Browse Island Winch
GPS: S 14° 06.216'
E 123° 33.114'
Location: Browse Island
Site depth: 1- 6 metres
Divable conditions: Neap tide change
Visibilty: +15 metres
Vessel: Unknown
Construction: Unknown
Tons: Unknown
Vessel length: N/A
Wreck event: Unknown
Located near Scott Reef and almost 250 miles north from Broome, lays a small island rising from the depths of the Timor Sea called Browse Island. From the 1870s to 1887 the small 35 acre island was extensively mined for its guano deposits by the Adelaide owned "Browse Island Guano Company". For over a decade a steady stream of ships called on the island to unload supplies and load guano, mainly destined for the farmlands of Europe.
In 2015 we were lucky enough to get our second trip out to Browse and we were able to spend some time searching for any signs of the 6 known but undiscovered wrecks surrounding the island, one thing we discovered was a deck winch and heavy anchor chain from a large 19th century ship all by itself on the outer fringing reef. Possibly the only iron remains from one of the three wooden ships wrecked when cyclones struck the island in 1878.
Browse Island Unidentified
GPS: S 14° 06.444’
E 123° 33.303’
Location: Browse Island
Site depth: 3-7 metres
Divable conditions: Neap tide change
Visibilty: +15 metres
Vessel: Iron Hulled Guano ship
Construction: Iron
Tons: Unknown
Vessel length: Unknown
Wreck event: Unknown
The unidentified iron wreck on the eastern shallows at Browse Island. Browse Island is a small deserted scrub island surrounded by untouched reef in WA's far north. The island rises up from a depth of 200 metres, almost 200 kilometres offshore and 500 kilometres north from Broome and the Rowley Shoals.
Given its very remote location and difficulty to inspect, the identity is not officially determined however, the Runnymede is the only recorded iron wreck lost at Browse Island. The ship was used by the “Browse Island Guano Company” that mined the island from 1876 to 1887. The Runnymede was lost in a cyclone in 1880 while at anchor waiting to load Guano mined from the island. This wreck sits on the eastern edge of the fringing reef with its bow to shore, the site dries at low tide and is easily distinuishable amongst the reef.