Marie Shipwreck - Cape Bridgewater Victoria
Posted by: 
bucketeer
S 38° 20.742 E 141° 23.487
54H E 534206 N 5755755
Disappeared off Cape Bridgewater in September 1851, in gale force winds
Waymark Code: WM73VD
Location: Victoria, Australia
Date Posted: 08/29/2009
Views: 10
The German barque Marie was sailing from Antwerp Belgium to Sydney via Port Adelaide, carrying 25 passengers and crew, including the Belgian Consul and his staff.
Stockmen mustering cattle along Discovery Bay saw a ship close in, battling with a wild south-westerly gale possibly a barque close into shore on the evening of 18 September, 1851.
Settlers near the scene of the wreck stated that they had seen a barque beat out of Bridgewater Bay during the heavy gale in September and that night gunfire was heard out to sea.
An investigation and search revealed some wreckage from a sailing vessel at Cape Bridgewater.
Six badly mutilated bodies were found ashore at Whites Beach and another 3 further along Discovery Bay.
Extensive wreckage came ashore at Bridgewater Bay in late September 1851, including beams, planking, side of a ship's hull, masts and spars, clothes, personal effects, a small ship's boat, an ornate cassock (priests), harp and a Hamburg flag.
Almost a month had passed before reports circulated through the district and back to the main ports that a vessel had been lost on a wild section of coastline about 12 miles west of Portland. A party from the Mount Gambier district searched the coastline and recovered a large quantity of cargo and wreckage which lay scattered over more than 30 miles.
In 1930, local residents at Cape Bridgewater erected a cairn at Whites Beach.
Photos of wreckage uncovered from the sand at Whites beach can be view at the Victorian Heritage website (
visit link)