General History:Officially described as a brig, but generally called a brigantine in the press, Creole sailed from Launceston for Dunedin, New Zealand, on 29 August 1863 with 15 passengers, and a crew of 14 under Captain Joseph Fluerty. Her cargo comprised largely of passenger Henry Clayton’s livestock included 35 head of cattle, 12 horses and 200 sheep. Later that day the lighthouse-keeper at Swan Island came across considerable quantities of wreckage, although news of his discovery did not reach Hobart for over a week, causing much confusion over the identity of the wreck which was initially thought to be from the missing British Queen. It was not until 22 September, with the discovery of one of Creole’s boats on Waterhouse Island, and personal effects belonging to the master and some of the passengers, that the wreck was finally identified.
Creole evidently foundered in bad weather, perhaps after capsizing or running into one of the many islands between the Tamar and Swan Island, within a few hours of clearing the Tamar Heads. In his autobiography Flotsam and Jetsam, Henry Button, who was on board the vessel immediately before it left Launceston, considered that Creole had sunk as the result of the hatches being kept open to prevent the livestock from being suffocated, as well as the decks being encumbered by a large quantity of fodder.
Creole, ON 31,968, was a brig of 144 tons, 89.8’ x 22.8’ x 7.4’, built at Baltimore, United States, in 1846 by Allan & Co., and was registered at Hobart in the name of Henry Turner of Launceston. Creole had first arrived in Australian waters at Sydney from San Francisco on 7 July 1851, then described as a schooner or brigantine, and continued on to Hobart where it was sold and reregistered as a British ship.