JUST how large and violent the sea was when the crew abandoned the Saucy Jack can be gauged by damage to the Coffs Harbour jetty.

After the storm passed nine piles were discovered broken off short and the boat landing had been completely carried away.

The piles had shaken so much the deck was ‘bulging out’ in four places and the train rails had lifted between four and six inches, significantly weakening the end of the jetty where the steam crane was located.

After launching the small open boat at 8am on Monday morning, just behind the breaking waves at Coffs Harbour, the crew focused on keeping it afloat.

The captain again consulted with the crew and it was decided that Trial Bay was the safest place to land. Although in constant danger of being swamped, by ‘heading the sea’ and constantly bailing, the small open boat was rowed to Trial Bay.

On reaching their destination late on Monday night, the crew tried to land but due to the huge seas, they were unable to.

After a terrible night spent battling against the waves, daylight saw them near Port Macquarie so they decided to land there.

Finding themselves unable to land there, once again due to the huge seas, the crew decided to turn back and try once again to land at Trial Bay.

After spending their second night in the little boat around 4am they spotted a small light at Laggers Point at Trial Bay and used it to find their bearings.

Around 10am the exhausted crew were seen by Trial Bay prison officials and Captain Horne sent a whaleboat to assist them.

After 28 hours of being in their open boat they were towed into Trial Bay by the larger whale boat, landing at 11:15 am on Tuesday morning.

All seven crew and the un-named stowaway were cared for at the prison and Johnston the mate was placed in hospital to be treated for exposure and exhaustion.

By Karen FILEWOOD