The Mahogany Ship is one of
Australia's greatest mysteries.
There are three potential buried
shipwreck sites. The first is very easy to get to, and the second requires a
walk of one kilometre east of The Cutting. The third is almost two kilometres east of The Cutting.
From reading everything possible
about the Mahogany Ship, I believe that there were probably 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 mystery!
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=635s
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.
Site 2 is centred at
38°21'05" S, 142°22'48" 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:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tplpFsnR6RI
The vegetation has changed, and
it doesn’t look exactly the same now. Also, the sea is encroaching inwards
nearly 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 and sources for these sites are explained fully at Rob Simpson's Warrnambool Shipwreck Sites:
https://rsaustr.blogspot.com/2017/05/mahogany-ship-archaeology-rob.html
It is unfortunate that the
original Google Earth Historical Imagery I used was removed by Google Earth
when updated 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 the updated 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.
Site 3 is at 38°21'17" S, 142°23'16" E.
The "wall" (if that's what it is), is at 38°21'17" S, 142°23'17" E.
rsaustr@yahoo.com.au
