Group of islands in Tasmania, Australia
Kent Group map TheKent Group are a grouping of sixgranite islands located inBass Strait , north-west of theFurneaux Group in Tasmania, Australia.[ 2] Kent Group National Park .[ 1]
The islands were named Kent's Group byMatthew Flinders , "in honour of my friend captainWilliam Kent , then commander ofSupply Francis Sydney Cove [ 3] Deal Island ; the others, in order of descending size, areErith Island ,Dover Island ,North East Isle ,South West Isle andJudgement Rocks .
Seal hunting took place on the islands from at least 1803.[ 4]
Murray Pass, named for the explorerJohn Murray , between Deal and Erith Islands has long been used by ships to shelter from gales in Bass Strait, but it is a dangerous, partly open,roadstead , and many ships have been wrecked after sudden changes in wind direction and speed. Others have hit the island either while attempting to shelter or through poor navigation in darkness or bad weather, several with heavy loss of life. They include:[ 5]
1816,Brothers schooner , 40 tons, CaptainWilliam Hovell , one life lost. 1819,Daphne brig , 151 tons, Captain John Howard, no lives lost. 1819,John Palmer schooner , 37 tons, Captain Bastian, two lives lost (one exDaphne ) 1831,Ionia ,snow , 226 tons, Captain Buck. ?Three lives lost. 1850,Ida , schooner, 50 tons, no loss of life. 1851,White Squall , schooner, 104 tons, Captain Chattock, no loss of life. 1852,Dorset 1852,Mary , brig, 308 tons, no loss of life. 1855,Elizabeth Mason , schooner, 79 tons, Captain McIntyre, no loss of life. 1856,Kendall , schooner, 157 tons, Captain Read, no lives lost. 1862,Reindeer , schooner, 104 tons, Captain Morris, all hands (about 8) lost. 1863,General Jessup ,barque , 193 tons, Captain Hodge, no loss of life. 1866,Boscarne , schooner, 63 tons, Captain Black, no loss of life. 1875,Essie Black , barque, 281 tons, Captain Sivier, all hands (about 10) lost. 1877,Bulli , ironsteamship , 524 tons, Captain Randell, no loss of life (a popular dive wreck). 1921,Karitane , steel steamship, 1376 tons, Captain Spain, no loss of life. 1930,Ida N , new fishing boat, 25 tons, Captain Busk, no lives lost. 1961,St Nicholas , newly completed fish carrier, 45 tons, no loss of life. ^a b "Kent Group National Park" .Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service . Tasmanian Government. Archived fromthe original on 20 August 2006. Retrieved30 June 2006 .^ "Kent Group (TAS)" .Gazetteer of Australia onlineGeoscience Australia , Australian Government.^ Flinders, Matthew (1814).A Voyage to Terra Australis: Undertaken for the Purpose of Completing the Discovery of that Vast Country, and Prosecuted in the Years 1801, 1802, and 1803, in His Majesty's Ship the Investigator Wikidata Q19027014 .^ The Sydney Gazette , 3 February 1803, p.2.^ Broxam & Nash,Tasmanian Shipwrecks , Volumes 1 and 2, Navarine Publishing, Canberra, 1998 and 2000,ISBN 0-9586561-5-0 ISBN 0-9586561-6-9
