William Ross, John Brown and William Stuart

The two-masted schooner Empress was built in Fremantle by Robert Howson in 1889. She made her maiden voyage before she was registered as number 3 of 1890. Her official number was 95366. She was 37 x 11.3 x 4.9 feet [11.3 x 3.4 x 1.5 metres].

Empress’ owner was Arthur Webster Anderson, the manager of the North West Mercantile Co. There are also some reports of owners being Chi and Co.

The maiden voyage began on 17 December 1889 in Fremantle. Empress was bound for Cossack under command of Captain John Thomas Brown, a reputable reliable master. Her deckhands were William Ross and William Stuart.

The weather was rough, and the voyage was uncomfortable from the start. As a new vessel, Empress sailed in ballast held in place with planking. The planking was not secured well enough. As the schooner was tossed by the weather the ballast shifted, causing the planks to give way.

Empress was almost lost. The shifting weight of the ballast almost capsized her. It seemed like an eternity and a miracle to her crew when she slowly righted herself. That was the only luck Empress had. The rough and heavy weather made her slow headway north hard won.

Captain John Brown was born in Lanarkshire, Scotland in 1858.He was the third of nine children of George Brown, a coalminer and Janet Forsyth. John was a master mariner with experience of the WA coast. He was master of Annie in 1885 and Minnie in 1888, both schooners that traded along the west coast. John was married to Harriet Freeman. There is no record of children to their relationship. He was 31 years of age.

William Ross was born in Dundee, Scotland. It appears he was a sea man with some experience. Newspapers report one or two arrests for nuisance offences committed when he was drunk in Fremantle. According to Captain Brown, William drank heavily on the voyage to Cossack. His poor mental health was not something John and William Stuart were equipped to help with.

William Stuart was born in July 1863.He was 27 years old. He was granted a ticket of leave on 5 June 1868.In 1888 he married Eveleen Flynn in Perth. He was a sea man known to many in the coastal settlements along the west coast.

On 23 December John found William below decks heavily intoxicated trying to cut his throat with a kitchen knife. John took the knife, but there was no reasoning with Wiliam, so he secured him below for his own safety. William was a strong and fit man though and he soon made his way back on deck.

John secured him again using rope. He was concerned for him but had few options to help him at sea. When John went back to the tiller, William freed himself again. He seemed calmer and had stopped talking wildly. John thought he would leave him in peace to rest for a while and returned to the tiller.

William made his way up on deck. Just as John spotted him, he jumped over the stern of the schooner into the water. John immediately started to turn, but in the rough water William was nowhere to be seen. John and William Stuart searched the area, but eventually John had to make the decision to return to his northern route.

The men decided to anchor at Carnarvon so that John could report William’s suicide. There was newspaper interest since William was known in the northwest ports and there was some mystery around his decision to jump from the boat.

John and William Stuart continued with the delivery of Empress to Cossack. It was still slow going, and if anything, the wind was stronger than before.

On 3 January 1890 a sudden wind took the boom unexpectedly, while John and William were tacking to sail inside Enderby Island. John was knocked overboard. Empress was approximately 30 miles [48 kilometres] west of Cossack.

William turned the Empress to search for John. He saw two boats near Flying Foam Passage and hoisted the distress signal to attract help. The boats did not see him though, and as they moved out of sight, William kept searching alone. There was no trace of John, and he left the distress signal flying and headed towards Cossack.

A distress signal when a crew member died was a flag flown at half-mast. The signal was seen before Stuart reached Cossack, wondering how he was going to be able to make the port on his own. Water Police Constable Wilson set out to meet Empress and help William to moor safely in the anchorage.

The timing was fortunate. Just 15 minutes later there was a gale force wind that blew for hours. William had a lucky escape in the unluckiest voyage.

William Stuart’s luck was short-lived, however. After the delivery of the Empress, William boarded another vessel. He experienced sun stroke and died on 13 January. He was buried in the Cossack Cemetery.

Empress did not have a long life either. She became a pearling schooner. She was one of four boats that parted their chains at Cossack in a cyclone in 1893.She was driven into the mangroves. She was refloated on a high tide and went back to work., but a second cyclone on 9 and 10 January 1894 sank her in Butcher Inlet with a cargo of pearlshell. That time she was unable to be refloated and two of her crew were lost with her.