CAPTAIN John Craig was the Shoalhaven's first river Pilot.
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And what's a river Pilot you ask?
A Pilot was the man who would guide the larger vessels sailing up the tortuous channels of rivers to settlements.
Their role was invaluable as they knew and understood the unpredictable action of the river.
Craig was the Pilot of the Shoalhaven Station at Crookhaven Heads.
John Craig was born (c 1835) in Cornwall. The sixth surviving child of town gardener John Craig and his wife Jane (nee Wyatt).
John Jnr migrated to Australia in 1854 and the move to the Shoalhaven area may have been influenced by his only sister Elizabeth (b 1825) who had come to Australia three years earlier.
Her husband John Hawken worked as a shipwright for Alexander Berry.
Another Craig family member, Nicholas, came to Australia in 1838 to farm at Jamberoo.
Soon after his arrival, John Craig also came to work for Berry and was captain of the Porpoise, and later the schooner Gimboola for around 16 years.
The Pilot Station at Crookhaven Heads, known as Shoalhaven Station, was established on February 1, 1872 by the NSW Marine Board, with Craig appointed Pilot and William Armstrong, John Armstrong, Richard Baxter and William Sparkes as boatmen.
Prior to the establishment of the Pilot Station and light a number of ships were wrecked on the seaweed side of the headland on the bar.
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The Pilot Station staff provided pilot services and maintained the light.
The workload would have been high, as by 1873 Greenwell Point was considered the fourth busiest port in NSW after Sydney, Wollongong and Newcastle.
The workload would have been high, as by 1873 Greenwell Point was considered the fourth busiest port in NSW after Sydney, Wollongong and Newcastle.
In a paper written in 1948 WCA Armstrong said Captain Craig was "remembered on the Pilot Station as a man very attentive to his duties, a strict disciplinarian and a very efficient Pilot."
As Pilot he also acted as customs officer recording the shipping tonnage and the value of cargo.
It must be remembered these were the days long before the railway and the whole of the produce from the district found its way to Sydney by a fleet of small coastal steamers and sailing vessels.
Captain Craig held the position of Pilot until his death at Waterloo on January 13, 1881, aged 46.
Highly respected in the community he also held the position of Numbaa Municipal Council auditor in 1871-72.
He married Margaret Brown, a daughter from the first marriage of Reverend John Hill Graven on January 5, 1858.
Both were well known local residents, John because of his high profile occupation and Margaret for her long life spent in the Shoalhaven.
Craig was said to be in good health until about six months before his death, where it was believed that "sudden exposure to severe weather at midnight laid the germs of dropsy" (swelling of soft tissues due to the accumulation of excess water).
Despite seeking medical assistance in Sydney on two occasions, he did not recover.
He was also a keen Masonic member and was the first initiate into Abercorn Lodge on May 30, 1878 and was Senior Warden at the time of his death.
His funeral procession was said to be one of the largest seen in the district and he was laid to rest in the Presbyterian section of the Nowra cemetery.
He left behind Margaret and two daughters, Edith Margaret (b 1870) and Lilly Mary (b 1874).
Edith married Ernest W Hayes in 1896 and they had a daughter Ida the following year. She was later married to John Hall, of Terrara.
Lilly married George Brown and resided in Sydney.
After outliving her husband by almost 49 years, Margaret died on January 6, 1930 and was buried with her husband and their daughter Edith.
Interesting history -
The Pilot Station Flag Staff Signal Yard was used to communicate to and from ships and the station by use of visual signals by day.
There was a set of 26 flags, with each representing various codes and when hoisted together, or singularly, the codes could be deciphered.
For example in bad weather when it was too dangerous to enter the port a black canvas ball would be hoisted to the Yardarm. This was called the Stand Off Signal.
At night a red lantern would be substituted to warn shipping of the danger.
In times of national importance, various combinations of flags would be flown during daylight hours to enable passing vessels to be informed of the situation - such things as wreckage, shipwrecks, survivors, declaration of war, armistice and peace were all exhibited.
In the days before wireless telegraphy was in universal use, this system called the International Code, was used for communication.
The first light shown from the station as a guide for shipping was merely a red lantern converted from a ship's masthead light and hung on a pole.
This was deemed inadequate and in 1882 was replaced by a brass lantern atop a wooden platform.
In 1904 the Crookhaven Lighthouse was erected, some distance to the east of the old site, using the lantern from the former Cape St George Lighthouse which had become redundant with the commissioning of the Point Perpendicular light.
The name of the station was changed to Crookhaven Heads the same year.
The Pilot Station was downgraded to Lighthouse Keeper station in 1919. By 1920 only three cottages remained to house the three staff.
Due to its isolation the Crookhaven Lighthouse became a target of vandals and in the 2000s was decommissioned. In 2010 a plan was hatched to attempt to restore the lighthouse, with the historic lantern gingerly disassembled in December 2011 and lifted off the location by a navy helicopter from HMAS Albatross for restoration.
Since then Shoalhaven City Council and the Department of Lands, have been in conflict over who is in control or responsible for the site, which have stalled the project.
The Shoalhaven Marine Rescue pilot house still overlooks Crookhaven Heads.
Sailing Directions For Crookhaven and Shoalhaven Rivers
Captain Craig wrote the following explanation of how to gain safe entry to the Crookhaven and Shoalhaven rivers in September, 1873.
In the deep bight between Black Point and Beecroft Point to the south, are situated the entrances of the Crookhaven and Shoalhaven Rivers.
After passing either of these points, "Mount Berry" a remarkable isolated conical hill the low land, about one and a half miles N.W. of the entrance of the Shoalhaven will be seen - this is a good guide.
A position light is exhibited from the Pilot Station at Shoalhaven, it is visible in a south-westerly direction at a distance of about eight miles.
Masters of vessels should not attempt to enter these rivers, unless thoroughly acquainted with them more particularly that of Shoalhaven, without having first obtained the assistance of a pilot, who will board vessels outside upon the usual signal being made, viz: the Union Jack or Ensign at the fore.
The coast signals for bar harbors will be made, with the addition of the Ensign at the topmast-head, this will denote the Shoalhaven bar to be impracticable; strict attention to the signals is enjoined.
Masters of vessels not requiring a pilot will have the tidal or necessary signals shown to them; the universal code is also kept for special occasions.
Strangers bound to these rivers during S. or S.W. winds, should not attempt to enter if there is much sea on, but go into Jervis Bay, or to the anchorage known as Abraham's Bosom, situated in the S.E. corner of Crookhaven bight.
Masters of vessels intending to enter the Crookhaven River from the north-ward, should when two or three miles off Black Point, steer S.S.W. for the entrance, distant eight miles, nearing which, the Flagstaff on the south head in latitude 34°54" S. will be seen, as also the lighthouse, a small wooden building, painted black with white gallows on top, from which is exhibited a fixed bright light, visible between the bearings of N.N.W. to E., at the entrance of 10 miles on a clear night.
When near the entrance a white beacon must be looked for, which is placed on the N.E. extremity of a roof extending about 200 yards from the south head, leave this beacon about a cable's length on the port hand; there are three other white beacons which must be also left on the port hand, having passed them you are then inside and can proceed up the river, keeping all the black buoys and black beacons on your port hand.
Approaching Crookhaven from the southward; passing Beecroft Point at a distance of two or three miles, steer N.W. until the flagstaff bears S. by W. 1/2 w., then steer S.S.W., leaving all the beacons on your port hand as directed above.
The width of the channel is about 60 yards; there is seldom less than 10 feet at a low water spring tides; rise about five feet six inches; high water, full and change, 9h. 15m.
Shoalhaven River - Intending to enter the Shoalhaven River from the north-war; after passing Black Point, steer S.W. by S. until the breakers on the south spit are seen, these breakers extend about one and a half miles off shore; look for two leading mark which are placed on the sand to the S.W., get them in one, and keep them so until you observe two beacons on the N.W. sand, steer for them, and keep them in one until within half a cable's length of the beach, which is hold close to the shore; you are then inside; steer a south-westerly course until you see a white house on the south side of the river, which steer for, keeping on the south side until you have proceeded about a mile above the canal, then steer for two houses on a hill on the north side, keeping the north side of the river for the remainder way up.
Masters of vessels trading to Shoalhaven, are hereby informed that the canal to the river has worked considerably to the southward. The two leading marks are now placed on the N.W. sand, and they can be seen about three miles off in clear weather. The channel is about 100 yards wide. There are seven feet of water in it at low tide.
Approaching the Shoalhaven River from the southward. Pass Beecroft Point at a distance of two or three miles, and steer N.W. 1/4 N., leaving the Pilot Station which is two and a half miles from the bar, about one and a half miles off, on the port hand; when abreast of the bar steer as directed above.
Owing to the shifting nature of the Shoalhaven bar, and the liability of the channel changing, the leading marks will be moved by the pilot as required; it must however, be understood that the bar may so shift as to render if impossible to show leading marks for crossing; in such cases the signal must received special attention.
There is at present, "September, 1873," nine feet at low water; width of channel about a quarter of a mile; rise of tide five feet six inches; high water, full and change, 9h. 15m.
Wellbank's' Australian nautical almanac and coasters' guide for the Southern and the Eastern coasts of New Holland, no. (1876), Printed and published by James Reading and Co., 1876-01-01
Information provided by Robyn Florance and the Shoalhaven Historical Society.
Read more: Shoalhaven History