Raven - Rottnest Island snorkelling

The Raven was a three-masted wooden barque of 343 tons and about 37 metres, built at Sunderland in 1864 and owned in Adelaide. Late on the afternoon of Wednesday 11 March 1891 she left Fremantle in ballast for Bunbury, where she was to load timber piles for Natal, and her captain chose to take the South Passage. Around 7 pm, with darkness falling, breakers appeared close ahead; she missed stays while trying to tack and ran onto the reef at Dyer Island.

She filled so quickly that the crew took to the boats with nothing saved, rowed through the night and were picked up in Gage Roads next morning by the steamer Maid of Lincoln. By the time the harbour master arrived, only the stump of her mizzen mast still stood. An inquiry found the captain guilty of drunkenness, carelessness and want of judgement, and his certificate was cancelled.

Little of the Raven survives. Her remains lie partly buried in sand and weed in about 6 metres of water at the south-east end of Dyer Island - mostly timber fragments on copper bolts - and are hard to tell from the surrounding reef. An underwater plaque marks the site.

• Experience level: Advanced
• Depth: 3-8 m (wreck about 6 m)
• Access: Boat needed: reef at the south-east end of Dyer Island, about 1 km off Rottnest. On the seaward side of the islet, with breaking reef nearby. Little to see: scattered timbers partly buried in sand and weed, hard to tell from the reef (WA Museum).
• Historic Wreck (1891)
• Wooden Barque
• Dyer Island Reef
• Partly Buried
• Scattered Remains
• Heritage Plaque

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