Tryall 1622
Marker: recorded wreck position (Age of Sail).
Key facts
| Name | Tryall | Wikidata label |
|---|---|---|
| Year lost | 1622 | English Wikipedia lead text (year following a loss verb, parsed) |
| Era | Age of Sail | derived from year |
| Ship type | sailing ship, merchant vessel | Wikidata P31 instance of |
| Cause of loss | Grounding or wreck on rocks | Keyword match in English Wikipedia lead sentence |
| Nationality / flag | Kingdom of England, Australia | Wikidata P8047 country of registry |
| Sea / ocean | INDIAN OCEAN | Natural Earth marine areas (public domain), point-in-polygon |
| Nearest coast | Australia | Natural Earth (public domain); approx. 49 km from land |
| Position | -20.2860, 115.3752 | Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0) |
About the wreck
Tryall (or Trial) was a British East India Company-owned East Indiaman launched in 1621. She was under the command of John Brooke when she was wrecked on the Tryal Rocks off the north-west coast of Western Australia in 1622. Her crew were the first Englishmen to sight or land on Australia. The wreck is Australia's oldest known shipwreck.
Diving & visiting
Turning north, they then encountered several weeks of fresh north to north-westerly winds which impeded progress. Finally, the winds turned to favourable south-westerlies and they started to make good progress to their destination of Batavia. On 25 May 1622 at between 10 and 11 p.m. she struck uncharted submerged rocks about 32 kilometres (20 mi) north-west of the outer edge of the Montebello Islands group, the southern boundary of which is about 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) north of the northern tip of Barrow Island.
The reef was named Tryal Rocks after the ship and is located at 20°16′18″S 115°23′18″E.
Due to Captain Brooke's actions, for well over three centuries there was great confusion as to the exact position of the Tryal Rocks. William Dampier, for example, was one mariner who searched for them. After examining the records and Thomas Bright's letter in 1934 historian Ida Lee proved that what was then known as Ritchie's Reef was the site. The Australia Pilot was subsequently amended and the reef renamed.
Location
- Recorded position: -20.2860, 115.3752 (Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0); may be approximate)
- Sea / ocean: INDIAN OCEAN
- 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 Tryall (revision 1357058513), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section and section(s) “Wreck”, “Discovery”; condensed by selecting paragraphs; citations and formatting removed. No text added. This excerpt is available under the same licence.
Wreck facts from Wikidata (CC0).
Browse more: Oceania wrecks · wrecks off Australia · INDIAN OCEAN · Age of Sail