PS Paynesville and Tommy Norton wrecks

Paddle steamers were pretty much the backbone of the Gippsland Lakes shipping trade, and this is the story of two of them.
One of the best-loved was the PS Thomas Norton, but always called the "Tommy Norton". She, if a Thomas can be a 'she', died on the Lakes Entrance bar in 1877, before the entrance was tamed.

She was carvel-built, which means her planks were joined edge-to-edge instead of overlapping by W and G White built her in Williamstown in 1859 for Captain Robert Dyason, and the brand-new Gippsland Lakes Navigation Company in 1864 brought her up to Lakes Entrance.

There she was used as a tug taking sailing ships and some steamers through the entrance, which was shifting and dangerous. She was only 63 feet long, and she drew only a little less than six feet, ideal for her role a a shallow-water tug and pilot boat.

When the entrance was closed she took passengers and freight up to the Latrobe Bridge or back to Bairnsdale. This was long before the Swing Bridge was built.
This story is primarily about the PS Paynesville, but the Tommy Norton story has a dramatic end so this story is about two marine disasters involving the lakes' entrance.

On October 26, 1877 she towed the steamer 'Murray' and the schooner 'Nowra' out to sea and when returning at about 8pm she struck the bar, rolled half on her side and began to take a heavy pounding. There were six people aboard and they spent the night aboard the wreck, as the boat soon became. There were the captain, four crewmen and passenger, Mrs Rigney, aboard. One can only try to imagine the cold and the impact of the breakers as the ship started to gradually break up.

The 'Murray' saw what happened and stood by, almost helpless. She sent a small boat but the seas were so rough that the boat was recalled lest it, too, was sunk.
Come daybreak Captain McAlpine and the engineer, Brown, made it to the shore and found the 'Maffra' in 'Reeves River'. With men from the 'Maffra" and one of the ship's boats the crew and Mrs Rigney were brought ashore. The only things they saved were the clothes they were wearing at the time.

The Tommy Norton is only one of the many boats, and small ships, that lie beneath the rough surf of the entrance and out by the bar, dangerous even now. The Paynesville lies further west.

News of the wreck of the Paynesville was sent from Sale by the "electric telegraph" and by 'our own correspondent'. It was run in the issue of 22 March 1881, and I think the newspaper was The Argus, which survived into the 1950s
The Paynesville had gone ashore near Sutton Forest.

She was built of wood, but with an iron frame. She'd been built to work on the Gippsland Lakes but she was too slow and not very reliable so she was to be taken back to Melbourne. She never got there. She was sailed down to "Cunninghame (lakes entrance)" to take on ballast. She went down to "Cunninghame (Lakes Entrance)". That was on Saturday and she sailed through the entrance at about 10am on the Sunday. After a few miles – the newspaper report refers to leagues – she was found to be taking in water.

The leaks did not seem too bad and the weather was near perfect so her Captain continued the voyage, but did as close as practical to the shoreline.
In due course, as the leaks grew worse and it became obvious the engine-room fire was going to be put out by the rising water, he turned her head to the beach. At about 7pm, nine hours after leaving the lakes, she was safely aground with only minimal damage.

All the eight crew went safely ashore, with food supplies and foresail to provide a shelter. They did not have long to wait because John Fairweather had seen the Paynesville come ashore and help was speedily arranged. Fairweather then rode into Sale with the news.

Unfortunately she soon swung sideways as the tide rose and she was exposed to the full force of the ninety Mile Beach breakers. At that point there was no chance of salvage, By 10.00pm the waves were breaking over her. She was filling with water and there was not much left in only a few days.

What there was left has long been covered by the sands of the beach. There are a few varying stories about exactly where the remains of the Paynesville lie, variously described as Sutton Forest and Ocean Grange (this was long before there was a Golden Beach or a Seaspray). It is something of a coincidence that she went ashore only a couple of hundred yards from the rusting wreck of the iron barque 'Trinculo', beached there less that two years earlier.

The PS Paynesville belonged to Messrs Johnston, of the Tyne Foundry It was at 'Yarra bank´ and was a major employer, with a staff of about 350. It was a highly successful business, but it was ravaged by fire in November 1882. The castings for the Swing Bridge over the La Trobe were made by Messrs Johnson & Company of the Tyne Foundry on the banks of the lower Yarra River in Melbourne. Sometimes the foundry is said to have been owned by J.C. Johnson, Messrs Johnson and Johnson and Son. The castings did not come up to Sale by rail but by a coastal schooner which was able to unload right onto the site.

Johnston was smart enough to have the ship insured so The New Zealand Company carried the insurance debt, 3000 pounds, but had wisely laid off 1000 with the Derwent and Tamar Company and another 1000 pounds with the Mercantile Marine Company. The Derwent and Tamar Company had also carried the 2000 pounds insurance for the barque Trinculo, beached and wrecked just a short way from the Paynesville's grave and less than two years earlier. The Derwent and Tamar Company must have had some very negative thoughts about the Ninety Mile.

It must also have seemed suspicious that a ship which was a commercial failure went to sea with known significant leaks and was then beached so as to become a write-off, insured, it seems, for a little more than she was worth.