SS Federal
A collier that disappeared with all hands in March 1901 on the way to Albany. Her fate and her exact position are still uncertain.
The story
The Federal left Port Kembla for Albany with a cargo of coal and a crew of 31. She was lost on or about 21 March 1901 and no one survived.
A Marine Court of Inquiry was held but could not reach a conclusion about the loss. The national shipwreck database notes that some of the bodies recovered wore life belts, which suggests the crew had time to prepare to abandon ship.
The Australian National Maritime Museum says she strayed from the recommended course, ran close to the coast in a storm and struck submerged rocks, and that the Gabo Island lighthouse keeper watched her dangerous track but could not warn other stations.
The national database lists her position as uncertain. During World War I, minesweepers fouled a sunken object in deep water between Ram Head and Cape Everard that was suspected to be the Federal. Reports of a later wreck find exist, but this page does not repeat them until the position is confirmed.
Where the records differ:
Cause: unknown (national database, inquiry could not conclude) or struck submerged rocks in a storm (Australian National Maritime Museum).
Position: the national database lists it as uncertain and suggests a deep-water object found by minesweepers. The museum places the loss off Gabo Island.
Crew: 31 (national database and museum) or 21 (one secondary list).
Archive photographs for this wreck are being gathered and will be added here.
Enjoy the history?
Watch the songs and drone films on the Mallacoota2020 YouTube channel, and subscribe to support more stories from this coast.
More wrecks on this coast
Matilda
A Tasmanian schooner sent to Gabo Island for guano in 1848. Reports agree she was blown ashore but disagree on whether it happened at Gabo or on Babel Island.
1852Mary Wilson
A wine-laden brig from Portugal to Sydney that sheltered at Gabo Island and was driven ashore, one of the earliest recorded losses at the island.
1856Phoebe
A schooner damaged in a storm that sheltered in Gabo Harbour in 1856 and was blown ashore by a northerly gale. Everyone aboard survived.
16 December 1859Margaret Nicol
A coal schooner damaged in a gale and lost at Gabo Island in 1859. The crew spent two days on the island before the steamer Wonga Wonga took them off.