MARTEN 1871-1878

Description:

Two-masted Schooner

Owner:

Browse Island Guano Company of Adelaide. Master: Captain Alexander Dewar

Construction:

Timber

Sunk:

1878/03/04

Size:

27.5 tons length 15.4m beam 4.7m draft 1.7m

Underwater:

This site has never been found. It is treated as a composite with Ben Ledi

Built:

1871 by Robert Kennedy at Yarra, Victoria

Location:

The site of the wreck of the Marten is the same as that for the Ben Ledi, wrecked the following year. The site is about 7 km north of Wreck Point on the east side of Pelsaert Island in the Houtman Abrolhos.

Sinking:

The Marten struck the reef on the east coast of Pelsaert Island on the Houtman Abrolhos on the night of 4 March 1878 at about 11 p.m. After landing on the island three of the crew were left in charge of the wreck while the master and the other two rowed the ship’s boat to Geraldton to seek help, arriving on 13 March. When they returned it was to find the schooner’s starboard bilge badly holed, the keel and false keel gone and the rudder broken.

Longitude:

113.969225

Latitude:

-28.93687