Eclipse, cutter: When off Patterson Inlet on March 5, 1894, the cutter encountered the full force of a north-west gale. As the weather was so bad the vessel was headed for Halfmoon Bay, and when about midway between Harrolds Point and Long Island she was struck by a violent squall, which bore her over on her beam ends. Her ballast shifted, and she foundered in a few minuets. The three men on board managed to lower the dinghy and embark in it before the Eclipse sank, and succeeded in reaching Long Island.The Eclipse was a new vessel of 33 tons register, and had been afloat for only six weeks. She was entirely the handiwork of her owner, Mr Scollay, and her construction had cost him nine months’ unremitting work. Her main timbers were taken from the bush by Mr Scollay, and the materials otherwise required he had secured at a cost of about 480 pounds. The Eclipse was at that period the largest and most completely equipped cutter in the Foveaux Strait Fishing trade.
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