| Second Officer John Parry was worried. The ship Netherby, driven before storms for the past two weeks, was now entering the most treacherous phase of its long journey. Anyone who had sailed these waters knew the reputation of Bass Strait ... Parry could think of at least seven ships that had gone down here ... On the evening of 14 July 1866 the Netherby struck a reef off the west coast of King Island ... she was irrevocably stranded. He set about preparing the passengers to abandon ship. Collecting whatever provisions they could manage, the 451 emigrants and crew huddled on deck and gazed at the ravaged lifeboats. Only one lifeboat remained intact ... somehow a lifeline was taken ashore and secured there. Then the one remaining lifeboat was pulled back and forth along this line until all passengers and crew were ferried to safety ... provisions would not be adequate to feed so many and it might be months before another ship passed that way. There was only one alternative – to trek back along the coast to the lighthouse at Cape Wickham and raise the alarm. On 18 July the lighthouse keeper recorded "...the Second Officer and six passengers arrived from the wreck of the Netherby and reported that she was stranded – with 451 souls on board, all saved." Parry and the others with little food or rest had taken four days to reach the lighthouse, a journey of nearly fifty kilometres. Their hopes of rescue were shattered when they learned that the telegraph at the lighthouse was out of action. Also, six months' worth of rations had been delivered several weeks earlier but had been calculated on providing sustenance for four men. Starvation seemed inevitable. Parry, with three others, commandeered the lighthouse's whaleboat and, battling high winds and freezing temperatures, Parry set off for the mainland to the north. Thirty-two hours later, after a miracle run, Parry stepped ashore and, without stopping for rest, made his way to a sheep station near Geelong where he telegraphed Melbourne. He joined the rescue party in two ships, which set sail on 29 July. Later, Parry stayed behind to guard the Netherby from looters and pirates to make sure the captain could secure money from the salvagers to pay his crew. Unfortunately, his makeshift shack was destroyed by fire in suspicious circumstances. It was suggested that Parry be given a gold medal but, there being insufficient money, he received only a certificate from the shipping line. Few now remember either his name or his brave deeds. |