Uncovering South AustralianUncovering South Australian 

Efforts to locate South Australian’s wreck site were attempted as early as the 1990s, when the South Australian government conducted key regional maritime heritage and shipwreck surveys that laid the groundwork for state shipwreck trails. Specific focus areas included the River Murray, Kangaroo Island, Investigator Strait and the Lower Yorke Peninsula. Shipwreck surveys in Encounter Bay and Backstairs Passage were intended to locate, identify and evaluate early colonial wreck sites, including that of South Australian.

In April 1994, maritime archaeologists led by South Australia’s then-Department of Environment and Heritage (DEH) conducted a magnetometer survey in nearshore waters southwest of the community of Yilki. Two promising magnetic targets were detected but subsequent inspections did not reveal shipwreck material. The magnetometer also detected a linear cluster of anomalies extending southward from the northwest corner of the search area, but subsequent examination of these targets returned a negative result.

The 1994 survey confirmed local fishers were aware of South Australian’s location but kept knowledge of its existence and whereabouts to themselves. In May of that year, members of the DEH survey team spoke to a local resident who informed them the wreck site was “about 300 [to] 400 yards straight out to sea from the residence next to [the] Fountain Inn at the line between brown and blue water in 8-to-9 feet of water”. He assured the team the wreck site’s location was not widely known and had never been visited by recreational divers.

DEH maritime archaeologists conducted another search for South Australian in January 1996. The first area investigated was parallel to, but seaward of, the 1994 survey and centered around a linear object observed by snorkelers at the beginning of the project. Although a handful of small magnetic anomalies were detected near the object, closer inspection did not reveal shipwreck material. The second survey area was located adjacent to the shoreward side of the zone investigated in 1994. A single large anomaly detected within it was identified as an engine block that was probably used as a mooring.

In 2018, a research consortium was assembled that comprised maritime archaeologists, museum specialists, and volunteers from the museum, Silentworld Foundation (SWF), South Australia’s Department for Environment and Water (DEW), South Australian Maritime Museum (SAMM), Flinders University and the MaP Fund. Operating under the banner of the South Australian Immigrant and Labourer Shipwrecks (SAILS) Project, the team used the results of the 1990s surveys and information derived from archival sources to identify a new search area for South Australian’s wreck site.

Accounts of South Australian’s loss in both South Australian Company correspondence and the barque’s second logbook indicated the wreck was in nearshore shallows off the Fountain Inn. This was reinforced by archival depictions, including a crude map drawn by Henry Mildred in January 1838, and an 1841 watercolor landscape by noted artist E.C. Frome. All lines of evidence pointed to South Australian’s location somewhere in the vicinity of the Fountain Inn, approximately 200-to-300 metres offshore in the 3-to-4 metre depth interval, which aligned well with the description provided by locals to DEH archaeologists in the 1990s. The 2018 survey area ultimately comprised twelve 100 x 100 metre search grids numbered in order of priority, with Grid 1 representing the highest probability of containing the wreck site.

SAILS commenced its initial search for South Australian in April 2018. Due to inclement weather the first three days of the survey concentrated on inshore reef flats and intertidal areas. A combination of pedestrian searches and metal detector sweeps located and plotted shipwreck material, with the goal of identifying a debris field. Several artefacts were observed, including iron fasteners, and fragments of copper sheathing and hull timber, some with adhering sheathing tacks. When plotted, their distribution formed a “fan” of shipwreck material that increased in size as it extended away from the southeast corner of Grid 1 toward shore.

In conjunction with the inshore surveys, a magnetometer survey focussed on the zone immediately to seaward of the reef edge. A large, multicomponent magnetic anomaly was detected almost directly offshore from the Fountain Inn, as were several smaller adjacent contacts. Divers investigating one of the latter anomalies encountered a concreted iron object tentatively identified as standing rigging. Approximately 50 metres southwest of the anomaly, a team of snorkelers identified the source of the large multicomponent contact: a partially exposed wooden-hulled shipwreck with copper-alloy fasteners located a short distance outside the inshore reef in three metres (9.8 feet) of water. The team conducted a baseline-offset survey to generate a preliminary site plan and record details of the exposed hull timbers, artefacts, and features.

A follow-up inspection commenced in May 2018 that included a detailed baseline-offset survey of the bow section and acquisition of additional photographic stills and footage. Several recently exposed features were observed, including articulated hull timbers, iron structural elements, and scattered small finds. A third inspection conducted two months later was plagued by poor water clarity and inclement weather and limited to visual observation of site changes complemented by photography and videography. More of the hull was uncovered, as were several artefacts.

In June 2019, SAILS team members undertook additional fieldwork to determine the full extent of the wreck site, as well as the degree, nature, and rate of sediment movement and deposition across it. The condition of exposed hull timbers was assessed, and samples collected to determine their wood species. These tasks were carried out to assist DEW with development of management strategies for the site, as well as inform future investigations and possible mitigation works. Newly exposed site components, which primarily comprised the articulated bow section, were documented. The hull was also documented extensively with digital photography for 3D reconstruction purposes. Metal detectors were used to systematically sweep the seabed surrounding South Australian’s visible articulated hull, but no significant targets were noted.

Timber samples were acquired from a variety of South Australian’s structural elements. Hull elements selected for sampling were thoroughly documented, and the specific area where each sample was collected was photographed in situ then sealed with underwater epoxy. Four sediment monitoring stations were installed at various locations around the site and sediment levels recorded with a combination of visual inspection and photography for use as a benchmark for future observations. Clear evidence of existing sediment deflation was also noted when reviewing site imagery captured in July 2018. The final objective of the 2019 investigations comprised in situ recording and recovery of a small number of exposed diagnostic artefacts.

Several tasks remained to be completed at the conclusion of site investigations in June 2019, including comprehensive documentation of the shipwreck’s exposed hull and artefacts, sampling for hull timber identification, and targeted recovery of at-risk diagnostic artefacts. The addition of SWF’s maritime archaeological conservator to the team in late 2019 also created an opportunity for South Australian to undergo a conservation assessment to, among other things, determine the rate of decay of the wreck site’s exposed elements and offer suggestions for their stabilisation and continued preservation.<

Unfortunately, the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020 resulted in restrictions—including to interstate travel—that prevented continuation of the investigation of South Australian until June 2022. Despite the two-year lapse, the team’s worst fears about the site’s condition thankfully proved unfounded, as much of the bow section exposed in June 2019 was reburied. Further, the mound of sand covering the surviving stern/midships area was still largely intact and stable. The notable exception to the site’s largely preservative environment was the forwardmost section of the starboard hull, which was found to be uncovered nearly to the bottom of the keel. The collapsed stem was also much more exposed than in June 2019, which prompted the team to map and update its appearance on the bow section site plan.

While not ideal from a preservation standpoint, the uncovering of these hull elements permitted the team to obtain scantlings (timber measurements) for external planking and other architectural features that were buried in June 2019. Hull recording focused on South Australian’s exposed midships and stern sections, which had only been superficially mapped when the June 2019 investigations concluded. Investigation of the midships section revealed the presence of a felt layer between two runs of exterior planking. This correlates exactly to information listed for South Australian in an 1836 survey report generated by Lloyd’s of London, in which a layer of ‘Patent Felt’ was sandwiched between the vessel’s hull planking and a layer of sacrificial timber sheathing, which was in turn was covered with copper sheathing.

Photogrammetric 3D recording was carried out in conjunction with site mapping, but periods of inclement weather and poor visibility prevented the team from completing this task before fieldwork concluded on 30 June. Consequently, photogrammetric documentation was the primary focus when the team returned to South Australian in November 2022. Other objectives included continuation of hull recording and site mapping in the midships and stern sections, collection of additional timber identification samples, and further conservation assessment of the site’s surviving hull structure and artefacts. Permission was also obtained from DEW to document and recover a small selection of at-risk artefacts.

South Australian appeared much as it did during the June 2022 fieldwork, although more of the interior bow section was observed to have been reburied in sand. Sections of unidentified planking were partially exposed in the stern section, to starboard of the hull’s centreline. While it was difficult to discern whether these timbers were hull (external) planking or ceiling (internal) planking, it was clear they had collapsed to the side of the surviving articulated hull. The team also located a section of South Australian’s keel in the wreck site’s midships where a line of copper bolts protrudes well above the seabed. Additional investigation revealed the keel was notched to accept the vessel’s floor timbers – the lowermost frames that crossed the centreline and formed the skeleton of the hull. Timber samples were also collected from this critical element of ship’s architecture to determine the species from which it was hewn.

Another significant outcome was identification of two ring-shaped iron concretions lying on the seabed to port of South Australian’s stern section. One of these objects was observed during the June 2022 survey and further inspection in November confirmed that it—and the other example—are concreted iron deadeye strops for standing rigging. Both strops are in approximately the same area and appear to be the same size. One of them also features a straight section of iron concretion, which formed part of the shroud. Their position in the wreck site’s stern strongly suggests they were associated with South Australian’s mizzenmast. Significantly, the first practical wire rope was developed in Germany between 1831 and 1834, which makes the presence of iron deadeye strops and shrouds on South Australian an early archaeological example of this technological innovation.

Unfortunately, the weather and sea state in November 2022 proved more daunting than in June, and poor water clarity prevailed for the duration of fieldwork. Consequently, attempts to complete the 3D photogrammetric survey of South Australian were unsuccessful. All was not lost, however, as imagery from the June survey was shared with Rampe Realistic Imaging, who used it to generate a digital 3D model of the site.