 These were both wrecked on the Ningaloo Reef, which like the Abrolhos Islands off Geraldton was a notorious 'ship trap'.Of the colonial era wrecks, the "James Matthews" a former slave ship; the , an iron hulled steamer with a unique ex-gunboat engine are the most prominent.Others prominent on the basis of their being excavated and on the amount of research conducted into them include the "Elizabeth" "Belinda", "Stefano", and "Eglinton" early wooden-hulled merchant vessels, the "Sepia" and "Europa" iron barques, the "Day Dawn", a former American Whale ship, the wooden whalers "Star", "Lively", "Lady Lyttelton" .