Victoria’s Shipwreck Coast has seen an incredible number of maritime disasters since the first recorded shipwreck in 1837.

Since then, nearly 700 shipwrecks have been documented along the 130 km stretch of Victorian coast from Cape Otway, all the way down to Port Fairy.

The great Matthew Flinders, when he first encountered this treacherous area, declared that he had “never seen a more fearful section of coastline”.

Great towering cliffs. Giant waves that smash against the coast. Unpredictable weather. Thick sea fogs. Howling winds. Wild storms that surge up from the Antarctic. All these together combine to make it one of the most dangerous stretches of coastline anywhere in the world. And in the days before GPS navigation and lighthouses, it seemed to claim something like a new ship being wrecked every week.

Today the area is renowned for its rugged beauty. Millions of people flock to the region every year, driving along the picturesque Great Ocean Road to take in such sights as the iconic Twelve Apostles.

But many also come to see the sites of shipwrecks, perhaps none more famous than the Loch Ard – its wreck now immortalised in the name of the Loch Ard Gorge.

But before we tell the story of the most famous, or infamous, shipwrecks, let’s examine the story of 4 other ships which sank, that together make up the 5 most famous wrecks of Victoria’s Shipwreck Coast.

The wreck of the Marie Gabrielle – a famous name to the rescue

The Marie Gabrielle was a French registered and crewed, steel-hulled barque.  At 1am on the 24th November 1869, the ship, which was carrying a cargo of tea from China, was blown off course and ran aground just off Moonlight Head. 

Luckily for the crew, the ship was fixed fast on the rocks but was not sinking. So at daylight 4 members of the crew offered to stay behind and look after the ship and the cargo while the others rowed to shore using the ship’s boat. These crew members walked West along the shore, heading towards the Cape Otway Lighthouse. After 3 days without food and water, the survivors finally came across the children of the lighthouse keeper who were playing on the shore. The children did not understand French and were frightened by the crew’s dishevelled appearance so they ran to get their father – Henry Ford (not the carmaker) – the lighthouse keeper. 

A rescue crew was sent to recover the remaining shipmates and all survivors were hosted locally until the twice-yearly lighthouse supply ship could take them to Melbourne. Today, at low tide, you can still see the anchor of the Marie Gabrielle, embedded into the rocks at Wreck Beach.

The Fiji disaster (with a surprising link to the Titanic)

Not far from the anchor of the Marie Gabrielle at Wreck Beach, lies another anchor from another wreck – the Fiji. It was a three-masted sailing ship (barque) originally built by the same company in Belfast that built the Titanic.
On the 6th September 1891 at Moonlight Head, the ship found itself being blown towards shore in the middle of the night. When the 1,400 tonne, iron-hulled ship ran aground, the crew of 26 desperately moved to the front of the ship and clung to the bowsprit, fearing the 200 tons of dynamite they were carrying on board may explode. 

One brave crew member swam ashore towing a heavy line intended to make evacuation of the crew in the wild weather safer. But the line snagged on the seafloor. A rescue crew from Port Campbell arrived and secured a light line to the vessel with the intention of securing a heavy line that the crew could use to come ashore safely using a device called the “bosun’s chair”.

Sadly 10 of the 26 people who attempted to make it shore lost their lives. A further sad note is that timber from the wreck was used to make coffins for those killed in the disaster.

Eric the Red – the wreck that built homes in Apollo Bay

In June 1880, Eric the Red, a wooden, three-masted ship left New York for Melbourne and Sydney. It was carrying exhibits for the great Melbourne Exhibition, as well as 3000 tons of general cargo, a crew of 24 and just 2 passengers. On September 6th, the captain saw the lights of the Cape Otway lighthouse and believed he was about 6 nautical miles from the shore. Little did he know he was actually approaching the notorious Otway Reef. 

At 1am the ship hit the reef violently. It recoiled off the reef and struck a second time, causing the ship to break up quickly and sink, all within just 12 minutes. 4 people drowned immediately. The survivors, including 1 passenger, took the ship’s boat or clung to the wreckage. Lucking, they were all rescued the next day by a the “Dawn” – a passing steamer.

Amazingly the lighthouse keeper heard nothing of the wreck until the morning when they saw wreckage and cargo littered across the beach. Local residents also saw the wreckage and cargo and were quick to grab whatever they could. It is said that several houses in Apollo Bay were built from the timbers of the wreck and the sails of the ship used to line their ceilings. They may also have furnished their houses as some of the cargo listed to be found washed up included: American chairs, croquet balls, axes, tons of red pine wood, rat traps, American clocks and large Illustrated Bibles.

Legend has it one of the houses made from the wood from the wreck burnt down in a bushfire. Perhaps it as the one with the stolen Bibles – God’s revenge?

The wreck of the Loch Ard – love lost among tragedy

Of all the ships to be wrecked on Victoria’s Shipwreck Coast, perhaps the most famous is the Loch Ard. On 1 March 1878, the iron-hulled clipper Loch Ard set sail from England for Australia, carrying over 2,000 tons of cargo, 36 crew and 18 passengers. Aboard was Dr Carmichael, travelling with his wife and six children, including 18-year-old Eva, bound for a new life in Sydney. Ironically, the ship departed from a port called Gravesend.

After a largely uneventful two-month voyage, the Loch Ard neared Victoria’s coast. On the night of 31 May, believing Melbourne was just hours away, passengers held a small end-of-voyage celebration. Before dawn, thick fog and inaccurate navigation left the captain uncertain of the ship’s position. When the mist briefly lifted, towering limestone cliffs loomed directly ahead.

Despite frantic attempts to turn away, the ship struck rocks and sank within ten minutes. Masts collapsed, killing many instantly, while others were hurled into violent seas beneath the cliffs of what is now Loch Ard Gorge. Eva Carmichael was swept overboard and clung for hours to floating wreckage, certain she would die.

Eighteen-year-old apprentice Thomas Pearce survived after washing ashore in the gorge. Hearing Eva’s cries at dawn, he bravely swam back into the raging surf and rescued her. The pair sheltered in a cave through a freezing night before Tom climbed the cliffs to seek help. He eventually reached Glenample Homestead, whose owners led a rescue party back to the gorge.

Eva and Tom recovered, and their dramatic survival captured public imagination. Many hoped for romance, but class differences made it impossible. Eva later returned to Ireland and married. Tom received a gold medal for bravery, yet endured a life marked by shipwrecks and loss.

Today, Loch Ard Gorge appears serene, but its beauty masks a night of terror—and a love story that never was.

The Napier – the forgotten shipwreck

The poor Napier is almost forgotten amongst shipwreck historians. Mainly because it was part of the much more famous Loch Ard story.

So The Napier was a twin-screwed, twin-masted steamer built of wood and steel in Goolwa SA in 1874. Its owners had bought the salvage rights to the wreck of the Loch Ard and so they set out to recover what they could. 

On its way to the sight of the Loch Ard wreck, the Napier was attempting to round the eastern reef near the entrance to Port Campbell. Unfortunately, the vessel lost control and was driven by a heavy swell onto the rocks on the western side of the cove.

Initially the Napier was considered that it too could be salvaged, if a pump could arrive in time from Warrnambool. Sadly, another strong gale blew up and tore the ship apart before the pump could arrive. The captain and crew were forced to abandon ship leaving just a few men and a diver to dismantle what they could before it completely broke up.

So the irony of a ship being wrecked while going to salvage another ship that had been wrecked, sadly sums up the story of the many disasters that befell hundreds of vessels along this perilous shoreline.

Of course there are hundreds of other wrecks, including the Antares, the Schomberg, the Newfield and a ship with the remarkable name of - the Falls of Halladale. Bizarrely there was also a ship named Children, which went down near Childers.

Today many of these wrecks lay hidden under the waves, just off the coast. For a few there remains perhaps a single remnant like an anchor sticking out at low tide. Most have almost completely disappeared, torn apart by the relentless waves and tides over the century or two since they were lost.

But when you stand on the coast and look out to the sea, especially on a stormy night, many imagine you can still hear the moans and cries of the lost and departed souls, howling through the dark on Victoria’s Shipwreck Coast.