The small shipwreck off the coast of Rye, masquerading as a reef or hidden in sand for nearly 170 years, was, at first, something of a disappointment.

Researchers had hoped they were onto the Opossum, a ship built by Tasmanian convicts in the early 1820s and posthumously loaded with promises of answers to the mysteries of Australia’s early maritime industries.

The wreck of the Barbara, which was hidden for nearly 170 years until its discovery in 2018. Credit:Heritage Victoria/Flinders University

It turned out last month that the ship they were actually studying, discovered two years earlier by amateur sleuth Peter Taylor, was the wreck of the Barbara – and it has only raised more questions.

“We were sort of taken by surprise,” said Peter Harvey, senior maritime archaeologist with Heritage Victoria.