I made a stop for a couple days in Fremantle, which is immediately south of Perth, and does a good job of making it feel like you aren’t in a place as big as Perth. I didn’t have time to do a whole lot, other than get some work done on the bike, and check out one of the museums in town. Oh, and I found this statue of Bon Scott.


There’s quite a bit of history here, as the city was founded in 1829 and meant to be the main port for the new colony that was starting in Western Australia…I definitely could’ve spent a bit more time here, looking around at the various museums and sights.

The one museum I had a chance to go to was the Shipwreck Gallery…I felt like it’d be a bit more unique that your typical museum.
There are plenty of little artifacts that have been recovered from the shipwrecks off the WA coast, but a few of the things they have here were pretty astounding…the best being this huge chunk of the Batavia, a Dutch ship which sank in 1629 and was recovered between 1970 and 1974.

 
This cannon was recovered from the Batavia wreckage. A number of other cannons were also recovered, but this one was a bit more unique. All the others were typical solid, single metal cannons, but this one is a composite cannon, made from a combination of copper, bronze, lead, iron, and wrought iron.

The English ship, Trial, sank in 1622. As the two life boats were heading back to Indonesia, one briefly landed in Australia to look for fresh water. This was the first recorded landing in Australia by the English. This cannon (with a rebuilt carriage, of course) was from the Trial.

Various bottles and jars have been recovered, some of which are still sealed and contain food.

This diving helmet belonged to Henry Atwell, who was diving on the wreck of the SS Macedon in 1883 when a storm swept through and sank his boat as well. The helmet was recovered in 1976 during a period of better weather.

The SS Xantho was a steam ship that sank in 1872. The wreck was found in 1979 and recovered in 1985. This was the condition the engine was in when it was recovered…

Today, the restoration of the motor is still underway, but at this point, it can be turned over by hand…pretty incredible for having been under water for over 100 years!
 

On to the bike…I had to get a new water pump seal (not really sure what went wrong there), new steering head bearings (after all the rough roads in India and SE Asia, this comes as no big surprise), and a new Michelin Anakee 3 rear tire (I couldn’t have ridden another day on my Avon Distanzia)