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On April 27, 1827 the Hope left Sydney laden with passengers and 100 tons of cargo.
During the evening of April 28 they picked up the Pilot at Cape Raoul. The night was dark with light wind and drizzle. The Pilot said he would sail the Hope in while the Captain preferred that his ship be towed in by the ship's boats. The Captain deferred to the Pilot and left the ship in his hands.
At 4 in the morning the Hope ran ashore in high surf. Amazingly all passengers and crew were rescued. The beach where the Hope foundered is now known as Hope Beach.
Rumours emerged that the Hope held the quarterly pay of the garrison guarded by two soldiers. These soldiers were said to have hidden the box containing the pay in the sand dunes of Hope Beach. They were then transferred to India where one died. The other, unable to return to Tasmania, sold the story of the hidden treasure to an Irishman called McKinnon.
McKinnon sold his farm and came to Tasmania with a rough plan of the location of the buried treasure. In Hobart Town he bought tools, stores and a mining licence and hired a boat to take him, not to Hope Beach but to Bruny Island, where he proceeded to dig. His actions, and a large and heavy box that he had with him, raised the suspicions of the local constabulary but when the box was opened it was found to contain nothing but two small phials of what was said to be snake bite cure. Nothing was ever proven and to this day the treasure, if it had in fact ever existed, remains unfound.
Animation courtesy of Lena Cruickshank