A team from Flinders’ Maritime Archaeology recently participated in an important interstate field trip, documenting the remains of a 150-year-old shipwreck mostly hidden beneath sand at Inverloch, a popular beach east of Melbourne.
The wreck of the Amazon, a 19th Century wooden cargo carrier that ran aground at Inverloch in 1863, has been the subject of intensive recent investigation as archaeologists fear that the boat’s remaining structure will soon deteriorate, due to this stretch of coastline being subject to increasing erosion.
Archaeologists from Heritage Victoria reached out to Flinders University and others to help find out more about the shipwreck before the elements and looters destroy it.
The recent 10-day excavation project was driven by Heritage Victoria’s Maddy McAllister and Peter Harvey. Staff involved from Flinders were Associate Professor in Maritime Archaeology Wendy Van Duivenvoorde, Mark Polzer and John Naumann, with Flinders students Robin Galloso, Liam Phillips, Pornnatcha Sankhaprasit, Madhumathy Chandrasekaran, Howard Boyle and Catherine Laczko, and international students Catherine May King and Muslim Dimas Khoiru, who were funded by the Maritime Archaeology Project fund.
Much of the wreck is in the intertidal zone and can only be accessed when the tide is at its lowest, which has made the Amazon difficult to study. However, the team has been able to employ drones, photogrammetry and 3D modelling to map out what is beneath the sand, in addition to digging and uncovering timbers.
“It wasn’t easy work. The bulk of the wreck is in waist high water and we had waves crashing around us as we tried to record data,” explained Flinders student Liam Phillips.
With the completion of this site survey, data and results are now being compiled by Heritage Victoria, and a Flinders maritime archaeology student is considering whether to base a doctoral thesis next year on the Amazon.
Flinders maritime archaeology students will also go to Victor Harbor in February, to continue work on excavating the wrecked barque South Australian. This is South Australia’s oldest shipwreck, which was driven ashore in a storm in December 1837, and was first identified in Encounter Bay earlier July this year.