Mount Adolphus Island

Geography

History

Shipwrecks

• Aliquis, a ship captained by Gill and sailed from Port Jackson to Calcutta, was lost near Mount Adolphus Island, Torres Strait, in May 1839. No lives were lost. The crew were picked up by the ship Argyle, also bound Sydney to India.
• RMS Quetta, a steel steamship of that was built at Dumbarton, Scotland in 1881. Owned by the British, India Steam Navigation Company and captained by Alfred Sanders, the ship was bound from Brisbane to London. It foundered when she struck a needle of uncharted coral in Mount Adolphus Channel, on 28 February 1890. 133 lives were lost and there were 158 survivors. A submerged rock had ripped through six water-tight compartments of the hull, from the bows to the engine room. Stokers were killed instantly as water rushed onto the boilers causing them to explode. Lower-deck portholes burst under the water pressure and the sea flooded in swamping passengers asleep in their bunks. For half a minute the ship hung at a 45-degree angle, then she slid slowly beneath the surface. Within less than five minutes of striking the rock she was gone.