‘Empire Gladstone’, 1950

The ‘Empire Gladstone’ was one of 1,300 to 1,400 war-materials supply ships built during World War II. She was a 137-metre, 7,090-ton screw steamer. She was built in the United Kingdom. After the war she was chartered by the Adelaide Steamship Company for use along the Australian coast.

On 1st September 1950, the ‘Empire Gladstone’ left Whyalla, South Australia, bound for Sydney and Newcastle with a load of iron ore and a consignment of about 159 vehicles.

On the afternoon of 5th September, the vessel passed Green Cape and the skipper (who was on his last voyage before retiring) decided to keep close to the shore to avoid the strong Eastern Australian Current. Unfortunately, the ship was kept a little too close to the shore and, just before 8pm and with the man at the helm mistakenly thinking the lights on Merimbula Wharf were those of a lighthouse, she hit a reef at Haystack Rock, the outermost point of the south headland to Merimbula.

The vessel stuck hard. Attempts to power the ship off the reef were unsuccessful. It was later reported that the propellor was jammed in the rocks and the rudder had been bent. Several days later the ship’s back was broken.

Up until about 11th September, when the weather deteriorated and the seas increased dramatically, trawlers were used to remove the vehicles that had been on board and ferry them to shore. All were retrieved. Numerous other articles were also retrieved from the ship.