Svenor
History
Wreck of the Svenor
The 1,266 ton Svenor was originally built as the Corryvrechan at Glasgow, Scotland, in 1884. The iron hulled vessel was rigged as a three masted barque and measured 240' x 36.2' x 21.5'. The Svenor was registered at Sandgeford, Norway, and was owned by the firm of Danveig and Company.
The Svenor sailed in ballast from Fremantle, Western Australia, on 15 April 1914, bound for Newcastle, New South Wales. On the 28th the ballast shifted during a storm and the Svenor developed a heavy list. To prevent the barque from capsizing much of the rigging and part of the masts were cut away. For the next 24 days the Svenor slowly drifted eastwards until the west coast of Tasmania was sighted on 24 May. Captain Monson and the crew of ten decided to abandon the Svenor and were pulling for the shore in the boats when the steamship Wainui, on its regular run from Melbourne to Strahan, sighted the stricken vessel.
Wreck of the Svenor
(Archives Office of Tasmania)
The crew rejoined the abandoned barque while the steamship attempted to take it under tow. Several attempts to tow the vessel were foiled by the heavy weather and the Svenor was finally abandoned after being set on fire and scuttled in the expectation that it would quickly sink. In December a track cutting crew were suprised to discover the intact hull of the Svenor lying broadside in a bay on the south-west coast. A number of fishing boats stripped what gear they could from the wreck before a syndicate purchased the Svenor for a nominal fee and removed the remainder of the salvageable equipment.
The Site
The remains of the Svenor are located at what is now known as Wreck Bay in the Southwest National Park. While the bow and midships of the wreck collapsed during the 1980s the intact but heavily corroded stern section is still clearly visible near the high tide mark.
Further Reading
Broxam, G. 1993. Shipwrecks of Tasmania's Wild West Coast. Braxus Press: Canberra.