Arpenteur is one of the four ships that were built in Seychelles that ended in Australia. The others were Lancier, built on Mahé in 1834; Marie Laure, built at Belombre in 1840; Joséphine Loizeau, built in 1840 on Mahé.
Arpenteur was built on Praslin in 1839. It was a brig of 95 tons. Her name in English means ‘surveyor’ and in Creole ‘arpante’ means to wander or roam. It could be that the name was given to her because she was meant to roam the Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal, Adaman Sea, Mallacca Strait to Singapore, Java and as far east as Australia.
This Photo is Not of The Arpenteur. It is to Illustrate how a Brig Looks Like
Her consecutive owners were Jean-Baptiste Naz, E. Perin, P Henriot, L. Renaud, G. Matin. Her length was 22 meters, her beam was 5.5 meters and draught of 2.3 meters.
Arpenteur Sold
The Arpenteur was originally registered in Port Louis in Mauritius. She had a square stern, a billet head and no galleries. She was purchased in December 1847 by Mr. John Ridly and Captain William Owen from Australia. After the purchase, she immediately sailed from the Seychelles to Mauritius then for Australia where she arrived at Port Adelaide on 1 January 1848. Early in that same year, her registration was transferred to Port Adelaide under new proprietors. From then on, she sailed regularly between Fremantle, Mauritius, Java and Singapore.
Salvaging the Wreck of the Wave
In 1848 the owners of the Arpenteur acquired the salvage rights for the wreck of the Wave for £330 which was wrecked at Cheynes Beach. Arpenteur was in the command of Captain Allen. The Wave was a 103-ton brigantine. She was built in Bermuda in 1838 and was registered for a time in Hong Kong before being purchased by W. Younghusband and C. Hackett of Port Adelaide. She was sailing from Adelaide to Singapore via Albany when she was driven ashore in a storm and totally wrecked at Cheynes Beach on 4th July 1848. There were no casualties reported. When she returned to Fremantle the Arpenteur had 27 tons of flour, 1,000 bushels of wheat, the rigging and sails that the crew had salvaged from the wreck.
Some recorded Voyages
- 26 December 1847 ➜ 26 January 1848 Mauritius to Port Adelaide
- 5 May 1848 ➜ 22 May 1848 Swan River to Port Adelaide
- Departed Fremantle 7 May 1848; arrived Port Adelaide 23 May 1848.
- One of the family on board was Henry, Louisa Fermaner , and their four daughters, and two servants.
- 1848 ➜ 21 December 1848 Mauritius to Port Adelaide
- 2 March 1849 ➜ 22 March 1849 Swan River to Port Adelaide
- 1849 ➜ 8 October 1849 Singapore to Port Adelaide
- South Australian (Adelaide, SA : 1844 – 1851) Tue 27 Jun 1848 Page 2
- (CLEARED OUT) June 23.1848—The brig Arpenteur, 93 tons,
- Captain Croft, for Swan River and Mauritius. Passengers—Messrs. W. Owen, Cheyne, and J. Jolly
- South Australian (Adelaide, SA : 1844 – 1851) Tue 16 Jan 1849 Page 2
- (CLEARED OUT). January 12 -The brig Arpenteur, 95 tons, W. Owen, for King George’s Sound.
Port Adelaide 1848
Arpenteur hit by storms
Mid September 1849, the Arpenteur was carrying eagerly awaited mail from England which had been collected in Singapore and was to be off-loaded at Fremantle. However, bad weather resulted in the brig having to bypass Fremantle, and it headed for Albany intending to offload the mail there. On 28 September 1849 the Arpenteur tried to enter Albany harbour against a violent gale. Unfortunately, the bobstay broke and she could not enter King George Sound and was driven back out to sea, well off the coast.
King George Sound
She therefore continued on to Adelaide, arriving on 9 October. The brig was under the command of Captain John Raines with a crew of nine.
The Loss
The Arpenteur subsequently left Adelaide for Cape Riche with a cargo of eight tons of flour, some sugar, tea and sundry other items. It anchored off Hassell Beach in Cheyne Bay, finally offloaded the mail and began to take on whale oil from the shore whaling station. Six tuns of oil had been loaded when, on 7 November 1849, what was described as a ‘fearful gale’ (Perth Gazette, 23 November 1849: 2b) from the north-east drove it ashore and the Arpenteur became a total wreck. All the crew were saved, but ‘only one or two articles of the cargo had been saved.’
Map Showing Cheynes Beach
Inquiry
There is no record of an official inquiry being held, but a newspaper reported that on 11 November 1849 surveyors had left Albany for Cheyne Bay to make a preliminary examination of the wreck of the Arpenteur. It was ‘considered advisable to sell everything for the benefit of all parties concerned’ (Perth Gazette, 23 November 1849: 2b).
Initial Salvage
The vessel “Emma Sherratt” was sent from Fremantle to attempt to salvage some of the 6 tuns of oil, 8 tons of flour and quantities of tea, sugar and sundries on board the Arpenteur at the time of the wreck. Neither the vessel nor the cargo was insured.
The wreck of the Arpenteur was sold at auction for £11, and ‘the flour part of her cargo, somewhat damaged, realised £5 a ton’ (Perth Gazette, 14 December 1849: 2c). The purchaser of the wreck was Mr Thomas, and his purchase included a tun of oil.
Site Location
She was wrecked at Hassell Beach in Cheyne Bay near Cape Riche 7 November 1849.
Latitude: -34.869779 Longitude: 118.40373
Site Description
The wreck of the Arpenteur was inspected in late 1972 by Graeme Henderson, Department of Maritime Archaeology, Western Australian Museum. She now lies in about 3 m of water on a flat sandy bottom. There are several frames and about 4.6 m of planking, all in good condition, showing above the sand. The planking bears traces of having been coppered. Some rounded stone ballast is also present on the site.
The Coincidence!
The wreck of the Arpenteur lies about 100 metres offshore at the west end of Hassel Beach in Cheyne Bay. The Arpenteur and the brigantine Wave were of a very similar size and construction, and with similar cargoes from the same port. They were wrecked in the same area within 16 months of each other, which has made positive identification of the wreck difficult.
Excavation and Artefacts
There have been some artefacts recovered from the wreck of the Arpenteur. These include the lead draught numerals, 5, 6 and 7, yellow metal sheathing tacks, copper fastenings, iron spikes, treenails and some samples of wood taken from timbers dragged ashore by Charles Westerberg.
The list fo artifacts can be accessed at the site below:
https://environment.gov.au/shipwreck/public/wreck/wreck.do?key=3699
Post Publisher’s Reflection
May be one day the Government of Seychelles can consider negotiating with the West Australian Government to have some of these artifacts, as well as some from the Lancier and Joséphine Loizeau, returned to be placed in the Seychelles Maritime Museum when we do have one established!
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