Showing posts with label shipwreck. Show all posts
Showing posts with label shipwreck. Show all posts

Sunday, September 28, 2025

Wreck Beach Moonlight Head Beach for Sunday Best

 






Joel and I have journeyed to Wreck Beach on three occasions, each visit impressed upon us by the austere beauty and the peril of that lonely shore. Remote and forbidding, it is a place where the turbulent Southern Ocean pounds without respite, and where the rising tide swallows the sands entirely, climbing high against the sheer cliff faces and leaving no safe passage.

The path thither is no easy one. A descent of more than three hundred steps leads to the long strand, and from there the traveller must endure a walk of nearly five kilometres along soft and yielding sand, each step burdened by the pull of the sea winds. Yet at the end lies a solemn reward: the scattered relics of wrecks long past, anchors and iron fastenings now half-buried in stone and seaweed. These are the remnants of the Marie Gabrielle, driven aground in 1869, and of the Fiji, lost to these merciless waters in 1891. Once proud ships upon the trade routes, they met their fate here, on a coast that mariners dreaded and named a graveyard.

I have shared images of this place twice before, but in revisiting my photographs I felt compelled once again to dwell upon its memory. Wreck Beach is more than a strand of sand—it is a living monument to history, where the power of the sea and the fragility of man’s endeavour stand forever in stark and solemn contrast.


Panasonic G9

Olympus 17mm f1.2 



Linking Sunday Best



Friday, October 6, 2023

Sierra Navada Rocks sunset for Skywatch Friday

 


1900: The Sierra Nevada sinks near Portsea; 23 lost - From The Age 

"The ship Sierra Nevada bound from Liverpool to Melbourne, crashed upon the rocks of the Ocean Back Beach, behind Portsea, at 1 a.m. yesterday, and 23 of her crew were lost. The centre of the ship, like a mammoth shark’s fin, now appears above the breakers upon which the unmasted hull has been impaled, and that is all that is visible of the wreck. The masts, sails and numberless spars and fragments from the splintered vessel, together with many hundreds of cases and bales of cargo, bestrew the rocks to the mainland, and shortly after news was received of the disaster the battered body of the captain was hauled out from among the wreckage." 

The Sierra Nevada was bound from Liverpool with a cargo that consisted chiefly of whiskey and paper. She sighted Cape Otway on Tuesday morning, and before a favouring breeze made good progress towards Melbourne. At nightfall the lookout sighted the Heads, and there was every prospect of entering the harbor early in the morning. Soon, however, the wind veered around to the south, and as it steadily increased in strength, sail was shortened and everything made taut and apparently safe. The ship continued on her way without increased portents of danger until 11 p.m. Then, above the lashing of the waves and the roar of the wind, the voice of Geo. McGuffin, the man on the lookout, was heard proclaiming ominous warning, “Breakers ahead!” Simultaneously the sailors discerned through the darkness a white line of surf, in bold contrast to a black and rugged background of rocks, which rose out of a dense mist of spray upon the port side.


This is the first time I could find out more information of this shipwreck I frequented many times in the past few years. It is because of some remnants I found ion the region. I was pretty sure there was a shipwreck. 


Sony A7RV

Laowa 9mm f5.6 


Linking Sky Watch Friday




Tuesday, September 5, 2023

Speke Shipwreck astro photography for Treasure Tuesday

 


Dying to get back here soon. 


Sony A7RIV

FE 16-35mm f2.8 GM


Linking Treasure Tuesday



Thursday, May 18, 2023

Tangalooma Shipwreck

 


Finally having some time to work through the photos. 


These shipwrecks were deliberately placed at the shore to stop severe currents to the island.


Sony A7RV

FE 20-70mm f4


Linking Randomosity




Thursday, May 11, 2023

Tangalooma Shipwreck, Moreton Island

 


I visited the Moreton Island. The helicopter ride gets me this wonderful image. 


Busy walking around the city of Brisbane at night. So far over 2k photos in the past 3 days. I gonna hit the top notch cocktail bar tonight - Death and Taxes Death and Taxes


Sony A7RV

FE 20-70mm f4 


Linking Randomosity and Corner of my world




Sunday, December 4, 2022

Anchors of the Marie Gabrielle, Wreck Beach

 


This place is really wonderful to visit. Problem is that the whole beach is immersed under the sea in high tide. It takes about 333 steps to walk down the stairs off the cliff and a 3 km hike along the rocks. 

In fact, this is also a popular astrophotography spot which I would not dare coming alone. 

Panasonic G9 + Olympus 17mm f1.2


Linking Sunday Best