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: -
My photo taken in 2025 seems to show much bigger trees
inside the barge/dredge’s hull: -
No comments:
Post a Comment