Bart Bear's Blog

This is the anchor of the American sailing ship "Eric the Red". "Eric" was wrecked on a reef just off Cape Otway lighthouse on September 3rd, 1880. The captain thought he was much further out to sea and steered in toward the lighthouse. There were no survivors. Lots of wreckage came ashore between Apollo Bay and Port Campbell. We saw some houses in Apollo Bay that had had additions built with timber from the wreck. The anchor is now displayed at the Cape Otway lightstation. You can see from the photo that the anchor is over 10 Bart's long, so you can imagine the size of "Eric the Red". Sea travel along the southern coast of Australia was a dangerous business in the days when ships were powered only by the wind.

Labels: Great Ocean Road, lighthouse, Victoria