'Amelia J', 1920

According to the Hobart Mercury of 4th October 1920, ‘Mr. W Robinson, manager of the State Shipping Department, last encountered received the following wireless message (from the Amelia J), dated October 2, 8 pm: -"Latitude 36-37 S , longitude 151-45 east, 80 miles off Montagu Island, working to southward, zig-zag course”’.

The Amelia J was a 353-ton, 153-foot wooden three-masted schooner that had been built in 1919 (and possibly the last square-rigged vessel built in Tasmania). She had left Newcastle bound for Hobart with a crew of 12 and a cargo of coal on 21st August 1920. She then disappeared, sparking a widespread search, including possibly Australia’s first maritime aerial search that also resulted in the disappearance of one of the aircraft searching for the Amelia J.

Doubt was raised about the veracity of Mr Robinson’s message because, by that date, it had been weeks since the Amelia J had left Newcastle.

Two ex-First World War DH.9A biplanes aircraft departed Point Cook (near Melbourne) in search of the Amelia J on 24th September to fly to Brighton in Southern Tasmania. Their route was over Wilson’s Promontory to Flinders Island and then along the east coast of Tasmania, before flying overland to Brighton. Each plane carried the pilot and a mechanic. A Captain Anderson piloted one plane and a Captain Stutt the second, with his mechanic Sergeant Dalzell. Captain Stutt’s aircraft disappeared. Captain Anderson flew north to Launceston where he was based for the next three weeks, undertaking many aerial searches over northern Tasmania and the Bass Strait, all to no avail.

No trace was ever found of the Amelia J.