The vessel
James was an American-built vessel owned by Chapman and Company.
The vessel was sheathed in copper (1828), carried two chain and one hempen
cable, and was armed with three cannon. It had a single deck with beams,
a raised new deck and new upperworks in 1828. The vessel was involved in
the passenger trade from Europe. Captain Ellis met the vessel at Kingstown,
Ireland, on 18 December 1829 and described the conditions aboard:
I found her crowded with passengers [of] the class of labourers,
men, women and children, whom with passengers taken in at Kingstown, made the
ship's crew 84 persons, and a quantity of sheep, pigs and geese... There was no
place for goods, provisions etc. part of our accommodation was filled up with
stores and luggage belonging to the ship. .There was scarcely enough room for
24 persons to eat and sleep... We therefore suffered great inconvenience and want
of air particularly as the height between the decks in the greater part of our
cabins is but 4'6" between the beams and 4' to the beams instead of 5'6" as required
by Act of Parliament (Particulars of the Voyage from Kingstown Ireland (to Swan
River in 1828 [sic] per brig James) of Capt. Ellis et al., quoted in Henderson
1980:101-2).
The journey was very difficult for all on board the vessel and Ellis
demanded that a survey be made of the vessel once they had reached Bahia
(Salvador). The captain of James, Goldsfield, refused the request,
and conditions continued to deteriorate. Five people died before 4 March
1830. James finally reached Swan River on 8 May, with twelve crew
and 74 passengers and moored at Owen Anchorage.
A gun carriage was built to display the carronade at the Museum.
The wreck event
On 21 May James was blown ashore along with the brig Emily
Taylor. Captain Goldsfield refused to deliver passengers their goods
until ordered to do so by the colonial secretary. Several incidents occurred
involving injury to a man using explosives on the vessel, and another drowned
during the transfer of goods by boat from the wreck to Fremantle.
Plans were made for the wreckage of the vessel to be incorporated into
the building of a jetty but this never eventuated. There are no records
to indicate James was ever refloated. |
Site location
The site is adjacent to the South Fremantle Power Station, close to James
Rocks, about 50 metres from shore. It is 81 metres south-east of the cooling
water outlet pipe and the shore end is about 3.1 metres from the rocky sea-wall
in front of the power station.
Site description
The wreckage lies on a sandy and rock bottom in 4 metres of water. It
is significantly affected by sand movement in the area and regularly gets
completely covered. Various artefacts have been removed from the vicinity
of the site.
Carronade recovered
In 1976, K. Farthing reported the discovery of a carronade about 600
metres from the James wreck site. This heavily concreted iron gun
was removed from the site by Museum staff and after conservation treatment
an excellently preserved 6pounder trunnion carronade was revealed (Green
et al., 1981:101). A gun carriage was later built for its display
at the Museum.
The carronade on it's new carriage.
A second gun, this time a small iron signal cannon which had been spiked,
was found in the grounds of the abattoir some 20 kilometres from the wreck
site. Research revealed it had been removed from the vicinity of the wreck
and was probably the second of the three guns known to have been aboard.
A third gun remains on the site.
Statement of significance
Technical and scientific
Analysis of the design of the carronade from the James wreck site may
help in understanding the manufacturing process of these ordinances. Conservation
of James's carronade has resulted in new methods of treating salt impregnated
iron artefacts. The in situ analysis of the third remaining gun can also
provide useful information.
References
Green, J., Henderson, G. & North, N., 1981, 'The carronade
from the brig James: its history, conservation and gun carriage reconstruction',
International Journal of Nautical Archaeology, 10.2:101-8.
|