Tam O'Shanter

The 3-mast barque "Tam O'Shanter" (360 tons, departed London 20th July 1836 arrived Nepean Bay, Kangaroo Island, on 20th November 1836 with 74 passengers, Captain Whiteman Freeman.

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The last of the ‘first fleet’ of ships , the barque Tam O’Shanter, reached Nepean Bay, Kangaroo Island on 20 November 1836.  Under the command of Captain Whiteman, the ship carried 74 passengers, most  employed by either the Colonial Treasurer Osmond Gilles or builder John White, whose supplies took up most of the cargo space.

After unloading emigrants and supplies at Kangaroo Island, Tam O’Shanter sailed to Adelaide with the remaining passengers and cargo.  

Part of this cargo, an iron trunk of books donated by both the South Australian Literary Society and Colonial Secretary Robert Gouger,  fell into the sea while being unloaded.  Luckily the books were not damaged as they became the basis of the Adelaide Institute’s ‘circulating library’ and eventually the State Library of South Australia. 

Departing Holdfast Bay, the Tam O’Shanter accompanied Colonel Light on Rapid up the Gulf to investigate the Port creek, running aground at the entrance on 18 December.  Refloated at about 4pm on 22 December, the ship anchored for the night, but was beached the next day in a creek, later known as Tam O’Shanter Creek.  

Repaired by a shipwright, the Tam O’Shanter left Port Adelaide on August 16 1837 headed for Sydney.  Taking on water and leaking due to severe weather in Bass Straight, the Captain decided to run before the weather and head for Tasmania.  On 27 August the Tam O’Shanter was anchored off the Tamar Heads in an attempt to ride out the weather, but when the anchor dragged, the Captain decided to run her ashore to save the lives and property of those on board.  The Tam O’Shanter however, was considered a write-off. The bay where she went ashore is named after the wreck.

An enquiry determined that the leak wasn’t the result of repair work carried out in Port Adelaide in December 1836.

THE TAM O'SHANTER.

From Capt. S. A. WHITE. — In The Register of April 29 appeared some data by Mr. A. T. Saunders, which interested me much. Without wishing to criticise Mr. Saunders in any way, for this great knowledge of early-day happenings is indisputable I feel he will not mind my pointing out a mistake which no doubt is a slip of the pen. He says, in reply to some questions which I did not see, "The Tam o' Shanter sailed from Nepean Bay for Holdfast Bay on December 14, 1836. Then lower down he adds that the Buffalo arrived at Port Lincoln on December 24, 1837, and at Holdfast Bay on December 28 (about a month after the Tam o' Shanter). Again, she was only four days on the sand spit, and was not on the bar at any time. None of her cargo was thrown into the sea, although some may have been put into boats when she was on the spit; but that is unlikely." 

My father, the late Samuel White, had often told me that his father, John White, who came out in the Tam o' Shanter, had repeatedly mentioned his losses of timber and goods when the vessel stuck on the bar at the mouth of the river. Since then I have hunted for a letter of my grandfather, and have now found it. My grandfather chartered much space on the vessel for his belongings. The letter, which is addressed to one of his men left on Kangaroo Island, reads:— 

"January 2, 1837.— I was very glad to hear from you, and to know you are setting on with the building. Pray get on as fast as you can. I should not have undertaken the work, only that I wanted to keep the men employed until I was ready for them here. . . . We have met with dreadful misfortunes. In going over the bar into the river we went aground, and were fast for three days. It took 10 men to keep the water out, and sometimes we had 9 ft of water in the hold. Much was spilt overboard when making rafts. A large part of my dry goods were spoilt getting them on to the rafts. Your chest and much of my dry goods were on one of the rafts floating about for 10 days. Your tools have suffered but very little, but much of my goods have suffered dreadfully, a great deal going overboard. The old Tam is supposed never to go to England any more. . . The Governor has only just come; and we expect to go to business and on to the land very shortly. We were landed at a dreadful place; obliged to lug everything through a bog of a quarter of a mile. All of you are far the best off. I had to pump 48 hours almost without a rest to save some of our goods, and was quite done over it. We are lying in the open air, almost devoured with mosquitoes and other vermin. The position appointed for the town is a beautiful piece of land —fresh water and no vermin; but we will have to convey all our things overland eight miles. Don't make the worst of our misfortunes, for if it gets to England it will do a deal of harm. . . . Get on as fast as you can, for I shall want all of you here very soon."

I always understood from my father and his brother that the Tam o' Shanter was run into a salt creek, which still bears her name, and that she lay there for some time in mud and water in a leaky condition before she was patched up for the intended trip to Sydney.

Register (Adelaide, SA : 1901 - 1929), Tuesday 25 May 1920, page 9