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Heavy rains in Australia have uncovered the remains of a Jersey-built ship that broke up off Melbourne 159 years ago.
This month, a large part of the 40m-long wooden three-mast barque 'Amazon' has been revealed at Inverloch, south-east of the Victoria capital.
The wreck serves a reminder of when Jersey had a significant ship-building industry, when hundreds of vessels built on the beaches of St Catherine, Gorey, Havre des Pas and St Aubin’s Bay plied the world’s oceans.
Although the wreck of the Amazon has been exposed before, it is usually covered by sand and water.
Last Monday, heavy rain at ‘Shipwreck Creek’ off Inverloch caused the lagoon to break its banks.
This led to a new channel being formed to the sea, uncovering a large part of the Amazon wreck once more.
Pictured: Wreck Creek near Inverloch broke its banks last week, exposing the ribs of Amazon. (Karyn Bugeja)
Like the last time this occurred, historians were only allowed a fleeting glimpse before Amazon was covered over again during the following high tide.
The Amazon was built at West Park in the yard of Frederick Charles Clarke, whose descendants remain one of the island’s wealthiest families.
Launched in 1855, the 402-gross-ton ship was one of ten built by Jersey yards that year, and she was specifically designed to carry large cargos from the UK around the world, including to South America and Australia.
On 12 December 1863, Amazon left Melbourne bound for Mauritius with a cargo of salted meats. During a storm, some vital sails were damaged and Amazon began to drift close to shore.
Pictured: Amazon ran aground at Inverloch after a storm damaged its sails.
By 10:00 on 14 December, the vessel ran aground onto the beach at Inverloch.
The crew were exhausted after remaining on deck for 48 hours, and did not make it to shore until 15:00 in the afternoon. They set up tents on the beach the next day and searched the nearby area for signs of inhabitants.
Nobody was sighted until the 21 December, when a Mr Heales was passing close by on his way to Melbourne to spend Christmas with his family, and saw a distress flag flying.
He escorted its master, Captain Abraham Ogier, to Melbourne, where the Guernsey-born mariner raised the alarm. The crew remained near the Amazon and were soon rescued by HMCS Victoria. All hands were saved.
Pictured: Ships being built on the beach at First Tower, before Victoria Avenue was constructed (Credit: Société Jersiaise / Ref: SJPA/012025)
The wreck was reported at the time by The Melbourne Argus newspaper as ‘lying broadside to the beach and buried to a depth of nine feet in the sand’.
‘The water in the hull was level with the lower deck beams’.
The newspaper also stated ‘The fore and main masts were cut away to prevent the vessel from breaking up’.
Pictured: Shipyards on the beach at Gorey (Credit: Société Jersiaise / Ref: SJPA/012020)
On 27 January 1864, Captain Ogier returned to Britain as a cabin passenger from Melbourne on board the SS Great Britain.
In the short time the wreck was exposed last week, members of the Amazon 1863 Project team at Inverloch, a group of volunteers committed to preserve the wreck and artefacts from it, were able to photograph the vessel.
With thanks to Mark Pulley and Adrian Brewster for their help with this article.
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