On October 5 1898, spars and wreckage, on one piece of which was the name “Philadelphia” in zinc letters, were washed ashore at Orepuki, Foveaux Strait. With the discovery of further wreckage in a bay at Stewart Island it was conjectured that the ship Philadelphia, which sailed from Newcastle, N.S.W., on August 27, bound for Callao with a cargo of 2,700 tons of coal, and which never reached her destination, had foundered in the vicinity of Foveaux Strait.The Philadelphia was a steel, full rigged ship of 1,805 tons gross, and 1,710 tons net register, built at Geestemunde, Germany, in 1892 by J. C. Techlenborg, and her dimensions were : length 255 ft, beam 38.9 ft, depth 23 ft. It is believed that Captain J. Wachter was in command of the ship when it was lost.
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