Fremantle Cemetery

Fremantle Cemetery is a 46 hectare cemetery located in the eastern part of Fremantle, Western Australia. Established in 1898, it is known as the final resting place of Bon Scott and several other notable Australians....

commemorates the lives lost in the City of York and Carlisle Castle tragedies. The memorial was built in 1900 from public subscriptions.