The wooden ketch Active was wrecked at Cape Hawke on 19 January 1898. Departing Cape Hawke bound for Morpeth, the vessel was laden with hard wood timber (ironbark). A southerly wind picked up suddenly inside the breakwater, forcing Captain P. Williams to let go the anchor. Immediately “a curious bumping sensation was felt” and Active sank within seven minutes, near the earlier Colonist shipwreck. The crew, four in number, were saved in the lifeboats and taken to the Sailor’s Home, by order of the shipping master Mr Hannell. One of the crew, Tom Peters, had already survived four other shipwrecks!
The vessel was built in 1877 at Brisbane Water by William Wood, and registered in Sydney. It was owned by John Breckenridge of Cape Hawke.
