This cache is in an awesome location with a beautiful view of the spit and the bay. In the sand of the beach there is a boiler from S.S Nubeena. Here is the history:
In the late 1800s steam ships were used as the main means of converting freight and passengers between Hobart and the surrounding southern and southeastern rural communities. The S.S Nubeena was typical of the river steamers of her day.
She was a wooden hulled vessel of 93/138 tons built in 1890 by W. Bayes at battery point, for W.G and G. Whitehouse and W. pitfield of Hobart who traded as whitehouse brothers.
On friday 7 october 1910, she berthed at Koonya on the Tasman Peninsula. Duringthe day about 40 head of cattle were loaded for transport to brown river {kingston}. she left koonya at 6.00 PM with the cattle and 18 passengers abord. on the trip she had to again call at Dunally where the voyage was delayed when she had to stop and retrive one of the cattle that had jumped overbord, leaving Dunalley late at around 8.10 PM bound for Hobart
This was the start of S.S Nubeena's last voyage - she never made it to hobart
The night was dark with a westerly wind blowing and in order to avoid a beam sea, vickary was told to keep the vessel "up to windward". The order, it appears was obeyed too literally, whith the result that by the time she had crossed fredrick henry bay the steamer was a few miles off course. At 10.40PM she came ashore in a heavy swell, on the beach at Pipe Clay Lagoon, now known as Cremorne. The news of the accident reached Hobart about 1am on Saturday morning. Arrangements were made for another steamer S.S. Breone to proceed to Pipe Clay Lagoon to collect the stranded passengers but by the time she arrived the majority had either walked or been transported by horse-drawn vehicles to Bellerive where they had caught the early morning ferry to Hobart. It was also reported that hospitality was provided by local residents and that no one was injured except for one passenger, a man, who had slipped on the deck and hurt his wrist.
The S.S. Nubeena appeared to have been badly damaged and the next morning was found to be firmly embedded in the sand and was given up as a total wreck.
A further report appeared in The Mercury newspaper on 11 October which said that the ‘S.S. Nubeena' was in a fairly upright position but was buried in the sand to a depth of 6 feet. At low tide it was possible to walk around the vessel. Expert opinion was that the ship's back was broken.
The details surrounding the wreck and how it came to be so far off course were brought out at a Marine Board inquiry held on October 24th, 1910.
The board found Captain Franklin was at fault. When leaving the bridge he should have been more careful in giving directions on the course to be steered and made sure that the mate clearly understood the position of the steamer. The Board decided to be very lenient and ordered Captain Franklin's certificate to be "suspended for 3 months from the date of the stranding."
Now all that stands as a memorial to her is the rusty old boiler partially sunk in the sand.
Enjoy the view.
The GPS coordinates were hard to get because our fortress is a cave! We have done our best. The rocks can be slippery here, and the waves can suprise you sometimes.