The Convict Ship Hive and New Bristol Pam Forbes Greg Jackson This article gives a brief history of the Hive and its connection to the nearby Jervis Bay town of New Bristol. The Hive The convict transport ship Hive is the only known wreck on mainland Australia of a vessel carrying convicts. The Hive was driven ashore in Wreck bay just south of Jervis Bay on the 17th December 1835. The Hive was carrying a cargo of £10,000 of specie (coins) and some 200 people, passengers, crew, soldiers and 250 convicts. The Hive was a large ship, built in the UK in 1820 with a burden of 480 ton and 120 feet long and was on her second voyage to NSW carrying convicts. The Hive picked up convicts in Dublin and Cork and made a speedy and uneventful voyage to NSW but during the night of Thursday 10 December 1835 was driven ashore onto a sand beach at Wreck Bay by one of the strong south easterly gale that have claimed many ships in this area. The Sydney Herald 17 December 1835 gives a full account of the grounding. In command was Captain Nutting with 250 male prisoners, officers of the 17th and 31st Regiment and 29 rank and file soldiers of the 28th Regiment. In addition there were 8 women and 11 children. Captain Nutting was censured by the court of inquiry later convened in Sydney for his inefficient handling of his vessel after passing Montague Island. One life was lost, that of the boatswain of the Hive who was heroically attempting to save another seaman who was later washed ashore unharmed. Luckily the Hive had driven ashore on Bherwerra Beach, a 6 mile stretch of sand south of the rocky promontory of Cape St George where being driven ashore would have had far more disastrous results. The Hive initially remained intact in the surf zone and help soon arrived. The local Aboriginals provided assistance and communication was sent to Alexander Berry’s farm of Coolangatta on the Shoalhaven River. At his own expense Berry sent his schooner Edward to the scene. When news reached Sydney the Government Revenue Cutter Prince George, the Brig of War HMS Zebra and the steam packet Tamar were dispatched to the wreck site. It was still hoped to refloat the Hive but on the 16th of December a strong southerly arrived and any further attempts to refloat the ship were considered hopeless. The Tamar returned to Sydney with 106 convicts under guard and HMS Zebra returned with the specie, the mails and 94 convicts under guard. The schooner Edward brought back some of the Hive’s crew and stores. The remaining crew, convicts, and soldiers stayed at the wreck site to assist with salvage. The Blackbird, a small former Government schooner of 67 tons, was engaged to salvage the Hive’s stores and anchoring out in Wreck Bay used her whaleboats to ferry the bulk of the salvable stores from the Hive. A sudden southerly gale blew up on the 15th January and with her anchors unable to hold her the Blackbird fetched up on the beach beside the Hive and became a total loss. Aboard was Captain Nutting, wrecked for the second time on Bherwerra Beach. The Captain walked back to Sydney for help (Nutley D. and Smith T. 1995:8 -12) Previous searches for the Hive NSW Department of Heritage mounted their first search for the Hive remains in 1993 conducting a visual search on the shore, in the surf zone and in deep water along Bherwerra Beach. This search concluded that any remains of the Hive and the Blackbird were buried under sand. In 1994 another search was conducted using magnetometers and successfully located a large buried anomaly in the surf zone roughly in the middle of Bherwerra Beach. Although both the Hive and Blackbird were timber boats with no engines they would contain considerable iron in their fire hearth (stove), pumps, barrel hoops, iron fastenings and rigging parts. A timber sample was obtained by coring at this anomaly and found to be English Oak, consistent with the construction of the Hive. Other smaller anomalies were found under the beach sand which could be from either the Hive or the Blackbird. In 1995 an attempt was made to excavate one of the anomalies in the beach. Bherwerra beach is very isolated with only 4 wheel drive access and excavations in the tidal zone of a beach are very difficult but a back hoe excavator was brought on site and sheet piles used in a effort to keep the wet sand from filling the excavation. The back hoe excavated to a depth of 2.5 meters with the large metal object a tantalizing 0.5 meters deeper. Although the archaeologists could feel the object in the sand they could not remove the last of the sand covering. The excavation was abandoned. A full report on a previous archaeological investigation of the Hive by NSW Heritage in 1995 is available from NSW Heritage (Nutley D., Smith T.,1995). The 2013 Investigation In June 2013 NSW Heritage decided that it was time for another attempt to find out more about the Hive, this time concentrating on the wreck camp in the sand dunes behind the beach at Wreck Bay. Permission for the survey was obtained from the ACT National Parks as well as the local Wreck Bay Aboriginal Community. Large numbers of convicts, crew and soldiers had lived for up to a month in a camp in the dunes and when they had gone a smaller salvage camp would have remained there for some time. A 4 day investigation surveyed the dunes for these camps. A total of 6 persons made up the personnel. The investigation was lead by Heritage Maritime Archaeologist Dr. Brad Duncan with other archaeologists from NSW Heritage and Sydney University. The weather was not ideal with strong winds, cold temperatures and big seas similar to the conditions when the Hive and Blackbird were wrecked. The results of this survey are currently being analysed by NSW Heritage. Image 1: The day camp in the sand dunes. Dr Brad Duncan, (right) is holding a D-GPS unit. Dr Martin Gibbs and author Greg Jackson (left) are testing metal detectors. The darts are used to mark the position of artefacts. Photo Pam Forbes The town of New Bristol The New South Wales Government Gazette, 23 March 1836 reported the purchase of 100 acres on the South side of Jervis Bay, near Bristol Point by William Morgan for 5 shillings an acre. Such was the delay in registering land grants in the 1830's that it is entirely possible that Morgan had occupied the land for sometime before this date. Image 2 shows the location of William Morgans land. Image 2: Southern Shore of Jervis Bay. New South Wales. Dept. of Lands, 1909 Morgan was assigned at least one convict, The Sydney Morning Herald, 9 November 1837 reported the plundering of Morgan’s possessions by escaped convicts John Axhill and Joseph Docker. Morgan’s assigned convict John Oliver being put in 'bodily fear'. Both escaped convicts were captured and sentenced to death. In the optimism period of the late 1830's Morgan decided to cash in on his land by establishing the private town of New Bristol, subdividing his 100 acres of land into building blocks of various sizes. Agents Foss and Lloyd were engaged to sell the land. Image 3 shows the subdivision plan for New Bristol. This inaccurate subdivision plan has north downwards.  Image 3: Subdivision Plan for New Bristol by Foss and Lloyd 1841. A publicity blitz by Foss and Lloyd started in July 1841 with advertisements flooding the newspapers exulting the virtues of New Bristol. The blocks of land were offered for auction on 22 October 1841. There were approximately163 lots in the subdivision plan for New Bristol. The Sydney Monitor and Commercial Advertiser on the 25 October 1841 claims that 92 were sold, for the sum of 160 pounds per acre, a substantial profit for Morgan. There is no way of knowing how many of the allotments were ever built upon. Image 3 and 4 shows the subdivision overlaying the existing agricultural landscape of Morgan's farm which is on a different alignment. A cottages, garden, store and yard are shown on that landscape. The day before the land sale the advertisement below appeared in the Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser. NEW BRISTOL, at the NEW ROYAL HOTEL, TO-MORROW the 22nd instant, instead of in their Rooms as formerly advertised. F and L have omitted to point out, in their advertisement, the important fact, that a large STORE 70 feet long is erected on the Property, complete with Spanish Windless and every requisite for storing Wool. The Building is of the finest description and groved into sleepers of immense strength. The wood consists of Pine and Oak originally belonging to the ship Hive. It has a projecting roof equal to any in Sydney, and will store a thousand bales of Wool with ease. This erection renders the Allotments on which it stands is invaluable, as it is the possibility of a doubt, that the Wool from the new country must come to New Bristol for shipment to the London Market, and this is the only Store in the Bay capable of containing any quantity. On another of the Allotments is erected a very large Dairy, weatherboard outside and plastered inside, it stands 12 feet high, and is sunk 5 feet into the ground, rendering it delightfully cool on the hottest weather; there are also Calf Pens, Stock Yards and every necessary for Dairy operation and at the back an extensive run capable of maintaining a large number of cows. View this property in whatever light you may, it must prove an eligible investment of capitol. F an L feel perfectly justified in strongly recommending it to the notice of buyers. The Sophia Jane, steamer, will leave Sydney for Jervis Bay on the evening of the day of sale thus giving an opportunity of purchasers to go down and satisfy themselves as to the value of their Allotments. Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, 21 October 1841 page 3. William Morgan had obviously been more than an observer of the wreck of the Hive and Blackbird in 1835. The article above states that much of the timbers of the Hive finished up at nearby New Bristol as a large wool store. It is possible that other wreckage from the Hive also made its way there. There may be more remains of the Hive at New Bristol than on Bherwerre Beach in Wreck Bay. Image 4 shows an enlargement of Morgans farm. The garden has dimensions of 3 chains 70 links. Using this as a scale the length of the store is approximately 70 feet long, agreeing with the stated length of the store in the advertisement above.  Image 4: Part of subdivision Plan for New Bristol by Foss and Lloyd overlaying the farm of William Morgan. An advertisement appeared in The Sydney Morning Herald, Wednesday 10 December 1845 describing a cottage, store and potential salting works for sale at New Bristol. This is probably the cottage and store shown in the subdivision plan above. The salting works being the wool store described in the newspaper article as wool shipments ceased from Jervis Bay due to the depression of the 1840’s. Where is New Bristol? Image 2 show New Bristol as midway between Bristol Point and the Jervis Bay lighthouse. This map even shows properties at this location. This is at odds with the subdivision plan showing that New Bristol is located on the shore of Jervis Bay.. The creek running along the eastern side of the subdivision allows us to accurately locate New Bristol on the land of William Morgan This is approximately 10km from the wreck site of the Hive and Blackbird. Image 5 shows the approximate location of Morgan’s cottage and store at New Bristol. Scottish Rocks can be seen left of aerial photo on the shore of Jervis Bay. Image 5: Approximate location of the cottage and store at New Bristol.. Map by SIX New Bristol was large enough to have a school. The decline of New Bristol can be traced by looking at the location of this School. The school drew its pupils from the town of New Bristol and the 3 families at the Jervis Bay Lighthouse (visible in Image2). In 1876 the school opened close to the township of New Bristol. In 1885 the school was moved to midway between the town and the lighthouse. In 1889 the school moved again to be very close to the lighthouse, all school children now coming from the lighthouse. The school closed when the lighthouse closed in 1899 (Sant B. 2007:16 - 18). Conclusion New Bristol does not seem to have ever been a thriving community. The depression of the 1840’s meant that New Bristol completely missed the wool trade and probably consisted of scattered fishermen’s cottages with some small scale farming. New Bristol disappeared rapidly from the historic record. It remains for future archaeological investigations to locate the store built from the Hive remains and determine whether any remains of the Hive still exist there. Bibliography NSW Department of Education and Communities n.d, Government Schools of NSW from 1848 http://www.governmentschools.det.nsw.edu.au/entries/outside.shtm, accessed 12 January 2013 NSW Department of Land and Property Information Parish Map Preservation Project, MAP FCPS Coll ; no. 1909/5 (Copy 1) http://nla.gov.au/nla.map-vn1635555 accessed 8 January 2013 Nutley D., Smith T., NSW Department of Urban Affairs and Planning, 1995. 2nd Report on the Maritime Archaeological Investigation of the Convict Transport HIVE (1820-1836) Mainland Australias Only Convict Shipwreck and the Schooner Blackbird (1828-1836). http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/publications/pubs/shipwrecks-hivereport.pdf Accessed 13 January 2013 Sant B., 2007, Lighthouse Tales Intrigue, Drama and Tragedy at the Lighthouses of Jervis Bay. Lady Denman Heritage Complex, Huskisson, NSW .