Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate (NSW : 1876 - 1954), Saturday 3 November 1934, page 7


S.S. CITY OF SYDNEY Wreck at Green Cape, 1862 The City of Sydney was tihe first steamer built for the A.S.N. Co., under the super-vision of MIr. James Paterson, one of the pioneers of coastal shipping in New South Wales. He went to Scotland, and. the vessel was the outcome of his visit. Built in 1853, with three masts, square rigged and clipper bow, the vessel pre-sented a smart appearance, and was at the time tihe finest on the coast. The maiden voyage to Sydney occupied 74 days, which did not include stops at St. Vincent and Melbolrne. This was considered a: remarkably good performance. The steamer arrived from Greenock on April 16, 1854, and is described in the . papers of that day as "a regular clipper.' The City of Sydney soon established a popularity on the coast; and when, in . 1857, the European and Australian loyal Mail Company's steamer European was detained in Sydney, necessitated by ex-tensive repairs to the machinery; the. City of Sydney was selected to take the place of the larger vessel, and make a trip to Suez with mails and passengers, as well as a large consignment of gold. Leaving Melbourne on tNovember 17, 1857, with a number of passengers and a valu-able cargo, the City of Sydney arrived at Suez on December 20, immediately leaving on the return, calling at Point le Galle, where mails and passengers were trans-ferred to the R.M.S. Victoria. Strangely enough, the Victoria left 24 hours before the City of Sydney, and did not arrive in Melbourne until several days after the latter. But the career of the vessel was alto-gether too brief. She was totally wrecked on November 5, 1862. while on a voyage from Melbourne to Sydney, with a full complement of passengers. The vessel struck the rocks three miles from Green Cape (N.S.W.), during hazy weather, for tunately without loss of life. The passen. gers were conveyed ashore, and landed on the beach. Then the captain and crew left the wreck; and had hardly got clear when tile hull listed to seaward, and tile vessel filled and sank. Only a small por tion of the bow and topmasts were to be seen. The vessel was insured for £25,000.