The Broken Remains of the Fides (1918-1933)

The 4-masted, 430-gross ton, wooden  auxiliary schooner Fides was built in Norway in 1918. The 140-foot-long vessel was broken up in the Jervois Basin in 1933. Some of its remains can still be seen along the Port River bank at New Port, although land reclamation now hides some of the remains. This photo of the wreck site comes from the Jervois Basin Ships' Graveyard Maritime Heritage Trail web page : -

 

This Fides should not be confused with the wooden barque of the same name that was wrecked at Snug Cove, Kangaroo Island in 1860.

According to 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”, “Fides was four masted Norwegian barque of 430 gross tons burden and built in 1918 at a cost of £35,000. …..By 1931, …..the Reverend T.P Williason of the Port Adelaide central Methodist Mission and the Captain of Fides, J.A. Olsen embarked upon a plan to recondition the vessel and crew it with the unemployed of Port Adelaide to conduct fishing operations off the West Coast of South Australia and in the Great Australian Bight. …..which did not get off the ground.  The reasons for this were the unsuitability of the vessel for fishing and the unsound nature of the vessel.  Finally, Fides was given to the Methodist mission and broken up for firewood and some spars reportedly went to the manufacture of other ships.   The firewood was then given free to the unemployed and destitute.  The vessel was to be stripped in the Jervois Basin, but allowed to remain in a floating condition so that it could be transported to the North Arm Ships’ Graveyard.  Instead, the vessel was broken down too much and was left were it lay, abandoned in the Jervois Basin in 1933, only thirteen years after its construction.”

Here are some of my 2025 photos of remains to be found at New Port: -

 

The Moe Wreck

 The 765-gross ton, 3-masted iron-hulled barque Moe was built at Liverpool, England in 1876. It was earlier called the Zoe, Glycinia and Hebe. The 57.3m-long ship was later abandoned in the Garden Island Ships’ Graveyard in the North Arm of the Port River, Port Adelaide.

This photo of the Moe site comes from the Garden Island Ships' Graveyard Maritime Heritage Trail web page: -

According to 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 iron barque Moe was  abandoned at the Garden Island Ships’ Graveyard (South Australia) sometime after August 1926.  Subsequently, and some years later the vessel was taken up by a high tide on two separate occasions (25 July 1929 and 1 February 1930), damaging a wharf in the latter incident.  The vessel was then re-abandoned in the same area on 25 September 1931.”

Further,  “Part of this last abandonment procedure included the dumping of an unwanted pontoon on its stern (see Figure 9.13).”: -

The “Garden Island Ships’ Graveyard Maritime Heritage Trail” booklet published by the Department for Environment and Heritage says that the Moe’s keelson is intact along its length. Much of the aft section remains, with stern plating extending approximately four metres above the silt.”

Here are is a photo of the stern of the Moe from Richards’ 1997 thesis: -

Here are a couple of my own photos of the Moe in 2017 and 2019: -

The Seminole Wreck

The 1511-gross ton, 3-masted wooden-hulled barque Seminole was built in Mystic, Connecticut, USA in 1865. In 1909, the 59.9m-long ship became the first vessel to be abandoned in the Garden Island Ships’ Graveyard in the North Arm of the Port River, Port Adelaide.

This photo of the Seminole features in 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”: - 

According to Nathan Richards’ “Deep Structures: An Examination of Deliberate Watercraft Abandonment in Australia” (Chapter 9: The Signatures of Discard (Port Adelaide, South Australia)”, however, “vessel Seminole abandoned initially at the Garden Island Ships’ Graveyard in 1906, subsequently refloated, reused (and probably partially rebuilt), and re-abandoned around 1908 within the same disposal area.”

This photo of the wreck site comes from the Garden Island Ships' Graveyard Maritime Heritage Trail web page: -

 According to 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 vessel (Seminole) is constructed with wooden frames and planking.  It is the only sailing vessel that has evidence of copper alloy sheathing and is of considerable size (in excess of sixty metres).”

Further, “the vessel, sometime after 1898 had become a store-ship at Adelaide”, “figurehead of the Seminole (is) in the S.A. Maritime Museum”.

Richards also states that the Seminole “at a medium to high tide is totally consumed by water.”

Here are some of the photos of the Seminole from the thesis: -

Here are some of the underwater photos that I took at the Seminole site in 2017: -