The Wreck of the Cataraqui
On 20 April 1845 the Cataraqui ship left Liverpool with emigrants bound for Melbourne.
A quarter of the 369 passengers were from Oxfordshire, including 42 from Tackley — the most from
any village. Many were poor families ‘encouraged’ to take
assisted emigration.
Close to its destination, on 4 August, the Cataraqui was shipwrecked on the uninhabited King
Island in the Bass Strait between Tasmania and mainland Australia. Only nine people survived,
mainly crew.
Fortunately the survivors were helped by David Howie, who was on the island collecting animal
furs. In early September they managed to attract the attention of a passing ship, and were
rescued and taken to Melbourne.
Mr Howie organised funds to return soon to King Island to bury the bodies from the wreck in
five mass graves.
175 Years On
To mark the 175th anniversary of Australia’s worst civil maritime disaster, on King Island a
ship’s bell and a plaque with the names and ages of all 399 who died have been installed on the
cairn marking the largest grave, on the shore above the Cataraqui wreck site. On Sunday, 2
August 2020 these were unveiled by Greta Robinson, the great-granddaughter of David Howie. The
names were read out and the bell rung for the first time.
At the King Island museum they have created a new ‘Cataraqui Room’ which houses artefacts
recovered from the ship, plus documents and pictures related to the shipwreck. They are also
restoring one of the cannons carried by the Cataraqui, which was recovered in the 1970s from the
wreck site.
Sadly, plans for commemorative activities in Tackley were prevented due to the coronavirus
pandemic restrictions.
In St Nicholas’ church in Tackley, on the ‘aumbry’ niche to the left of the altar, there’s a
beautifully carved oak door dedicated to those from the village who died in the Cataraqui wreck.
This was unveiled in February 2006 at a service marking 160 years since news of the wreck first
reached the village. It was carved by Oxfordshire master craftsman John Bye. There’s also an
earlier vellum scroll giving the names of the local victims, who ranged from three months to 39
years of age. This was commissioned in the 1970s when this episode was rediscovered by Tackley
Local History Group, and was made by Kenneth Clarke.
February 2021 Commemoration
It was only in the spring of 1846 that news of the wreck reached the UK from Australia. It was
first reported in London in a short account in the Shipping and Mercantile Gazette
on 31 January. Within days the same paper had published a much fuller account which was the
basis for all later newspaper reports. By the middle of February the news had reached all parts
of the country including Oxford. On 7 February both the Oxford Chronicle and Reading
Gazette and Jackson’s Oxford Journal published brief reports. The Journal
and the Oxford University and City Herald followed with longer articles on 14
February, and two weeks later the Journal published further details on the Tackley victims.
Oxford Chronicle and Reading Gazette, 28 February 1846
LOSS OF THE CATARAQUE. — The wreck of this ill-fated vessel, on its way to Australia (the
particulars of which we gave three weeks since) has occasioned much grief in the quiet village
of Tackley, in this county, as the following persons belonging to that place were among the
unfortunate sufferers: William and Hannah Bishop and two children, James and Ann Cook and
three children, William and Ann Cook and six children, Stephen and Hannah Floyd and two
children, Robert and Emma Hore and two children, Anthony and Edith Merry and nine children,
John and Hannah Ryman and three children, John and Sarah Savings and three children, Emily
Walton, William and Deborah Simmons and seven children.
In commemoration, on Sunday, 21 February 2021 at 6:05 pm in St Nicholas’ church, 42 funeral
bell tolls were rung — one for each Tackley villager who died in the Cataraqui shipwreck. This
slow toll followed the five-minute solo bell after the six o’clock chimes that signalled the
‘Prayer for the Nation’ throughout February to remember those who had died from Covid. See a
video made by a visiting Blue Badge
guide.
Media
History group members Rachel Strachan and Neil Wilson went to the wreck site in 2019. Following
their visit, the King Island
Courier carried an article on the Cataraqui, which you can access here:
View
Download (PDF)
Conrad Gibbens produced a film montage about the history of the Cataraqui, which you can watch
on YouTube:
A List of Emigrants from Oxfordshire
Who Died in the Wreck of the Cataraqui
From Tackley to Tasmania: Pauper Emigration from an Oxfordshire Village and the Wreck
of the Cataraqui 1845-46, B. McKay, second edition 1992, ISBN 0‑9506999‑2‑6. Revised
March 2020 from passenger list in Poor Souls, They Perished: The Cataraqui, Australia’s
Worst Shipwreck, A. Lemon & M. Morgan, second edition 1995, ISBN 1‑875606‑26‑2.
Chesterton
- William Andrews (24) Maria Andrews (26)
Fringford
- Joseph Cotterill (22) Martha Cotterill (20)
- George Cotterill (2) Eliza Cotterill (infant)
- Thomas White (25) Anne White (23) Hanna Figge (3)
Fritwell
- William Rutter (25) Fanny Rutter (25)
- Matilda Rutter (2) Mary Rutter (1)
Great Haseley
- Charles Knott (39) Rebecca Knott (40) Matthew Knott (17)
- Joseph Knott (14) John Knott (12) Charles Knott (10)
- Anne Knott (8) Rebecca Knott (6) James Knott (2)
Kiddington
- William Simmonds (33) Deborah Simmonds (32)
- Mary Anne Simmonds (12) Paul Savings (11)
- Patience Savings (11) William Savings (10)
- Emma Savings (7) John Savings (3) John Simmonds (infant)
Rousham
- Emily Walton (18) unmarried
Stoke Lyne
- John Loveridge (21) unmarried
- Mary Ann Loveridge (27) unmarried
- George Watts (27) Elizabeth Watts (25) Richard Watts (infant)
Stonesfield
- William Barrett (38) Mary Barrett (39) George Barrett (10)
- Dinah Barrett (9) Henry Barrett (7) Francis Barrett (6)
- James Oliver (20) unmarried
- James Rawlins (45) Hanna Rawlins (39) Caroline Rawlins (18)
- Sarah Rawlins (16) Emily Rawlins (13) Henry Rawlins (9)
- William Rawlins (6) Francis Rawlins (2)
Tackley
- James Cook 27) Anne Cook (23) Mary Cook (5)
- Jane Cook (2) John Cook (infant)
- William Cook (39) Anne Cook (36) Mary Ann Cook (15)
- Sarah Cook (11) Francis Cook (6) Richard Cook (5)
- John Cook (3) William Cook (infant)
- Stephen Floyd (26) Hanna Floyd (25)
- Mary Anne Floyd (2) William Floyd (infant)
- Robert Hoare (26) Emma Hoare (23)
- Thomas Hoare (2) Millicent Hoare (infant)
- Anthony Merry (37) Edith Merry (36) Martha Merry (16)
- Joseph Merry (14) John Merry (13) William Merry (10)
- James Merry (9) Emma Merry (7) Rhoda Merry (5)
- Mathew Merry (3) Susan Merry (infant)
- John Ryman (29) Hannah Ryman (26)
- James Harwood (8) Joseph Ryman (5) Mary Jane Ryman (infant)
- John Savings (33) Sarah Savings (35)
- Elizabeth Payne (5) Frederick Payne (4) Phillip Savings (infant)
Wootton
- William Bishop (38) Hanna Bishop (36)
- Sarah Bishop (16) Elizabeth Bishop (13)
Further Reading
Further information on Australia’s worst civil maritime disaster and its links to Tackley can
be found in Barry McKay, Tackley to Tasmania: Pauper Emigration from an Oxfordshire
Village published by the History Group.
See also the
King
Island Historical Society Museum.
Research and text: Rachel Strachan. Modern photos: Luke Agati
(Australia); David Ginn (UK). Proofing: Anne Edwards. HTML and map: Martin Edwards. Image
accessibility: David Ginn.