Laughing Wave (1903/08/29)

Koombana Bay, alongside jetty

Laughing Wave was built by William Jackson at South Beach, Fremantle. It had one deck and a round stern, and the first owners were John and Walter Bateman, joint owners. Walter Bateman’s shares were transferred to John on 27 January 1875, when Walter was declared a lunatic. John Bateman then took out a mortgage for £1 839 at 8%, which was discharged in July 1878. Bateman sold the brig to William Douglas of Fremantle in May 1901. In September that year Douglas mortgaged the Laughing Wave for £600 to the Western Australian Bank, that mortgage being discharged on 2 October 1901. In April 1902 Douglas sold the Laughing Wave to a consortium consisting of M.J. Davis, F.W. Hankinson and F. Kopler, contractors of Perth, who became joint owners.
The brig was damaged on a number of occasions, being blown ashore at Woodman Point in March 1872, and being badly holed in March 1889 when a storm drove it against the Fremantle Jetty. In June 1896 it was again driven ashore, this time at South Beach. In each case it was refloated and repaired.
The Laughing Wave arrived in Bunbury on 27 August 1903 from Fremantle with a cargo of ten tanks of malt for the local brewery, some spirits, kerosene and 20 tons of general cargo, with a total value of £1 000. The cargo was fully insured. The vessel was valued at either £600 (McKenna, 1967) or £750 but insured for only £300 (Bunbury Herald, 2 September 1903: 2e). The vessel was under charter to Messrs Lewis and Reid, contractors, who were building the jetties at Carnarvon and Point Sampson. It was under the command of John Davidson, with Ernest Chadingbowr as mate and a crew of three (Bunbury Herald, 31 August 1903: 2d) or four (McKenna, 1967), and was to load timber for use in the construction of those northern jetties.
THE LOSS
Arriving from Fremantle on Thursday 27 August the Laughing Wave was at anchor when a storm blew up from the north, causing the vessel to part its port anchor cable. The brig then drifted and hit the wreck of the barque Solglyt, losing its rudder. It was made secure at anchor again, and at noon on Friday was brought alongside the jetty by the steam tug Dunskey. The Laughing Wave was berthed on the southern side of the jetty in 13 ft (4.5 m) of water, and, because of the collision with the wreck of the Solglyt, was making a little water. The pumps, however, easily coped with this.
The heavy swell caused the brig to pitch and roll, and at 3.30 a.m. on Saturday 29 August, in rolling to port, it struck the lower structure of the jetty, causing some of the planks of the vessel to be stove in. A heavy inrush of water occurred and, despite every effort being made, it continued to gain on the pumps. At 6.00 a.m. the services of the Dunskey were again called for, this time to help with the pumping, but the water continued to gain and at 8.00 a.m. the Laughing Wave sank with only the bulwarks and rigging showing above sea level. The sea bottom at the berth where the brig lay was rough rock, and as the vessel continued to roll in the heavy weather the bottom of the hull was seriously damaged.
Captain Arundel, the Lloyd’s representative, inspected the Laughing Wave on Sunday 30 August, and the following day a diver was sent down to salvage the cargo, much of which was, by its nature, relatively undamaged. Intermittent violent weather, and the continued rolling of the vessel, rendered this task very difficult, but by Wednesday it was almost completed. Doubts were expressed about raising the vessel, as it was considered that while the 35 year old brig would have been repairable after the initial bump on the jetty, the subsequent knocking about on the rough bottom had very seriously damaged the hull.
The West Australian reported on the storm:
A Bunbury telegram of yesterday stated:- ‘Last night was one of the roughest that has been experienced here during the recent winter. The storm caused considerable anxiety to shipmasters in the present unprotected state of the harbour’ (West Australian, 29 August 1903: 6a).
INITIAL SALVAGE
It is not clearly stated what happened to the Laughing Wave. The Bunbury Herald has the brig listed as being in port until 7 September, but it is not subsequently mentioned as having left that harbour. McKenna (1959) reports that it was wrecked alongside the Bunbury wharf on 29 August 1903 and that the Certificate of Registry was delivered up and cancelled on 2 May 1904. McKenna (1967) has a notation from the incident as reported to the Registrar of British Ships, Port of Fremantle, that the Laughing Wave was a total wreck. Loney (1994) is also of the opinion that the brig became a total wreck and was abandoned. Dickson (1996 & 1998), however, reports that it was sold to Singaporean interests by Captain Rickers, a part owner of the vessel along with William Douglas. There is a notation in McKenna (1959) that on 1 February 1892 John Bateman provided a certificate of sale to Alfred Rickers, master mariner, to sell the vessel at Singapore for not less than £800 within three months of the certificate date. This certificate was subsequently cancelled and no sale took place.
It would appear that the Laughing Wave was wrecked in August 1903, and not subsequently salvaged. It would most likely have been dismantled where it lay alongside the Bunbury Jetty, or at least enough removed so that it to no longer became an impediment to other vessels using the jetty.