Marine Protected Areas
Bow-piece of the Fuku Maru (a tuna boat) shipwreck, Middleton Reef, photo by Jim Western.
Middleton Reef was discovered on 20 July 1788 by Lieutenant John Shortland in the Alexander. He had sailed to Australia with the First Fleet and was returning to Batavia (modern day Jakarta) when he saw the reef. It was named Middleton Shoals in honour of Admiral Sir Charles Theodore Middleton.
The first ship known to have been wrecked on Elizabeth Reef was the 300-ton whaler, Britannia. It went down in August 1806 while sailing from California to Sydney. However the discovery of this reef is generally credited to the ships Claudine and Marquis of Hastings, which reported the existence of a reef to the south of Middleton Reef in 1820. It was not until 1831, when the brig Elizabeth was wrecked there, that the Reef was given a name.
Middleton and Elizabeth Reefs might have escaped notice for a much longer had they not been close so to the major shipping routes from eastern Australia to Asia, the American west coast, and Pacific ports. Between 1806 and 1972, at least 32 vessels are known to have been wrecked on the reefs; 17 on Middleton Reef and 13 on Elizabeth Reef. Some authorities believe the real figure may be as high as 90 vessels because while some of the more recent wrecks are prominent features of the landscape, the majority of wrecks have not been located.