Anchors Intact: The Clipper That Hit a Cliff Without Warning

Anchors Intact: The Clipper That Hit a Cliff Without Warning

A ship built for endurance was found upright at twelve metres with every single anchor still in place - a detail investigators said should not be possible. How did the Loch Vennachar, a well-commanded iron clipper, strike a cliff with no warning, no dropped anchors and no signal?

In this episode, we tell what the recovered evidence and contemporary records reveal about the Loch Vennachar’s final voyage, her construction and cargo, and the men who sailed her, closing on the unsettling question that only the wreck itself seems to answer.

Person: Thomas Pearce Date: 6 September 1905 Location: West coast of Kangaroo Island Event: Wreck of Loch Vennachar Cargo: Twenty thousand Glasgow bricks

- Divers on 26 February 1976 found the ship sitting upright at 12 metres with her iron hull pressed against the base of a cliff. - Every anchor aboard the Loch Vennachar was still in place and had not been used. - The Loch Vennachar vanished in September 1905 and was found 71 years later, 30 kilometres from the location named in the 1905 investigation. - The ship was built on 4 August 1875 at Dalmuir by James and George Thomson, measuring 250 feet long, 38 feet wide, and 23 feet hold depth, gross tonnage 1,557. - On her final southbound voyage she was carrying approximately 5,500 bales northbound in typical service and specifically 20,000 Glasgow bricks southbound to Adelaide on the last voyage.

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