Monarch
GPS: -34.532301 137.353877
Last Edited: 2/24/2021, 7:08:23 AM
Description
Monarch was built in Moreton bay, Queensland, in 1871. Monarch left Port Victoria at about 5am on 1 April 1909 bound for Warrens Beach at Cowell with a crew of six and no cargo. While trying to sail around the southern part of Wardang Island and head northwards, the vessel missed stays (failed to tack) and an anchor was dropped in an attempt to stop it from being swept onto the rocks. The anchor would not hold and the southerly tide and swell drove it onto the rocks where it soon became a total wreck. Today, the site is scattered on both the shore and underwater in about 2m of water
Access
This wreck is part of the Wardang Island Maritime Heritage Trail and can be accessed by boat from the Port Victoria Boat Ramp.
The Wardang Island Maritime Heritage Trail features eight shipwrecks located around Wardang Island, near Port Victoria in Spencer Gulf.
Port Victoria, on the west coast of Yorke Peninsula, was an important trading port in the early 1900s and was one of the last Australian ports to see large square-rigged sailing vessels operate on a commercial basis. The last 'Grain Race' from Australia to Britain began from Port Victoria in 1949.