1910 – A dark night, a precarious fishing spot, a meat truck and a cry of “shark’’ came together in the death of 18-year-old Alexander Stemp.
Stemp, a New Zealander, was a seaman on the cargo and passenger ship Rippingham Grange, which was loading meat at the Parsons Point jetty at Gladstone, Central Queensland on May 3.
He, a fellow seaman named Oscar Harman and another man were fishing at the jetty on a Monday night.
At about six-thirty in the evening, the magisterial inquiry into the death was told, they had set up on a one-foot wide plank parallel to the jetty, a short distance from its end and close to their ship.
The rails of the horse-drawn truckway which brought meat from the nearby works ran very close to the edge of the jetty.
But the men had seen others fishing from that spot the previous evening and presumed the truck drivers would know what they were doing.
The night was very dark, and suddenly Harman heard a truck driver shout ‘Look-out for the truck.’
He turned round and found a horse almost behind him, going towards the meatworks from the steamer.
Truck driver Henri Lewis said he had cried out, ‘Look out for yourselves” and that one of the men replied, “We can see you.”
Lewis said he told them they did not have enough room and tried to stop the horse. But the truck pushed it forward and the lubricating wheel on the box of the truck struck Stemp, sweeping him along the plank, causing him to collide with Harman and throwing both into the water.
“When Harman came to the surface he began to swim towards the jetty and caught hold of a pile. He saw his mate was in difficulties and went back to him.
Stemp was able to swim, but he could not do so that night, probably, Harman thought, because he had a back injury from the collision with the oil box.
“Harman struggled to help Stemp towards the jetty and both were making their way nicely, if slowly, when some fool on the wharf raised the cry of ‘sharks’.”
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“Stemp at once lost all presence of mind, and tried to climb on Harman’s shoulders, with the result that both went down.
“Harman disengaged himself, and, on rising to the surface, swam to the jetty, calling out to Stemp to keep up, as he would bring a buoy to him.
“By some mischance when Harman got to the jetty, the buoy, which had been flung in with a line attached, was pulled back for the purpose of clearing the line which was fouled, and so was unavailable at a time when every moment was precious.”
Meanwhile, on board the Rippingham Grange, one Harry (Percy) Barton heard the shout of man overboard, rushed onto the wharf, “took a header off the jetty” and swam to the rescue.
He was too late, for when he got within four yards of Stemp the latter disappeared.
Stemp’s body was not found until Thursday afternoon, with no shark injuries.
Barton was presented the certificate of the Royal Humane Society for his efforts to save Stemp’s life.
The crew of the Rippingham Grange took up a collection to help with the cost of a tombstone which 100 years later lies flat on the ground at the Gladstone cemetery.
The Parson Point jetty got electric lights the next year. The jetty was used until the late 1920s.
The Rippinghan Grange was sunk off the United Kingdom coast by a German U-boat on May 28, 1917, with the loss of eight lives.
Sources: The Brisbane Courier, Saturday 14 May 1910, p4
Morning Bulletin, Thursday 25 August 1910
Wikitree: Rippingham Grange ( 1898) viewed at https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:Rippingham_Grange_(1898)
National Museums Liverpool viewed at https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/artifact/photograph-of-limerick-ex-rippingham-grange-new-zealand-shipping-company-ltd
Laver, Betty Here in History: by Betty Laver: the meatworks jetty viewed at https://gladstonenews.com.au/here-in-history-by-betty-laver-the-meatworks-jetty/
Way to go Australia 