Identities of SS Nemesis sailors revealed after 121 years

Heritage NSW has uncovered the identities of two crew members who died during the SS Nemesis shipwreck tragedy 121 years ago.

The 73-metre coal ship SS Nemesis sank off the NSW coast during a wild storm in July 1904, with all 32 people onboard the ship lost with the wreck found for the first time in 2022 by Brisbane-based Subsea Professional Marine Services.

Only four crew were recovered in the Cronulla surf and were later buried at Woronora Memorial Park in Sutherland with the rest going down with the vessel.

James Linklater, 34, the Third Officer was the only body to be identified at the time.

But now, thanks to new research by Heritage NSW, two of the other victims have been confirmed as William Coull, 32, from Adelaide and Norman McLeod, 31, from Sydney which means only one of the four bodies that washed ashore remains unknown.

To this day, their graves remain unmarked, with no record of the SS Nemesis tragedy connection. Heritage NSW plans to change this by installing commemorative headstones to ensure their stories are recorded and remembered for posterity.

Despite a public appeal in 2024 for the descendants of the shipwreck to come forward, the families of William and Norman have not been found. We urge them to contact Heritage NSW on (02) 9873 8500 or at [email protected]

William Coull

William Coull was the first body to wash ashore after the shipwreck. In 1904, his wife, Mary Jane Coull, unofficially identified her husband weeks after the tragedy through a newspaper description of his clothing and tattoo: a “blue cotton shirt with fine white stripes” and a distinctive arm tattoo of a seated woman holding a British flag. Unfortunately, he had already been buried, unidentified, in the mass unmarked grave.

Coull left behind two stepchildren in Glanville, South Australia, and had been intending to leave the SS Nemesis on its return to Port Adelaide. Coull’s death followed another tragedy with his father Captain James Coull drowning three years earlier off the Victorian coast while in command of the SS Federal, which also sank in a storm.

Norman McLeod

Norman McLeod, worked as a lamp trimmer and had immigrated to Sydney from Greenock, United Kingdom. His body washed ashore a month after the Nemesis shipwreck and while McLeod’s remains were identified through a death certificate in 1904, official cemetery records were not updated at the time.

Director of Assessments at Heritage NSW, Tim Smith OAM said:

“This discovery is an important step in honouring the memory of the SS Nemesis crew and giving the sailors the send-off and recognition they deserve.

“Since the wreck’s discovery, 27 descendants of other crew members have come forward, which is a fantastic result, but we’d love the families of William Coull and Norman McLeod to do the same so we can give them closure.

“Heritage NSW is working hard to solve the last chapter of this mysterious shipwreck to ensure its maritime legacy, and the personal stories of the crew, live on.”