Shipwreck Artefacts in Horseshoe Bay

In 2022, I came across a shipwreck paper with the long title “A New Approach to Investigating Shipwreck Sites in Littoral Environments: Multi-Technique Geophysical Investigations of Port Elliot, South Australia” by Ian Moffat and Jason Raupp.

I sent details of the paper off to Port Elliot local, Alex Wyschnja. Alex’s response was, “Steve – thanks for the article, excellent find and very interesting information.    I find it amazing that such a technique can identify a 1 kg anomaly on the beach at that depth.   In a past life I was a Sirotem (electromagnetic) geophysical surveyor so I have some knowledge of what it all means, and our eldest son is a gravity survey expert as well as an operative at the Port Elliot SLSC.

“I have spent a fair bit of time trolling the beach with my Equinox 800 metal detector and probably have gone over this target, but it may be too deep for the Nox to pick up.  I do see plenty of brass and copper fragments off the wrecks, they are widely dispersed on the beach.

“I don’t know why Jason doesn’t keep in touch as I can advise interested parties when conditions are good to view and survey the wrecks out there.  I used to discuss the wrecks regularly with Terry Arnott when he was alive.   With Colin now gone I’m sort of the defacto “curator” of wrecks in Horseshoe Bay as I live 5 minutes from the bay and swim out there regularly.  My wife Margy swims there every day.  While not spectacular, the artefacts on the bottom of the bay are still interesting nonetheless.”

It appears that I was supposed to write about this topic back in 2022. I can now see that Alex sent me a copy of a paper titled “Realising the Cultural Tourism Potential of South Australian Shipwrecks” by Bill Jeffery at the time.

The Society for Underwater Historical Research published a report titled “The Shipwrecks of Port Elliot 1856-1864” by John Perkins in 2007.

In 2022, I had these details on my PC, but I cannot work out where these comments came from at all. They seem to be regarding this signage on the Port Elliot Maritime Heritage Trail: -

 

These comments probably could be from Alex: -

“Photos are of the Flying Fish, which is probably the most known wreck there, and then the pintle shots are the Harry, a pin or bolt on which a rudder or other part turns.

“And last 4 are of the Lapwing/Josephine L’Oizeau - I get confused as to which ones they are as there is wreckage that overlaps. I know of 3 anchors out there and there are large link anchor chains running in from the sisters (rocks about 300m out in the bay) which were once mooring chains for the ships.   My mate has swum along one of them a fair way underwater, but we need to get back there sometime and have a good look at them and get pics, even though they are heavily encrusted. The biggest issue here is poor vis, especially this year as the Murray has been flowing. I installed the swimmers’ pontoon moorings out from the jetty and do regular inspections of the facility on behalf of Port Elliot Surf Lifesaving club, which I'm a member of.  It can get spectacularly clear out in the bay when conditions are right, there are many small reefs and whalebones as well. I've dived all around Commodore Point, but there's no evidence of wrecks there. To (be able to) see anything needs the sand to shift, and that usually happens around May when the first winter swells gouge the bottom. The Josephine/Lapwing has good artefacts to see - copper bolts, lead pipes, anchors, bricks, pottery pieces, sail rings, and I spotted a deck prism one day but haven’t seen it for years. The Lapwing rudder is a very rare pic, possibly the only one in existence as I've only seen it once when the sand shifted in 25 years of diving the bay. It must have hit very hard as the pintles are snapped off. One of the surf club stalwarts, Colin Sibley, who was a local historian, wrote a book titled "On the Wings of the Flying Fish" describing the sinking of the Flying Fish and rescues, etc. She lies in waist deep water down near Commodore Point and is a real hazard to swimmers as, when exposed, the ribs stick up ready to impale the unwary feet. Colin showed me the wrecks many years ago but sadly he is no longer with us to help with further wreck information.”

Alex has previously sent me lots of photos of diving the wrecks in Horseshoe Bay: -

This is the cover of the Port Elliot Maritime Heritage Trail pamphlet showing the rudder and pintle from the Harry and the Flying Fish off Sydney heads in 1846: -

I wrote about the anchors on display at Port Elliot at https://stevereynolds.wixsite.com/website/post/the-anchors-on-display-at-port-elliot . I wrote about the Horseshoe Bay shipwreck trail at https://stevesshipwrecksite.blogspot.com/2009/08/horseshoe-bay-shipwreck-trail.html.