The wreck of the Hope in 1827
Greg Jeffreys | Published on 3/3/2026
The Hope was a colonial trading brig purchased in London and refitted by Major MacIntosh in 1821 for the journey to Tasmania. Major Hugh MacIntosh and Peter Degraves (founder of The Cascades) sailed for Hobart in 1824 where it was wrecked on April 29, 1827, on a sandbank at Hope Beach near the Derwent River entrance.
After it was wrecked the Hope spawned one of Tasmania's great treasure stories as it supposedly contained the Hobart Garrison's quarterly pay chest, about three thousand pounds in coins alegedly buried in the sandunes.