Research
SS Georgette — history and research
The SS Georgette was an iron screw-steamer built at Dumbarton on the Clyde in 1872 and lost at Calgardup Bay, on the south-west coast of Western Australia, on 1 December 1876. Seven people drowned when the lifeboat capsized. In fewer than four years of service she became famous twice — first as the ship sent after the whaleship Catalpa during the Fenian escape from Fremantle, and then as the wreck on which the legend of Grace Bussell and Sam Isaacs was built.
These pages set out what the primary records actually say: the marine inquiry transcript, contemporary newspaper reports, Lloyd's Register survey documents, and the letters of people who were there. Where the sources contradict each other — and on the Georgette they often do — the contradictions are all presented.
- 1877–1935 · The making of a rescue storyHow the Grace Bussell legend was madeGrace Bussell was called Australia's Grace Darling within eight weeks of the Georgette wreck. Two passengers who were there disagreed. Tracing how the story hardened between 1877 and 1935, and what happened to Sam Isaacs in the telling.14 min read
- 17–19 April 1876 · Fremantle and the Indian OceanThe Catalpa Pursuit: the afternoon the Georgette went to warIn April 1876 the SS Georgette was fitted with a twelve-pounder and sent after the American whaleship Catalpa, carrying six escaped Fenian prisoners out of Western Australia. She came back empty-handed. An account from the contemporary record.6 min read