Built as a square rigged iron three masted vessel under yard No 87 by Charles Connell & Company, Scotstoun near Glasgow for Aitken Lilburn Co. (Loch Line), Glasgow
08 January 1873 launched under the name LOCH ARD, named after the lake Loch Ard
Tonnage 1.693 gross, dim. 79.87 x 11.58 x 7m.
1873 Completed.
She was an unlucky ship from the start, just when she left for her maiden voyage she lost her masts and had to put back to the Clyde for repair.
26 January 1874 she left again under command of Capt. Robertson bound for Australia, and also this voyage she lost her masts, when on a easterly course after passing Cape of Good Hope, only the mizzen lower mast and 15 feet of the mainmast being left standing. After the crew managed to get a jury rig up, took it her 45 days to sail the remaining 4.500 miles to Hobson Bay, Australia.
24 May 1874 arrived at Hobson Bay, Melbourne after a passage of 118 days.
She sailed from Melbourne on 10 November 1874 fully loaded with wool for London where she arrived after a passage of 93 days on 11 February 1875.
Her second voyage to Australia was uneventful.
17 November 1875 she left again from Melbourne with a cargo of wool, arriving off Dungeness 16 February 1876 after a passage of 91 days.
Then she made a voyage to Calcutta, could not find anything on this voyage.
On her third voyage to Australia she was under command of Capt. Gibb a young just married man of 28 years, an a stranger to Australian waters.
02 March 1878 she sailed from Gravesend near London, with a general cargo valued more as £53.000.
On board was a crew of 37 men and 17 passengers.
After an uneventful voyage she was off the Victorian coast, Australia in the early hours of 1 June, but then she was running in a thick fog. When at around 04.00 a.m. the fog lifted, the lookout fore shouted breakers ahead.
More sail was set to claw from the land, but it was too late, the vessel did not response, striking a ledge at the base of perpendicular cliffs near Sherbrooke Creek, about 27 miles from Cape Otway
Breakers broke over the ship, and when the crew tried to launch the port lifeboat she crashed in the side of the LOCH ARD and capsized, throwing the 6 occupants in the water. One of this the apprentice Tom Pearce was trapped underneath the boat, first she drifted out to sea, but when the tide changed the boat drifted in a gorge, what is now known as the Loch Ard Gorge, he was able to dive clear swim to the shore an after about three hours in the water, he found shelter in a cave.
Meanwhile, confusion reigned on board, and Eva Carmichael a teen-age girl belonging to the family of Doctor Carmichael, his wife four daughters and two sons were passengers on board the LOCH ARD.
Eva after she was coming on deck was swept overboard and reached a floating hen-coop, but when she did see a floating spar she thought that is a better lifesaver, and she abandoned the hen-coop. At that time the LOCH ARD had already disappeared below the waves.
She also was carried by the tide in the gorge and washed up against some rocks, when she cried for help, Tom Pearce heard her and he swam two hundred yards to her assistance.
He dragged the exhausted girl to the beach and carried her to the cave. The girl only clad in a nightdress, and semi-conscious and suffering from cold after about 5 hours in the water.
Pierce decided to look for help and climbed the steep cliffs and he found there two men G Ford and W.Till, who were working for the Glenample Station and were in that area for mustering sheep.
When they returned to the shipwreck it was already getting dark, and they could not find Eva first, who did not reply the men calls. After a long search at least they found her under low bushes, shivering with cold and fear. Eva did believe the calls were made by aborigines.
First she was taken to the Glenample Station were she remained for six weeks, before she travel to Melbourne, sailing back to England but now on a steamship. After her return she lived in Bedford, where she died in 1934.
Tom Pierce after arrival in Melbourne where he was hauled as a hero. The major presented him with a gold watch and chain, also a locket. From the people of Warrnambool he received gifts, and he received the first gold medal struck by the Royal Humane Society of Victoria.
He returned to sea, he never met Eva Carmichael again, his next vessel the LOCH SUNART was wrecked off the Irish coast on 11 January 1879, he survived.
Later he joined the Royal Mail Line were he rose to the rank of Captain.
Ill health forced his retirement in 1908; he died the same year on 15th December
All other people on board were lost; only five bodies were recovered under which Eva’s mother and sister Rebecca.
Salvage rights of the LOCH ARD were 10 days after the tragedy sold at an auction for £2.120.
About £3.000 was salvaged and put above the high water line, but during a storm most was washed out to sea again. An other 50 tons of salvage goods was auctioned on 12 July 1878 at the Geelong Custom House for about £300.
The wreck cost three other lives of salvagers and scavengers.
1967 Parts of the wreck of LOCH ARD were located by the diver Stan McPhee.
Source Wreckers Smugglers and Pirates in South Eastern Australia Waters by Jack Loney. The Colonial Clippers by Basil Lubbock . Hazards of the Sea by Capt. John Noble. Australian Shipwrecks Vol. 3 by Jack Loney. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loch_Ard_(ship) http://www.heritage.vic.gov.au/page.asp?ID=245