Cottesloe Unidentified ()

200m inland of Cottesloe Beach, North Street

AN OLD WRECK.
Worlkmnen's Discovery.
Some time ago workmen making a drive for sewerage work in North-street,
North Cottesloe,. found the remains of an old boat wedged between two pinnacles of rock about 200 yards from the beach, and at a depth of 35 to 40 feet. The boat, which was quite small, was stated to be rivetted with copper nails
and only the corner of it was seen. Discussing the find yesterday Mr. L. Russell,
one of the workmen who helped to make the drive, said that in his opinion the
boat was only a small one and not a full-sized wreck. Its depth and distance from the beach convinced him that it had been there for hundreds of years.
The drive, or tunnel, was made through rock and shells that had been compressed into a consistency harder than diorite.
Explosives had to be used and in one of the explosions a quantity of rock and
shell wider than the width needed for the drive was dislodged. The rear corner of an old wooden boat was disclosed lying at an angle of about 45 degrees from the
line.of the drive and resting between two pinnacles of rock. As the boat was not
in the path of the drive, and there were no instructions to investigate further,
the work was continued and the whole channel eventually covered in.
The ship's boat described by Mr Russell is some distance farther north than
previous interesting finds made in the Cottesloe locality, including a "dead eye,"
a block-like attachment used on old vessels as part of the "chains."' Dead eyes
of the type found were used on ships of ancient make. Coins and an old
cannon have also been recovered from the sea or beach at Cottesloe.
(The West Australian, Thursday 12 May 1938 p.23)