On or about the 28th April 1885 the 1246 ton 3 masted iron British
barque Yarra Yarra of Liverpool which had left Portland, Oregon
on 12th February 1885 bound for the United Kingdom, wrecked on
the Staats Island cliffs after rounding the Horn. There were no
survivors or bodies recovered and wreckage washed ashore as far
as Carcass Island.
William Duncan, of Beaver Island made a deposition to his manager
Henry Waldron: ‘On or about the 28th April 1885 I was out for a walk
on Stickout Bluff, Beaver Island; it was blowing a tremendous gale
from the south so that I could hardly stand. I thought I saw a vessel
without any sails drifting upon the rocks of Staats Island at Staats
Bluff, where I saw her strike and did not see her afterwards. From the
time I first saw the vessel until she struck would be about 20 minutes
. No signals were flying The vessel appeared to be abandoned, but
it’s being at least 6 miles off I cannot state positively to that effect.
No assistance could possible have been rendered, even if a lifeboat
was here.’
Wreckage recovered included a lifebuoy with Yarra Yarra, Liverpool
painted on it.
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