Despite its relatively short length and many kilometres of sandy beaches the Illawarra coast was over the years the place where many ships and lives were lost in the business of sea transport of local commodities to their markets. It is a place where (as today) severe weather events can appear suddenly and with little warning. Its prized beaches are interspersed with rocky shelves and reefs on to which many vessels have been driven for their last resting place. Issues of weather and weather change were paramount for smaller sailing ships – but even larger, engine-powered ships were not immune to the vagaries of the Illawarra coastal weather, as described in what follows. Sea transport though for many years was the only means for the products of the Illawarra to be sold outside that region.
Image courtesy Google Earth
The following sections describe the ship losses which occurred in the trade of two of the major local industries – the coal industry and the stone industry. Last there is an account of the losses of three vessels from neither of those industries – one carrying oil to Sydney in wartime, one taking coal from the northern coalfields to Melbourne, and one bringing goods from England for consumers in Sydney.
SS Nemesis