The Loss of the Gambier

I have often wondered why the maritime history of Gippsland has been so neglected. The waters along our coastline were well-used.

Many a good ship was lost and the history of our settlements was often shaped by the men who plied the coastal routes in their small ships.
The grey waters of Bass Strait hide many a seaman's bones, as do the waters of Western Port and Port Phillip. This story is about a wreck in Port Phillip, and not at the notorious Heads, either.
The steamship 'Gambier' went down after a collision with the collier 'Easby' in the West Channel, about five kilometres inside The Heads. At least 21 lives were lost.
The 'Gambier' had left Newcastle for Melbourne. She was 1030 tons of first-class steamer. As she rounded Wilsons Promontory the passengers were in high spirits, for even on a short journey the last night out is traditionally a festive occasion. There were 103 passengers aboard and most of them had fallen asleep when the ship passed into Port Phillip, pushing into a strong ebb tide. At 12.45am she was making four or five knots. Captain Bell was on the bridge and there was no cause for alarm.
At about 1am he saw the white masthead light of another ship coming down the channel. There was still no cause for alarm. There are definite rules governing the use of the sea lanes and every captain knows them well. Both ships should in these circumstances turn to the right, or starboard, side of the channel and thus pass to port, or 'on the left'.
What Captain Bell could not know was that the ship approaching him was the collier 'Easby', bound from Melbourne back to Newcastle, in full ballast. When such ships were travelling in ballast their bows rode much higher in the water than when they were laden, making it harder to see objects straight ahead.
Captain Bell held to his course, doing the right thing but not thinking very much about the developing situation. He could now see the green starboard light of the 'Easby', but he should have been able to see her red portside light. He saw no change in the collier's course and began to worry.
She was coming down the channel with the tide behind her and she was coming straight at the 'Gambier'. Bell sounded a warning blast on his ship's whistle, but the 'Easby' didn't answer. When the vessels were only 300 yards apart Bell ordered the 'Gambier' to a full stop, and then to full astern, but it was far too late.
He shouted to the 'Easby' to go astern, but a ship takes a long time to stop and by now a collision was inevitable. Bell then called for full steam ahead to try to clear the channel but it takes time for a ship to respond and the 'Easby' ploughed into the port side of the 'Gambier', cutting almost halfway through her. Of the 21 lives lost (and some reports suggest there were more) most were probably lost in that first crushing impact.
There was worse to come. Captain Prideaux had ordered full astern on the 'Easby' just before the impact. This sealed the fate of the 'Gambier'. Far from preventing a collision, the engines began to pull the collier back out of the steamer's side, letting the sea flood through the dreadful gash she'd made in the steamer's side. The 'Gambier' took only seven minutes to sink in nine metres of water.
Had the ships stayed locked together the 'Gambier' would not have gone down so fast. There might have been time to launch more boats and some passengers and crew could have crossed to the 'Easby'.
Captain Prideaux at least kept his head, showing the blue light that signals a collision and firing distress rockets to summon help. Aboard the 'Gambier' there was understandable confusion and panic. Passengers came on deck with no lifebelts and were sent below for them. Three lifeboats were launched but a fourth was trapped when the ship went down. Captain Bell was also dragged under, trapped by the leg in the wreckage, but he freed himself and was later picked up.
A fisherman named Glazier saw the rockets from the Queenscliff jetty and roused the coxswain of the lifeboat. The coxswain didn't believe him and would not call out the crew, so Glazier went out singlehanded in his own boat. He knew he was not mistaken when he found a ship's lifebuoy from the 'Gambier' in the water. Next he found a ship's lifeboat, but all he could see in it was a tangle of lifebelts and other gear. He continued his search.
Finding nothing more he returned to Queenscliff. The coxswain of the lifeboat there now believed him and the two men returned to the scene. They found nothing, and returned to shore. Glazier then made a third trip with Police Superintendent Dickson. On this trip they again saw the derelict lifeboat, and in the growing light of day they saw the bodies of two men in the bottom. The body of a young girl lay on the seats.
She had apparently not long died and Glazier was long tormented by his failure to see her on his first journey that night.
The 'Easby' stayed on the scene for two hours and then made her way slowly but safely back to Melbourne for repairs, carrying the survivors.
There was an inquiry, of course, and Captains Prideaux and Bell each lost their masters certificates for some time. Bell maintained that the ships were 'passing' and that his action in turning to starboard was correct. Prideaux claimed that he was outside the channel and that he was thus entitled to maintain a straight course for The Heads. He said that the 'Gambier' was therefore 'crossing' and thus, according to the rules of the sea, she should have avoided him.
The truth is that neither captain reduced speed until far too late and at least 21 people died. The 'Easby' sank the 'Gambier' on August 28, 1891, long after Gippsland was 'settled' and when coastal navigation was well-developed, but it reminded everyone that the sea is never entirely a safe place. We still depend on our sealanes, and we will never settle them as we have settled the land.