Coogee Media

Sydney Fewtrell's Headstone
Randwick General Cemetery, South Coogee

S S Sumatra
The Sumatra was built in Kiel, Germany in 1889. She was a steam screw merchant vessel of 584 tons with a maximum speed of 10 knots. She was operated by the German firm, the Norddeutscher Lloyd Line, and by 1914 had found her way to what was then North East New Guinea which was under German control. She was seized by the Australian battleship H.M.A.S. Australia as she attempted to steam out from Rabaul to escape the occupying Australian force at the start of World War One. From then until 1922 it was owned and controlled by the Australian federal government. In 1922, she was transferred to the administrative authorities of Papua New Guinea, which had become a colonial Australian territory.

SS Sumatra

Just before Sumatra's the fateful last voyage, the Navigation Department inspector declared the ship seaworthy with proper lifesaving equipment and her cargo properly secured. Nonetheless, the ship was old, relatively small, with low slung decks, that by then found making 6 knots difficult. With 301 tons of cargo and 46 people aboard, its Plimsoll line just above the water, the ship cast off on Monday 26th June to sail north to Rabaul in New Guinea. Accusations that the ship was overloaded and in disrepair persisted, despite denials from authorities.

Tho Masonic Lodge Sydney St. George, as a special mark of respect to Fewtrell, who it was said was a prominent member, took the crew of the Sumatra for a day's outing to Como shortly before they sailed. Before the Sumatra left Sydney, Fewtrell also went to lunch at the home of a friend in Jersey Street, Woollahra accompanied by one of the "native islander' crew members. Fewtrell told her he had wished that the captain was not in such a hurry to leave Sydney, but the Captain insisted that he go. Some thought afterwards that Fewtrell's lack of enthusiasm to sail showed that he had bad portents about the upcoming voyage.

Omen
As the Sumatra sailed down Sydney Harbor on her last voyage on the 25th June 1923, observers noted that the ensign flying at the mast was upside down. Just how this came about was never known, but as the ship passed Garden Island the mistake was signalled. The flag was pulled down, and a smaller ensign hoisted right side up. A flag upside down was a well-recognised symbol that something is wrong with a ship such as distress, mutiny, or serious illness. The suspicious among the seagoing fraternity treated such omens with deep foreboding.

Victims Onboard
Those on board the Sumatra were: The captain, E. Bell, captain, Sydney Fewtrell who was the chief officer; A. Kennedy, chief engineer; C. J. Kirkpatrick, second engine; E. H. Culllford, supercargo; and O. C. Egan, the wireless operator; Mrs. Bell, Captain Bell's mother, was travelling as a passenger. Luckily for the captain's wife, who had travelled down from Rabaul to Sydney on the previous voyage, she had decided to remain in Sydney. There were two New Guinean "native" passengers.

There were also six Chinese on board, three of them being employed as greasers, two as cooks, and one as bo'sun. Thirtyone New Guinea crew members, referred to as "Papuan boys" were also making the return trip to Rabaul. The Chinese and New Guinea crew members were never named in press reports. A federal government Royal Commission of Inquiry report, later named all those on board.

Four Papuan New Guinea Members of Sumatra's Crew

Sydney Fewtell
Fewtrell was born in London, UK in 1881, the son of William Charles Fewtrell. At the beginning of World War One, he was in the Solomon Islands an described as a "master mariner". When he enlisted in the Australian Army in June 1915. He had previously been a Petty Officer in the British Navy for twenty years. He was a widower, with one son living in Cowes, England. Like a lot of seamen at that time, he had a tattoo on each forearm. He was assigned at first to the 13th Infantry Battalion, and then after serving in a number of different units on the Western Front as a driver, was promoted to Bombardier, and then wounded in action. Fewtrell, however, was suffering badly from rheumatism, which saw him hospitalised and by 1917 was returned to Australia and discharged because of ill-health. Data on one discharge form boldly states that the reason for his discharge was "over age" - by then he was 37 - old for a frontline soldier.

When he returned to live at his Sydney address at 197 Hargraves Street, Paddington, he made an application for a war pension. This was rejected because it was said that "member's incapacity was not the result of warlike activities".

In April 1921, he re-enlisted, this time as a member of the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force, which from 1914 had provided military personnel for the occupation and garrisoning of the former German colonies in north-east New Guinea, for a period of twelve months. In May 1921, he was transferred to the civil admistration of the Australian colony. He seems to have found his way onto the crew of the Sumatra through this route and his previous seagoing experience.

Sydney Fewtrell

Sumatra Lost
Last seen at about noon on Tuesday 26th June, Sumatra was heading north along the New South Wales coast, near Port Macquarie. The weather, however, was turning to a heavy gale with heavy seas. As the day wore one, the weather became worse with some describing it as being like hurricane conditions. Other nearby ships struggled to make way in the conditions, relying on the best of seamanship to stay afloat. It was suspected that the old, slow-going Sumatra was swamped by heavy seas. Nothing more was heard of the ship until two bodies were washed ashore at Crescent Head on the New South Wales coast near Port Macquarie: that of the captain and of Sydney Fewtrell on the 29th June, 2023.

Masons Arrange Funeral
Once news of Fewtrell's demise had reached Sydney, the Masons seemed to swing into action. At Kempsey, near the wreck site, local Masons arranged urgent Anglican and Masonic funeral services at the local Anglican church. The casket was "a beautifully-polished oak coffin, with Masonic emblems and mountings". Forty locals accompanied the coffin carried by Masonic pallbearers to Kempsey railway station for despatch to Sydney.

A large crowd of mourners gathered at Randwick Cemetery on 3rd July, 2023 for Fewtrell's last rites. His coffin was borne to the grave on the shoulders of six members of the Sydney St. George Masonic Lodge followed by his brother Thomas Fewtrell, family friends, officials from the shipping company and government, and no fewer that another 100 lodge members is full Masonic regalia.

Mr Daws, the Secretary of the Lodge, was fulsome in his praise of Fewtrell in an eulogy he delivered. Mr Fewtrell was someone who could do no wrong. He was a "white man", an incongruous form of praise, considering that most of those of his colleague who also lost their lives onboard the Sumatra were black or Chinese - though to be fair to Fewtrell, he seems to have been on harmonious and cordial terms with all those on board.

Commission of Inquiry
A Commission of Inquiry was held into the sinking of the Sumatra. It found that the ship was in good order and seaworthy when it left Sydney, that it was properly and sufficiently manned and adequately supplied with life saving appliances and equipment. The Sumatra, it said, foundered sometime during the night of 26th June 1923.

The Commission also named all the victims the sinking:

1. Bell, E Master
2. Fewtrell, Sydney, 1st Officer
3. Kennedy A. P., Chief Engineer
4. Kirkpatrick, C. J., 2nd Engineer
5. Culliford, E. A., Supercargo
6. Egan, Oswald Charles, Wireless Operator
7. Wong Ching, 1st Greaser
8. Yoh Fat, 2nd Greaser
9. Ah Kee, 3rd Greaser
10. Ah Poo, Cook
11. Wan Hoy, Cook
12. San Ling, Bos'n
13. Babouse, Leading Seaman
14. Amanas, Quartermaster
15. Kolpas, Quartermaster
16. Lusai, Quartermaster
17. Waegi, Quartermaster
18. Kulihin, Quartermaster
19. Biang, Boss Fire Boy
20. Balai, Fire Boy
21. Beangache, Fire Boy
22. Boomburum, Fire Boy
23. Filontoi, Fire Boy
24. Kavalai, Fire Boy
25. Lahau, Fire Boy
26. Lakoni, Fire Boy
27. Bambuk, Fire Boy
28. Nattu, Fire Boy
29. Nebeu, Fire Boy
30. Tatfaiwauk, Fire Boy
31. Boore, Seaman
32. Pambik, Seaman
33. Tuiralan, Seaman
34. Tewan, Seaman
35. Mambooti, Seaman
36. Teramutta, Seaman
37. Tamlik, Seaman
38. Towa, Boss Saloon Boy
39. Maikel, Saloon Boy
40. Missakokin, Saloon Boy
41. Kong, Saloon Boy
42. Kummiwa, Native Cook

Message in a Bottle
Over a year after the loss of Sumatra, in Augusts 1924, reports appeared in the press that a mysterious message on paper sealed in a corked bottled was discovered by an A. Boyd, an employed of the Copmanhurst Shire, at Lawrence on the Clarence River, near coastal town of Grafton, New South Wales. It appeared to be from the late Captain Bell and First Officer Fewtrell and read:

S.S. Sumatra, June 28th, 1923. This night Sumatra foundered in terrific gale off Port Macquarie with all hands. Little hope of saving crew. Signed, Captain Bell; Frewtell [sic]

If the message was genuine, it would suggest that the Sumatra was afloat until the 28th June, and that some of the crew (perhaps just Bell and Fewtrell) survived for some time after in a lifeboat. Most maritime experts, however, treated the message with scepticism. Ink, it was said, would not have been carried on a lifeboat and messages-in-a-bottle hoaxes were common. The New Guinea Trade Agent from the Department of Treasury rejected it outright as a hoax and was certain that the misspelt surname of the First Officer was proof of it being fraudulent.

Message in a bottle from the Sumatra found in 1924

References