The Mahogany Ship is a putative early Australian shipwreck that is believed by some to lie beneath the sand in the Armstrong Bay area, approximately west of Warrnambool in southwest Victoria, Australia.Charles Bateson, (1972) Australian Shipwrecks, Volume One 1622–1850. p. 25. A.H & A.W Reed Pty Ltd, New South Wales. Ian McKiggan, (1982) "The Search for the Wreck" in R. Goodwin,(Ed.) The Proceedings of the First Australian Symposium on the Mahogany Ship, Mahogany Ship Committee, Warrnambool, 1982, In many modern accounts it is described as a Portuguese caravelSee the following newspaper articles which speculate on the wreck's origins: M. Baker, "Quest of the Mahogany Ship" The Age, 6 January 1975; G. O'Neill,"Signals point to Mahogany ship" The Age, 27 March 1992; D. Adams,"Buried in the dunes..." The Age, 10 March 2000 after the wreck was associated with the theory of Portuguese discovery of Australia by Kenneth McIntyre in his 1977 book The Secret Discovery of Australia.K. G. McIntyre (1977),The Secret Discovery of Australia, Portuguese ventures 200 years before Cook, p. 263+, Souvenir Press, Menindie The most recent research has questioned this theory and provided other explanations.Murray Johns (2005) "The Mahogany Ship: Re-examining the Evidence." Paper presented at the Third Symposium on the Mahogany Ship, Warrnambool, 2005. accessed 6 July 2012Jenny Williams Fawcett; Was the Mahogany Ship Ever Seen? Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum. Retrieved 6 July 2012
Three Mahogany Ship Symposia have been conducted in nearby Warrnambool in 1981, 1987 and 2005, attracting significant public and academic interest and the contributions of Manning Clark, Barry Jones, Kenneth McIntyre, Lawrence Fitzgerald, Ian McKiggan, Bill Richardson, Edmund Gill, Jack Loney and many others.See; R. Goodwin,(Ed.) The Proceedings of the First Australian Symposium on the Mahogany Ship, Mahogany Ship Committee, Warrnambool, 1982, ; B. Potter,(Ed.)in The Mahogany Ship. Relic or Legend? Proceedings of the Second Australian Symposium on the Mahogany Ship, Warrnambool Institute Press, 1987, . These symposia have tended to cover the entire debates relating to the theory of Portuguese discovery of Australia, not just the Mahogany Ship.
Eyewitness accounts While there is no conclusive evidence such a wreck exists today, nineteenth-century accounts of the relic persist both in popular folklore and in publications of varying academic rigour. In the 1980s and 1990s, writers Jack Loney and Ian McKiggan documented the accounts of a number of purported nineteenth century eyewitnesses to the wreck. While these were of varying degrees of detail, they indicate a strong local tradition about the wreck in the area.Jack Loney (1982) "Creation of a Legend? A Conservative Overview" in R. Goodwin,(Ed.) The Proceedings of the First Australian Symposium on the Mahogany Ship, Mahogany Ship Committee, Warrnambool, 1982, Commenting on the surge of interest in the wreck that appeared at the end of the nineteenth century, Loney observed that research on the wreck was often based around "loosely written words, sometimes presented from hearsay, sometimes from people who could barely read or write, and in most cases from some recalling memories forty or fifty years old." McKiggan took a more liberal view, sharing the opinion of well-known local historian Jack Powling, who wrote "When people knew it, and could see it, they called it 'The Old Wreck;' it was only after it disappeared... that it was given the romantic and slightly misleading name of 'The Mahogany Ship.' Much has been written about it, and much of what has been written has been frankly a good deal of nonsense... Legend by now it may be, but the Old Wreck is no myth..."Ian McKiggan,(1987) "Creation of a Legend?-A liberal Underview" in B. Potter,(Ed.)in The Mahogany Ship. Relic or Legend? Proceedings of the Second Australian Symposium on the Mahogany Ship, Warrnambool Institute Press, 1987, In 2005, Murray Johns also documented the nineteenth century eyewitnesses to the wreck, but found they fell into three distinct groups – those who placed the wreck in the sea, a second group who said it was on the beach, a third group who identified it as high up in the sand dunes. This has led Johns to conclude the accounts were describing three separate wrecks.See also J. Henry, "Alternative Locations for the Wreck" in B. Potter (Ed.)The Mahogany ship. Relic or Legend? Proceedings of the Second Australian Symposium on the Mahogany Ship, Warrnambool Institute Press, 1987,
The earliest documented account of a wreck in the area was carried by a Portland newspaper article of 1847 which described "a wreck, about two miles on the Belfast side of Warrnambool…of…a three hundred ton vessel …thrown completely into the [sand] hummocks". The article went on to connect the wreck to the 1841 discovery of a number of articles of French manufacture found strewed along the beach. In 1981, writer Ian McKiggan also found further evidence of an 1841 French shipwreck in the area in the journal of Government Surveyor C.J. Tyers. Tyers wrote that the wreckage (including a keg containing a boat compass by maker Devot of Havre) indicated an unknown French whaler had been lost in the area.Anon., Portland Guardian. 29 October 1847, Page 3, cited in Ian McKiggan, "The Search for the Wreck."
Researcher Jenny Williams Fawcett describes the "1836 Hopkins River Incident" as a foundation myth of the Mahogany Ship story. A popular version of this story was included in The Book of the Bush by George Dunderdale, in 1898, as follows:
According to Jenny Fawcett, Dunderdale was merely repeating an account provided by David Fermaner, who also had not seen the wreck. As Fawcett notes, Captain Mills never wrote of a buried wreck himself, although he was central to various tellings of the story.Jenny Fawcett provides Henry F. Gurner's account of the same incident, published in 1876. This is based on Mill's own version of the event and makes no reference to finding a wreck in the sand. Retrieved 6 July 2012 Fawcett also dismisses the widely cited accounts of local whaler Hugh Donnelly, who claimed to have been a part of the 1836 incident. Fawcett's research indicates Donnelly did not actually arrive in the area until 1843.Joan Williams Fawcett:"The Donnelly Deception and The Mahogany Ship" retrieved 6 July 2012One of Donnelly's retellings of the 1836 incident was published in the Warrnambool Standard, July 1901 retrieved 7 July 2012
A letter to the editor of The Argus in April, 1890, quotes 'a sight-bearing' of the wreck taken by Captain Mills, and supplied to the writer by 'Mr. J.A. Lynar, of Queen-street, Melbourne'. It reads:
Another letter, from 1910, quoted a resident who rented a farm in the area in 1853 when the ship was said to be still readily visible and he could 'ride into its interior'. His location was:
In the opinion of Johns, Captain John Mason of Port Fairy was the first to describe the ship as being constructed of a dark timber which had the appearance of cedar or mahogany, in a letter to the Melbourne Argus on 1 April 1876., also Mason clarified his account in The Australasian on 1 November 1890, expressing uncertainty about the provenance of the ship and stating that he did not think it was made of mahogany,The Australasian, 1 November 1890. Also see part of this second letter at however, by this time the title Mahogany Ship had already become the popular name for the wreck, thanks to the work of journalist John Stanley James (also known as "The Vagabond").
Searches for the wreck Joseph Archibald, curator of the Warrnambool Museum, made strenuous efforts to document accounts and stimulate local interest in the wreck in the early 1890s. In June 1890, Archibald led the first organised search for the wreck. In July, former whaler Hugh Donnelly led another search, using bearings Captain John Mills was alleged to have given a friend. In November, the Victorian Government sponsored another search. In 1891, Archibald delivered a paper entitled "Ancient Wreck at Warrnambool", to the Royal Geographical Society, and this appears to mark the end of his active involvement. In 1910, having conducted further research, George Gordon McCrae also delivered a paper to the Geographical Society.
Further searches have been conducted since the 1980s, coinciding with the publication of Kenneth McIntyre's book and the Mahogany Ship symposia, conducted in nearby Warrnambool. These were conducted with the support of local authorities, businesses and volunteer organisations such as the National Trust. To date, however, nothing has been found to verify the popular Portuguese theory. Analysis of a number of artefacts alleged to be from the wreck were discussed by Rev. John Pinson in 1987. These include a ruler and two penholders, supposedly made from timber of the wreck. In both cases the wood has been identified as native to northern New South Wales or Queensland. A fragment of wood from the collection of Joseph Archibald, held by the National Library, Canberra has been identified as eucalyptus. An unusual amphora found on the beach in 1943 has been identified as of nineteenth century North African origin.Rev.John Pinson "Some Mahogany Ship relics examined" in B. Potter,(Ed.)in The Mahogany Ship. Relic or Legend? Proceedings of the Second Australian Symposium on the Mahogany Ship, Warrnambool Institute Press, 1987, . In 2000, a two-metre length of European white oak was uncovered in the sand dunes. However, its shape and state indicated it was probably part of a shipment of white oak being carried on the sailing vessel Falls of Halladale, which was wrecked at Peterborough in the early twentieth century.Department of Planning & Community Development, Victoria. "Mahogany Ship" Retrieved 7 July 2012
Theories regarding the Mahogany Ship In many of the accounts written in the late 19th century, the Mahogany Ship was described as Spanish. According to local writer and antiquarian Jack Loney, several theories supporting the Spanish connection were advanced. One theory was that the ship was the galleon "Santa Ysabel", which had sailed from Peru in 1595. A second theory was that the wreck was the ex-Spanish ship Santa Anna.Jack Loney (undated pamphlet, c.1975) The Mahogany Ship. p. 13. Marine History Publications, Geelong. National Library of Australia Card 0 909244030 This is clearly incorrect as Santa Anna wrecked in 1811 in the Straits of Timor.