Expedition · Coral Sea, 2017
Kenn Reefs
Life upon the sand. Water, water everywhere, and at least eight shipwrecks on the reefs of the Outer Route.
A large anchor rises out of the low tide on the reef top · Image: Julia Sumerling for Silentworld Foundation, 2017
Location
Kenn Reefs, Coral Sea
Wrecks reported
At least 8 mid-19th-century vessels
Expedition
January 2017
New sites found
4, adding to 9 found in the 1980s
Life upon the sand
Water, water everywhere
The sea mound complex known as Kenn Reefs lies in the Australian Commonwealth Territory of the Coral Sea, in the midst of a shipping route known as the Outer Route.
At least eight mid-19th-century vessels are reported to have come to grief on the reefs. Accounts tell of incredible survival, rescue and escape. A team from the Queensland Museum investigated the location in the late 1980s and discovered nine sites along the southern edge of the reef.
Thirty years later, a collaborative expedition between Silentworld Foundation and the Australian National Maritime Museum returned to the reefs in January 2017.
The survey revealed four more sites, while post-fieldwork research assigned all known vessels to their respective wreck sites.
On film
Watch the expedition
January 2017
On Kenn Reefs
Images: Julia Sumerling for Silentworld Foundation, 2017.