Two views of the wreck of the BLENCATHRA. The ship, on route from Glasgow to Sydney, ran aground on the west coast of King Island while attempting to enter Bass Strait. Before breaking up,the cargo was salvaged. The master, Captain D. Nicholas was exonerated from blame as the compass was found to be faulty.
View one shows the flying fox from ship to shore that was used to land the cargo. The second view shows Currie Harbor where the cargo was stored.
 
Published in The Illustrated Australian News. 1875.
 
 
Wood engraving. 
 
175 x 226mm
 
Artist. Albert Cooke. 1836-1902
 
Wood engravings were first produced in Europe in the fifteenth century. During the late eighteenth century the process was reintroduced and used for inexpensive illustrated books. The nineteenth century publishing phenomena of the illustrated newspaper was made possible by use of the technique. The process allowed for the illustration and the text to be printed by a single pass through the printing press using the letterpress method.  It also made it possible for several engravers or even a team to produce and work on a single illustration at the same time.

All the major artists of the period contributed to the illustrations. Some papers acknowledged the artists on the plates but The Australasian Sketcher appears to have had a policy of anonymity. Where known, we have included the artist’s name.