A BELOVED piece of Australian military history, the 82-year-old wooden vessel The Plover, which tragically sunk during a violent September storm while moored at Mornington, has been sold via an online auction.
The 12-metre boat was swamped by waves at Schnapper Point after tumultuous weather hit the peninsula on 2 September, which saw destructive winds of up to 130kph recorded in the area that also tore apart several iconic beach boxes.
Originally built for the Royal Australian Army in 1942, The Plover was a symbol of local heritage, and, until the storms hit, a popular fishing charter boat with Bay Fish N Trips in Mornington. The news of its sinking had been met with shock and sadness from the community who rallied to save the vessel through a GoFundMe launched by the Dolphin Research Institute, which vowed to “do everything we can to get her back on the water”.
Despite the community’s efforts, which raised $7709, the vessel was sold to an unknown buyer for $2000 via grays.com after 24 bids were made during the auction that closed 10 November. According to the sale’s advertisement, it noted the vessel’s hull, superstructure (above the hull), motor and electronics were all submerged in the storm – with the extent of the repair costs being unknown.
“[The] vessel was held by mooring lines but was moving considerably due to wave/water surge, and as a result was impacting the pier,” the sale’s description read. “Additionally, there was a loss of power to the pier which would have not allowed the batteries to remain charged, and the continued operation of the bilge pumps would have drained the batteries. This would have resulted in the continued water ingress and the eventual sinking of the vessel. “Two days later a dive company salvaged the submerged vessel.” It also stated that the hull showed damage under the waterline as well as on the deck, but “there is scope for repairs and return the vessel to service as a commercial charter boat”. The vessel was available for viewing in Carrum for prospective buyers. It remains unknown whether the vessel would be restored to its former glory or serviced again as a charter boat.
At this stage, it marks an end of an era for the vessel which was built as part of an assembly line called Australian Work Boats for the military. After WWII, The Plover was sold to the Department of Ports and Harbours in 1986 before being sold two years later to former ports and harbours employees who used it in a fishing and charter company.
In 2001, the vessel was sold again and used for chartering in Gippsland before being purchased by Bay Fish N Trips in 2010. Until its recent sale, Mark O’Donnell was The Plover’s owner and operator.
In the days after the vessel was retrieved from the water and taken to Martha Cove, Bay Fish N Trips wrote on social media thanking “the thousands of messages and those who have supported the GoFundMe page”. The Dolphin Research Institute’s executive director Jeff Weir expressed his sadness of the vessel having been sold as it was not only a historical icon but a valued contributor of dolphin sightings to the institute’s citizen science program. “We were keen to help out where we could,” Weir said, adding every cent of the fundraiser went back to Bay Fish N Trips and The Plover’s recovery. “We only hope that the new owners will look to rebuild it and get it back on the water.”
Speaking of the freak storm that hit the bay, Weir said, “there was a lot of activity to try and fight to get not only that vessel, but others were at risk as well … it’s a terrible thing and nature’s cruel”. “In terms of putting storm in perspective the extreme winds were between a category two and category three cyclone” with the latter category reaching wind speeds between 118km/h and 159 km/h.
First published in the Mornington News – 26 November 2024