Queen

Queen was a 6-ton clinker-built cutter, 8.2 metres [26.9 feet] long with two masts, a single deck and a counter stern. She measured 2.8 [9.1 feet] metres across her beam and drew only 1 metre [3.2 feet] of water. She was ideal for northwest shallow waters, and wet line fishing.

Queen was built in Perth in 1876 for Mr John Henry Monger, who called her Gascoigne. The builder was probably William Lawrence & Son, as they built other vessels for John, who was a merchant of York and owned multiple vessels, including the Gascoigne. Her official number at registration was 75301. 

It is unclear when Gascoigne’s name changed to Queen, although it may have been when she changed owners. At the time of her wrecking, she was owned by Mr James A. Hastie of Dirk Hartog Island. James is not listed as a registered boat owner.

In 1892 James leased Queen for wet lining [fin fishing] to Peter Woolie, a Manila man residing in Carnarvon. He fished with Ah Mat and Ah Ming, both Chinese fishermen. There are no known personal details for these men. There were multiple men in the Pilbara and Kimberley called Ah Mat, and more than one Ah Ming, but no details to say whether any of the information relates to these two fishermen.

On 13 October 1891 Queen was last seen by Mr Ebert. The men told him they were going fishing. They left Gascoyne [Carnarvon] and anchored 48 kms north to fish.

On 22 October they were off Point Cloates, heading to Ashburton. At sundown they went inshore and sheltered in the bay. The men failed to see the breakers on the reef, signifying a fast tide and rising wind. Before long Queen was blown and carried over the reef. She stuck in a hole in the reef, sunk in water that was 3.2 metres [8.5 feet] at low tide.

They were almost 3.2 kms [2miles/1.7 nautical miles] from shore. They could see the lights of campfires at the station owned by the Carter family at Point Cloates. They lashed themselves to the rigging and waited for sunrise.

In the morning of 23 October Ah Ming talked about cutting his own throat. He could not swim and was afraid he would drown. Peter and Ah Mat convinced him to try to make it to shore with them.

The men set out for shore at low tide, wading with the aid of pieces of the boom to steady them. The water soon became deep again, and they agreed Ah Ming should return to the Queen and wait for them to get help.

Peter and Ah Mat made the shore that evening after a long struggle and made their way to the Carter’s station. They told Mr Carter they were Joseph and Ah Lung. It is not clear why they gave those names. 

Mr Carter arranged a dinghy and a makeshift canoe to go and search for Ah Ming. They found the wreck readily; her masts were visible. There was no sign of Ah Ming.

Carter’s men removed ballast from Queen to see if they could re-float her or drag her to shore. Unfortunately, she was too damaged to float. They returned to the station to report the loss to the local police.

Mr Carter contacted Carnarvon Resident Magistrate Foss. He told him he suspected the men at his station had stolen the Queen. Sergeant Carter knew the boat belonged to James Hastie and was leased to Peter Woolie. He didn’t understand why Peter and Ah Mat had introduced themselves as Joseph and Ah Lung. He was concerned in case the men had planned to steal the boat and head further to the northwest.

In the end it seems Peter and Ah Lung were like so many other minority group workers, and they were not sure of their reception, and were called by the names their masters used for them (not usually their own as Europeans found it hard to pronounce their names). Once it was established that Peter and Ah Mat were legally operating the Queen for fin fishing, all was well, and the men were helped back to Gascoyne.

The wreck details were sent via Corporal Taylor’s regular report to Inspector Troy on 18 January 1892. No trace was found of Ah Ming, and his body was not washed onto the shore.