The schooner Francis and sloop Eliza had…
July 1797 CE
The schooner Francis and sloop Eliza had been dispatched to Preservation Island to collect the people remaining there and salvage the ship's cargo.
The survivors, while waiting for rescue, had lived on the local Short-tailed Shearwaters, or Australian Muttonbirds, and built rough shelter for themselves, but the ship had been damaged in May by heavy westerly gales, making it impossible to save her.
The Francis and Eliza become separated on the return journey and the Eliza is wrecked, with the loss of her crew and eight of the Sydney Cove survivors.