State Library of South Australia

Survivors of the 'Gothenburg' shipwreck [B 46876] • Artwork

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Summary

Pencil on paper sketch of the wreck of the 'Gothenburg', comprising 9 portraits, probably copied from photographs, superimposed onto a background illustration of the sinking ship. There is a small inscription 'The Gothenburg' in fine white lettering on the vessel. The portraits represent 9 survivors including (numbered 1-9) Harris, Fitzgerald, Cleland, Thomas, Cockram, Kruger, Campbell, Hogan and Brazil. The portrait of Campbell is central to the work and considerably larger than the other portraits. It is assumed the work was commissioned by the Campbell family. The paper on which artwork is made is watermarked '1904'.

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Physical description

Artwork (pencil on paper); 56.0 cm x 78.3 cm

Dates / Publication details

Approximately 1904

Creator

Sullivan, Tom

Collection

Part of General Collection

Subject

Gothenburg (ship)
Shipwrecks -- Queensland -- Great Barrier Reef

Catalogue record

Return to catalogue

Historical information

The 'Gothenburg', a screw steamer vessel of 459 tons used for the mail run from Port Adelaide to Darwin, was destroyed on her voyage, February 24, 1875. She left Port Darwin with more than 80 passengers and a crew of 36. Many of the male passengers were gold miners returning with their treasures, and included other distinguished figures and women and children. The 'Gothenburg' made a quick passage near the Barrier Reef to Cape York but ran into bad weather near Bowen, making visiblility low and the vessel struck a reef south-west of Flinders Passage and 40 miles from Port Denison, which made the hull tear apart. Two life-boats transported 22 lucky survivors (9 of which are illustrated in this artwork) who floated to Holborn Island and were later picked up and brought back to Bowen near Townsville. The remaining 102 were drowned. The story was covered by the Adelaide press who ran reports via telegraph from north Queensland and printed obituaries in the South Australian Register. The Gothenburg Relief Fund Committee was later set up for the families of the victims raising 9,000 pounds.

Digitisation information

Date

16/03/2011

Format

image/tiff

Resolution

9,933 x 7,111 pixels (70.6 MP)

Size

212.00 MB

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