Description
The SS Speke ran aground near Kitty Miller Bay in Phillip Island in 1906 while en route from Peru via Sydney to Geelong to pick up wheat.
A three masted steel barque of 2,876 tons and 93 metres, having been built in Wales, 1891.
The accident was attributed to faulty navigation by the captain who had confused a bushfire for a navigation light.
A lifeboat was quickly launched after striking the reef, but it capsized and one of the four occupants drowned. Those remaining finally reached the beach exhausted.
Both cargo and much of the Speke were salvaged although heavy seas battered the wreck for several days until it broke in two and rapidly disintegrated.
Wreckage from the Speke, including part of the bow, still lies high on the rocks, and more debris lies scattered along the edge of the reef in shallow water.
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