The Changing State of the Ethel Wreck

Steve Reynolds
Sep 14, 2022
2 min read

Updated: Jan 17, 2023

The wreck of the Ethel has continuously changed since that fateful day when it was wrecked at Reef Head on the Yorke Peninsula on 2nd January 1904.

The Ethel was a 177-foot long, 3-masted iron barque of 711 tons built in Sunderland, England in 1876. It was sailing from South Africa to Semaphore, South Australia (not the other way round) when it was wrecked at Reef Head during a storm.

Here are some photos taken of the ship about the time of the wrecking in 1904: -

The Ethel at Reef Head, 1904

(State Library of SA - B 33392)

(Source: "the wreck of the Ethel pamphlet", Yorke Peninsula VIC, Feb 2011)

The Ethel at Reef Head, 1904

(Source: Sunday Mail 14th June 2009)

The deck of The Ethel, 1904

(State Library of SA - PRG 280/1/32/61)

(Source: "the wreck of the Ethel pamphlet", Yorke Peninsula VIC, Feb 2011)

The damaged and stranded Ethel in 1904

(State Library of SA - PRG 280/1/2/107)

(Source: "the wreck of the Ethel pamphlet", Yorke Peninsula VIC, Feb 2011)

1904: The barque Ethel, high and dry near Reef Head, Yorke Peninsula

(Source: The Advertiser, 7th February 2000)

The following photos show the changes to the wreck over the passing years: -

The wreck in 1927

(Source: Sunday Mail 10th May 2015, courtesy the State Library of SA)

The Ethel, 1933

(State Library of SA - B62758)

(Source: "the wreck of the Ethel pamphlet", Yorke Peninsula VIC, Feb 2011)

Wreck of the Ethel in 1963

(Source: The Advertiser 23rd October 1996)

The wreck of the Ethel

(Taken by Ian Coles)

(Source: "Yorke Peninsula, South Australia"

published by the Yorke Peninsula Tourist Development Association)

The Ethel Wreck

(Post card published by Jasmine Saint)

The 'present' state of the Ethel

(According to "the wreck of the Ethel pamphlet", Yorke Peninsula VIC, Feb 2011)

The boardwalk and stairs down to Ethel

(Sourced from "the wreck of the Ethel pamphlet", Yorke Peninsula VIC, Feb 2011)

Wreck site in 2014

(Taken by Steve Reynolds)

The wreck of the Ethel, exposed by a recent storm

(Source: Sunday Mail 10th May 2015, taken by Cath Cameron)

How the wreck usually appears

(According to the Sunday Mail, 10th May 2015)

An anchor from the Ethel is displayed above the wreck site. I have this fridge magnet featuring an old photo of the anchor: -

According to "The Treatment of Artefacts in South Australia" by Kentish, Dillon & Booth in "Proceedings of the Second Southern Hemisphere Conference on Maritime Archaeology", (p.444, plate 89), an anchor from the Ethel had been "displayed with an insufficient conservation treatment: -

An anchor from the wreck of the Ethel

(Source: "The Treatment of Artefacts in South Australia" by Kentish, Dillon & Booth in "Proceedings of the Second Southern Hemisphere Conference on Maritime Archaeology", (p.444, plate 89)

Here is my own photo of the anchor, taken in 2014: -