By David Jones of the Queensland Maritime Museum

Late in 1766 Louis-Antoine de Bougainville set out from Nantes in the frigate La Boudeuse to seek new lands in the Pacific for the glory of his native France.  After 18 months he had visited Tahiti, Samoa and the New Hebrides where he continued west for the great south land, hinted at by earlier voyagers and speculated about in scientific circles in Europe.

On June 6, 1768 Bougainville suddenly found himself confronted by a line of breakers stretching across the western horizon ahead of him.  The situation looked perilous and with his crew weakened by scurvy, Bougainville turned away to the north-east.  Had he known it, beyond this reef lay the Great Barrier Reef and the coast of mainland Australia.  Though he had narrowly missed the prize which James Cook claimed for Great Britain two years later, Bougainville deduced from plant debris seen in the water that a coastline did in fact lie not far to the westward.

Cruising north, Bougainville found instead the south coast of Papua New Guinea, the Louisiade Archipelago and western Solomons, whose largest island bears his name.  When he arrived home in the following year, he was feted as leader of the first French expedition to sail around the world.

The reef which turned Bougainville away from Australia was later given his name and has proved a hazard for many navigators since.  Bougainville Reef lies isolated in the Coral Sea, 140km beyond the seaward ramparts of the Great Barrier Reef, some 225km east of Cooktown.  It is a lonely speck in the ocean, one of several reefs dotted through the Coral Sea creating sudden snares for unwary mariners. 

Formed by thousands of years of coral growth on the peak of a long extinct, submerged volcano, Bougainville Reef encloses a shallow, sandy lagoon.   It is four kilometres long and 2.5km broad, located in 15.49° south latitude, 147.12° east longitude and becomes exposed only at half tide.  All around the reef’s coral rim the seabed plunges to prodigious depths providing no anchorage outside.

Harold Chesterman, captain of the lighthouse tenders Cape Leeuwin and Cape Moreton for over 30 years, knew Queensland’s tropical reefs better than any other mariner of his time.  He described both its hazards and charm as follows.

“This reef can be very difficult to see especially in calm weather at high tide with a low sun, (but) with a heavy south-easterly swell practically the entire edge breaks making it plainly visible, and the great variety of colours makes it a beautiful sight.”1

Bougainville Reef presents a particular danger to shipping, lying near the direct route from Cairns to Papua New Guinea, and the track via Rossell Island to the Far East.  This route became very busy with military traffic during the Second World War.  Mishaps occurred, such as the time an entire convoy ran aground there.  But that is a story of its own. 

Because of these mishaps a temporary wooden light was erected on the reef.  But dramas continued.  On the evening of November 2, 1945 the 4,810 tons freighter Atlas was crossing the Coral Sea on the last stage of her passage from Hong Kong to Cairns.  She was an old ship, steaming in ballast to load a cargo of sugar. 

The night was unusually dark and a strong wind was blowing with rough seas when she struck the eastern end of the reef around 10pm.  At the mercy of wind and sea she was soon driven hard aground with fuel and water tanks holed and waves breaking against her high sides.  Her radio operator immediately sent an SOS.  HMAS Bungaree reached Atlas early next morning to find the stranded freighter in a perilous position.  Most of Atlas’s crew was transferred to Bungaree leaving a skeleton crew of 12 aboard.

Other vessels arrived allowing Bungaree to leave the scene and land her survivors in Cairns.  An inspection was made on the following day.  But with seas breaking over the wreck, driving her further onto the reef, it was soon realised Atlas was beyond salvage.  Still looking like a ship at sea, the wreck of the Atlas stood as a landmark on the reef, gradually breaking up by the stern as her metal succumbed to continuous wave action.

The wreck was still a conspicuous feature in 1958 when Captain Chesterman arrived in Cape Leeuwin to build a permanent light beacon to replace the wartime marker.  The old beacon was no longer secure, its timbers had deteriorated and it leant precariously.  The new light’s construction was a difficult challenge which Chesterman described as follows:

“Imagine having to drive steel piles, cap them with concrete piers and then erect a 60ft (18m) steel tower from the piers on a small exposed coral reef that never uncovers but which rises 6,000ft (1.8km) sheer from the ocean bed so that the ship must remain underway throughout the entire operation.” 1

He concluded with admiration for his crew “This sort of thing is just what my crew calls ‘just another job’.”

This light provided improved visual warning at night and is still in use half a century later.  But as radar became standard equipment for all shipping the wreck of the Atlas remained the primary navigation feature, returning a better radar echo than the lighthouse from a distance.

Yet even these advances in maritime safety did not prevent Bougainville Reef causing more trouble.  In many ways the grounding of the modern Italian motorship Antonio Tarabocchia (5,851 tons) late at night on November 12, 1961 duplicated the loss of the Atlas 16 years before.  Like her predecessor, the Italian freighter was travelling in ballast to load sugar in Townsville and Mourilyan.  Also like Atlas, she struck the reef in darkness with squally south-east winds and rain.  Antonio Tarabocchia was fitted with an up to date radar and echo sounder, but these extra aids failed to protect her.

Antonio Tarabocchia struck the southern corner of the reef with her bow riding up out of the water.  Although she began taking water her master had high hopes she could be refloated.  Fuel was jettisoned and astern power applied, but she remained firmly aground.  Two tugs arrived and attempted to haul the freighter off the reef but without success.

The stranded freighter’s plight worsened as a gash in her bottom had flooded her engine room and two holds.  Heavy salvage pumps were embarked, but to no avail.  Bad weather and rising ocean swells early in December sealed her fate.  Antonio Tarabocchia was driven further onto the reef, breaking her back.  She was now abandoned, her wreck joining Atlas as a second landmark on the reef.

Since 1969 Bougainville Reef has been incorporated in Australia’s Coral Sea Islands Territory which covers 18 tiny groups of reefs and islets across 780,000sqkm of ocean.  With the growth of recreational diving Bougainville Reef has gained a reputation as a choice dive site.  Its abundant marine life and spectacular coral overhangs, tunnels and sheer drops are highly prized by divers, but rarely visited owing to the reef’s isolation, remoteness and exposure to open seas. 

An automatic weather station on Bougainville Reef now forms part of Australia’s comprehensive weather reporting network.  Details of temperature, winds, pressure and rainfall are continuously transmitted and are readily accessible on the Bureau of Meteorology website.   So long a mysterious danger far out at sea, Bougainville Reef has been tamed, now making a positive contribution to Australian life.

Note:

1 Captain Harold Chesterman’s private papers, kindly made available by his family. 

Harold Chesterman was captain of the Brisbane based lighthouse tenders Cape Leeuwin and Cape Moreton for over 30 years and knew the Queensland coast better than anyone else of his time.  His story is told in the book Master Mariner, written by Peter Nunan and David Jones and available from www.outbackbooks.com