Expedition · Coral Sea, 2013
Fergusson & Morning Star
All the Queen’s Own and the Indian: a troopship bound for war and an opium trader, lost on the same stretch of reef a generation apart.
Snorkelling team inspects an anchor found on site · Image: Xanthe Rivett for Silentworld Foundation
Fergusson lost
1841, Coral Sea
Morning Star lost
1814, inshore of Ferguson Reef
Expedition
From 20 March 2013
Partners
ANMM & Silentworld Foundation
All the Queen’s Own & the Indian
Two ships, one reef
Shipwreck. Survival. Battle.
Fergusson
Carrying the Queen’s Own 50th Regiment of Foot from Sydney, bound for battles in India, Fergusson, a three-masted armed vessel of 555 tonnes, was wrecked in the Coral Sea in 1841. All aboard were rescued by accompanying vessels. The reef it struck is now known as Ferguson Reef.
Shipwreck. Survival. Mystery.
Morning Star
The opium trader Morning Star is reported to have been lost in 1814 about 10 nautical miles inshore of Ferguson Reef. Some survivors set off in a boat to find help, while those left stranded were rescued by a passing vessel. Of the boat crew, only one survived a capsize.
On 20 March 2013, the Australian National Maritime Museum, once more in collaboration with Silentworld Foundation, set out to locate both vessels.
2013
On the reef
