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Loch Ard Gorge

This gorge was named after the clipper “Loch Ard", which was wrecked here on 1st June 1878. She was sailing from London to Melbourne &, within one d...
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This gorge was named after the clipper “Loch Ard", which was wrecked here on 1st June 1878. She was sailing from London to Melbourne &, within one day’s sail of her destination. Wreckage was piled over two metres high in this gorge. There were pianos, concertinas, dresses, candles, spirits & champagne. But salvagers only recovered goods to the value of about £2000. Most of the cargo – worth in total more than £68,000 – was looted or lost in a later storm.

Only 2 of the 54 people on board the Loch Ard survived. 18-year-old Eva Carmichael, one of a family of eight Irish immigrants, & ship’s apprentice Tom Pearce. They sheltered overnight in a cave & were rescued the next day.
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