Jason was on the beach during a "very low tide" last Tuesday, following the weekend storm.

A big swell had eroded "two to three-plus metres of sand depth from the beach", he said.

"There was no access down to the beach in either direction for at least a kilometre or two, as the dunes were washed out.

"It was just a two- to three-metre straight drop all the way along. I came in from the Blacksmiths breakwall."

While he was checking out the wreck, an old story came to mind about a vessel running ashore to save the crew.

This vessel was a paddle steamer called the Lowestoft.

"I can remember over 40 years ago my late father spoke of the vessel's demise," Jason said.

"My family on his side go way back in the seafaring and shipping industry out of the UK."

Jason can't confirm if the wreck is the Lowestoft. Nevertheless, he said there was a "very interesting story" behind the vessel.

It was built in England in 1846 and beached on October 1, 1864.

"All crew on board were saved by the captain - Mr Beechy - who elected to run her ashore, after she was hit by what was described as gale-force hurricane winds and massive waves that virtually swamped her to the extent that they couldn't bail her out quick enough.

"The paddle steamer was on route from Newcastle to Sydney to tow another vessel. The captain and the pilot - Mr Hescott - were on board with the first engineer and crew.

"The weather got so bad they couldn't see a boat's length in front."

When the captain beached the vessel, the crew apparently made their way back into Newcastle while the captain and pilot remained with the wreckage. Not long after being beached it broke in two.

The vessel was apparently insured for 3000 pounds.

"She was 29.3 metres long," he said.

"Keep in mind this vessel was all iron, some 90 tonnes of it, so it wasn't about to get washed very far once beached."

Jason got this historic information from what he believes was a shipping log published in The Sydney Morning Herald in 1864.

"The wreckage I examined contained heavy piping and thick rusted iron and appeared to be the type of build used in the steam industry."

Historian Ed Tonks said the wreck could be an old tram wagon from the 1880s.

"There was a tramway from south of Swansea across the first [Swansea] bridge to Blacksmiths," Ed said.

A locomotive was used to haul wagons of stones along a railway line from a quarry in south Swansea to build breakwaters and training walls, he said.

This was part of a plan for a harbour in the area.

"They did the southern breakwater first, then the northern one," Ed said.

The work ceased around the year 1909.

"By 1916, there was no sign of the railway there at all," he said.

Why did the crew of a shipwreck get to eat chocolate cake when they washed up on shore?

It was a desserted island.