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Wreck of the Loch Ard

When
1878
Where
Shipwreck Coast, Victoria, Australia; Loch Ard Gorge, Port Campbell National Park, Victoria, Australia
Episodes
3

The iron-hulled clipper Loch Ard, built in Scotland in 1873, wrecked on the Shipwreck Coast of Victoria, Australia, on 1 June 1878. The disaster resulted in the loss of 52 lives from a total of 54 people on board, leaving only two survivors. The event is commemorated by Loch Ard Gorge, named after the vessel.

Episodes

  1. 1 June 1878 · Shipwreck Coast, Victoria, AustraliaWreck of the Loch Ard

    The clipper Loch Ard wrecked on the Shipwreck Coast of Victoria, Australia, on 1 June 1878, resulting in the loss of 52 lives.

  2. 1 June 1878 · Shipwreck Coast, Victoria, AustraliaSurvival of Pearce and Carmichael

    Thomas Pearce and Eva Carmichael were the only two survivors of the Loch Ard wreck.

  3. 1 June 1878 · Loch Ard Gorge, Port Campbell National Park, Victoria, AustraliaNaming of Loch Ard Gorge

    The wreck gave its name to Loch Ard Gorge on the Shipwreck Coast.

Background and detail

Background. Loch Ard was an iron-hulled clipper ship built in Scotland in 1873 by Charles Connell and Company for the General Shipping Company. It operated between Great Britain and Australia. The vessel departed Gravesend, Kent, on 1 March 1878, bound for Melbourne, carrying 36 crew members and 18 passengers, totaling 54 people on board.

Survivors. Of the 54 passengers and crew, only two survived the wreck. Thomas Pearce, an apprentice, clung to the upturned hull of a lifeboat. Eva Carmichael, an Irishwoman emigrating with her family, survived by clinging to a spar for five hours. Three months after the disaster, which claimed the lives of seven members of her family, Carmichael returned to Ireland.

Legacy. The wreck gave its name to Loch Ard Gorge on the Shipwreck Coast. The gorge is part of Port Campbell National Park, Victoria, Australia. At least four passengers are buried nearby, including Eva Carmichael's elder sister Raby and their mother Rebecca. A decorative porcelain peacock from the cargo is now on display at the Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum in Warrnambool.

People involved

Sources

  1. Loch Ard (ship) Wikipedia, revision of 2026-03-07
  2. Loch Ard Gorge Wikipedia, revision of 2026-10-05

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.