Two grade five students at the Bruny Island District School discovered an early nineteenth century rum bottle last Sunday. James Hawkins and Polly Flint had been doing a school project on the shipwreck of the Hope, which foundered near South Arm, Tasmania in April 1827. Two soldiers who had been conveying the quarterly pay for the Hobart Garrison from Sydney, escaped the wreck by rowing to North Bruny. Legend has it they buried £3,200 in coins at what is now Nebraska beach. While digging a 700 mm hole on Nebraska Beach, James and Polly discovered an earthenware bottle, heavily encrusted with barnacles. They were unable to open the bottle, but when they shook it, they could hear a faint rattling. Yesterday their teacher, Mr Ben Gunn, took the grade fives on an excursion to the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery in Hobart. Polly asked the Curator of Colonial Artefacts, Dr Livesey, to examine the bottle. Dr Livesey scraped off the barnacles and found it was a tall amber Cavalier rum bottle made by Sydneys Harbottle Brown & Co, 1827. He used state-of-the-art equipment to open the bottle and found an ancient piece of paper, showing faint outlines of South Arm and North Bruny. When James asked Dr Livesey to return the map, he advised them it was subject to the Historic Shipwreck’s Act, and that it was against the law for him to return it. He also refused to photocopy the map for them, claiming that photocopying would destroy an historic document. If you think Polly and James should be given a copy of the map, email Dr Livesey on [email protected]. oztreasure.weebly/the-hope-treasure.html
Posted on: Mon, 31 Mar 2014 12:48:42 +0000
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