The Lacepede Islands
Manfred
GPS: S 16° 51.157'
E 122° 07.687'
Location: West Island, Lacepede Islands
Site depth: 6 metres
Divable conditions: Neap tide
Visibilty: 4-10 metres
Vessel: Barque
Construction: Wood
Tons: 750 tons
Vessel length: 46 metres
Wreck event: Wrecked on the rocks
The 587 ton, UK built, wooden barque, the Manfred had loaded 750 tons of guano on 24 January 1879 when the ship began to drag anchor during a gale. It was decided to run the ship aground on the sandbar of the gut however, the barque ended up on the rocks and was soon wrecked. The small site consisting of deck supports, a deck winch and fittings lays in a few metres of water in the intertidal zone only a few metres from the shore.
The Manfred lays wrecked on the rocks in an area called the "Gut", a small channel between two islands that are one of the Indian Ocean's largest breeding grounds for the Brown Booby sea bird. During the 1870s the Lacepedes were extensively mined for its large guano deposits bringing in vessels from around the world, exported mainly to the farmlands of Europe.