The two wrecked vessels near Broad Creek in Barker Inlet

A dodge low tide today helped me to finally find these two wrecked vessels in Barker Inlet, near Broad Creek in the Port River: -

Peter Carter’s site includes photos of these couple of vessels. According to Peter, “The remains of a launch lie on the sandbar to the north of the Broad Creek entrance, and are exposed at low tide (grid reference is 758 464). The remains of another vessel lie close to the mangroves to the east at 764 465, and are also visible only at low tide.”

I am investigating whether one of these two vessels could possibly be that of the cutter Croatia which burnt and sank at its moorings near Torrens Island in 1971.

All of my photos from today's visit to the two vessels can be found at Garden Island 31.12.25

The Wreck of the “Unidentified iron dredge” in the Garden Island Ships’ Graveyard

The “Unidentified iron dredge” is item 22 in the “Garden Island Ships’ Graveyard Maritime Heritage Trail” booklet published by the Department for Environment and Heritage. It is shown (as item number 22) on page 7.

It is the most easterly wreck in the large group of wrecks in the North Arm of the Port River in the Garden Island Ships’ Graveyard. It sits adjacent to the Glaucus. (There now appears to be some further wreckage a little further east of the unidentified iron dredge though.)

Details about “Unidentified Support Vessels” on pages 44 & 45 says that those support vessels “maintained shipping operations within ports around the State, carrying out or assisting with the general tasks of lightering, towing, maintenance and salvage as well as the essential role of widening and deepening shipping channels around the State.”

The late Terry Arnott took a photo of the dredge in April 2000. It features on page 44 of the booklet. The caption for the photo says, “Only the stern section of the iron dredge remains with the sternpost and rudder removed.”

Nathan Richards took these two photos of the dredge (dredger) for his thesis in 1997: -

I took these two photos of the dredge in late 2025: -

The Wreck of the “Unidentified hopper barge/dredge” in the Garden Island Ships’ Graveyard

The “Unidentified hopper barge/dredge” is item 4 in the “Garden Island Ships’ Graveyard Maritime Heritage Trail” booklet published by the Department for Environment and Heritage. Its position in the North Arm of the Port River in the Garden Island Ships’ Graveyard is shown (as item number 4) on page 7. It sits along the edge of the mangroves just east of the Torrens Island bridge, and beyond the “Unidentified wooden barge”, and between the Sunbeam, Killarney, Lady Daly, “Unidentified iron pontoon” and the Sarnia.

Details about “Unidentified Support Vessels” on pages 44 & 45 says "Seven of the vessels abandoned in the North Arm prior to the mid 1940s were support craft, owned and operated by the South Australian Harbors Board. As they were generally unnamed, had significant modifications during their working life or show extensive salvage, accurate identification is not possible."

Itb also says that those support vessels “maintained shipping operations within ports around the State, carrying out or assisting with the general tasks of lightering, towing, maintenance and salvage as well as the essential role of widening and deepening shipping channels around the State.”

Bill Jeffery took a photo of the barge/dredge in June 1998. It features on page 45 of the booklet. The caption for the photo says, “The forward section of the hooper barge/dredge is largely intact with some decking in place (as at 1998). The presence of internal sloping plates indicates its use as a hopper barge vessel, but substantial salvage of the stern makes it difficult to identify specifically as a barge or dredge.”

Bill’s photo features small mangrove trees inside the hull of the barge/dredge. It is very similar to this photo that features on the  Garden Island Ships' Graveyard Maritime Heritage Trail webpage's "SEVEN UNIDENTIFIED SUPPORT VESSELS - Garden Island"  fact sheet: -

 

(Source: https://cdn.environment.sa.gov.au/environment/docs/seven_unid_vessels.pdf )

My photo taken in 2025 seems to show much bigger trees inside the barge/dredge’s hull: -

 

The “Unidentified hopper barge/dredge” in the mangroves in the background

The barge/dredge's location is given as being -34.811042*S 138.528098*E 

on the  Garden Island Ships' Graveyard Maritime Heritage Trail webpage.

The ‘Wreck’ of the Duyfken

According to Wikpedia, Duyfken ….. was a small ship built in the Dutch Republic. She was a fast, lightly armed ship probably intended for shallow water, small valuable cargoes, bringing messages, sending provisions, or privateering. The tonnage of Duyfken has been given as ….. (49–59 tonnes …..)”

The Duyfken replica at Port Adelaide

Its general characteristics are given as: -

Displacement               110 tons

Length 65.4 ft (19.9 m)

Beam  19.7 ft (6.0 m)

Draft    8 ft (2.4 m)

Propulsion       Sail

Speed 7 knots (13 km/h; 8.1 mph)

Armament       8 cannons”

Then, “Launched         1595. Fate        Condemned beyond repair July 1608 at Ternate”

The late Philip Hall wrote about the Duyfken in the August 2006 issue of the MLSSA Newsletter. Rather than repeat what Philip wrote, I simply asked Microsoft Copilot’s AI Assistant, “What happened to the Duyfken ship?”

The Assistant replied, “The Duyfken — the small Dutch jacht* that made the first recorded European landfall on Australia in 1606 — was condemned as beyond repair in July 1608 at Ternate. After years of hard service in the East Indies, including battle damage, exploration, and heavy sailing, she simply wore out. Once declared unseaworthy, she disappears from the historical record. So, the original ship did not sink, wreck, or meet a dramatic end — she was retired and broken up.”

* (Microsoft Copilot’s AI Assistant went on to explain just what a ‘jacht’ was in the VOC era: -

“In the 1600s Dutch maritime world, a jacht (also spelled jaght, yacht) was not what we mean by “yacht” today.

It was:

• A small, fast, shallow‑draft vessel
• Designed for scouting, courier work, reconnaissance, and rapid transport
• Often lightly armed
• Used to explore coasts, carry messages, chase smugglers, or escort larger ships

So, in VOC usage, a jacht = scout / dispatch vessel, not a pleasure craft.”

Further: -

“How “yacht” got its modern meaning

The English word yacht comes from the Dutch jacht, but the meaning shifted.

• Dutch jachts were admired for their speed
• European nobility began commissioning them for pleasure cruising
• The English borrowed the word, but kept only the “fast, elegant vessel” sense
• Over time it became exclusively associated with private leisure craft”

Microsoft Copilot’s AI Assistant also described the modern replica Duyfken as follows: -

“A full‑scale, historically researched reconstruction was launched in 1999 in Fremantle. It has since sailed extensively and is now part of the Australian National Maritime Museum’s fleet, currently undergoing maintenance and expected back around 2026.

Philip Hall’s article in the August 2006 issue of the MLSSA Newsletter described the ship’s construction style, saying that the Dutch used a plank‑first method. Philip photographed this display board illustrating the building methods used to build the Duyfken replica: -

Photo taken by Philip Hall

(Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20140205013215/http://www.mlssa.asn.au/cgi-bin/Newsletters.cgi?year=2006&nl=MLSSA_NL_335_August_2006.htm )

Microsoft Copilot’s AI Assistant explained that  “no confirmed physical remains of the original Duyfken have ever been found, and based on the historical circumstances, none are expected to survive: -

🧭 1. The ship was not wrecked

The Duyfken was condemned as unseaworthy at Ternate in July 1608. In VOC practice, this meant:

• The ship was stripped of anything valuable (ironwork, guns, rigging, fittings).
• The hull was broken up locally for reusable timber or simply left to decay.
• No formal “wreck” site was created.

This is why no wreck site exists to search for.

🪵 2. Why no artefacts survive

VOC jachts like Duyfken were built of:

• Oak (frames, planking)
• Pine (masts, spars)
• Iron (fastenings, bolts)
• Lead (ballast pigs, sheathing in some cases)

Ternate’s environment is:

• Tropical
• Warm, oxygenated water
• Biologically active (shipworms, bacteria)

In such conditions:

• Wood disappears in years, not centuries.
• Iron corrodes to nothing.
• Lead survives, but only if buried — and condemned ships weren’t buried.

So even if fragments were left on a beach or shallow water, they would not survive 400+ years.

🏺 3. Could anything possibly remain?

The only realistic surviving artefacts would be:

A. Ballast stones

If the ship was dismantled in shallow water or beached, ballast stones might remain. But ballast was often reused by the VOC or locals.

B. Iron concretions

Heavily corroded lumps from bolts or fastenings could theoretically survive if buried in anaerobic mud. But there is no record of the Duyfken being scuttled or abandoned in such a location.

C. Artefacts removed before breaking up

These would have been:

• Guns
• Anchors
• Rigging hardware
• Tools
• Navigational instruments

All of these would have been reused on other VOC vessels.

None have ever been linked to Duyfken.

🧭 4. Has anyone searched for remains?

There has been no archaeological search for the original Duyfken because:

• The exact dismantling location at Ternate is unknown
• The ship was not wrecked
• The survival probability is effectively zero
• VOC records confirm she was broken up, not lost at sea”

I visited the replica of Duyfken when it visited Port Adelaide. It may have been about the same time that Philip Hall visited it. He said in the August 2006 issue of the MLSSA Newsletter, “The Duyfken visited Adelaide between 18^th and 29^th May 2006. I took these photos of the ship during my visit: -

 

The Duyfken replica at Port Adelaide

Scans of more of my Duyfken photos can be seen at https://1drv.ms/f/c/f49cda2ca5c2599b/IgCvvBntW3C5S7JI-IddrYJYAYBbVZ3QexMSd1DY7I5NnJg?e=TcLwxj , including Philip Hall’s photos from the August 2006 issue of the MLSSA Newsletter (those with captions).

Here are some of the photos that featured in Philip Hall ‘s article in the August 2006 issue of the MLSSA Newsletter: -

 

The Duyfken replica at Port Adelaide

Photos with captions taken by Philip Hall

(Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20140205013215/http://www.mlssa.asn.au/cgi-bin/Newsletters.cgi?year=2006&nl=MLSSA_NL_335_August_2006.htm )

The Wreck of the Killarney

I have finally had a little success in solving some of the questions surrounding the wreck of the launch Killarney (ex-ferry Success). According to the “Garden Island Ships’ Graveyard Maritime Heritage Trail” booklet by the Department for Environment and Heritage’s Heritage SA, sometime between the ferry Success sinking in the Port River due to an explosion (in 1919 or 1920) and the Killarney sinking at the Musgrave Wharf moorings in the river on 29^th June 1925, the ferry was renamed as Killarney.

The steamer Killarney had now been fitted with a steam engine (25 HP Union engine). The new owner, engineer E. Schiphorst used the Killarney for river excursions until it sank at the moorings at the entrance to Hawkers Creek in 1925. It was raised six weeks later by the Harbors Board’s 60-ton floating crane. It was then placed on the nearby Dockyard Beach (for the next four months according to the booklet). It was, however, only totally abandoned two years later in 1928 and broken up in the North Arm Ships’ Graveyard. That being the case, where was it located between being placed on Dockyard Beach (6 weeks after being raised?) for just 4 months? (It sank on 29^th June 1925, was raised mid-August 1925, and was at Dockyard Beach until December 1925.) It was a good two years before it was moved to the North Arm of the Port River. It seems that the ferry actually continued to be used for those two years, as it was only replaced by a new ferry in 1923.

The ferry Success (now the steamer Killarney) should not be confused with the iron ketch of the same name (Success) that is listed in “South Australian Shipwrecks – A Data Base (1802-1989)” by Peter Christopher as being wrecked at Troubridge Hill on 9^th February 1917. The 1883-built, 61-ton ketch was formerly No.1 Barge and measured 70 feet in length, 18 feet in width and 6 feet depth. It is listed in the “Investigator Strait Maritime Heritage Trail” booklet by the Department for Environment and Natural Resource’s State Heritage Branch.

It is also in “Ketches of South Australia” by Ronald Parsons (under No.1 barge, renamed as Success). (And, as if to confuse me, No.2 barge next to it is said to have been renamed Enterprise, the same name as another vessel in the North Arm Ships’ Graveyard.)

The steamer Killarney (ex-Success) was ‘built’ for the Port Adelaide Corporation at Birkenhead, South Australia around 1910 by M.T. Beauchamp. According to “Ferries and Shipyards of Early Port Adelaide” by Ronald Parsons, the ferry Success replaced the smaller ferry Victor as the Central Ferry at Birkenhead. It had been granted a licence to operate by the engineer surveyor of the time. The Success was a 110-passenger ferry at the time. It made its first trial run on 8^th August (1915 or 1916*) and began operating on 10^th August (1915 or 1916).

“Ferries and Shipyards of Early Port Adelaide” by Ronald Parsons features this photograph said to show “The launch of a ferry believed to be the SUCCESS in 1915”: -

 

There had apparently been some confusion over just who owned the ferry at the time. It is described as having been “almost oval in shape, with the cabin completely glassed in. It seems that the vessel was never actually registered, and details about it have been hard to come by.

There must have been some problems with the ferry, and it has been dubbed a “white elephant”. Despite this, it was given an extended licence to continue service for another five years in 1918. Just a year or two later, however, it was wrecked and sunk by an onboard explosion.

William “Mitty” Johnson, one of the two contract holders at the time, went aboard on 15^th May (1919 or 1920*) to obtain a battery. He opened the engine room skylight, and an explosion slightly injured him and sank the ferry.

* (According to “Garden Island Ships’ Graveyard” booklet by the Department for Environment and Heritage’s Heritage SA, the incident occurred on “15 May 1920”, whereas Parsons’ “Ferries and Shipyards of Early Port Adelaide” says that it was “May 15, 1919”. This is just one of several contradictions. As mentioned above earlier, the year of the ferry doing a trial run and beginning service has been said to be both 1915 and 1916. Parsons says 1915, whilst the “Garden Island Ships’ Graveyard” booklet says 1916. There have also been contradictions regarding just how many passengers the ferry could carry, anything from 100 to 250 passengers. There are also contradictions regarding the vessel’s length. Parsons gives it as 38 ft whilst the “Garden Island Ships’ Graveyard” booklet says that it was 55 feet in length.)

The ferry Success was replaced by the ferry Lena M in 1923. The Killarney  sank in 1925.

According to the “Garden Island Ships’ Graveyard” booklet, the explosion that sank the Success on the morning of 15 May 1920 (or 1919) caused major damage, “including a hull fracture below the waterline, leaving it partly submerged near the bank”.

The Killarney was moved to the North Arm of the Port River in 1928. The site is dominated by the ship’s boiler. 

The site has been studied by several maritime archaeology students from Flinders University. Past students such as Nathan Richards, Shirley Matthews and Erica-Jane Miller wrote their theses around the North Arm Ships’ Graveyard.

Shirley Elizabeth Matthews’ (B.A. (Hons) thesis is titled “The North Arm Ships' Graveyard, Port Adelaide, South Australia some historical perspectives of the ships and associated maritime activity and an examination of the artefact assemblage”.

Nathan Richards says that Shirley Matthews’s thesis fixes an ID that he did wrong — “same name, different wreck. It was one of the small launches — if not Enterprise then Killarney I think”.

i.e. 

SUHR references are used in Shirley Elizabeth Matthews’ (B.A. (Hons) thesis “The North Arm Ships' Graveyard, Port Adelaide, South Australia some historical perspectives of the ships and associated maritime activity and an examination of the artefact assemblage”.

I found this image of the Killarney wreck site, including the boiler: -

 

Shirley Matthews’ thesis includes this photograph of the site taken by her: -

 

The Wreck of the SS Grace Darling

Further to The SS Grace Darling, I took these two photos of the wreck site late in 2025: -

 

This was my photo of the site back in 2019: -

The Wreck of the Glaucus

The 1363-gross ton, iron-hulled screw steamer Glaucus was built at Sunderland, England in 1878. Its measurements were 238.5 feet in length, breadth 34.2 feet and depth 18 feet.

It transferred from international routes to the Australian coastal run in the early 1880s. By 1927, the Glaucus was laid up at Williamstown, Victoria as a barley store. The owners decided to break the vessel up by 1934. It was being dismantled in the Portland Canal in Port Adelaide (Ethelton) in 1934 when it was accidentally holed. It was then towed to the Garden Island Ships’ Graveyard in the North Arm of the Port River.

The Glaucus’ bow section is completely missing, but the intact stern post and rudder make the vessel easily identifiable. Nathan Richards took this photo of the wreck in 1997: -

This photo of mine was taken in 2019: -

I took these two photos of the wreck in late 2025: -

The Wreck of the Gem

The composite vessel* PS Gem was a double-ended paddle steamer built in Melbourne in 1868 for the ferry service between Port Melbourne and Williamstown.

* (Hardwood and NZ kauri.)

(This photo come from Erica-Jane Miller's  2018 Honours thesis - "Treasured Collections -MEMORIES, SHIP MEMORABILIA AND CONNECTIONS BETWEEN PEOPLE AND GARDEN ISLAND SHIPS’ GRAVEYARD. It shows the wheelhouse of the Murray River paddlesteamer of the same name, NOT to be confused with the double-ended PS Gem paddle steamer built in Melbourne in 1868 for the ferry service between Port Melbourne and Williamstown. See the difference in the photo here below.)

(This photo comes from Nathan Richards' 1997 thesis "THE HISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE GARDEN ISLAND SHIPS’ GRAVEYARD, NORTH ARM OF THE PORT ADELAIDE RIVER, PORT ADELAIDE, SOUTH AUSTRALIA.")

The 145-gross ton vessel was equipped with oscillating engines and measured 129.4 feet in length, 17.8 feet breadth and 8.4 feet depth. In 1906, the Gem ended its ferrying days and was moored in the old course of the Yarra River where its engines were used for pumping silt from hopper barges into a reclamation area at Hobson’s Bay. It was towed to Port Adelaide in 1911, and a centrifugal pump was installed to remove silt from hopper barges as fill for the new No.2 Dock being built in Port Adelaide.

After the building of No.2 Dock, the Gem’s engines, wheelhouse and paddles were all removed, the funnels cut down and the hull was used as a pontoon bridge. The Gem then became a floating footbridge when a gangway was built across the superstructure and the vessel was moored across the entrance to the new dock. It now served as a floating footbridge for workers: -

(Both of those photos come from Nathan Richards' 1997 thesis "THE HISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE GARDEN ISLAND SHIPS’ GRAVEYARD, NORTH ARM OF THE PORT ADELAIDE RIVER, PORT ADELAIDE, SOUTH AUSTRALIA".)

In 1927, when the dock had been deepened and widened, the Gem was removed and laid up at the Glanville Dockyard. It was later towed to the Garden island Ships’ Graveyard in the North Arm of the Port River and broken up for firewood.

(Both of those photos come from Nathan Richards' 1997 thesis "THE HISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE GARDEN ISLAND SHIPS’ GRAVEYARD, NORTH ARM OF THE PORT ADELAIDE RIVER, PORT ADELAIDE, SOUTH AUSTRALIA".)

I am hoping that these photos of mine show the Gem in late 2025 (but that seems unlikely): -

The Wreck of the Garthneill

The steel-hulled, three-masted barque Garthneill was built in Glasgow, Scotland in 1895 as the Inverneill. The 1470 gross-ton vessel measured 238 feet in length, 36 feet breadth and 21.7 feet depth.

This photo of the Garthneill in Port Adelaide in 1928 comes from Nathan Richards' 1997 thesis "THE HISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE GARDEN ISLAND SHIPS’ GRAVEYARD, NORTH ARM OF THE PORT ADELAIDE RIVER, PORT ADELAIDE, SOUTH AUSTRALIA": -

This photo of the helm from the Garthneill comes from Nathan Richards’ 2002 thesis “Deep Structures: An Examination of Deliberate Watercraft Abandonment in Australia”: -

The Garthneill was decommissioned in 1926 and was converted to an electric barley-grading plant and storeship (a grading or grain mill/silo). This photo comes from Nathan Richards’ 2002 thesis “Deep Structures: An Examination of Deliberate Watercraft Abandonment in Australia”: -

It was later demolished (in 1935) when most fittings were removed at the Cable Company wharf in Port Adelaide. It was then towed to Garden Island where the bow plates were cut away and holed for and aft by explosives.

The figurehead from the Garthneill is now on display at the South Australian Maritime Museum in Port Adelaide: -

This photo of the Garthneill  by Mark Staniforth comes from Nathan Richards' 1997 thesis "THE HISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE GARDEN ISLAND SHIPS’ GRAVEYARD, NORTH ARM OF THE PORT ADELAIDE RIVER, PORT ADELAIDE, SOUTH AUSTRALIA": -

This is how the Garthneill looked in late 2025: -

 

The Wreck of the Enterprise

The iron-hulled, schooner-rigged screw steamer Enterprise was built in 1868. Its original measurements were length 49.6 feet, breadth 11.4 feet and depth 5.6 feet. It was lengthened in 1872 to 78.7 X 12.5 X 5.2 feet, giving it a gross tonnage of 36 tons.

The vessel was de-registered in 1913 before working as a water-tender carting fresh water supplies to vessels at anchor for a short time. It was eventually abandoned at the Garden Island Ships’ Graveyard in the North Arm of the Port River around August 1913.

Mark Staniforth took this photo of the Enterprise’s remains hidden among the mangroves: -

 

Taken in 1997, it shows the "Enterprise prop with weld" 

The late Terry Arnott took a similar photo of the Enterprise sometime before 1999 that features in the “Garden Island Ships’ Graveyard Maritime Heritage Trail” booklet. The caption for his photo says, “The hull is basically complete along its length with an intact stern section”.

I am hoping that this recent photo of mine shows the Enterprise as it is today (late 2025): -

The Leprena Wreck (1964)

The 1912-built Leprena was a wooden, two-masted fishing trawler that was wrecked off Port Moorowie on the Yorke Peninsula on 12th February 1964. (It should not be confused with the schooner Leprena that was wrecked off Tasmania in 1925.)

The fishing trawler Leprena was destroyed by fire in 1964, and her crew of six were lost. The fire had started in the engine room, and the vessel sank after several dramatic explosions.

The wreck site of the Leprena was ‘discovered’ around 1995 when Kym Bray revealed its location to the Department of Environment’s State Heritage Branch. The wreck was found 30m off an isolated beach between Black Hill and Port Moorowie.

According to a post on the Heritage South Australia Facebook page in April 2021, “Leprena was built by Phillip B. Forbes at Lake Maquarie (NSW) and launched under the name Forbes Bothers in 1912. On 12 February 1964 an electrical fault in the engine room caused a fire and explosion. The crew abandoned ship 3 miles off Port Moorowie, rowing ashore in a dinghy and skiff. Later the same evening, the gutted hull came ashore near Port Moorowie.

“Today, the site is mostly covered with sand. Visible remains include the frames and planking on the starboard stern of the hull, and the engine mounting that also possibly housed the propellor shaft. The wreck lies parallel to shore, bow pointing west, about 30-35 m from shore.”

There are some images of the wreck site and some remains of the wreck on the Australasian Underwater Cultural Heritage Database web page.

The Facebook post features a wonderful photo of the Leprena from the Gifford Chapman collection: -

 

The Leprena as a trading ketch

(Image courtesy of the Kingston (Southeast) branch of the National Trust of SA)

 This photo of the Leprena was taken at the Port Victoria jetty: -

 

Garry Keywood wrote this piece about the stranding of the ketch Forbes Brothers in 1931 as part of his “First Impressions – A story of Coffin’s Bay and Vicinity”: -

 

According to “Shipwrecks of South Australia – A Data Base (1802- 1989)” by Peter Christopher, the dimensions of the Leprena were 105 tons, 93/23/7 feet (92.8 x 22.8 x 6.6). Those became the dimensions when the Forbes Brothers was lengthened and renamed in 1938.

According to the State Library of South Australia, “'Leprena' wooden schooner at Port Adelaide [wooden 2 mast ketch 143 tons ON131506. 70 gross, 67 net tons. 75.0 x 22.5 x 6.8. Built 1912 Philip B Forbes, Lake Macquarie, NSW and registered at Port Adelaide in 1923, having formerly been owned in Melbourne. Lengthened and renamed 'Leprena' in May 1938 = 105 gross, 85 net tons. 92.8 x 22.8 x 6.6. Requisitioned by Commonwealth Government during WW2 but returned to commercial service in 1946. Ultimately became a fishing vessel and was destroyed by fire off Port Moorowie, SA Feb. 12, 1964. See 'Ketches of South Australia' Parsons, 1978]”

According to “'Ketches of South Australia” by Ronald Parsons, the Forbes Brothers/Leprena was an auxiliary ketch. Its 30bhp auxiliary engine could ‘sail’ at a speed of 6 knots.