Shipwreck Coast

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Loch Ard Gorge with the Island Ardway (right), which collapsed in June 2009: the clipper Loch Ard sank not far from here .

The Shipwreck Coast (German: Coast of the Shipwrecks ) of Victoria , Australia , extends from Port Fairy to Cape Otway over a distance of about 130 kilometers. There are around 80 shipwrecks off this coast. The Shipwreck Coast is part of the Historic Shipwreck Trail with Victoria's Discovery Coast .

The Shipwreck Coast is best known for the freestanding limestone cliffs of the Twelve Apostles . The coast can be reached via the Great Ocean Road or the Great Ocean Walk .

history

During the 19th century, the Bass Strait was the most important shipping route for transports to the Australian convict colony towards Victoria and New South Wales . The rocky and forbidding coast is often hidden behind impenetrable fog, the sea is rough and due to the geography only a few lighthouses could be built. It was dangerous and difficult to navigate and many large ships were lost. The most famous was Loch Ard , which sank off Muttonbird Island . 52 people lost their lives and only two were able to save themselves in the Loch Ard Gorge . The last sailing ship to be lost off this coast was the Antares in 1914.

The explorer Matthew Flinders said of the Shipwreck Coast : “I have seldom seen a more fearful section of coastline.” (“I have seldom seen such a terrible stretch of coast”).

Shipwrecks

638 sunken ships off the coast of Victoria are known, of which the location of 240 is known. Just off Port Fairy, where the Shipwreck Coast begins, 20 ships were lost. The Victoria State Monument Protection Agency estimates the number of wrecks at 800.

Well-known shipwrecks on the Shipwreck Coast in chronological order of their sinking are:

  • Unnamed whaler (1836)
  • Thistle (1837)
  • Children (1839)
  • Unknown French whaler (1841)
  • Lydia (1843)
  • Socrates (1843)
  • Enterprise (1850)
  • Essington (1852)
  • Freedom (1853)
  • Schomberg (1855)
  • John Scott (1858)
  • Golden Spring (1863)
  • Marie Gabrielle (1869)
  • Young Australian (1877)
  • Loch Ard (1878)
  • Napier (1878)
  • Alexandra (1882)
  • Yarra (1882)
  • Edinburgh Castle (1888)
  • Fiji (1891)
  • Newfield (1892)
  • Freetrader (1894)
  • La Bella (1905)
  • Falls of Halladale (1908)
  • Antares (1914)
  • Casino (1932)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b australia.gov.au ( Memento of the original from February 27, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. : Early Australian shipwrecks , accessed February 25, 2012 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / australia.gov.au
  2. ↑ a b flagstaffhill.com ( Memento of the original from August 10, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 1.0 MB): Historic Shipwreck Trail on Victoria's West Coast , in English, accessed on February 25, 2012 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.flagstaffhill.com
  3. ↑ dpcd.vic.gov.au ( Memento of the original from March 21, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. : Shipwrecks , accessed February 25, 2012 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.dpcd.vic.gov.au