Shipwrecks & Lost Treasures of the Seven Seas

Austalian gold lost at sea...







The "Blue Jacket"

- By Pascal Kainic -



Foundering and loss of the First class Australian clipper ship "Blue Jacket" of 1442 tons, Captain White, from Queenstown (Australia) to London and a cargo of 4646 bales of wool, 51 bales cotton, plus 16.000 ounces of gold in specie and gold bullion shipped by the Bank of New Zealand.

4000 £ sterling of specie has been saved by the master and the missing boat contains the same amount each.

Only 84 persons in all have been landed here; 31 seamen are in the missing boats.

The vessel was burnt and lost on 9th of September 1869, and abandoned by 50 degrees south, 47 degrees west.
 



Comments (3)

1. Janah The 19 Oct. 2008 at 07:20

Envoyer un e-mail à Janah
This ship was sailing out of Maryborough when it went down. Not Queenstown. The gold is probably at the bottom of the Mary River or near River Heads.
Love the website...always wanted to volunteer on a marine archeological trip!

2. wreck48 The 25 Jan. 2009 at 02:03

ARE YOU POSTIVE THAT HER NAME WAS THE "THE BLUE JACKET AND NOT THE "EASTMINISTER"

3. ozzihunter The 05 Jul. 2009 at 06:46

I think this was the Blue Jackets fate!
This beautiful ship had not a very long career, and met her doom in 1869. On February 13, 1869, she left Lyttelton for London with seventy-one passengers and crew, and a cargo of wool, flax, and other produce, and fifteen boxes of gold, valued at £48.000, and when she was off the Falkland Islands she was totally destroyed by fire under tragic circumstances. The fire, which was supposed to originate in some wool that was damp, was discovered at half past one on the afternoon of March 7th, and though strenuous efforts were made, it was soon seen that nothing could be done to save the ship. Beats were got out and provisioned, and it was hoped that the crew and passengers would be able to stay on board until the morning, but the heat became so intense on board that all hands had to take to the boats at 10 p.m.
Oz
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