Name/TitleGrinding wheel from the wreck of FATIMA located in 'Wreck Bay'
About this objectFATIMA was a ship of 441 tons built in 1849.
While under the command of Captain Hardie, FATIMA was wrecked on Great Detached Reef, part of the Great Barrier Reef system, in 1854. Most of the crew were rescued by the Dutch ship BATO which picked up ten men from the wreck off Raine Island, then continued to the wreck to rescue those remaining.
The grindstone wheel was used for milling flour. In some cases they were wrapped in the shroud of a dead sailor being consigned to the deep, to ensure that the body sank deep and was not desecrated by marine predators.
Date Madec1854
Period19th century
Medium and MaterialsStone
Object TypeMaritime Archaeology
Object numberSF001034
Copyright Licence
Attribution - Non-commercial - No Derivatives (cc)
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The mug is decorated with an underglaze and a blue transfer print. On the body, it is titled ‘Emigrants to Australia’. This type of body and glaze was discontinued by 1840. Comparison of the handle shape and the profile of the foot, point to the attribution of manufacture by the Davenport Factory.
Delta was a ship-rigged vessel with two decks and three masts. It was built in Dordrecht, Netherlands in 1839 at the shipyard of Jan Schouten and registered in the same port. Its hull was constructed of oak and sheathed in ‘yellow metal’. Delta was owned by H. van der Sande at the time of its loss and was engaged as a cargo trader.
The Delta carried 29 crew and passengers, while sailing from Melbourne to Batavia in ballast when wrecked at Kenn Reefs on 30 May 1854 whilst under the command of Captain J.G. Kunst. This vessel loss supports the pattern of shipwrecks located on a well-travelled shipping route that was poorly charted until the mid-nineteenth century. The crew of the Delta could see four other shipwrecks at Kenn Reefs at the time of their vessel’s loss.
Important image of a ship associated with Matthew Flinders, that would shortly become one of the most famous early shipwrecks in eastern Australian waters. This is a fine ship’s portrait, by one of the great exponents of the art