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: -