Swallowed by the sea
Subtitle: the story of Australia's shipwrecks
By: Graeme Henderson
Contributors: National Library of Australia
Publisher: National Library of Australia Publishing
Published: 2016
Place of publication: Canberra, A.C.T
Language: eng
Number of pages: 225
ISBN-13: 9780642278944
Subjects: Shipwrecks; Underwater archaeology
Description: This book tells the stories of Australia's greatest and most tragic shipwrecks, lost in raging storms, on jagged reefs, under enemy fire, or through human error, treachery or incompetence. Read about the oldest known wreck in Australian waters, the Tryal, driven into a maze of sunken rocks by the inept and reluctant Captain Brookes, and about Australia's worst civil disaster at sea, the loss of emigrant barque Cataraqui, which struck a reef off King Island in the middle of a stormy night, careened over onto its port side and then broke up, eventually disappearing under the water along with more than 400 men, women and children. The violent wrecking of ships is only part of the story. Alongside historical paintings and photographs of original objects, the book includes colour underwater photographs of the dive sites with specially written recollections by members of the diving crew. From English and Dutch trading vessels in the seventeenth century to emigrant ships in the nineteenth century and the great warships of the Second World War, Swallowed by the Sea explains how each ship was wrecked and discovered, and what remains of the wrecks today.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 206-213) and index.
Table of contents: title: The loss of the Tryal, the oldest known wreck in Australian waters, in 1622; title: The Dutch East India Company's ship, Batavia, lost in 1629; title: Closing in on the Fortuyn wreck of 1724; title: The loss of HMS Sirius, escort to the First Fleet, in 1790; title: The loss of HMS Pandora in 1791; title: The loss of HMS Porpoise and the Cato in 1803; title: HM Colonial Schooner Mermaid lost in 1829; title: Ladies on the shore; title: The loss of emigrant barque Cataraqui, Australia's worst maritime civil disaster in 1845; title: The loss of the clipper ship, Dunbar in 1857; title: The intercolonial steamship Cheviot lost om 1887; title: The loss of HMAS Sydney II in 1941, the greatest maritime disaster in Australian waters; title: The bombing of Darwin in 1942; title: The loss of the asylum boat SIEV 221 in 2010.