HMS Swallow 1837
Marker: recorded wreck position (Age of Sail).
Key facts
| Name | HMS Swallow | Wikidata label |
|---|---|---|
| Year lost | 1837 | English Wikipedia lead text (year following a loss verb, parsed) |
| Era | Age of Sail | derived from year |
| Ship type | brig-sloop | Wikidata P31 instance of |
| Nationality / flag | Australia | Wikidata P8047 country of registry |
| Operator | Royal Navy | Wikidata P137 operator |
| Nearest coast | Australia | Natural Earth (public domain) |
| Position | -35.5800, 138.6000 | Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0) |
About the wreck
HMP Swallow (also incorrectly referred to as HMS Swallow), was a barque launched as the packet ship Marquess of Salisbury (sometimes incorrectly cited as Marquis of Salisbury) in 1819. She was acquired by the Royal Navy in July 1824 and renamed Swallow, and sold in 1836 to the South Australian Company, which renamed her South Australian. After being used as one of the colony of South Australia's first immigrant ships, she was wrecked off the south coast of South Australia on 8 December 1837, becoming South Australia's oldest known shipwreck. The ship was also significant for having transported the first Aboriginal man accused of murdering a European, Reppindjeri. The wreck site was discovered in 2018, and is protected under national shipwreck legislation.
Diving & visiting
For several years, the masts were visible, and in the 1930s, wreckage was visible on the sea floor. In the 1990s, the Department of Environment and Heritage) made two attempts to rediscover the wreck, but its location was not found then.
The wreck site was located in April 2018 by a team including personnel from the following organisations: the Department for Environment and Water, the Silentworld Foundation, the South Australian Maritime Museum, the Australian National Maritime Museum (ANMM), Flinders University Maritime Archaeology Program, and the MaP Fund.
Location
- Recorded position: -35.5800, 138.6000 (Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0); may be approximate)
- Nearest coast: Australia
Wreck positions on this site are for interest only and are not for navigation. Many wrecks are war graves or legally protected: never disturb human remains or remove artefacts, and check local law before diving.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article South Australian (1836) (revision 1370939712), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section and section(s) “Wreck site”; condensed by selecting paragraphs; citations and formatting removed. No text added. This excerpt is available under the same licence.
Wreck facts from Wikidata (CC0).
Nearby wrecks
- SS Ferret 1920 · 163 km
Browse more: Oceania wrecks · wrecks off Australia · Age of Sail