Ana

On 6 February 1903 Ana and her sister boat Neriand were sailing north from Broome, heading out of Swan Point, looking for fresh pearl shell grounds. Owner of the boats, Samuel Petrie Taylor was master of Neriand. He had recently acquired Ana and her crew.

The diver in Charge Tanim bin Aller (also referred to as Sentim bin Ali). His tender was Katchong, who was adept at his job, but could not swim. The pump hands aboard the 10-ton Ana were Ishmael bin Sahan, Sahib bin Matt, Ahmat bin Ali, Ahmat bin Dollah and Khamis. The new crew were not experienced and Sam Taylor intended to keep them close to Neriand until they were competent to be independent of his oversight.

Ana was boat registration number 3 of 1891, built in Fremantle for Christopher Wookey of Cossack who worked for R McKenna. He had sold her to Sam Taylor for his foray into the far northern shell fields. Her official number was 95679.Ana had two masts and had schooner rigging. She was 33 feet [10.06 metres] long, 10 feet [3 metres] wide and had a draft of 5 feet [1.5 metres].

A squall blew in from the north, sudden enough that even an experienced crew didn’t have time to react. A second gust struck Ana’s starboard side and heeled her over.

Tanim grabbed the tiller and ordered the foresail down. The sails were stayed to keep the bow to the wind. The wind against the mainsail kept Ana heeled so she could not right herself. Once the mainsail filled with water, she rolled and lay hull upwards in the water.

The crew were thrown into the sea. Initially they held onto the hull, but as Ana began to sink, they grabbed floating wreckage and let go of the hull. Tanim gave Katchong part of the hatch cover to help him float. Ana went down nine fathoms to the bottom.

They were on their own, with no sign of the Neriand since the squall. Tanim set the pace for the 16 km swim to shore. They swam for what they thought was an hour and then floated and rested for a while. They made the first half of the long swim and then realised that three of their party were missing. Katchong, Ishmael and Sahib were nowhere to be seen. The other four men waited for 20 or 30 minutes and then reluctantly started the next eight-kilometre swim.

The men drifted on the tide for the last part of the way. They landed between Pender Bay and Cape Leveque. They had been swimming for 12 hours. Exhausted, they lay on the each until daylight forced them to move.

It was the 7 February. The four men walked, hoping to find their missing crew members. After walking for almost the entire day, they turned accepted they would not find the missing three men. They turned around and walked back towards Pender Bay. They were barefoot and had no food or fresh water. They used the same method to walk as they had used for swimming. They walked for an hour and then rested.

They reached Pender Bay the following day. There were no boats in sight. The two Ahmats found oysters and fed the crew, all they had eaten in three days. The little group decided to head further south to Beagle Bay where they were more likely to find another boat and people to help them.

On 9 February the four crew members reached Gul Gul Creek. There was an old lay up camp there managed by Duncan Nicholson. The schooner Minnie lay at anchor out in the bay.

The men borrowed a dinghy and rowed out to Minnie, climbed aboard and spoke to the ships clerk Tom Bradley provided them with food and clean clothes. He organised passage to Broome for them on the lugger Eva. Tom advised Police Constable Napier of the wreck and the missing men.

PC Napier conducted a search of the coastline searching for the missing men. It is not clear whether the bodies of Katchong, Ishmael and Sahib were found. If they were, it is most likely they were buried in the beach sand above the waterline where they were found. The climate did not lend towards lengthy waits or transport before burial.

Despite his early loss, Samuel Taylor continued pearling out of Broome. He died aged 79 years, passing his final years in Perth. Although it is difficult to determine whether the four survivors -Tenim bin Aller, Ahmat bin Ali, Ahmat bin Dollah and Khamis remained in pearling, there is mention in later newspaper articles of crew members with these names.