City of York Shipwreck

History

The City of York hit a reef and sank on 12 July 1899 at the end of its journey from San Francisco to Fremantle with a cargo of 3638 timber doors. Captain Philip Jones was unfamiliar with the area and misinterpreted a signal from the lighthouse keeper. Two lifeboats were launched but one overturned. Some in the overturned boat made it back to the wreck and were saved by a line rigged from the ship to shore. Eleven people died in the wreck, including Captain Jones. The vessel was a 67.9 metre iron ship built in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1869. It was owned by the City of York Company Ltd. It lies near Rottnest Island in City of York Bay. Several paintings of the ship were created after the wreck, including two by European artist George N. Bourne and two by an Aboriginal convict, Johnny Cudgely (also known as Jimmy Cudgel) who was imprisoned on Rottnest Island at the time. Artefacts salvaged from the wreck site include portholes, a grindstone, a door, a bookcase, an anchor and the clapper from the ship’s bell. Latitude 31˚59.649 Longitude 115˚29.3394.

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This data is provided by the City of Fremantle. While every care is taken to ensure the accuracy of this data, the City of Fremantle makes no representations or warranties about its accuracy, reliability, completeness or suitability for any particular purpose and disclaims all responsibility and all liability (including without limitation, liability in negligence) for all expenses, losses, damages (including indirect or consequential damage) and costs which you might incur as a result of the data being inaccurate or incomplete in any way and for any reason. Under no circumstances should this data be used to carry out any work without first contacting the City of Fremantle for the appropriate confirmation and approval.