Lightship/SCUD
Quick Facts
Vessel Type: Wooden Lightship / Pilot Vessel
Built: 1800s
Sank: 1932 (Scuttled)
Location: Victoria's Shipboard Graveyard (Bass Strait)
Cause of Sinking: Intentionally scuttled after retirement
Acting on information from a commercial fisherman, Southern Ocean Exploration (SOE) team members Mark Ryan, Mick Whitmore and Peter Taylor discovered this site. Fletch Mingramm, Tom Gorwell, Amber Nelson and Troy Stephen supported the work.
We first believed the site was a temporary channel marker, or possibly a temporary replacement for the Hovell Light. We thought it might have been a barge, so SOE first named it “The Light Ship”. We now know it was a built structure, and Heritage Victoria now calls the site the South Channel Unidentified (SCUD).
History
Authorities first marked the South Channel with buoys for sailing ships and steamers. The 1854 Sailing Directions by Capt. Charles Ferguson, Chief Port and Harbour Master, say the channel was marked with white and black buoys. His directions for sailing from Hobson’s Bay to sea by the South Channel read:
Vessels bound to sea from Hobson’s Bay by the South Channel should steer from a fair berth off Gellibrand’s Point S. by E. 27 miles, for the easternmost black buoy of the middle ground, taking care to have the white cliffs bearing S.W. by W. before the top of Arthur’s Seat bears S.S.E., and after passing the black buoy on the middle ground, haul up for the south white cliff until you bring the easternmost white buoy open to the northward of Observatory Point Flagstaff, then keep away from the latter buoy, leaving it on your port hand, when a W. ½ N. course will take you down mid-channel, keeping the easternmost white buoy on the top of Arthur’s Seat astern, and the knob on Point Nepean open to the northward of the Flagstaff on Observatory Point, leaving the black buoys on the starboard and white buoys on the port hand, and when to the westward of Point King steer to pass midway between Observatory Point and the Lighthouses, bringing the latter to bear in one, N.E. by N., with which marks on, be guided by the state of the tides proceeding to sea.
The 1869 Australia Directory by Capt. Charles B. Yule gives sailing directions for the South Channel but doesn’t mention a pile light or a lightship. Vessels were guided through the channel by buoys marking both sides.
The 1884 Australia Directory describes the South Channel as:
The South, or great ship channel, is bounded to the southward by the northern edge of the three banks last described, along which are placed the four white buoys marked with even numbers, from 2 to 8 inclusive, and the pile lighthouse at the easternmost end of the spit. The channel is bounded on the north side by the southern edge of Great sand and Middle ground, defined by eight black buoys, marked with odd numbers, from one to 15 inclusive, the first and last being each surmounted by a staff and ball.
The 1959 Victoria Sailing Directions describe the Bowen Light in the South Channel as:
The beacon, a nine-pile structure, stands near the middle of the north border of Nicholson Knoll, 2.84 miles 130° 03′ from the High lighthouse; the piles are embedded in a shell bound pyramid of stone rising from a scoured depth of 8 fathoms at its base to within 20 feet of the surface. The light, flashing white for 1½ seconds every 5 seconds, is shown at an elevation of 23 feet (7 m) from a black circular hut with a white band.
The 1970 sailing directions don’t mention the Bowen Light, so it had probably been removed by then.
Description of the Wreck
SOE members gave a talk to a Melbourne dive club. Afterwards, some of the club’s members found the site and began removing artefacts. Once Heritage Victoria (HV) was told, HV and SOE members raised the remaining items that were thought to be at risk. These were sent to the HV laboratory. Later, the Channel Deepening Project affected the shipping channels, and a team of commercial divers fully excavated the SCUD site.
The site covers about 15 metres by 6 metres. Large timbers, piles and large gas cylinders about 1.6 metres long can be seen.
The main sign that the site was part of the Port Phillip navigation system is a bronze light unit about 75 cm high and 60 cm wide. Its glass prisms had fallen out and were found on the seabed nearby. A short distance away lay a light copper sheet cap from the light unit. It may have worked as a chimney to draw out smoke.
The large rectangular timbers measure 12 in x 6 in. They look very similar to the beams used in Gem Pier at Williamstown. If one of these timbers were a ship’s frame, the vessel would have been about 400 tons (Australian Lloyd’s Rules & Regulations, 1864). There seems to be a layer of timber on both sides of the vertical timbers, which suggests one layer may be a deck. Teredo worm has badly damaged the timbers, and it took a lot of work to find solid timber for analysis samples.
There are four gas cylinders on site, most likely acetylene. One lies on its own at the northern end of the site, and the other three lie side by side. The northern cylinder may have been moved, since scallop fishermen once trawled the area heavily.
Some large timbers are too far apart to be ship frames and look more like bearers. The pile-like timbers are 30 cm across and lie flat. They run under the seabed, so their full length is unknown. No fittings were found, such as rigging or other items linked to ships, that would identify the site as a lightship.