Fairfield Shipwreck

Fairfield, ship, wooden hull 534 tons gross ,42.2 m.,built 1846 New York, USA.

Loss date   09/08/1874

Loss location   Cape Cassini, Kangaroo Island

Loss cause   On 8 August 1874 Fairfield left Port Adelaide in ballast, but with a small amount of cargo, bound for Wallaroo. However, having only just departed Fletcher’s Slip after a refit, the deck gear was adrift and there was an amount of confusion on board. 

The Fairfield was a wooden three-masted ship of 534 tons, 138.5 feet (42.21m) in length, 30.5 feet (9.3m) in breadth and 17.9 feet (5.45m) in depth. It was built in 1846 at New York. The vessel just prior to wrecking had been subjected to a thorough overhaul and refit. The ship had about twenty new iron deck knees fitted and the nearest knee to the steering compass was about nine metres. The Captain of the vessel suggested the iron knees may have affected the compass.

Latitude   -35.578697

Longitude   137.334729

THE WRECK OF THE FAIRFIELD in 1874

[BY J. H. CARTER.]

Soon after I came to Kangaroo Island I was sent, to Cape Cassini, to work for the late Mr John Boxer, I was only about twelve years of age at the time. There were only a few bush tracks through the Island in those days and there was only a small area of cleared land at the Cape. Mr Boxer had only recently taken up the lease of the property and we were engaged in clearing the land as he intended to run sheep there. The house was constructed of wattle and daub walls and had a thatched roof. There were only Mr and Mrs Boxer and myself at Cassini when the barque ' Fairfield' was wrecked during August 1874 The weather had been stormy for several days, the wind blowing hard from the norwest. The "Fairfield" left Port Adelaide Adelaide on a Saturday afternoon, partly loaded with large balks of oregon and barrels of tallow, bound for Wallaroo. On the Saturday evening, Mr Boxer put a big log on the fire so that it would burn all night. Between 5 a. m. and 6 a.m. next morning we were awakened by a thud and Mr Boxer jumped out of bed thinking the log had fallen out of the fireplace. As he came into the kitchen we heard a crash, and we thought that the stable had blown over, but on looking through the window, he saw the dim lines of the sails of a full rigged barque. We ran to the coastline and found that a ship was broadside on to the rocks and the sailors could be heard calling out as they hauled on the ropes, in trying to swing the yards around.

A large hole had been made in fore part of the ship and the rudder was torn off as we reached the shore. We made a fire and the Captain of the ship called out ' Are you savages [sic] ashore there'. We could hear him, but he was not able to hear our replies. Soon afterwards day began to break and we could see some of the men on the stern of the ship and some of them in the rigging. The sea at times broke right over the vessel. The wind began to lull and the crew lowered a boat over the side. This was smashed to match wood. later they launched a small boat in which were two men. After manoeuvring for some time, they brought the boat in on top of a wave, Mr Boxer rushing into the water to help the men. The boat was flung high up on the rocks. The men had brought a thin line ashore and we hauled on this, pulling in a stronger rope which was made fast around a root, The crew then launched the ship's lifeboat and pulling on the rope they hauled the boat ashore. The crew were ashore for several days before they could get back to the ship and obtain provisions, depending on Mr Boxer's hospitality in the meantime. As soon as the weather moderated the Chief officer and some of the crew sailed the lifeboat to Port Adelaide. A tug boat was sent down and some of the ships sails and other' gear was salvaged, and the crew returned to Port Adelaide on the tug. The ship broke up in about a month. Some of the timber in the present homestead was part of the Fairfield, and the woolshed and yards were built from timber washed ashore."🗞