Loch Ard Bell is the main bell recovered from the Loch Ard shipwreck, one of the most well-known and tragic shipwrecks in Victoria. It was recovered from the shipwreck by a scuba driver in 1976 and was kept privately for 26 years, before it was handed to Heritage Council of Victoria in November 2003 (bell).
After the bell was removed from the shipwreck with the use explosives, breaking it into pieces, it was repaired using mixture of resin and bronze filings (bell). It “weighs 33kgs (72 pounds) and is missing its clapper” (bell). This copper alloy bell is mainly made of copper and tin. It is also composed of at least six different metals. Its unique “ratio of three parts copper to one part tin is used to create a type of bronze known as bell metal. (bell)” The precise composition of the bell and its repair are still being investigated by Heritage Victoria's conservators, in order to permanently stabilise and conserve this important artefact (bell).
This artefact is one of the most significant fittings on the ship as it sounded the time and substitute watches (bell). It was used as a tool in regulating the daily routine of life on the the ship. A smaller bell, which would initially sounded the time, was most likely kept at the back part of the ship, close by the ships whell and chronometer (bell). The Loch Ard Bell, which was probably placed in a belfry or hanged on a frame close by the lookout, would echo the smaller bell's ring loudly so that it could be heard by everyone on the ship (bell).
The Loch Ard, was an iron-hulled clipper ship of the well-known Loch Line which owned many ships operating between England and Australia. In 1867, Loch Line vessels could frequently be seen at the waterfront in the Port of Melbourne(h...
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...ver. After her six week stay at the station, Eva Carmichael returned to Ireland by steamship. Tom Pearce was hailed as a hero and the Royal Humane Society of Victoria awarded him with a gold medal. He also received £1000 cheque from the Victorian Government. The public were intrigued with the story of Tom Pearce and Eva Carmichael and the two received huge media attention at the time.
The shipwreck of the Loch Ard still remained at the base of Mutton Bird Island and much of its cargo's contents has been salvaged (heritage).
The cargo that were carried by the ship included 2375 tons general cargo which revealed much about the affluence of Melbourne during that period of time. Items such as “straw hats, umbrellas, perfumery, clay pipes, pianos, clocks confectionary, linen, candles, railway iron, cement, iron, lead and copper” could be found in the cargo (statement).
The film ‘Galipoli’ directed by Peter Weir displays mate-ship in many different styles. The market scene in the film articulates the meaning
Koch, J.T. and J. Carey, ‘The Onomastic Tale of Ryd-y-ygfarthfa’, from The Celtic Heroic Age 3rd ed. (Aberystwyth, 2000), pg. 348.
I am writing my first entry aboard this incredible vessel today, primarily because I have been spending the last three days exploring the sections open to my fellow third-class passengers and I. What I have seen is extraordinary, especially when first boarding the ship. The halls and staircases of the first class section were like nothing I had ever seen before in my life. They were blanketed in luxury from end to end. The first class passengers I had managed to see wore their best garments boarding the ship and were conversing with each other about their rich lives back home. I believe I even saw Mr. John Jacob Astor, a man I had heard much about for his contributions to the American fur trade. I had heard that he would be aboard for the maiden voyage of ...
Gilbert, Arthur N. . "Buggery and the British Navy, 1700-1861." Journal of Social History. no. 1 (1976): 72
Smith, Jillian R. "Shipbuilding and the English International Timber Trade." DigitalCommons @University of Nebraska - Lincoln (2009): 89-92.
Reynolds, H. (1990). With The White People: The crucial role of Aborigines in the exploration and development of Australia. Australia: Penguin Books
Here are some examples of the information that is documented on shipwrecks in the thunder bay area:
Gard, S. (2000). A history of Australia. The Colony of New South Wales. South Yarra: MacMillan Education Australia Pty Ltd.
... (Lukee 3). Not one survivor emerged from the wreckage and the fate of the ship lasted unknown for almost three centuries (Lukee 2). The wrecked slave ship was found in 1972, during a magnetometer survey, operated by a subsidiary of Mel Fisher's Treasure Salvors, Inc (Lukee 4). Some artifacts were collected from the wreck that included bilboes and iron shackles that were used to restrain slaves (Lukee 4). When they realized that the wreck was most likely a slave ship and not a treasure ship, the company reburied the ancient findings and pieces of the ship hull that they had exposed and left the site.
It all started in 1859. Australia was slowly becoming populated with European pioneers who sought the newness of the great, unsettled continent. However, there were a few things from home from which they just couldn’t part.
The bell was cast using a mixture of 80% copper and 20% tin with the addition of one
“On a June evening of 1770, Captain James Cook heard the screech of wood against stone” (ngm.nationalgeographic.com). He later realized that he had just discovered the Great Barrier Reef. Cook and his team had been exploring the waters offshore of what is now Queensland, Australia when the H.M.S. Endeavour became trapped in the labyrinth of coral. Not too far below the surface, rough, spiky towers of coral tore into the ship’s frame and held the vessel fast(ngm.nationalgeographic.com). As timbers splintered and the sea poured in, the crew arrived on deck “with countenances which sufficiently expressed the horrors of our situation,” Cook later wrote in his diary. The captain and crew barely made it to a river mouth where they rehabilitated the vessel. A few decades after Cook’s encounter with the reef, English cartographer Matthew Flinders-who also had a mishap or two while “threading the needle” among the reefs-gave the massive body its name, inspired by its size.
A prime example of the possible contributions of underwater archaeology is the Ulu Burun shipwreck. The Ulu Burun shipwreck is the remains of a Late Bronze Age (~1600 – 1050 BCE) trading vessel dated to about 1300 BCE. The shipwreck was discovered in 1982 off the coast of Ulu Burun, near the modern city of Kas, Turkey. This fifty-foot long vessel was resting at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea at a depth of approximately 150 feet. Eleven sets of excavations were conducted from 1984 to 1994 in order to deliver the artifacts to the surface for analysis. From this wreck site, archaeologists now have a more detailed and precise understanding about the trade and distribution of commodities in the Late Bronze Age.
Watson, I 2002, Looking at you looking at me: Aboriginal culture and the history of the South-east of South Australia, vol. 1, Nairne, South Australia.
'The Australian Legend', in itself is an acurate portrayal and recount of one part of society, from a specific era, ie. the Australian bushman of the 1890s. Its exaggerations, however, such as the romanticism of the bush ethos by Australian writers, the unbalanced use of evidence, and the neglect to acknowledge the contribution to our national identity from certain sections of society, ie. aboriginal people, city-dwellers, women, and non-British immigrants, render this book to be flawed. For these reasons, it cannot be regarded as a complete and balanced account of Australian history.