SS Yongala was a passenger and cargo ship that sank off Cape Bowling Green, Queensland, Australia on 23 March 1911. En route from Melbourne to Cairns she steamed into a cyclone and sank south of Townsville.
Loch Ard was an iron-hulled clipper ship that was built in Scotland in 1873 and wrecked on the Shipwreck Coast of Victoria, Australia in 1878.
Over 1400 ships have been wrecked on the coast of Western Australia. This relatively large number of shipwrecks is due to a number of factors, including:
Tryall was a British East India Company-owned East Indiaman launched in 1621. She was under the command of John Brooke when she was wrecked on the Tryal Rocks off the north-west coast of Western Australia in 1622. Her crew were the first Englishmen to sight or land on Australia. The wreck is Australia's oldest known shipwreck.
City of York was a 1,194-ton iron ship which sank after hitting a reef off Rottnest Island in the last few kilometres of its voyage from San Francisco to Fremantle, Western Australia in 1899.
Since the first Europeans visited the west coast of Australia in the 17th century, Rottnest Island has seen numerous shipwrecks. The 11-kilometre (6.8 mi) long and 4.5-kilometre (2.8 mi) wide island is surrounded by hidden and partly exposed reefs whilst being buffeted by north-westerly winter gales as well as very strong south-west summer sea "breezes". It is situated 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) west of the port of Fremantle meaning that much of the maritime traffic to Western Australia's major port passes close by.
RMS Quetta was a Royal Mail Ship that was wrecked on the Far North Queensland coast of Australia on 28 February 1890. Quetta's sinking killed 134 of the 292 people on board, making it one of Queensland's biggest maritime catastrophes. It was caused by collision with an uncharted rock in the Adolphus Channel.
Active was the French ship Alsace that the Royal Navy captured in 1803. William Bennett purchased her and named her Active, in place of a previous Active that had been lost in January 1803. She then made one whaling voyage for him. Bennett sold her to Robins & Co., and she sailed between London and Buenos Aires. She then sailed on a second sealing voyage. She was lost in 1810.
Lady Elizabeth is a wrecked iron barque of 1,155 tons built by Robert Thompson Jr. of Southwick, Sunderland and launched on 4 June 1879. Robert Thompson Jr. was one of the sons of Robert Thompson Sr. who owned and operated the family ran shipyard J. L. Thompson & Sons. Thompson Jr. eventually left the family business in 1854 to start his own shipbuilding business in Southwick, Sunderland. The ship was built for John Wilson as a replacement for the 658-ton, 1869-built barque Lady Elizabeth which sank off Rottnest Island, Western Australia in 1878.
Masthead Island is a coral cay located in the southern Great Barrier Reef, 60 kilometres northeast of Gladstone, Queensland. The island is a protected area and forms part of Capricornia Cays National Park. Masthead Island is one of the most undisturbed cays in the national park because human and feral animal impacts have been rare. The cay covers an area of 0.45 square kilometres (0.17 sq mi) and is surrounded by a coral reef that is partially exposed at low-tide. It is part of the Capricornia Cays Important Bird Area.
Geffrard was a 321-ton British brig that traded between Australia, Mauritius, and Shanghai, and was wrecked off the coast of Western Australia on 13 June 1875. She was built in 1853 by Fred Clark in Jersey in the Channel Islands. By 1873 she had made her way to Melbourne and was owned by Fred Davis and under the control of Captain William James Munday. Her movements after that were generally around the southern coasts of Australia, from Geraldton in the west to Sydney in the east, laden with a variety of general cargo.
Anthony Curtis was an Australian whaler and businessperson. Owner of many ships, Curtis sent the Fanny, which weighed between 25 and 36 tonnes, to Java, Indonesia, in December 1834, and also purchased the Lady Sterling in the same year.
SS Kwinana was an Australian ocean-going cargo and passenger steamship. She was built in England in 1892 as the cargo ship SS Darius. In 1912 she changed owners, was refitted as a cargo and passenger ship and renamed Kwinana.
Caledonia was a merchant ship built in British India in 1829. She traded between India, China, Mauritius, and the Australian Colonies. She played an important role in the development of King George Sound. She made two voyages transporting convicts, one voyage from Madras and the other from Swan River Colony, both to Sydney, Australia. After her sale in 1840 her registry shifted to London and she became a general trader. She was last listed in 1855.
The Arpenteur was a brig owned by William Owen and John Ridley. It was wrecked at Hassell Beach in Cheyne Bay near Cape Riche when a gale ran it ashore 7 November 1849.
Rockingham was launched at Sunderland in 1818 and immediately became an East Indiaman, sailing under a license from the British East India Company (EIC). She made one voyage for the EIC. She was wrecked in 1830 while delivering immigrants to Western Australia.
Graeme Henderson is an Australian maritime historian, and author.
Cumberland was built in India in 1827, probably at Cochin but possibly at Surat. She sailed to Great Britain and assumed British registration. She traded between England and India under a license from the British East India Company (EIC). She wrecked in March 1830 near Cape Leeuwin coming from Sydney on her way to Bombay.
Marquis of Anglesea was a British ship, launched in 1815 at Sunderland. She initially traded with India under a license from the British East India Company (EIC). She then traded with the Americas. In 1829, she carried 104 settlers and troops to the Swan River Colony. She was wrecked there on 4 September 1829, a few days after she had landed them and her cargo. Her hulk then served the Colony's government for some three years before a storm finally destroyed her.
Nor 6 was a prawn trawler that sank on 25 April 1963 after a collision with the Zuytdorp Cliffs off the coast of Western Australia.
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