Queen Of Nations (clipper ship)
Encyclopedia
Queen Of Nations was an 827-ton wooden clipper
Clipper
A clipper was a very fast sailing ship of the 19th century that had three or more masts and a square rig. They were generally narrow for their length, could carry limited bulk freight, small by later 19th century standards, and had a large total sail area...

 ship. She was built in Aberdeen in 1861, and sailed out of Auckland, New Zealand, on the Sydney to Liverpool route.

Queen of Nations wrecked in May 1881 on Corrimal Beach, New South Wales, Australia. The cargo on this final, fatal journey consisted almost entirely of wine
Wine
Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...

 and distilled spirits, a fact which combined with the enthusiasms of the newly installed captain and mate for those self-same beverages, led to the captain to become confused by a fire in the hills and order a turn to port facilitating his entry into Sydney harbor. There was no harbor, only sand and rocks, and the Queen ran aground. Her crew made their way to shore with the loss of only one sailor, despite threats from the drunken mate, armed with a pistol. The Queen broke up and her cargo drifted ashore over the next several months, inspiring the establishment of a long-lived and very cheery beachside campground.

In her more respectable days, in 1879, the Queen Of Nations received international attention for having gallantly rescued Captain Lewis Gerhardt Goldsmith
Lewis Gerhardt Goldsmith
In 1879, in the midst of an international fad for attempting long voyages in tiny vessels, 40-year old Captain Lewis Gerhardt Goldsmith a Danish immigrant to the United States and Civil War veteran, announced at a press conference in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, that he was having built a boat of...

 and his ailing wife from their tiny lifeboat, in its last moments, after a storm on the Grand Banks
Grand Banks
The Grand Banks of Newfoundland are a group of underwater plateaus southeast of Newfoundland on the North American continental shelf. These areas are relatively shallow, ranging from in depth. The cold Labrador Current mixes with the warm waters of the Gulf Stream here.The mixing of these waters...

, and carrying them safely to England.

The wreck of the Queen is being studied by Florida State University.

Approximate Position 34.38388°N 150.91786°W,
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