TRIAL (TRYALL) (1621-1622)
First fleet of four ships set sail for Spice Islands of Sumatra and Java 1601
Description
Tall or Great Ship
Construction
Wood
Size
500 tons
Built
Deptford UK
Owner
English East India Co. Skipper: John Brookes
Sunk
25 May1622
Location
Tryal Rocks near Monte Bello Islands
Latitude/Longitude
(-20.2859833333, 115.3752333333)
Sinking
Departed Plymouth on maiden voyage for Batavia (now Jakarta). Stopped at Cape Town learned of new Brouwer route to the Indies. On the night of 25 May 1622 with 143 on board struck the reef now reef named Trial Rocks. Brooke, son John and nine others boarded a skiff and Thomas Bright and 35 others a longboat, sailing for Batavia separately. 93 sailors were lost and one died in the skiff.
Underwater
In June 1971 a Museum expedition sponsored by Michael Kailis of Gulf Fisheries surveyed the site, which consists of a number of cannon and anchors, granite ballast stones, and a surprisingly sparse scattering of small artefacts. When I dived on the wreck as a member of that team I saw electrical cable among the cannon, this being the remains of explosive devices left over from a visit to the site by rogue diver Allan Robinson. The wreck provides an exhilarating snorkel or scuba dive but, given the site’s isolation, safety precautions above and below water are particularly necessary. A later Museum expedition led by Jeremy Green raised a cannon and other objects, but again found few small artefacts and no personal items. It may be that, as the ship broke up, the upper sections drifted off the shallow reef into deeper water. ( From UNFINISHED VOYAGES by Graeme Henderson)
Gallery
