The wooden brig Grecian went ashore on the Nine Mile Beach between Red Head and Lake Macquarie, Newcastle on April 30, 1864. The brig, under the command of Captain Grant, had left Sydney, in ballast, for Newcastle on the 29th in bad weather. The next morning it ran ashore and all the crew, except the Captain survived. After helping in the rescue of passengers, including his niece, Grant was knocked into the surf by the boom. His body was not found. The survivors walked to Newcastle for assistance. The wreck was all but destroyed after two days, strewing debris for miles along the beach.
The brig was 212-tons and 28 metres in length. Built in Yarmouth, South Suffolk, UK in 1824, it was originally a six gun slave chaser. In 1842 it joined the whaling fleet out of Hobart until 1864 when it was sold and converted to a trader. The Grecian was under part ownership of the Captain and J & W Young and J Grant and was registered at Hobart at the time of its loss.
