SS Ly-ee-Moon
A paddle steamer that struck the rocks under the Green Cape lighthouse in 1886. Seventy-one of the 86 people aboard died.
The story
On the night of 30 May 1886 the paddle steamer Ly-ee-Moon was making her way from Melbourne to Sydney with 86 people aboard. She ran onto the rocks at the foot of the Green Cape lighthouse, and the hull broke in two within about ten minutes. Seventy-one people died, and the survivors are reported as 14 or 15 depending on the account.
The lighthouse keeper and his assistant are credited with rescuing people from the sea. Among the dead was Flora MacKillop, the mother of Saint Mary MacKillop. A cemetery was established at the site in 1886, with a cross and white stones over the unnamed graves, and a plaque listing the identified victims was added in 1986.
A Marine Board inquiry that August found Captain Webber and the third officer, Fotheringham, responsible for the loss, and was due to rule on their certificates. The wreck is part of the Green Cape Maritime Precinct on the New South Wales State Heritage Register.
Where the records differ:
Accounts give the number of survivors as 14 or 15. The Marine Board findings were reported in the press in 1886 and the full inquiry record should be checked before quoting individual officers or rulings.
Archive photographs for this wreck are being gathered and will be added here.
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More wrecks on this coast
City of Sydney
A passenger steamer wrecked on the rocks at Green Cape in fog in 1862, the first major wreck in what became known as Disaster Bay.
May 1866Ellen Simpson
A coal vessel lost near Cape Howe in a gale in May 1866. Nine of her eleven crew died, and two officers survived.
13 February 1911SS New Guinea
An interstate steamer that ran onto the rocks near Green Cape Lighthouse in fog in 1911. All 28 aboard reached Eden by lifeboat.
20 December 1837The Schah
A Hobart to Sydney schooner lost in a gale on the coast near Mallacoota in 1837, and the second oldest identified wreck in Victorian coastal waters.