Propellors of the PBY Catalina

 Ocean diving, Wrecks  1 Response »
Jun 182012
 
Propellors of the PBY Catalina

About the site The Consolidated PBY Catalina was a hugely successful American-made flying boat, produced from the 1930s and still in service well into the 1980s. A multi-function aircraft, Catalinas were used through WWII for long distance patrol bombing, as convoy escorts and for rescuing downed crews from the ocean’s surface. This particular Catalina, the A24-11 was being operated by the RAAF as a munitions carrier when she crashed in January 1942. Shortly after takeoff from Kavieng Harbour a wing bomb exploded, and the aircraft went down in approximately 20m of water. Despite another Catalina pilot witnessing the accident and landing to rescue survivors, the 9 crew aboard went down with their plane. About the dive This was my second boat [read more…]

Bottles on the wreck of the Loch Ard

 Ocean diving, Wrecks  2 Responses »
Mar 122012
 
Bottles on the wreck of the Loch Ard

About the site The Loch Ard is one of the more famous wrecks in Victoria’s history. One of the last passenger sailing ships to travel from the UK to Australia as steamships began to take over; she made the journey in 13 weeks in 1878. Aboard the 3 masted square rigged ship were 36 crew and 18 passengers. After leaving England in March, the Loch Ard was nearing her destination in Melbourne when disaster struck in the early hours of June 1st. Captain Gibbs was expecting to sight land when the ship encountered heavy fog. Unable to locate the Cape Otway lighthouse, he instead spotted cliffs looming out of the darkness. Despite attempts to turn the ship using sails and [read more…]

Bridge on the ex-HMAS Canberra

 Ocean diving, Wrecks  No Responses »
Dec 052011
 
Bridge on the ex-HMAS Canberra

About the wreck The ex-HMAS Canberra was a frigate in the Australian Navy until she was scuttled in October 2009 after a long negotiation and preparation by various groups. The ship was specifically prepared for divers, with entanglement hazards such as wiring and environmental hazards such as the hundreds of tonnes of lead used as ballast removed. The lead placed in the bottom of the hull to keep large ships upright was replaced with concrete to serve the same purpose once the ship hit the seafloor, and large holes were cut in each room to allow divers to swim through while still being able to see daylight. While entering an underwater shipwreck is a risky business, the preparation of the [read more…]

Diving the SS Yongala

 Ocean diving, Wrecks  No Responses »
Nov 142011
 
Diving the SS Yongala

About the site The SS Yongala is regularly touted as Australia’s best wreck dive, lying 12nm offshore in Far North Queensland. Given the task of driving over a tonne of dive gear 3,000km to Mt Hypipamee for the expedition, Nat Kenyon and I took a two day break from sitting behind the wheel for an inspection of the famous wreck. 2011 is the 100 year anniversary of the sinking of the Yongala, who went down on March 11th (close to midnight, so possibly on March 12th) 1911 in a tropical cyclone. 122 passengers on board perished, as well as an unknown number of children who were not recorded on passenger ships manifests in that era. The wreck was first dived [read more…]

Bow of the ex-HMAS Canberra

 Ocean diving, Wrecks  2 Responses »
Sep 262011
 
Bow of the ex-HMAS Canberra

About the site I’ve previously discussed how the ex-HMAS Canberra came to rest as an artificial reef for divers, on the seafloor about 2 miles from Torquay. As time passes and the marine life moves in, the wreck becomes a more and more attractive dive site. One of the key features is its sheer size. This is especially so when many of the other wrecks dived out of Melbourne are of a similar size to the J class submarines – about 100m long. The ex-HMAS Canberra is 138m long and in a whole dive spent swimming it’s impossible to explore the whole thing from end to end. Given her size, it takes multiple dives to explore all of the different [read more…]

Cogwheel on the Sir William McPherson

 Ocean diving, Wrecks  No Responses »
Aug 152011
 
Cogwheel on the Sir William McPherson

About the site The Sir William McPherson was a transport ship originally built in 1912, and scuttled in 1949 in an area now known the Ships Graveyard. She lies in about 55m, and this was my first dive on her. There are a large number of wrecks accessible from Portsea, Sorrento and Torquay. Prior to 1935, unwanted or damaged ships were stripped of their valuables and towed to outside the 3 mile Port of Melbourne limit before being sunk. The Great Depression in the 1930s increased the practise as scrap metal prices dropped and it was no longer worth holding onto old hulks. However, after a number of incidents of ships not sinking on target and running aground, Commonwealth legislation [read more…]

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