The anchor is from the wooden sailing ship CHILDREN, which was wrecked at Childers Cove east of Warrnambool on the 14th of January 1839 with the loss of 16 lives. The Children anchor was raised from the wreck site by Flagstaff Hill Divers: Peter Ronald, Garry Hayden (Terang, still), Tim Goodall (now Warrnambool), and Colin Goodall (now Warrnambool), on Sunday, 3rd January 1974. A week or so later, it was dragged up the cliffs and taken to Warrnambool. It is now on display near the entrance to the Maritime Museum and Village. It appears to be a Pering’s Improved Anchor, developed at Portsmouth after 1813. The addition of broad curvature to the anchor arms provided a stronger purchase than the pre-existing Admiralty Old Pattern Long Shanked Anchor with straight arms. However, the evidence of hammer-welding of the separate pieces of the arms and palms to the central shank, peaked crown and flat palms, suggests the manufacture is before the 1831 Rodger’s Anchor design, which cast both arms and their flukes as one piece that was then attached to the shank by a bolt through the crown. This identification seems consistent with the date of the CHILDREN’s construction in 1824. The CHILDREN was a three-masted barque with a wooden hull built at Liverpool in England. The vessel was bought by the Henty family of Portland (Australia Felix) in 1837 for regular coastal trading between Van Diemens Land (now Tasmania), the Port Phillip District of New South Wales and South Australia. Only 255 tons burden (92 feet in length, with a beam of 25 feet and depth of 17 feet), it sailed from Launceston bound for Adelaide in late December 1838, on its first Australian voyage and under the English master who had brought the barque out, Captain H. Browne. On board the CHILDREN were 24 passengers, including 9 children, the captain and 14 crew; livestock of 1500 sheep, 8 bullocks and 7 horses; general cargo of beef, pork, tobacco, tripe, butter, limejuice, horse hair, currants, lead shot, beer and spirits; 5,000 house bricks from London; and six whaling boats with associated whaling gear. The vessel was battered by gale-force north-westerly winds shortly after setting out from Launceston on 11 January 1839, and adverse sailing conditions persisted for the next four days. At 11 pm on the 14th of January 1839, and many miles north and east of the captain’s navigated position, the CHILDREN struck the Pinnacle, a limestone stack off what is now called Childers Cove. Within half an hour, the ship was destroyed. As well as the loss of livestock and cargo, 16 passengers and crew perished, including the captain, six men, one woman and nine children. In 1931, shifting sands at Childers Cove uncovered the skeleton of an adult male. In 1951, another two skeletons were exposed by storms, an adult male and a child. In 1963, some district scuba divers retrieved a small signal cannon from the site. And in 1974, Flagstaff Hill recovered the anchor and some house bricks. The anchor recovered from the Children's wreck is significant as part of the equipment of the early 19th-century barque. The 1839 wreck and recovered artefacts are examples of the construction methods and materials used in that era and can be used to study the evolution of shipbuilding methods and principles. The wreck of the Children is of state significance as one of colonial Victoria’s earliest and most significant maritime disasters, and one of the first vessels lost in the Western District. This is recognised by its inclusion on the Victorian Heritage Register, VHR No. S116. Little is left on the seabed to mark the tragedy, apart from some of the house bricks intended for the Henty settlement. A large forged, wrought iron anchor from the wreck of the CHILDREN. Flat hammer-welded flukes on opposing curved arms and a peaked crown. It has a metal, elbowed stock or cross-bar and a heavy-duty pinned, flat-ring shackle for the anchor chain. It is in fair condition but extensively corroded after 135 years on the seabed. flagstaff hill, flagstaff hill maritime museum and village, warrnambool, maritime museum, maritime village, great ocean road, shipwreck coast, shipwreck artefact, children, barque, three-masted, liverpool, childer’s cove, port campbell, 1839 shipwreck, 1939 wreck, james henty and co, henty brothers, captain h. browne, first mate t. gay, second mate w. wentworth, portland, portland bay, anchor, ship’s anchor, peter ronald, garry hayden, tim goodall, colin goodall, pering’s improved anchor