Shipwreck Databases Western Australian Museum

The Redemptora

Author/s M. Gainsford

Year of publication 2003

Report Number: 166

Introduction
The Redemptora is a wooden vessel that is thought to have been, wrecked or stranded in what is now Jervoise Bay, Cockburn Sound. The vessel lies in 2.5 to 3 m of water but in September 2002 the vessel was reported to be partially exposed, because of the removal of ballast off the site. It appears that the ballast was removed from the site some time ago, possibly up to two years and the degradation across the site supports this.

The WA Maritime Museum took the initiative to assess the site after they were notified that some of the ballast had been removed. This prompted a site inspection and a High Precision Acoustic Surveying System (HPASS) survey. This acoustic surveying system allowed a detailed plan to be developed by taking a series of points across the site. The system uses sound which is bounced back from transponders around the site to fix a position in the network. This survey was conducted by students from the Museum as one of their ongoing projects for their Graduate Diploma in 2002.

After the survey and site inspection were concluded it was decided to replace the ballast that had been removed from the site. This was conducted over a period of eight days when the ballast was lifted and moved across the site where it was deposited to restabilise the wreck.