Famous Australian shipwrecks
Famous shipwrecks in WA
Finder, Tom Goddard, with Red Bluff pistol
Source: Jon Carpenter, Western Australia Museum
Sydney and Kormoran Declarations
HMAS Sydney II and the German raider HSK Kormoran both sank after a battle on 19 November 1941. It was Australia's worst naval disaster with the loss of the Sydney and all 645 crew. Around 80 German sailors also died.
On 28 February 2008 the HMAS Sydney Search Pty Ltd commenced searching for both shipwrecks. The HSK Kormoran was found on 12 March 2008 and HMAS Sydney was found on 16 March 2008. The Australian Government contributed $4.2 million to the search.
Even though these shipwrecks are less than 75 years old, due to their significance they were provisionally declared as Historic Shipwrecks on 17 March 2008. Following consideration of the archaeological evidence and an assessment of significance, on 11 November 2008 the wrecks were declared to be Historic Shipwrecks. Both shipwrecks have declared protected zones around them that control access into and activities in these declared waters.
Kormoran Pistol (Red Bluff Pistol)
In 2007 a pistol from one of the survivors of the Kormoranwas found by Tom Goddard, a nineteen year old surfer, at Red Bluff, Quobba Station 130 km north of Carnarvon, Western Australia. The pistol is protected as a relic under the Historic Shipwreck Act and has been donated to the Western Australian Museum which has undertaken conservation of the object.
Famous shipwrecks in Qld
SS Yongala
The Yongala lies in the central section of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, approximately 12 nautical miles east of Cape Bowling Green and 48 nautical miles south-east of Townsville.
The wreck sits intact and proud on the seabed, listing to starboard at an angle of 60 to 70 degrees. The upper sections of the wreck are approximately 16 metres below the surface with a site maximum depth of 30 meters.
The Yongala was an early 20th century interstate coastal steamer sunk during cyclonic weather in March 1911. It supplies a snapshot of Edwardian life in Australia and is now one of Australia's most highly regarded and popular wreck dives. It is a site of national significance and a substantial artificial reef that supports a great diversity of fish life with 122 recorded fish species in an established community around the wreck. The wreck is also the final resting place of the 122 passengers and crew who were aboard the Yongala on her 99th and final journey.
Management of the Yongala wreck site is the responsibility of the Queensland Museum's/ Museum of Tropical Queensland, Townsville.
AHS Centaur
In 1941 survivors from the HSK Kormoran were picked up from the Indian Ocean by the then merchant vessel Centaur. Australian Hospital Ship (AHS) Centaur was one of many merchant ships taken over for war service during World War II and was converted to a hospital ship in 1943. It was crewed by merchant marine personnel and carried Army doctors and nursing staff. While on its first medical voyage to collect casualties from New Guinea, AHS Centaur was torpedoed on the 14 May 1943 by the Japanese submarine I-177. It sank within three minutes with the loss of 268 of the total crew of 332.
Famous shipwrecks in NSW
M24 (1942)
The discovery by recreational divers, No Frills Divers, of the Japanese midget submarine M24 off Sydney's Northern Beaches in November 2006 closed one of Australia's great naval mysteries. For 65 years, the question had been asked: what happened to the Japanese submarine and its crew after it left Sydney following the 31 May / 1 June 1942 attack? With the discovery of the wreck came a range of other questions - why is it located north of Sydney when the agreed final rendezvous was off southern Port Hacking, what condition is it in and why, are the two crew aboard, what of the two unexploded scuttling charges? The Heritage Office, NSW Department of Planning, in conjunction with the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts, has been ensuring the internationally significant wreck site has the full protection of Federal and State heritage legislation and monitored through both in-water and shore based surveillance systems. The 2007 archaeological surveys of the site provides clues to some of these important questions. The site is protected under the Commonwealth Historic Shipwrecks Act 1976 and NSW Heritage Act 1977.
HMAS Australia
In March 2007 the deepest ever remote operated shipwreck survey was undertaken some fifty kilometres off Sydney. The target was the wreck of Australia's first flagship, the heavy battle cruiser HMAS Australia . The survey was a joint venture between the Royal Australian Navy, Defence Maritime Services and the Heritage Office, NSW Department of Planning. The visiting US Navy submersible Curv descended 380 metres down to the 180-metre long, 19, 000 ton shipwreck - the largest in Australian waters. Australia served throughout World War One and was ceremoniously scuttled off Sydney in 1924, a result of the Washington Arms Treaty which aimed at reducing global tonnage of warships after the Great War. The site is protected under the Commonwealth Historic Shipwrecks Act 1976.
Iron Knight (1943)
A shipwreck detected by fishermen off Bermagui on the NSW south coast was first dived by deep wreck recreational diving group The Sydney Project in May 2006. Lying at 125 metres depth, the wreck was found to be an armed iron or steel freighter. The location matched some accounts of the loss in 1942 of the BHP iron ore carrier Iron Knight . 36 crew were killed when the Japanese submarine I-21 struck the vessel with torpedoes. Subsequent dives by the team raised questions on their initial identification, but gathering details of the very deep wreck has proved elusive. No other armed cargo vessels are thought to have been lost in the general area. The dangers of diving these deep sites was realised in late 2007 when one of the teams' divers drowned whilst attempting to revisit the site.
William Dawes (1942)
Wartime secrecy meant that the public knew little of the impact on merchant vessels by enemy submarines during WWII. But Japanese (and to a lesser extent German) submarines had significant successes operating along the east coast of Australia. The steel 'Liberty' ship William Dawes was one of approximately nineteen victims in NSW coastal waters. A Japanese Imperial Navy submarine I-11 attacked and sank the 127 metre long 7000-ton vessel on 22 July 1942 off Tathra on the NSW south coast. Five of the crew were killed. Divers from the recreational diving group, The Sydney Project , conducted the first visits to the 135-metre deep site in October 2004. The dive constitutes the deepest shipwreck dive ever undertaken in NSW and the second deepest in Australia to date. The dive team have completed AIMA/NAS training through the Heritage Office, NSW Department of Planning, and have been active in mapping and identifying deep wrecks throughout the State. The site is protected under the Commonwealth Historic Shipwrecks Act 1976.
Famous Australian shipwrecks overseas
AE2 (1915)
When Lieutenant Stoker and his Australian and part British crew entered the Turkish Dardanelles Strait on 25 April 1915, they were making history. By the following day they had successfully penetrated the heavily mined and fortified passage as the Anzac troops battled to keep a foothold on the peninsula. The AE2 became the first submarine to breach the Strait and harass its Turkish defenders. By 30 April however, AE2 was caught on the surface by Turkish warships and forced to scuttle, the crew becoming POWs for the rest of the war. In September 2007 a joint Australian-Turkish archaeological team , under the direction of the AE2 Commemorative Foundation Ltd. undertook a detailed archaeological survey of the wreck site which had first been located and inspected in 1998. Preliminary survey results are available online. The team will meet in Istanbul in April 2008 to present a range of short - long term management options for the important submarine shipwreck.
Historic Diving in Australasia- The Niagara Gold Salvage
The recovery of eight tons of gold from the RMS Niagara during World War Two is considered the greatest gold salvage in history. The Niagara was sailing from Australia to Canada carrying the British gold when it hit a German mine and sank in deep water off the coast of New Zealand. Captain John Williams, who ran a stevedoring company in Melbourne, was asked to attempt to recover the gold. He put together a team that included the leading deep-sea diver of the era, John Johnstone. Then he designed an underwater observation chamber that could be lowered to depths of 200 metres with a man inside it. Williams was unable to find a suitable salvage vessel during the War so he refloated a rusting hulk he found abandoned in Auckland Harbour. Over a period of a year he, Johnstone and the team of 16 men found the Niagara and using their observation chamber and explosives, blasted a hole in the side of the ship. They encountered German mines, official red tape, bad weather and a host of problems, but still managed to recover over 90% of the gold, which they returned to the Bank of England.
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