Hundreds of people are gathering on King Island this weekend to mark the sesquicentenary of the shipwreck of the Netherby.

The square-rigged, three-masted timber clipper had sailed from Plymouth, England, on April 13, 1866, with about 500 people on board, bound for Brisbane, when it crashed onto rocks on King Island one winter's night.

Miraculously, for a stretch of coast that claimed dozens of ships and thousands of lives, all on board the Netherby survived the disaster.

The survivors of the Netherby shipwreck making camp, by artist Samuel Calvert. ( Supplied: Trove )

Jim Benn helped organise the weekend's celebrations and told the ABC Country Hour's Margot Kelly his great-grandparents were onboard the ship.

"Frederick John Skerman and his wife Alice, her brother Alfred and his (Skerman's) parents were also on the boat," he said.

"And then there were a number of kids, brothers or sisters of Frederick John, and certainly some of them were kids of Frederick John and Alice, so Frederick John was my great-grandfather.

"My grandfather was born in Australia seven years after the wreck, his name was Percival James, (and) Granddad wrote a diary of the stories that his parents and grandparents and uncles and aunts told him of the ship wreck, it was quite a story."

Treacherous travels to Australia

Mr Benn said ships from England had a perilous journey south.

"They would jump on the Roaring 40's around the bottom (of South America), and then they'd do quite a sharp turn left and head across the bottom of the world on the Roaring 40's from South America, underneath Africa and on to Tasmania.

"Matthew Flinders had paved the way between (mainland) Australia and Tasmania in about 1802, so they knew they could get through there, but they used to call it 'threading the needle' because they only had about 47 nautical miles between the top of King Island and Cape Ottway (in Victoria) to get through, and they had to travel right across the world to find this 47 mile gap.

"And basically they missed, they were a bit too far south, they got hard up against King Island, with a westerly blowing they'd been under an overcast sky for about three days.

"The captain was urged on to keep going, he wanted to throw out the sea anchors and stop, his name was Owen Owens, but they urged him on and he got too close to the shore and couldn't get away from it and he was washed on shore about 7:30 at night."

'This long night of suspense'

The captain's official report was published in The Australian News for Home Readers in August 1866.

He said a lifeboat was put out and "three attempts were made to pass a rope and anchor to shore, but owing to the darkness of the night and the high surf breaking over the rocks, this was found to be impracticable, and all had to be put off until daylight".

The passengers and crew spent the night pumping out the rising water inside the ship and salvaging what they could from the lower hold including "10 bags of bread, and all that could be got at of the flour, as well as several other articles, including medical comforts".

"The women and children in the forecabin and saloon behaved most patiently and enduringly during this long night of suspense," he wrote.

Early the next day a life-boat was rowed the 200 metres to shore and secured a rope to the rocks "and hove taut on board, the sea breaking furiously on shore which was lined with rocks in all directions".

The rocky shores of Netherby Cove, King Island claimed many ships. ( Supplied: Netherby 2016 committee )

By 8:00am the disembarkment began, "women and children first, with sailors stationed on the ladder, to pass them down the side in their arms".

"The landing of all the passengers was completed by 3:00pm, without loss of life or accident of any kind, which was almost a miracle as the boats were frequently half full of water, and several passengers had to be dragged on shore through the surf, almost in a state of insensibility."

The survivors made camp on the shore and sent out parties in search for help, but it took 10 days before the Netherby's passengers and crew were moved to safety and onto their destinations.

The ship's surgeon reported that while they waited, on July 17, 1866, there was a new addition to the group:

"Mrs Cubbins, steerage passenger, was confined this evening at 8:00 of a girl, both she and the child are doing extremely well.

"A tent has been formed with tarpaulin and she has been supplied with bedding and baby linen, etc from some of the other passengers."

Commemoration services, a book launch, readings and the handing over of a sea chest time capsule to the local King Island Historical Museum are among the events planned for the weekend.