Argument was an Australian
sloop of some 8 tons, built in Sydney and registered on 8 October 1800.[1]
In March 1809 Argument, Experiment and Hazard left
Pittwater,
New South Wales, bound for
Sydney with cargoes of
wheat. On 17 March,[2] a
squall arose and the
master of Argument, Benjamin Pate, watched as Hazard was driven ashore and wrecked. Deciding to avoid a similar fate he attempted to run for
Broken Bay but missed the entrance and struck
Short Reef, where Argument was wrecked. All three people on board — Pate, his hand James Dicey, and a passenger, Mary Kirk — drowned.[2]