The Bass Strait Triangle is the waters that separate the states of Victoria and Tasmania, including Bass Strait, in south-eastern Australia. The term Bass Strait Triangle appears to have been first used following the disappearance of Frederick Valentich in 1978 although the region had a bad reputation long before that.
HMS Orpheus was a Jason-class Royal Navy corvette that served as the flagship of the Australian squadron. Orpheus sank off the west coast of Auckland, New Zealand on 7 February 1863: 189 crew out of the ship's complement of 259 died in the disaster, making it the worst maritime tragedy to occur in New Zealand waters.
Neva was a three-masted barque launched in 1813. She made two voyages transporting convicts to Australia. On her second voyage carrying convicts she wrecked in Bass Strait on 13 May 1835. Her loss was one of the worst shipwrecks in Australian history; 224 people died.
Martha was constructed in Sydney in 1799. She was a sealer and merchant vessel that was wrecked at Little Manly Cove in Australia in August 1800 with the loss of her crew of four. Her master was William Reid. She arrived at Port Jackson on 14 December from Bass Strait. She was carrying 1,000 to 1,300 seal skins and 30 tierces of seal oil. She then left again on 6 March 1800.
Norfolk was built in Quebec in 1797 and registered in London in 1797 as Harbinger. In 1801 the Colonial government in New South Wales purchased her and renamed her Norfolk. She was Australia's first war vessel, but was wrecked in 1802 at Matavai Bay, Tahiti.
Duke of Portland was an American whaler of 400 tons.
George was an Australian sloop launched in 1802 and wrecked in 1806. She spent her brief career seal hunting in Bass Strait.
Sydney was an East Indiaman of 900 tons that carried a crew of 130 men. The ship had been constructed in Java and was registered in Calcutta. Sydney, Austin Forrest, master, sailed from Port Jackson, Australia on 12 April 1806 for Calcutta, India. On 20 May 1806, she was wrecked off the coast of New Guinea, with no crew lost. Captain Forest arrived in Calcutta on 9 October 1806 on board Varuna from Penang, having sailed from there on 4 October. A letter from Captain Forrest put the locus of the wreck at 3°20′S146°50′E. The locus of the wreck was later named Sydney Shoal.
Eliza was an American brig wrecked at Fiji in 1808. Eliza had been constructed and registered at Providence, Rhode Island, United States. She carried a crew of ten and was owned by Brown & Ives.
Morning Star was launched at Calcutta, India, in 1813. She was wrecked on a coral reef south of Forbes Island, north Queensland in July 1814.
Trial was a ship that first appears in 1808 and that was seized by convicts and eventually wrecked on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia in 1816.
Wreck Island is a small coral cay. It is located near the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern Great Barrier Reef, 93 km due north east of Gladstone, Queensland, Australia, and 460 km north of the state capital Brisbane.
HMS Porpoise was a 12-gun sloop-of-war originally built in Bilbao, Spain, as the packet ship Infanta Amelia. On 6 August 1799 HMS Argo captured her off the coast of Portugal. Porpoise wrecked in 1803 on the North coast of what was then part of the Colony of New South Wales, now called Wreck Reefs, off the coast of Queensland, Australia.
Jack Kenneth Loney was an amateur Australian marine historian who published over one hundred books and numerous newspaper and magazine articles. He was a schoolteacher and principal until his retirement. He became interested in maritime history after preparing several general history booklets covering the Otway region of western Victoria, Australia.
The Acme was a wooden top sail schooner that was driven ashore at Seal Rocks, New South Wales while carrying timber from Camden Haven to Sydney under the command of Captain James Henry Jackson on the 15 July 1876. There were no casualties.
The Adolphus was a wooden brigantine that was wrecked on the rocks west of Pier Head at Wollongong harbour in New South Wales on 29 November 1866. The ship was carrying coal from Wollongong to Sydney under the command of Captain William Kean. There were no casualties, but the vessel was lost. The wreck has not been located, but the approximate coordinates are 34.4189°S 150.9071°E.
The Advance was a diesel powered wooden carvel schooner built in 1903 at Kaipara, that was wrecked at Wreck Bay, New South Wales in 1915. The wreck has not been located, but the approximate coordinates are 35.19°S 150.65°E.
Francis was a 41 tons (bm) colonial schooner that was partially constructed at the Deptford Dockyard, England, and sent in frame aboard the Pitt to Australia to be put together for the purposes of exploration. The vessel had originally been designed for George Vancouver’s discovery voyage of the west coast of North America.
Fame was built at Quebec in 1812 and was lost in 1817 after transporting convicts to New South Wales.
Calder was a brig launched in 1821 at Calcutta. A new owner in 1822 sailed her to Australia and she then traded in the Pacific until in 1825 she sailed to Chile and was wrecked at Valparaiso. There a new owner salvaged her and returned her to sailing under the name Indefatigable. On Indefatigable's first voyage the Chilean members of her crew mutinied, killing her captain. The mutineers sailed to Guam where the authorities took Indefatigable in prize. She was later lost in a typhoon in the China Sea.
Australia
