TUG BOATS ON THE TAMAR RIVER

"Shocking Catastrophe!" was the headline of the Launceston Examiner in 1874. Thank goodness the apostrophe, when used in conjunction of the death of 8 people, went out of vogue in 1875. The story of Little Nell was the result of a ‘street race’ gone wrong. Little Nell was puffing along the Tamar River near Dilston when she (all vessels are she) encountered a steam tug, The Tamar, and the race was on. Being a tug boat, The Tamar had a distinct advantage and to give Little Nell the best possible chance, the engineer blocked the steam safety valve to create more steam. Not a wise move by the engineer – the safety valve has a critical role, namely safety, and the result of blocking steam escaping has an effect of a pressure cooker without the relief valve. The subsequent explosion literally shattered the vessel, killing 8 people outright, their bodies ‘’flying high through the air’’ with another three injured. A quite different side to the story was of the large cache of gold on board that had locals searching the water for decades after.