THE NERITA TRAGEDY
Posted: Sun Jan 14, 2024 2:56 pm
THE NERITA TRAGEDY
© Jeff Thorpe 02 January 2024
At 2PM, 10 June 1939, motor launch Nerita sailed from Breakfast Creek
on a snapper fishing expedition between Cape Moreton and Caloundra.
Twelve men were aboard, most well-known Ipswich identities
intent on landing plenty on this three-day encounter.
Nerita was a 45 feet reliable vessel and skipper Edwin Carey experienced
late that day she was spotted in Moreton Bay in good weather conditions,
this the last sighting of the boat, no communication received
thus, zero data was known of Nerita’s further positions.
On 14 June with no contact and two days overdue, a search was commissioned
extensive area covered from Gladstone to Coffs Harbour in New South Wales,
air and sea exploration found nothing to explain the boat’s disappearance,
theories suggested on board explosion or collision with whales.
19 June saw an upturned dinghy from Nerita located near Caloundra
however, no wreckage or any of those aboard were ever found
despite more intense probing of the area by several aircraft,
the mystery of what happened to this day continues to confound.
In March 1940 Ipswich residents raised one hundred pounds
to build a memorial to those who had died,
this took the form of gates at the Showgrounds entrance
a permanent reminder their fate would not be cast aside.
Yet another chronicle of lives lost at sea
harder to grasp in this instance with no evidence to blame,
notwithstanding, the same message has been preached for eons
“going down to the sea” is no game.
© Jeff Thorpe 02 January 2024
At 2PM, 10 June 1939, motor launch Nerita sailed from Breakfast Creek
on a snapper fishing expedition between Cape Moreton and Caloundra.
Twelve men were aboard, most well-known Ipswich identities
intent on landing plenty on this three-day encounter.
Nerita was a 45 feet reliable vessel and skipper Edwin Carey experienced
late that day she was spotted in Moreton Bay in good weather conditions,
this the last sighting of the boat, no communication received
thus, zero data was known of Nerita’s further positions.
On 14 June with no contact and two days overdue, a search was commissioned
extensive area covered from Gladstone to Coffs Harbour in New South Wales,
air and sea exploration found nothing to explain the boat’s disappearance,
theories suggested on board explosion or collision with whales.
19 June saw an upturned dinghy from Nerita located near Caloundra
however, no wreckage or any of those aboard were ever found
despite more intense probing of the area by several aircraft,
the mystery of what happened to this day continues to confound.
In March 1940 Ipswich residents raised one hundred pounds
to build a memorial to those who had died,
this took the form of gates at the Showgrounds entrance
a permanent reminder their fate would not be cast aside.
Yet another chronicle of lives lost at sea
harder to grasp in this instance with no evidence to blame,
notwithstanding, the same message has been preached for eons
“going down to the sea” is no game.