Mahogany Ship

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The Mahogany Ship refers to a supposed wrecked Portuguese caravel or Chinese junk that is purported to lie beneath the sand approximately six miles west of Warrnambool in southwest Victoria, Australia. While there is no conclusive evidence such a wreck exists today or that it ever existed, reports of the relic persist both in popular folklore and in publications of varying academic rigour. Early reports relating to the ship touch upon two cardinal characteristics: it was described as being constructed of panels and its timbers were said to be of a dark wood, described as either mahogany or cedar. In terms of these criteria, the vessel did not resemble ships built in northern Europe in the 18th or 19th centuries.[1]

For over a century and a half the mystery of this ship has captured the imagination of Australians. This fascination is largely due to the fact that the existence of such a ship could force a major revision of Australian history. Were the remains of the ship, as described, to be uncovered, they could provide evidence of an unrecorded Portuguese landing on the shores of Australia in the 16th century, or even an earlier visit by explorers from China. Some devotees have spent much of their lives trying to unravel the mystery, even carrying out excavations in the region in an attempt to unearth remains of the wreck.

Contents

[edit] Popular history and the reports of sightings

A story in popular folklore tells of the discovery of a wreck in the Warrnambool area in January 1836. According to the story, a party of three whalers from Port Fairy had travelled to the mouth of the Hopkins River in search of seals. Their boat overturned and one man was drowned. The survivors were walking back to Port Fairy along the coast when, about halfway along, they discovered the wrecked ship in the sand dunes. The sighting was reported to Captain John Mills, who was in charge of the whaling station at Port Fairy. It is reported that Mills subsequently visited the wreck and described it as having very "hard dark timber – like mahogany",[2] giving rise to the name. Many historians believe that this is the first reliable account of the wreck, although it appears that Mills himself placed nothing on the public record in writing. [3]

On 1 April 1876 a letter by Captain John Mason of Belfast was published in the Melbourne Argus.

"Riding along the beach from Port Fairy to Warrnambool in the summer of 1846, my attention was attracted to the hull of a vessel embedded high and dry in the Hummocks, far above the reach of any tide. It appeared to have been that of a vessel about 100 tons burden, and from its bleached and weather-beaten appearance, must have remained there many years. The spars and deck were gone, and the hull was full of drift sand. The timber of which she was built had the appearance of cedar or mahogany. The fact of the vessel being in that position was well known to the whalers in 1846, when the first whaling station was formed in that neighbourhood, and the oldest natives, when questioned, stated their knowledge of it extended from their earliest recollection".[4]

Another definite account was presented by the former editor of the Warrnambool Examiner, local historian Richard Osburne, who wrote about the wreck in his book "History of Warrnambool" (published 1877):

"In connection with this wreck, the author remembers to have noticed a wreck in the hummocks between Belfast and Warrnambool, in 1847 or 1848; but it was much nearer Warrnambool than Belfast - in fact, it was only two or three miles from the former place, to the west of the big hummock which was supposed to fill Warrnambool Bay with drift sand washed by the Merri River until the cutting was made." [5]

He followed up with a letter to the Port Fairy Gazette on June 25, 1890 during a period of heightened interest in the wreck, although he was unsure of the provenance of the ship.

"The old wreck was, in fact, miles away from the Port Fairy beach, and only about four miles from Warrnambool. In the years 1847 and 1848 I have often seen the wreck and I regret to say [for the enthusiasm of the explorers] I do not believe she was a foreign ship at all." [6]

After lobbying by the local Museum curator in Warnambool, a Government-funded search of the area was carried out in 1890 and multiple, organised search parties set out from Warrnambool throughout the 1890s to locate the wreck but without success.[7] The searchers may have been hindered by unreliable claims of first-hand reports of its location; it has since been argued that many people who had claimed to have seen the ship were merely repeating and embellishing older accounts.[8]

The most recent reported sighting of the ship to which any historian attaches weight was in the 1880s. Historians have speculated that since then it may have disappeared deep under the sand dunes, or been used as firewood, or been swallowed up by the sea. It is also possible that the ship, as conceived of in folklore, never existed at all. Today there is no definitive evidence that the Mahogany Ship ever rested on that shore.

[edit] The theories of foreign origin

[edit] Portuguese origin

The most popular theory suggests that the earliest European explorations of Australia were Portuguese explorations and that the vessel is the missing ship of Portuguese sea captain Cristóvão de Mendonça, wrecked in 1522. Another theory links the ship to Portuguese sea captain Gomes de Sequeira, lost in 1525. Extant Portuguese charts (the Dieppe maps) dating to this period are said by some to depict Australia's southern coastline as far as Armstrong Bay - only six kilometres west of Warrnambool.

[edit] Chinese origin

Some researchers have speculated that the ship was a modified Chinese junk. They point to the reports that it was made of a 'dark wood' and was 'of an unconventional design'.[9][10] There are claims that local Aborigines had a tradition that "yellow men" had at one time come from the wreck.[11]

[edit] Today

The location of a real Mahogany Ship would alter Australian history, but the search for it has not been an easy task. The sand dunes in which it may now rest have changed drastically over the years, possibly in response to the introduction of livestock and pests from Europe in the 1830s and 1840s. These creatures have contributed to destabilisation of the dunes, resulting in the generation of massive sand drifts that have destroyed the coastal road and overrun large areas of grazing land.

In 1992 the State Government of Victoria offered a reward of AUD$250,000 to anyone who could locate the fabled vessel, but the offer was withdrawn in 1993 without money having been paid. Extensive searches of the area were conducted in late 1999 and in 2004, using heavy drills that penetrated to a depth of 10 metres. The probes yielded only small, unidentified wooden fragments.[12][13]

Today, visitors frequently take to the Mahogany Ship Walking Track, which follows the coast between Warrnambool and Port Fairy and passes possible sites where the Mahogany Ship may rest.[14] The "Mahogany Ship", in common with the Loch Ness Monster, has become a local industry and the legend is likely to be promoted and to endure, whatever the actual facts of the case.

[edit] The Mahogany Ship in fiction

In the novel Recollections of Geoffrey Hamlyn by Henry Kingsley (1859), there is a fictional account of a wreck that resembled the Mahogany Ship in most important details. In the book the ship is described as being Dutch or Spanish. To what extent this novel helped to promote the popular image of the wreck is uncertain. There are several examples of works of literature that have influenced the popular imagination to such an extent that the fictional accounts in the books are now widely held to be fact. A good example of this phenomenon from Australian literature is Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay (1967). The shocking events in it are presented as fact, complete with references to (imaginary) newspaper articles but in reality nothing like them ever occurred.

Wrack by James Bradley (1997) also uses a wreck inspired by the Mahogany Ship.[15]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ (September 2005) "(unknown title)". RACV Members Magazine.
  2. ^ Carroll, JR (1989). Harpoons to Harvest: The story of Charles and John Mills, Pioneers of Port Fairy. Warrnambool, Victoria: Warrnambool Institute Press.
  3. ^ McIntyre, Kenneth G (1977). The Secret Discovery of Australia. London: Souvenir Press.
  4. ^ John Mason. "Letter to the editor", Melbourne Argus, 1876-04-01.
  5. ^ The History of Warrnambool. Capital of the Western Ports of Victoria, From 1847, Richard Osburne, 1887
  6. ^ Richard Osburne and the 'Mahogany Ship' Joan Fawcett. (Accessed 21:18, 3 December 2005 (UTC))
  7. ^ Mahogany ship Warrnambool Standard, 3 June 1890.
  8. ^ The Donnelly Deception and The Mahogany Ship Joan Fawcett, (Accessed 12:16, 4 December 2005 (UTC))
  9. ^ The Mahogany Ship And The China Syndrome Geoff Bellamy, (Accessed 23:01, 3 December 2005 (UTC))
  10. ^ Menzies, G. 2003. 1421: The year China discovered the world. Bantam Books, London, 659pp
  11. ^ Richard Osburne and the 'Mahogany Ship' Joan Fawcett. (Accessed 21:18, 3 December 2005 (UTC))
  12. ^ Digging for the Mahogany Ship Samantha Stayner and Steve Martin, ABC SW Victoria November 5, 2004
  13. ^ Oak Timber, not the Mahogany Ship The Heritage Council of Victoria (Accessed 12:39, 4 December 2005 (UTC))
  14. ^ Web Page: "The Mahogany Walking Track"
  15. ^ Get Well Acquainted With James Bradley. Australia's The Well Bookshop (1998). Retrieved on 2006-07-06.

[edit] External links

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