MYSTERY OF THE SEA

Taranaki Daily News, 3 January 1935, Page 7

MYSTERY OF THE SEA

BROKEN HULL IN SURF. FIND ON VICTORIAN COAST. The broken hull of a ship was discovered in the surf on the' Ninety Mile beach near Seaspray, about 75 miles to the north-east of Wilson’s Promontory, Victoria, on December 3. Seen from the air, it appeared to be that of a small steel coastal vessel, with the stem embedded in the sand. The bow is missing. The hull was lying diagonally to the shoreline on the starboard side.

The discovery was made by Mr. R. Watt, who was flying a flood relief aeroplane. He stated that when he was searching the coastline' in June, 1933. in search of the ill-fated collier Christina Frazer, the hull was not bn the beach.

The opinion was generally expressed that the wreck was all that remained of the Christina Frazer, which was last sighted off Gabo Island. in a howling gale. No trace of her 17 men was ever found, but it was thought that the vessel might have been carried by coastal currents past Lakes Entrance to a location near Seaspray. The Director of Navigation, Captain

J. K. Davis, however, said that from the description of the vessel given to him it was apparently a very old ship - wrecked years ago. It had . probably been embedded in the sand in shallow \i, water, and had only been uncovered by the shifting of the sand caused by the furious beating of the waves in the. recent storm. Numbers of small vessels had been' wrecked in that vicinity, and the hull might have belonged to any of them.