{"id":246269,"date":"2025-05-18T22:28:20","date_gmt":"2025-05-18T22:28:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/aerospace\/how-researchers-discovered-a-168-year-old-dutch-shipwreck-off-the-coast-of-australia-in-underwater-blizzard-conditions\/"},"modified":"2025-05-18T22:28:20","modified_gmt":"2025-05-18T22:28:20","slug":"how-researchers-discovered-a-168-year-old-dutch-shipwreck-off-the-coast-of-australia-in-underwater-blizzard-conditions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=246269","title":{"rendered":"How Researchers Discovered a 168-Year-Old Dutch Shipwreck Off the Coast of Australia in Underwater ‘Blizzard’ Conditions"},"content":{"rendered":"


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The Dutch merchant ship \u2018Koning Willem de Tweede\u2019 sank off the coast of South Australia in a violent storm in June 1857<\/h2>\n
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\n \"Sarah\n <\/div>\n
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Sarah Kuta<\/a><\/p>\n

– Daily Correspondent<\/span><\/p>\n

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The 140-foot Dutch vessel sank during a violent storm off the coast of South Australia in June 1857, killing 16 of the 25 crew members onboard
\n Maritime Museum Rotterdam<\/span>
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Nearly 170 years ago, a Dutch merchant ship called the Koning Willem de Tweede<\/em> sank off the coast of South Australia. Now, after years of searching, researchers have finally located the shipwreck, according to an\u00a0announcement<\/a> from the Australian National Maritime Museum.<\/p>\n

A team found the vessel\u2019s winch and several other components protruding from the seafloor in Guichen Bay, a large inlet on South Australia\u2019s southeast coast, reports the Australian Broadcasting Corporation<\/a>\u2019s Josh Brine. Researchers studied historical records to narrow down the search area, then used a marine magnetometer\u2014a type of underwater metal detector\u2014to search for iron beneath the waves.<\/p>\n

The 140-foot vessel sank during a violent storm in June 1857, killing 16 of the 25 crew members onboard. The captain, Hindrik Remmelt Giezen, only survived by tying himself to a cask and letting the waves drag it to shore, per TVNZ\u2019s 1News<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Days earlier, the ship had dropped off more than 400 Chinese miners in the town of Robe. At that time, the neighboring colony of Victoria (now a state) was in the midst of a gold rush, which attracted fortune-seekers from around the world.<\/p>\n

But when Chinese miners began arriving around 1854, they were often met with \u201csuspicion and racism because of their different language, dress, food and customs,\u201d according to the State Library of New South Wales<\/a>. And though the Chinese prospectors only searched for gold in areas that had already been picked over, they were often accused of stealing European, Australian and American men\u2019s claims.<\/p>\n

In the ensuing years, xenophobia and racism against Chinese miners only worsened. Europeans, Australians and Americans organized violent, racially motivated riots and lawmakers began enacting anti-Chinese immigration legislation, according to Encyclopaedia Britannica<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Officials also set a \u00a310 ($13) entry tax for each Chinese prospector who arrived in Victoria. To get around the fee, many entered the country through South Australia instead. From there, many walked upwards of 250 miles to reach their intended destinations, per Divernet<\/em><\/a>\u2019s Steve Weinman.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe saw a lot of Chinese immigrants coming into Robe, landing there and then walking all the way to the Goldfields to bypass a tax on immigrants coming into Victoria,\u201d says Mark Polzer, maritime heritage officer for South Australia\u2019s Department for Environment and Water, to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. \u201cIt’s an important wreck for the local area, but it tells this broader story \u2026 of immigration.\u201d<\/p>\n