The loss of the dredge Clarence in 1890

In April 2022, the Port of Yamba Historical Society received a request from Dave Murrell, per Captain Mike Hinshaw of Palmers Island, to try and identify a wreck found 4 kilometres east of the mouth of the Clarence River. It was detected in about 39m water depth during a hydrographic survey and was estimated to be approximately 35 metres long and 10 metres wide. The high point stood about 1.9m off the seabed, otherwise the wreck was fairly flat with scour around it.

Scans of the wreck taken during the hydrographic survey

The request was passed on to research officer, John McNamara. He considered it to be too large for a trawler and there were no known war wrecks on record in the area. One suggestion was that it might be a barge and this triggered a recollection of the loss of the dredge Clarence in 1890.

From newspaper reports of the time, the Clarence was designed by the Engineer-in-Chief for Harbours and Rivers and was built of wood, coppered, in 1877 at a cost of $37,200. The hull was built at Woolloomooloo by Mr Sheehy, and his engines made and fitted at Mort’s Engineering Works, Waterview Bay. The hull was 32m long from stem to stem, 8.54 beam, and 3.66m deep. The dredge was known as a “centre well”, with one ladder, which worked in an opening or “well” in the centre of the hull. Although there are no known photographs of the vessel it was probably designed along the lines of a Clyde Steam Dredger.