Elm Grove

Wreck Dive | Boat access

Three-Masted Wooden Barque | Max Depth: 18 m (59 ft)

The Elm Grove (aka Elmgrove) shipwreck lies near Five Mile Beach in the Wilsons Promontory Marine Park. Five Mile Beach is 5 mi (8.05 km) long. It runs straight throughout its length and faces south-south-east into Bass Strait, on the western side of Wilsons Promontory.

Some remains of the hull of the Elm Grove washed ashore at Miranda Creek, north of Five Mile Beach.

Elm Grove Shipwreck History

The Elm Grove was a wooden, three-mastered barque of Units: unknown unit type given, built in 1863 at Arbroath, New Brunswick, Canada. The vessel was built on the dimensions of 109 ft (33 m) in length, a breath of 24 ft (7.32 m), and a draught of 14.5 ft (4.42 m).

At the time of its demise, the Elm Grove was registered in Sydney to Captain Joseph Leddra, owner and master.

Elm Grove Sinking

On its final voyage the Elm Grove left Newcastle on 25 August 1876, loaded with coal and timber for Adelaide, under the command of Captain Leddra with a crew of nine. On reaching Bass Strait the vessel was forced to beat into a stiff south-westerly breeze. When off Wilsons Promontory, the wind freshened from the west and the Elm Grove was forced back into the lee of Wilsons Promontory.

There were only two survivors when on 9 September 1876, the wooden sailing barque Elm Grove dragged anchors in a gale and was driven ashore on Five Mile Beach at Wilsons Promontory. Seven seamen lost their lives.

Captain Leddra and Mr Hoyle, the second mate, gained the shore in an exhausted and bruised state. The two survivors waited in vain for two days, hoping that some more stores would be washed ashore. They then made a number of attempts to reach safety, but the rugged terrain hampered their efforts. Living off shellfish, crabs and pigface, both men were becoming more and more exhausted. Fortunately they were found by a search party from the government steamer Pharos, which took them on to Melbourne.

Captain Leddra had previously been in command of the Vanquish, wrecked at Cape Jervis, South Australia, in 1864, and the A.H. Badger, which sank after a collision with the SS Nevada in the Tasman Sea, off New South Wales in October 1871.

See also, Australian National Shipwreck Database: Elm Grove, and
Heritage Council Victoria: Elm Grove.

Heritage Warning: Any shipwreck or shipwreck relic that is 75 years or older is protected by legislation. Other items of maritime heritage 75 years or older are also protected by legislation. Activities such as digging for bottles, coins or other artefacts that involve the disturbance of archaeological sites may be in breach of the legislation, and penalties may apply. The legislation requires the mandatory reporting to Heritage Victoria as soon as practicable of any archaeological site that is identified. See Maritime heritage. Anyone with information about looting or stolen artefacts should call Heritage Victoria on (03) 7022 6390, or send an email to [email protected].

Bass Strait Warning: Always keep an eye on sea conditions throughout any shore or boat dive in Bass Strait on Victoria's coastline. Please read the warnings on the web page diving-in-bass-strait before diving or snorkelling this site.

Finding the Elm Grove Shipwreck

It's unlikely the GPS mark we have for the Elm Grove is correct. If anyone has an accurate mark, please pass it on to us.

Traditional Owners — This dive site does not lie in the acknowledged traditional Country of any first peoples of Australia.

 

Elm Grove Location Map

Latitude: 38° 55.017′ S   (38.916944° S / 38° 55′ 1″ S)
Longitude: 146° 28.300′ E   (146.471667° E / 146° 28′ 18″ E)
Datum: WGS84 | Google Map
Added: 2012-07-22 09:00:00 GMT, Last updated: 2022-04-25 18:49:09 GMT
Source: GPS
Nearest Neighbour: Miranda, 825 m, bearing 60°, ENE
Three-masted wooden barque.
Built: New Brunswick, Canada, 1863.
Sunk: 9 September 1876.
Five Mile Beach.
Wilsons Promontory Marine Park.
Depth: 1 m.

DISCLAIMER: No claim is made by The Scuba Doctor as to the accuracy of the dive site coordinates listed here. Should anyone decide to use these GPS marks to locate and dive on a site, they do so entirely at their own risk. Always verify against other sources.

The marks come from numerous sources including commercial operators, independent dive clubs, reference works, and active divers. Some are known to be accurate, while others may not be. Some GPS marks may even have come from maps using the AGD66 datum, and thus may need be converted to the WGS84 datum. To distinguish between the possible accuracy of the dive site marks, we've tried to give each mark a source of GPS, Google Earth, or unknown.