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The sites are a resource for the study of transport corridors to Asia, in particular Author Kieran Hosty investigates the anchor India, and their role of Fergusson located in a compact assemblage of artefacts including possible iron field ovens. in the development All photographs by expedition photographer ShipwrecksTHE FERGUSON REEF PROeastJECT 2013 of India Xanthe Rivett, Silentworld Foundation of colonial Australia The hidden reefs of the Coral Sea snared many ships plying the vital supply route between the Australian colonies and India. The Australian National Maritime Museum and the Silentworld Foundation’s maritime archaeology team continues its work locating and recording these historic wrecks, writes curator of archaeology Kieran Hosty, in a collaborative project with the University of Sydney and the Australian Research Council. ON 7 APRIL 1841 THE INDIAN-BUILT, ship, spelled Fergusson in its Indian Board Although these isolated reefs have been 555-ton, armed three-masted ship Fergusson of Trade registration papers. visited by sports divers, archaeologists was wrecked on a reef in the Coral Sea, from the Queensland Museum and some Ferguson Reef lies on the outer edge of the en route from Port Jackson to the Bay commercial operators, the wrecks on them Great Barrier Reef, 1,040 nautical miles north of Bengal. On board were 170 rank and file remain largely unknown to archaeologists of Brisbane and 50 nautical miles south of the 50th (Queen’s Own) Regiment and historians alike. The sites are a resource of Raine Island, which marks an entrance of Foot, who had sailed for the Australian for the study of transport corridors to Asia, to the labyrinth of reefs that are a feature colonies as convict escorts and now were in particular India, and their role in the bound for Madras on India’s Coromandel of these tropical seas. development of colonial Australia; they Coast. There they were expected to fight A major debate in Australian colonial history encompass themes of exploration and for king, country and the East India during the first half of the 19th century was survey, colonial industry and enterprise, Company in some of the many struggles about the safest and quickest shipping route emigration and settlement. being waged to secure India as the jewel between Sydney and India via Torres Strait. The work of the Australian National in Britannia’s imperial crown. Some navigators, such as Phillip Parker Maritime Museum’s maritime archaeology Fortunately they were sailing in convoy King, favoured the inner route following team locating and recording some of these with the Orient and Marquis of Hastings the Australian coast inside the Great historic wrecks, in a major collaboration and, along with the crew of Fergusson, Barrier Reef, while other equally respected with project sponsor and partner the were rescued by the accompanying vessels navigators, such as Matthew Flinders, Silentworld Foundation, has been reported and taken on to India, where death and recommended the outer route through the in detail in previous editions of Signals. glory awaited. There the 50th would Coral Sea. Following the fourth expedition with fight with distinction (and considerable Both routes converged near the Raine Silentworld Foundation, locating the India- losses of officers and men) in the Gwalior Island Entrance, where ship captains had trade ship Royal Charlotte at Frederick Reef campaign of 1843 and the Anglo-Sikh Wars the choice to switch from one route to the in January 2012 (Signals No 98 March–May of 1845–46. The remains of the teak-built 2012), the team assessed options to continue other depending upon weather and other Fergusson were subsequently auctioned but its work on early 19th century India– circumstances. The isolation of the area, only limited salvage work was ever carried Australia trade and Indian shipbuilding. the lack of fixed navigational marks (until out. Remnants were visible on the reef top Based on a number of factors including the construction of a beacon on Raine Island for a number of years, acting as an informal availability of safe anchorages, we decided in 1844), and the complex nature of the beacon for those navigating this particularly to investigate Ferguson Reef and the Raine passages through the Great Barrier Reef hazardous section of the route to India. Island Entrance, the ocean junction of the resulted in the loss of more than 36 ships Inner and Outer Shipping Routes. The ship would bequeath its name to the on Ferguson, Martha Ridgeway, Cockburn, reef – although somewhere along the way Great Detached and Yules Detached Reefs The site had been located by well-known the reef came to have one less ‘s’ than the between 1800 and 1850. Queensland diving identity Ben Cropp 18 SIGNALS 103 June–august 2013 AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL MARITIME MUSEUM 19 A major debate in Australian colonial history during the first half of the 19th century was about the safest and quickest shipping route between Sydney and India via Torres Strait 01 02 in the early 1970s and has been visited on the reef top, four carronades, numerous schools through DART (Distance & Rural colonial vessel Eliza, on a voyage from capsized and he alone had managed to get The Ferguson Reef Project 2013 was a on a number of occasions since, but iron concretions, rudder fittings and a Technologies – the Connected Classrooms Sydney to Calcutta, observed a flag flying ashore. No more was ever heard of Captain collaborative project with the Silentworld Foundation, the University of Sydney and the a number of questions remained about good scattering of artefacts including glass arm of the Department of Education from a makeshift flagpole on Booby Island Smart and the other Morning Star survivors. Australian Research Council and was greatly its extent and the possible presence and ceramic fragments, iron fastenings, & Communities). Titled Archaeology at the entrance to Torres Strait. There the From 31 March to 3 April our team carried assisted by Benn Cropp, Warren Delaney, of another shipwreck close to Fergusson. rigging and copper-alloy gun components. in Action, the webcasts in the form crew of Eliza found five shipwreck survivors Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, out extensive magnetometer and swimline Our investigations suffered several delays, A large pile of concreted stud-link anchor of a video conference focused on the who reported that they were from the Peter Illidge, James Cook University, surveys in the area around Quoin Island, due to two late-season cyclones pounding chain marked the original position of the museum’s maritime archaeology collection, two-masted, copper-sheathed, 135-ton brig Maritime Archaeological Association of Fison Reefs and Eel Reefs, and detected Queensland, Mundingburra Medical Centre the Great Barrier Reef. One of the Fergusson chain locker. how and why archaeologists investigate Morning Star which, after a very successful wreck sites, what shipwrecks can teach significant magnetic anomalies – possible Townsville, Oceania Maritime Pty Ltd, expedition vessels, Nimrod Explorer, was Just 30 metres north and slightly inshore trading voyage to Sydney with tea, spices, SeaSee Pty Ltd, Ed Slaughter, Queensland us about the past, and the museum’s role evidence of ferrous masses such as cannons, held up in the Solomon Islands, leaving of the Ferguson site is another anchor alcohol, cotton and silk, was returning to Department of Resource Management, as leaders in archaeological investigation. anchors or chain – on the eastern side a much-reduced project team embarking complete with iron stock. Attached to it Calcutta when it was wrecked three months Xanthe Rivett Photographic Services. It connected with schools from Year 4 of Eel Reef in 10–12 metres of water. in Cairns on 20 March on Silentworld II is a long run of stud-link chain stretching earlier on a coral reef near Raine Island. through to Year 12, from areas such as Additional metal detector and visual and an alternative charter vessel Hellraiser 2. 208 metres across the reef top towards They had, along with their captain Robert Armidale, Coffs Harbour, Queanbeyan, surveys of the area failed to locate the The team arrived at Ferguson Reef on the northwest. Scattered along the run of Smart and nine other surviving sailors, made Ardlethan and Wee Waa. There were also anomaly and no shipwreck material was 23 March and quickly settled down to work. chain are numerous bits of iron concretion, for Booby Island in the ship’s longboat. studio audiences from Gorokan High located on the surface. copper-alloy and iron fastenings and what Thanks to information supplied by former School and Shoalhaven Anglican High. However, Captain Smart had departed State Maritime Archaeologist Ed Slaughter appears to be several pieces of iron ballast. Booby Island with the other survivors, Given the soft, sedimentary nature of and Ben Cropp, the site of the Fergusson Although very close to the Fergusson wreck, Leaving Ferguson Reef the team next bound for Timor, only a few days before seafloor in those areas it is possible that several clues suggested that the anchor and attempted to locate the wreck of the shipwreck was quickly located in between the five castaways were picked up by Eliza. the anomaly is heavily buried. An associate, chain are from another, as yet unidentified, Indian-built opium trader Morning Star, 2.5 and four metres of water approximately Nothing was heard of Smart or the others for Frits Breuseker of SeeSea Pty Ltd, has agreed wreck or stranding on this reef. lost in 1814 some 10 nautical miles inshore 25 metres west of the surf break on the another four years when the three-masted to analyse the remote-sensing data and of Ferguson Reef, in the vicinity of Quoin eastern side of Ferguson Reef. Over the While at Ferguson Reef the team participated ship Claudine anchored overnight off contour the information, which may allow 01 John Mullen, CEO, Silentworld Foundation, Island, Fison and Eel Reefs.

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