Dunbar anchor, Watsons Bay, NSW
The Dunbar was a wooden full rigged ship, built in Sunderland England, in 1853. Shortly before midnight on 20th August 1857, the Dunbar was reckoned to be about 10 km off the entrance, extra lookouts were posted. Breakers were seen right ahead; an attempt was made to claw off the land, but the ship was too close in and carrying too little sail to have any chance. It struck the rocks and was hurled almost broadside on to the cliffs just north of the signal station, midway between the lighthouse and The Gap, resulting in one of Australia's worst maritime disasters.
Gap Lookout, Watsons Bay
121 lives were lost - there was only one survivor, 23-year old Abel Seaman James Johnson who was rescued from a ledge near Jacobs Ladder some 36 hours after the ship went down. Johnson, giving evidence at the inquest into the disaster, said that Captain James Green had seen the Macquarie light in a break in the storm and believing he had passed it, moved in to shore to sight North Head but had misjudged the ship's distance from the shore.
An anchor was retrieved from the wreck in 1910 and placed on display at The Gap in 1930 at the Dunbar Memorial Lookout. A carving in the rock nearby recalls the event. A plaque positioned at the wreck site in 1992 also tells the Dunbar's story. Bodies recovered from the wreck of the Dunbar and the Catherine Adamson, which sank nearby a month after the Dunbar, were placed in a common grave at Camperdown Cemetery. The funeral procession on 24th August 1857 was a major event, attracting 20,000 people who lined Sydney's George Street.
Dunbar Shipwreck Collection
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