Fremantle Bucket Dredge (1894-1926)

Image of bucket dredge Fremantle c.1894 (Department of Maritime History, Western Australian Museum)

Description:

Steam Powered Bucket Dredge

Owner:

Government of WA , Public Works Department

Construction:

Iron

Sunk:

1926 towed by tugs and sunk with explosives

Size:

length 45.7m beam 8.8m depth 3.6m

Underwater:

Laying in 13-16m depth in sand covered in delicate sponges and corals, visibility 10/15m

Built:

1894 for £20,000 by Simons and Co. of Glasgow, Scotland. Bucket ladder was 22m long with 32 buckets. New Hull was constructed at Arthur Head in 1924

Location:

1km west from Stragglers Rocks

Sinking:

In January 1936 Fremantle was sold to scrap metal merchant J.E. Hall of North Fremantle for £120. Hall intended to beach the Fremantle alongside the wreck of the Kwinana in Cockburn Sound and to proceed to cut up both vessels for the scrap iron. But he was unable to give the authorities the guarantee that the work would be completed within the stipulated time, so he removed the boilers, machinery and fittings at Victoria Quay and towed the hulk out to be scuttled near the Stragglers Rocks. The Fremantle played an important role in the construction of the Fremantle inner Harbour particularly in the early stages when access was prevented by the presence of a rocky bar across the entrance in 1896. The Fremantle continued to work in the harbour for many years. Around 1908 it went upstream to dredge channels in Perth waters.