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Cache is positioned in sand dunes over the wreck of the Carbet Castle – Broke moorings in a storm in May 1897. Shoreline has change since then and wreck is now about 5m below the surface of the dunes. Location established using magnetometers by WAM back in 1982. The bell from the shipwreck is in use at Bunbury Grammar School. Note: Approach Cache from Turkey Point Car Park.
From Unfinished Voyages 1881 – 1900
When the port of Bunbury was lashed by gales on 14 May 1897, the barque Carbet Castle (Official Number 70970), which had arrived at Bunbury from Newport on the 3rd, was moored to a recently laid government mooring. As the mooring was believed to be capable of holding any vessel likely to load at the port, the barque was not thought to be in any danger.
At 10.15 a.m. after a terrific rain squall, the wind veered to the west. The vessel swung in that direction and it appeared to those on shore that it had weathered the gale. When the barque suddenly swung broadside on to the sea, however, it was obvious that it had parted from its moorings.
The master, Captain Stevens, later stated that his ship had been shackled to the government buoy by a cable. When the wind increased, he let go his port anchor and paid out the cable attached to the buoy, but soon afterwards the ship started to drift. They paid out more cable on the port anchor, but it would not hold, and came home. Then, as the vessel drifted rapidly towards the beach, the mooring buoy was seen to be coming with it. It seems that the tackle had given way beneath the buoy. The ship's bow swung round and it went broadside on onto the beach, with tremendous seas breaking over it.
The captain and two of the men were able to swim ashore, but the rest of the crew had to be pulled ashore by means of a line attached to the buoy, while the vessel acted as a breakwater.
The ship was lying on the beach some 4 kilometres north of the river bar, with a great deal of water in the hold, and there was no hope of it surviving unless the weather soon moderated. The fierce squalls continued until 10 o'clock, however, and the water in the estuary reached flood level. Two other vessels, the Corolla and the Spero, also dragged their anchors, running ashore some distance down the bay, but these were apparently undamaged.
By the following day, the Carbet Castle was bumping heavily, and the masts began to go by the board. On 20 May, tenders were invited for the salvaging of the cargo, estimated at almost 750 tonnes, which was to be stacked and delivered on the beach close to the wreck. The ship had been carrying a cargo of mixed goods, such as tobacco, spirits and clothing, and some of this was reported to have been stolen from the wreck. The major part of the cargo, however, was railway material intended for the Collie to Bridgetown railway.
At the preliminary inquiry, held at Bunbury, it was found that the vessel had been driven ashore during exceptionally heavy weather, through its anchors dragging after it broke away from the government mooring. The failure of the Harbour Department to hold an inquiry into the cause of the mooring giving way was criticised in the local press but no action seems to have been taken.
The Carbet Castle was a 1,531-ton iron ship which measured 75.7 metres by 11.6 metres by 7 metres. Registered at Liverpool, England, the vessel was owned by J. Moralee junior.
Due to subsequent land reclamation at Bunbury, the wreck of the Carbet Castle, at 33°18.78318' south, 115°39.84816' east, now lies under meters of sand, some 500 metres from the water's edge (Note: actually not even 100m from waters edge).
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Va gur Npnpvn