Maria (brigantine)
| History | |
|---|---|
| Australia | |
| Name: | Maria |
| Launched: | Dublin 1823 |
| Out of service: | 1840 |
| Fate: | Wrecked off Cape Jaffa, 1840 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tons burthen: | 136 tons |
| Sail plan: | Brigantine |
| Armament: | Single cannon |
| Notes: | Passenger ship |
Maria was a sailing ship wrecked in July 1840 near Kingston SE, South Australia. All 25 survivors of the wreck were massacred by Aborigines on the Coorong.
Maria, a 136-ton brigantine, left Port Adelaide on 20 June 1840 for Hobart Town, Van Diemens Land with 25 persons on board, including the captain and his wife.
The ship's complement consisted of Captain William Smith, his wife, Samuel Denham and Mrs Denham (née Muller) and their five children (Thomas, Andrew, Walter, Fanny, and Anna), and Mrs York (sister of Mr. Denham), who had recently been widowed and her infant.
Also aboard were James Strutt, previously with Lonsdale's Livery Stables and who had been hired as Mrs Denham's servant, George Young Green and Mrs Green, Thomas Daniel and Mrs Daniel, Mr. Murray, plus the ship's mate and crew: John Tegg, John Griffiths, John Deggan, James Biggins, John Cowley, Thomas Rea, George Leigh and James Parsons.
Maria was blown off course in the stretch between Cape Willoughby and Cape Jaffa and foundered on the Cape Jaffa reef. The passengers and crew safely reached land and commenced trekking the Coorong coast towards Encounter Bay, some 150 kilometres (93 mi) to the north.
According to a later account, around 60 kilometres (37 mi) from the wreck, in company with some friendly Aborigines, they came across a track and at once had a dispute as to whether or not to follow it, and decided to split up: Captain Smith and the crew took to the track and most of the passengers continued along the shoreline. Two days later some of this latter group split from the party in the hope of rejoining the Captain. Around this time they were attacked and killed by a group of the Milmenrura (or "Big Murray Tribe"), stripped of their possessions and buried in the sand. Such detail of how the Maria survivors came to be widely separated into three groups can only be supposition, as none lived to tell the tale.
Word of murders of some white people by natives reached Adelaide and W. J. S. Pullen, some sailors and three Aboriginal interpreters set out to investigate on 28 July, and on 30 July reached a massacre site, recovering two wedding rings. On 1 August, they encountered a group of Aborigines in possession of blankets and clothing. They returned to Adelaide with the rings which were identified as belonging to Mrs York and Mrs Denham.
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