Research Guides: Ships and shipping: Shipwrecks

Australian shipwrecks

The following resources are a great starting point for your research:

Australian national shipwreck database by Environment Australia
This online database includes all known shipwrecks in Australian waters.
An atlas of Australian shipwrecks by J.K. Loney
Coastal waters, to 1980. State-by-state, including maps and diving notes. Bibliography, index.
Australian shipwrecks. Vol. 1, 1622-1850 by Charles Bateson
Including vessels wrecked en route to or from Australia and some strandings. Indexes of ships, localities and people.
Australian shipwrecks. Vol. 2, 1851-1871 by J.K. Loney
Covers only those wrecks occurring on the Australian coastline. Includes index of ship names.
Australian shipwrecks. Vol. 3, 1871-1900 by J.K. Loney
Contains indexes of wrecked ships, other ships mentioned, localities and illustrations (including photographs and maps).
Australian shipwrecks. Vol. 4, 1901-1986 by J.K. Loney
Contains indexes of wrecked ships, other ships mentioned, localities and illustrations (including photographs and maps).
Australian shipwrecks. Vol. 5, Update 1622-1990 by J.K. Loney
Includes list of vessels scuttled and incidents where vessel or environment was threatened although vessel not lost. Bibliography.
Australian shipwrecks. Vol. 6, the Australia run by J.K Loney & Peter Stone
Includes ships lost in the run between Great Britain and Australia from 1790-1979. Indexes of ships, people, place names, lighthouses and maps. Also includes appendices of shipping companies and Australian shipwreck legislation.
Wrecks at Port Phillip Heads 1848-1860
Is included in the microfilm series Birth, death and marriage records in early Victoria and New South Wales

Pictures of shipwrecks

State Library Victoria has some pictures of shipwrecks within our collection. Most images are sketches or lithographs reproduced from newspaper articles. To search for images of shipwrecks in our collection, visit our catalogue, enter the search term 'shipwrecks Australia', and then change the drop down box from 'Everything except articles' to 'Pictures & photographs'. See the search results here.

Disasters worldwide

Shipwreck index of the British Isles
Five volumes, each covering a specific geographic area, catalogue every known shipwreck to have occurred in Great Britain and Ireland. Listed in chronological order with alphabetic indexes. Information includes flag, owner, captain, construction, location, when built and details of the incident.
Dictionary of disasters at sea during the age of steam
1824-1962 Including sailing ships and ships of war lost in action. Shows ships builder, date and place of construction, tonnage, dimensions, engine type and details of wreck.
Disasters at sea
1900-1994 "Every ocean-going passenger ship catastrophe since 1900." Minor vessels and wartime sinkings excluded. Many entries include photographs.
Maritime casualities 1963-1996
1963-1996 Contains reports of all merchant and naval vessels of 500 tons and over reported as total losses or constructive total losses due to all causes. Also included are vessels between 100 and 499 tons where loss of life was reported to have exceeded 15 persons.
Wartime disasters at sea
1914-1945 "Every passenger ship loss in World Wars I and II." Covers ocean-going, engine-propelled passenger ships. Short-sea and coastal vessels are not covered. Many entries include photographs.
Monthly list of wrecks and casualties by Bureau Veritas
1888-1915, Details the number and nature of casualties which have happened to any particular vessel during the month. Also included are the captain's name, tonnage of each vessel and when built, the voyage the vessel was engaged on, the nature of the cargo when known and of interest, and in collision cases the name of the colliding vessel.
Annual summary of wrecks and casualties by Bureau Veritas
1898-1921 Annual consolidation of the Monthly list of wrecks and casualties described above. There are some gaps in coverage of the State Library's holdings. Each issue also includes statistical tables of the year's shipwrecks.

Shipwrecks in Victoria

J.K. Loney's book Victorian shipwrecks offers a comprehensive overview of the subject. It also covers Bass Strait, King Island and the Kent group.

The book features chapters on specific areas, encyclopedia entries for vessels over 100 tons lost and a list of vessels under 100 tons lost.

Included are appendices on lighthouses, wrecks on inland waters, vessels scuttled, vessels missing from Victorian ports and vessels exceeding 500 tons that were stranded but refloated.

To find information on shipwrecks at specific locations in Victoria, search the Library's catalogue using 'Victoria' and 'Shipwrecks' as subject headings combined with the name of the location as a keyword. See examples for Apollo Bay and Port Phillip.

Shipwrecks online

Australian national shipwreck database indexes all known shipwrecks in Australian waters.

Victorian heritage database - Shipwrecks a fully searchable online database containing information about Victorian Heritage Places and Precincts.

Includes statements of significance, physical descriptions and historical information.

Shipwreck information is often more extensive that that which appears in the Australian national shipwreck database.

WRECKsite the world's largest online wreck database

Newspapers

Historic newspapers can provide a wealth of information regarding shipwrecks in Australian waters and also abroad. The easiest way to search for these is through Trove, the National Library of Australia's database of digitised newspapers from the earliest days of the colony up to 1954.

Newspaper articles can tell you where the ship was wrecked, the date, and how many crew or passengers survived.

The Kerang Times, 9 August 1895

Mount Alexander Mail, 12 December 1892

For more information about finding shipping information in newspapers look at the guide How to find items in newspapers.