Canberra, May 8 (UNI) Researchers have located the shipwreck of Koning Willem de Tweede, a 19th-century Dutch merchant vessel lost in 1857 off the coast of South Australia, the Australian National Maritime Museum has revealed.
The 800-ton Dutch vessel, which played a role in the movement of Chinese migrants during Australia's gold rush era, had recently disembarked more than 400 Chinese miners bound for Victoria's goldfields when it sank in Guichen Bay near the town of Robe in South Australia, a press release of the museum said on Wednesday.
Sixteen of the 25 crew members drowned and were buried in the dunes of Long Beach, Robe, it said.
Using marine magnetometers and underwater metal detectors, the team identified iron components believed to be part of the ship's windlass, along with a timber plank and parts of the hull, now buried beneath the seabed, the release said.
The wreck's location matches historical records of the ship's loss, and no other large shipwrecks are known in the area, it said, adding magnetic readings align with the vessel's original 42.7-meter length.
Fragments of 19th-century Chinese ceramics were found nearby in March 2023, further confirming the ship's identity, the museum said.
"All these things...make us pretty confident we've got it, but it would be great if we found a bell with the name on it," Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) quoted James Hunter from the museum as saying.
Led by the Australian National Maritime Museum, Silentworld Foundation, South Australia's Department for Environment and Water, and the Adelaide-based Flinders University, the search began in April 2022, which was supported by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Netherlands' Cultural Heritage Agency, according to the museum.
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