Norwegian iron ship Songvaar 2,128 tons sat on her anchor at her moorings off Wardang Island. She was holed and sank. Songvaar had been loaded with 3,500 tons (40,700 bags) of wheat by the usual method at Port Victoria--lightering by ketch and small schooner while moored in the open roadstead. Prior to final departure the ship was moved to another mooring between the northern end of Wardang Island and Point Pearce on the mainland.

Captain Isaken went ashore to arrange final clearance and in his absence the chief officer let go the second bower anchor as the weather was deteriorating.

As the tide ebbed the ship settled on her anchor and one of the flukes had pierced the hull. Songvaar settled upright in the water. Attempts to refloat the vessel were abandoned.

Songvaar remained in this position for eight years until finally breaking up during a storm in 1920. Demolition was completed with explosives as the wreck was considered hazardous to other shipping in the area.

Wardang Island: maritime heritage trail Adelaide: State Heritage Branch, Dept. of Environment and Planning, 1991

Cormack, Neil W. Sagas of steam and sail [Largs North, S. Aust.]: N.W. Cormack, 2002 (Yorketown, S. Aust.: Pioneer Printing Office) pp. 47-8

Loney, J. K. Wrecks on the South Australian coast: including Kangaroo Island Yarram, Vic.: Lonestone Press, 1993

Shipwrecks: Wardang Island

Maritime Heritage: Shipwreck Trails. Wardang Island Maritime Heritage Trail

Postcards: Yorke Peninsula. Wardang Island

SA Memory Wooden walls and iron sides - South Australia's maritime history

State Library of South Australia: Mortlock Wing exhibitions. Wooden Walls and Iron Sides August 2004-