Trial's Cannon

When you look around the Shipwrecks Museum you cannot help but notice the number of cannons on display. Being large, solid artefacts, it is no wonder that many survived shipwreck, although they have to be carefully conserved if brought, once again, to dry land.

The cannon located in the centre of the Entrance Gallery is one of the few surviving artefacts from the English East India Company's Trial (Tryall), the first ship known to be wrecked in Australian waters. On the night of 25 May 1622 Trial ran onto a reef on the Monte Bello Islands. With his ship a total loss, Captain Brooks loaded his son and nine trusted sailors into Trial’s skiff while another officer, Thomas Bright, loaded 35 men into the ship’s longboat. The two then set off for Batavia (present day Jakarta). Both boats arrived safely, although one of the men in the skiff died on the voyage. One can only imagine the unhappy fate of the 95 men who remained on the wreck. 

In 1934, after extensive research, historian Ida Lee determined that a place then known as Ritchie’s Reef, was the site of Trial’s wreck. The site remained undisturbed until 1969 when it was visited by members of a diving club. One of the divers later returned to the site and dynamited it in the search for treasure. The wreck was severely damaged. This cannon is one of the few surviving items salvaged from Trial.