The Migrant Ship Marion Wrecksite

 As I wrote at Marion Bay & the wreck of the SS Willyama, “The 919-ton, three-masted, wooden (teak) migrant ship Marion was wrecked on a reef near the Troubridge Shoal …. in July 1851. Both Marion Reef and Marion Bay were named after this …. shipwreck when some of the survivors (360+ passengers & crew?) from it landed at Marion Bay. Another group of survivors landed at Cape Jervis.”

The anchor from the shipwreck has been on display in a glass and brick structure at Edithburgh since it was recovered in the 1970s: -

Details about the Marion and the wrecksite feature in the “Conserving our Historic Shipwrecks” booklet published by the State Heritage Branch of the Department of Environment and Planning in 1987. It says , “The  Marion was a three-masted wooden ship of 809 tons (Old Measurement) built at Quebec in 1850. ….. The vessel struck a reef just south of Troubridge Shoals in Gulf St Vincent on the night of 29 July 1851. …”

The booklet features this photo of a similar vessel to the Marion: -

It also features this photo of the wrecksite in 1983: -

According to the booklet, “The remains of the wooden hull, cargo and ship’s fittings are located on a shallow limestone reef, now known as Marion Reef, in 4 metres of water south of Troubridge Island (as at 1987). The iron knees, copper bolts, tree nails and wooden planking still retain the rough shape of the lower part of the hull. On top of these are thousands of items including bricks, clay furnace doors, ceramic ware and glassware. The site was extensively salvaged in 1872 but it still contains many interesting artefacts and ship’s fittings.”