Dive standard : Experienced
Launch site :
launch at Port Campbell and head east. In good conditions this is a half-hour trip. Sea conditions can change dramatically after cat reef and in a south-westerly change, the trip by boat can be extremely rough and hazardous and there is no shelter between Port Campbell and the Fiji. The trip is 40 nautical miles return, so make sure the boat has enough fuel.
Chart no : AUS 349
Latitude : 38" 45’45" south
Longitude : 143"13’30" east
Compass Bearings:
Dive Conditions: This site is in a very dangerous and exposed position. It is subject to heavy swells and surge conditions and it best visited by divers during moderate northerlies when the swell is minimal. Divers planning to visit the Fiji should register with the Port Campbell Office of the Department of Conservation and Environment, or Schomberg Diving Services, also at Port Campbell.
Description : A three masted iron barque built in Belfast, Ireland for a Liverpool based shipping company.
A lonely headstone on the cliffs overlooking Wreck beach, west of Moonlight Head pays tribute to the men who lost their lives when the Fiji ran aground in 1891.
Eleven crew drowned and a young local settler also lost his life when he tried to save the ship’s carpenter.
There was a great deal of public criticism at the slow and disorganised rescue attempt to save those on board. At the time "rocket apparatus" was used to rescue passengers and crew stranded on the wrecked ship. A bucket chair or breech buoy could be attached to the rope and by using a pulley, the crew and passengers could haul themselves one by one to shore.
When the rocket crew arrived at the wreck of the Fiji, the chair was found to be missing. Apparently it had been removed so the local photographer could fit his equipment in the cart. This was a tragic error. The crew of the Fiji had to pull themselves hand over hand along the rope and many were washed into the wild surf.
Of course the wreck of the Fiji was well documented on film, and many of the images of the rescue are still in existence today.
The wreck of the Fiji is some 50 to 70 meters from wreck
beach at Moonlight Head. It lies in six to seven meters of water in a sandy
gully of sandstone boulders. The wreckage extends for a distance of 71
meters. The bow is orientated towards the shore and is flanked on one side
by a large boulder, which is visible from the surface. Waves often break
over the boulder.
The wreck has been broken up over the years but there is still a large amount of wreckage, which can be seen by divers visiting the site. Remains of the hull include the ships bow, flooring, bilge frames, hull plating and rudder plating.
At the bow, a large mound of chains is clearly visible along with two anchors, two winches, hawspipes and rigging.
Divers can see remnants of the ships cargo in two main mounds. One mound near midships comprises pig iron and wire coil. The other mound in the bow includes bricks and wire coils. Broken gin bottles, ceramic toys and porcelain doll parts have been found on the wreck site over the years.
The
Fiji was a three masted barque built in Belfast, Ireland for a Liverpool
based shipping company. It was an international trading vessel constructed
of iron and lined with cement. It measured 229.4ft(69.9m) in length,
36.3ft(10.9m) in breadth and 23.1ft(7M) in depth. The ship had a gross
tonnage of 1,471 tons.
The Fiji left Hamburg on the 22nd May 1891 bound for Melbourne. It carried a general cargo including 260 cases of dynamite, 400 German built pianos, artist supplies, porcelain, furniture and china.
In the early hours of Sunday, 6th September, the Fiji was under full sail and the Ottway Lighthouse was in sight. This was a reassuring sign for ships passing by this treacherous stretch of coast. But what seemed like an uneventful night ahead soon turned to disaster.
Captain Vickers heard crashing of breakers and to his horror found that the Fiji was sailing perilously close to land. The Captain tried to tack and turn the vessel around but his efforts were unsuccessful strong winds were propelling the Fiji toward a rocky reef. As a last resort the Captain tried to manoeuvre the ship out of difficulties, but it was impossible, and the Fiji was driven onto rocks near Moonlight Head.
Efforts were made to launch the lifeboats but hey were smashed to pieces. Rockets were fired and blue lights burned to attract attention. The huge sea crashed over the vessel. The terrified crew clambered onto the jib and clung on as the waves swept beneath them.
As dawn broke, they were horrified to find themselves surrounded by towering cliffs. The only beach in sight, now known as wreck beach was hundreds of meters away beyond the breakers.
Two brave sailors attempted to swim ashore attached to a line from the ship. One of the men drowned. The second sailor returned to the ship but made a second attempt. After scaling a cliff, he collapsed exhausted in the scrub where he was found by a group of prospectors from Warrnambool. It took time before help arrived. No one could be raised in Warrnambool and the Port Campbell telegraph was down and out of action. Camperdown was contacted and rocket gear was brought overland from there to the wreck site.
When the rocket line and crew arrived at the scene, the chair and heavy rope had been replaced by photographic equipment and were in a second cart, which never arrived. A light line was fired from the rocket apparatus to the wreck. The crew and captain could not wait for the stronger rope and chair to arrive and began hauling themselves along the line hand over hand along the line through the breakers. Eleven of the 26 crew drowned. A young local settler, Arthur Wilkinson, saw the ship’s carpenter struggling in the surf and swam out to rescue him. They both swam back to the ship where Wilkinson collapsed exhausted on the deck. He could not be roused and disappeared when the ship finally disintegrated. The ships carpenter was one of the lucky few to actually reach shore.
The remains of seven bodies were washed up on the beach and their coffins were constructed from timbers of the wrecked Fiji.
As news of the shipwreck quickly spread, organised bands of looters arrived to salvage what they could. A custom’s officer trying to prevent cargo from being stolen was assaulted and thrown over a steep cliff by looters.
A court of Marine Inquiry reprimanded Captain Vickers for his incompetent handling of the ship. His masters certificate was suspended for twelve months.