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15/08/2005: "SAUMAREZ REEFS ........shipwreck watercolor artwork"

The USS Francis Preston Blair was a 7,196 ton Liberty Ship that slid onto Saumarez Reef in the Coral Sea during the closing stages of WWII.

Rumour was the ship had been hit in the bow by a torpedo and was run aground to save her cargo. This was denied but it does not explain the explosion hole in the ship's bow, except the Royal Australian Air Force owns the wreck and uses her for target practice.

Saumarez Reef is approx 250 nautical miles east of the Australian coast near to the Tropic of Capricorn.



The Saumarez Reefs are the southernmost reefs to be located on the Coral Sea Shelf, being located 85 km to the east of the Great Barrier Reef's Swain Reefs and 95 km to the southwest of the Frederick Reefs. The Saumarez Reefs consist of three main reefs and numerous smaller reefs that form a large crescent-shaped formation, measuring 39 km across, that is open to the northwest. There are two sand cays: North East Cay and South West Cay.

Source:oceandots.com