Expedition · Boot Reef, Coral Sea, 2018

Boot Reef

Spanish silver and red herrings: a 127-year-old tale of a treasure wreck led the team 950 kilometres north of Cairns. What they found was something else entirely.

Read the story (PDF)Expedition photos

Maritime archaeologist Kieran Hosty investigates a second anchor found in deep water at Boot Reef · Image: Julia Sumerling for Silentworld Foundation

Location

Boot Reef, 950km north of Cairns

The claim

A Spanish-silver wreck, reported in 1891

Expedition

December 2018

Partners

Silentworld Foundation & ANMM

Jardine’s treasure

Spanish silver & red herrings

Boot Reef, named by Matthew Flinders, lies 950 kilometres north of Cairns. In December 2018, the Foundation teamed up with the Australian National Maritime Museum once more and put to sea to investigate 127-year-old claims of a shipwreck carrying Spanish silver coins.

The wreck was reportedly found in 1891 by the bêche-de-mer vessel Lancashire Lass, owned by Francis Jardine. He and the ship’s captain, Sam Rowe, were vague about the whereabouts of this “treasure wreck”. Their speculation that it was a Spanish vessel, based on its cargo of Spanish coins, intrigued the team: no Spanish shipwreck has yet been found in Australian waters.

A clue in the collection of the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences (Powerhouse Museum) led them to Boot Reef.

Magnetometer survey and ground-truthing of satellite imagery did locate the remains of a shipwreck, but not the one the team had expected to find.

Post-fieldwork analysis and interpretation revealed an entirely different picture.

Read the full story in Signals (PDF)
The reef wall dropping away into deep blue water
The drop-off at the western side of the reef. Image: Julia Sumerling for Silentworld Foundation

December 2018

At Boot Reef

The research vessel and tender at Boot Reef
Research vessel and tender at Boot Reef.
Waves breaking over the reef just below the surface
Waves breaking over Boot Reef, hidden just under the surface.
Paul Hundley setting up the magnetometer
Maritime archaeologist Paul Hundley sets up the magnetometer.
Towing the magnetometer over the reef
Running the magnetometer over the reef.
The team searching in the rain from a small boat
The team continues its search in the rain under the keen eye of the boat operator.
A boat and snorkellers on the reef top
Boat and snorkellers on the reef top at Boot Reef.
The team swimming in a line search pattern
The team undertakes a swimline search near the reef-top anchor.
Irini Malliaros and James Hunter recording an anchor
Maritime archaeologists Irini Malliaros and James Hunter record one of the two anchors found on Boot Reef.
A run of iron chain on the reef
The run of iron chain found on Boot Reef.
Using a metal detector to follow a buried chain
Using a metal detector to follow the chain where it disappeared under growth.
Divers looking closely at metal detector hits
Having a closer look at metal detector hits.
A diver searching a reef groove for small artefacts
Diver investigates a groove in the reef for small loose artefacts.
James Hunter examining iron concretions
Maritime archaeologist James Hunter investigates iron concretions found on Boot Reef.
An iron concretion and copper alloy fastening on the reef
Iron concretion and copper alloy fastening found during the 2018 expedition.
Sunset seen from aboard the research vessel Silentworld
Sunset aboard Silentworld.

Images: Julia Sumerling for Silentworld Foundation.

 ©2009-2022 Silentworld Foundation. All rights reserved.

Privacy Preference Center

Privacy Preferences