Colonel William Light’s ship HMS Rapid lost an anchor on 8th September 1836 “during wild weather whilst anchored near the cave end of Rapid Bay beach”.
According to Wikipedia, “Rapid was a brig launched in 1821 or 1826 at Yarmouth. In 1836 she brought William Light's surveying party to the new colony of South Australia.”
Further, “Mr. Roper, harbormaster at Second Valley, found [when?] an anchor at Rapid Bay that was believed to be the one Rapid lost.”
According to https://www.geni.com/projects/Rapid-Brig-Colonists-to-South-Australia-in-1836/39066 , “Mr. Roper, harbormaster at Second Valley, found many years ago an old anchor at Rapid Bay on the eastern side of the beach at very low tide. He felt sure that it was the anchor lost by the Rapid, as it was opposite, according to the sketch of Col. Light, where the Rapid anchored. It must have been there a very long time to have rusted away so much. No doubt it was carried inshore by the seaweed round the chain.”
This is Colonel William Light’s sketch of his ship: -
Col. Light’s sketch of HMS Rapid
Robert (Bob) Sexton wrote about the Rapid in “Ships that Passed – A glimpse of South Australian maritime history”. He suggested that the Rapid was a snow rather than a brig due to the presence of sails in its inventory.
According to Wikipedia, a “Snow: the largest of all old two-masted vessels. The sails and rigging on the main mast of a snow are exactly similar to those on the same masts in a full-rigged ship; only that there is a small mast behind the mainmast of the former, which carries a sail nearly resembling the mizzen of a ship.”
A brig, on the other hand, is described as “a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square-rigged. Brigs originated in the second half of the 18th century and were a common type of smaller merchant vessel or warship from then until the latter part of the 19th century.”
LJ Ewens wrote about the Rapid in “The South Australian Colonizing Ships of 1836”. He gives its tonnage as 162 tons and the build date as 1826. He gives its measurements as 70’ X 22’ (21.336m X 6.7056m). Col. Light’s sketch of HMS Rapid “Sailing up Gulf St Vincent” is said to have been completed by him on 20th March 1839. Mind you, the Rapid is certainly not sailing in his sketch. Its sails are down and it has at least two anchor lines out.
The location of the original stocked anchor is unknown It is suggested that it was placed onshore at Rapid Bay at the time, but it was eventually replaced by a replica which was placed near the toilet block at the Rapid Bay camping ground.
“Rapid Bay … before we forget – History & memoirs of a mining town” by Des Lord states that the replica anchor was placed on a monument. It had been made by Richard Woolcock of Woolcock Engineering at Parawa. A plaque on the monument was unveiled by the Governor of SA, Sir Donald Dunstan on 8th September 1986 as part of SA’s Sesquicentenary (Jubilee 150) celebrations. It was apparently 150 years to the day that Col. Light had landed at Rapid Bay.
The anchor monument is shown in photographs on pages 239-240.
Here is a close-up of the plaque: -
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