There are two potential buried shipwreck sites. The first is very easy to get to, and the second requires a walk of one kilometre.
From reading everything possible about the Mahogany Ship, I believe that there were perhaps 3 shipwrecks visible in the Warrnambool hummocks in the 19th century, but since they all disappeared under sand, they have had a tendency to merge into one!
Site 1 is between Gorman’s Lane and The Cutting. The coordinates at the centre of the site are: 38°20’58”S, 142°21’38”E
To find the site on Google Earth, copy and paste the coordinates without a full stop at the end in the search bar. Please note: Use Google Earth – not Google Maps.
Around this centre, the site is 66 metres (east/west) by 34 metres (north/south).
To go there, park halfway between Gormans Lane and The Cutting opposite the only building in the area (set back 115 metres north of the road). Walk 100 metres towards the beach through the pass in the hummocks. Once through, veer very slightly east – just a few metres. Today the southern edge of the site is five metres from the beach. In 2007 when I discovered the site, it was 17 metres from the beach. The sea is eroding the hummocks at a rate of nearly a metre a year.
There is an obvious hollow in the sand that forms the eastern section of the site.
The evidence for this site is the subject of the video Quest for the Mahogany Ship at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_FOkhnL4Go&t=3s
Like other documentaries, the video doesn’t have detailed citations. The sources are reputable books about the Mahogany Ship, and Google Earth, which are acknowledged near the beginning. I plan to put academic references in the description.
The second site is centred at 38°21'05.17" S, 142°22'47.86" E
(To find the site on Google Earth copy and paste the coordinates without a full stop at the end.)
Around this centre it is 36 metres (east/west) by 66 metres (north/south).
Walk exactly one kilometre along the beach past The Cutting towards Warrnambool. There is a tall red and white pole at the edge of the hummocks. The centre of the site is exactly 50 metres inland from the pole.
It is possible to use the track just to the west of the pole to go to the site – there is a bit of a climb up a sandy track.
A very short video of the site as it was when I discovered it in 2009 is at:
The vegetation has changed and it doesn’t look exactly the same now. Also the sea is encroaching inwards about a metre a year and the beach is much closer to the site. But the site and the coordinates remain the same.
The shapes are very symmetrical which suggests that the sand has covered a large human made object. Many archaeological sites have been discovered in this way.
The reasoning for this site is explained fully at Rob Simpson's Warrnambool Shipwreck Sites: https://rsaustr.blogspot.com/2017/05/mahogany-ship-archaeology-rob.html
In the interest of brevity, the page doesn’t specify some of the sources, but I could add these to make it more academically acceptable. I hope it is understood that the ideas are not my invention, but are taken from reputable literature about the subject, and Google Earth.
It is unfortunate that the original Google Earth Historical Imagery I used was removed by Google Earth a few years ago – but my screen shots are to be seen on the page and video.
The best that can be done now, using the coordinates given above, is to go to Google Earth, View, Historical Imagery, 2/2007. This shows the faint outlines of potentially buried objects, but not nearly as clearly as the original image of November 23, 2004.
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