SS Gothenburg shipwreck

[Jim Eshelman]

February 24, 1875, about 7:00 PM, off Queensland coast 19S22'06", 148E03'21"

Travelling from Darwin, Australia toward Adelaide, the SS Gothenburg was caught in a cyclone off Australia's northeast coast, off Queensland and, travelling at full speed, wrecked on the Great Barrier Reef. northwest of Holbourne Island.

Attempts to refloat the ship both failed and damaged the ship fatally. Launching lifeboats was dangerous and difficult given the cyclone, but was nonetheless some launches were ordered February 25 about 3:00 AM with deadly results. Another attempt about 4:00 AM fared no better. Bobbing corpses began to populate the waters about the ship. As day broke, other attempt were made that only resulted on more drownings until 14 people, clinging to the all-but-submerged masts, fought successfully to outlast the cyclone for another day until the storm quieted about dawn, February 26. As the ship sank, they salvaged one remaining lifeboat and escaped to a nearby island where they encountered four others that had escaped. (Another four also escaped when their lifeboat was picked up by a passing ship.) Those on the island eventually were rescued in the days following.

Between 98 and 112 people died (usually listed as 102); 22 survivors in lifeboats eventually were rescued (10 passengers, 12 crew). Among those who died were numerous senior public officials or their families, perhaps more than in any other event in Australian history, making the national impact even more severe. (Perhaps one should also look specifically on the impact in Darwin, Australia, since most of the casualties were from that small town.)

The charts are decent - they especially show the storm and secondary elements like the amount of prospector gold being carried and how it contributed to loss of life. It isn't heavily malefic, though, and there is none of the characteristic "pass under a Mars line and crash" symbolism.

Year: Capsolar {0}
Moon on Dsc 2°13'

Year: Cansolar (Dormant.) Moon-Pluto.
Bridge (None.)
Quarter: Libsolar (Dormant.)

Quarter: Arisolar {+2}
Sun on MC +2°57'
Neptune on MC -3°03'
-- Su/Ne on MC 0°03'

Month: Caplunar
Neptune on Dsc 1°56'
Moon & Jupiter more widely foreground
-- Moon-Jupiter sq. 0°51' in mundo
-- Jupiter-Neptune 2°20' in mundo

Week 1: Canlunar {?}
Wet... but hardly happy! ... but no direct afflictions ... but mercilessly close.
Venus is opposite Sirius, which is also partile to Zenith FWIW. Sirius is also 0°40' from MC mundanely, while Vega - too nice a star, I think - is on IC.
Venus sq. Asc 0°01'

Week 2: Liblunar {+2}
(The Liblunar occurred February 24, 9:44 PM LMT, so most of the events occurred under it. It is cyclone-suitable and also shows the obvious Neptune elements.)
Jupiter on EP 0°07'
Neptune sq. MC 0°43'
-- Jupiter-Neptune op. 2°06' in mundo
Moon-Venus sq. 0°30' in mundo

Day: Capsolar Quotidian {+2}
p MC conj. t Uranus 0°28', sq. s Mars 1°21' (op. s Saturn 2°09')
-- s Mars-Saturn sq. 0°48' (p Mars-Saturn sq. 0°45')
(Notice that the Mars, Saturn, and Uranus contacts get closer over 48 hours as the CapQ MC increases to reach them exactly.)

Day: Cansolar Quotidian & Transits
Storm-worthy, plus many died because they wouldn't abandon their gold.
p Asc sq. t Jupiter 1°00'
p MC op. s Neptune 0°37'. t Neptune 1°30'
-------------------------
t Mercury conj. s MC 0°14'