Select a thumbnail photo on the left for an enlargement

Shipwreck Photo's of the American Star/ SS Australis are courtesy of my good friend Christiane Schuster (in Germany) Christiane is a much accomplished Photographer Christiane took more photos in 2005, check them out, below... left column. Christiane is an accomplished Photographer who resides in Germany.            See her Photo Gallery

Where is the ship now?

Shipwrecked since 1994 at the island of Fuerteventura which is part of the
Canaries group of islands off the West coast of Africa, that belong to Spain.

The ship was being towed to Taiwan, at the time there was a storm and the ship broke free.
Then known as the "American Star" in 1994, she ran aground.

Ironically, she ran aground near Las Palmas which was her usual port of
call during her southbound voyages to Australia.

Below are 2 Satellite images showing the ships approximate location.
Satellite images courtesy of NASA (not copyrighted, free for educational use)

The Canary Islands

The dotted arrow shows the route the SS Australis took on her Southbound voyages
to Australia while with "Chandris Lines"

This Island group belongs to Spain

From the port of Southampton (England) she sailed to the port of Las Palmas (Canary Islands)
then onto Capetown (South Africa) then the long Indian Ocean crossing to Perth (Australia)
Melbourne & Sydney (Australia) were her next ports of call.

The Northbound voyage to Europe was via New Zealand & The Pannama Canal

Fuerteventura
A popular holiday location for the Europeans these days, the wreck however, is far from the resorts at the other end of the Island. A hire car is necessary.

UPDATE! June 2007, latest photos from other related web-sites, reveal the sad sight of the ship having almost broken up :-(