| History | |
|---|---|
| Name |
|
| Namesake | the water spiritNeck |
| Owner |
|
| Port of registry |
|
| Builder | Akers Mekaniske Verksted, Christiana |
| Launched | 1866 |
| Fate | Sank 1881, refloated 1885, later sank 1888 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage | 58 GRT |
| Length | 79 ft (24.08 m) |
| Beam | 15 ft (4.57 m) |
| Depth | 8 ft 2 in (2.49 m) |
| Installed power | Direct-acting steam engine |
| Propulsion | Sail, single screw |
SSEllengowan was aschooner-rigged, single-screw steamer built by Akers Mekaniske Verksted in Christiania (Oslo)Norway, under her original name,Nøkken. The vessel was powered by sail and a verticaldirect-acting steam engine.Ellengowan sank at its moorings, unmanned, during the night of 27 April 1888 inPort Darwin and was abandoned. 103 years later, in 1991, she was discovered by divers, making it the oldest known shipwreck in Darwin Harbour.[1][2]
Built in 1866 byAkers Mekaniske Verksted in Christiania in Norway,Ellengowan was originally namedNøkken.[3] She was built for Mr D. Hegermann. The vessel was 79 feet (24 m) long, 15 feet (4.6 m) wide, had a depth of 8 feet (2.4 m) and had agross register tonnage of 58. She was powered by sail and a vertical direct-acting steam engine. Steam was supplied by a roundScotch boiler.
Hegermann usedNøkken as a privateyacht until it was sold to theLondon Missionary Society (LMS) in 1874.[2] The Reverend Samuel Macfarlane persuaded Miss Baxter, of Dundee, to donate£3,000 for the steamer, renaming it after her own home "Ellengowan". Macfarlane wantedEllengowan for missionary work inNew Guinea. Departing fromSomerset,Cape York Peninsula, the work began with a trip to Anuapata (Port Moresby) in November 1874, to establish the first mission in New Guinea. W. G. Lawes, amissionary with LMS, his wife and the Reverend A.W. Murray travelled on this first trip. Lawes later became the first European missionary to take up residence in Port Morseby.[4]
Macfarlane then organised an expedition to find the mainstream of theFly River, a major waterway inWestern Province,Papua New Guinea, to determine if suitable land was available up-river to establish further missions.Ellengowan steamed for about 103 kilometres (64 mi) up a river, but it was not the Fly. Macfarlane named this river theBaxter River (also called Mai-Kassa River), after Miss Baxter. Upon the vessel's return to Somerset, Macfarlane granted leave to James Runcie, captain ofEllengowan, to takeLawrence Hargrave, an Australian inventor and explorer, Octavius Stone and Kendal Broadbent, both naturalists, in another (unsuccessful) attempt to find the mainstream of the Fly River and to cross theOwen Stanley Mountains. A third expedition to find the Fly River was again mounted by Macfarlane on 3 December 1875. He was accompanied byLuigi M D'Albertis, an Italian naturalist and the police magistrate in Somerset, Lieutenant Cherster. On this occasion, the expedition was successful.Ellengowan steamed upstream for 150 miles (240 km), establishing that the Fly was a large and navigable river. As a result,Ellengowan was the first European vessel to sail up the Fly and Baxter rivers.[4] The furthest-most point on the Fly River that the expedition reached, on 14 December 1875, was named Ellengowan Island (7°49'13.66"S, 141°40'59.68"E)[5] after the vessel.
The vessel was purchased from LMS in 1881 by the Palmerston Plantation Company, managed by Mr W. Owston, to undertake supply voyages from Palmerston (Darwin) to theDaly River where a sugar plantation had been established. While operating in this role, she struck a sandbar on the Daly River and sank.[6]
Ellengowan remained a shipwreck for four years until she was eventually raised in 1885 by Charles Stuart Copeland, who intended to use the vessel to supply camps along theRoper andMcArthur Rivers.[6] The vessel's first trip since being raised was a charter from the government to take a customs officer,Alfred Searcy, in search of Macassan perahu along theNorthern Territory coast. However,Ellengowan was so poorly repaired after its stay at the bottom of the Daly River, that upon its return to Port Darwin she was pronounced unseaworthy.
Copeland hadmortgagedEllengowan to Herbert H. Adcock and Richard De la Poer Beresford, who then used her as aquarantine hulk for Chinese passengers fromHong Kong to make up the 21 days port before being allowed to land. Being in such poor condition,Ellengowan sank at its mooring off Channel Island, unmanned, during the night of 27 April 1888 and was abandoned.[2]
TheEllengowan shipwreck was discovered in 1991 by local scuba divers following the assistance of historical research conducted by Margaret Clinch.[4] The shipwreck's discovery and identity was later verified by archaeologists from theMuseum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory in 1994, making it the oldest known shipwreck inDarwin Harbour and the only known Norwegian built iron steamer in Australian waters.[1] The shipwreck lies at a depth of approximately 14 metres (46 ft), in the channel betweenWickham Point andChannel Island, in Darwin Harbour's middle arm. The wreck is the largest feature to appear on a depth sounder in the area, standing about 3 metres off the harbour floor. Her exact location is given at: 12°32'28"S, 130°52'08"E.[7]Ellengowan is a protected shipwreck under theNorthern Territory Conservation Act 1991. Visitors to the site are required not to disturb the site in any way, in an effort to preserve the remaining structure andartefacts for the enjoyment of future generations of site visitors.
12°19′S130°31′E / 12.32°S 130.52°E /-12.32; 130.52
