Margaret Ganly shares her memories of growing up and living in the house built from the 1891 wreck of the Joseph H Scammell.
Canadian sailing ship the Joseph H Scammell that was built in Eatonville, Nova Scotia in 1884 came to grief on the reef at Point Danger, Torquay on a stormy May night in 1891. The wreck and its cargo was strewn along the coastline from Point Impossible to Point Danger and is well known for numbers of visitors to visit the wreck site as well as the large scale pilfering and smuggling that occurred.
Margaret’s grandfather bought the undamaged deckhouse at auction, had it dragged up to his block of land, put another story on the deck house and thereby creating a wonderful holiday house for his large family.
The anchor of the Scammell shipwreck sits on the Torquay foreshore pointing to the position where the ship hit the reef.