You are here:  Oceania / Australia / Dive_Club / Victorian Shipwrecks
<< — Back to search results < — Previous   Next — >>

Victorian Shipwrecks

Dive Club (English)

Service:
  • Air
  • Associations Organisation Scuba Diving
  • Diving Charter Boat
  • Equipment Gear Rentals
  • Gear Equipment Servicing
  • NITROX
  • Underwater Photography/Video
  • Wreck Diving
Company description Welcome!
You have reached the Red October Dive Club, formed in September 1999 to bring together scuba divers with a common interest in exploring shipwrecks in the treacherous waters of Bass Strait. It is estimated that Bass Strait, the narrow stretch of water that lies between Tasmania and Mainland Australia (375 miles/600 km long by 185 miles/300 km wide) has over 700 shipwrecks. Some of these wrecks have never been explored, their final resting place unknown. The average depth of water in Bass Strait reaches 90 metres. Only in recent years has technology become available to allow recreational divers to safely explore these depths and visit wrecks that have remained silent and untouched on the ocean floor for well over 100 years ... until now.
Ships` Graveyard Project
The main project of the Red October Group involves researching, locating, diving and positively identifying all wrecks in the Victorian Ships` Graveyard. It is expected that this project will run for a period of 10 years from June 2000 to June 2010.
The key outcome of this project is to produce an historical thesis about this very special area of the Bass Strait where some 46 obsolete vessels were scuttled. Before this project the local dive industry knew the locations of about 22 vessels in the graveyard. Since June 2000 the project has uncovered 14 new shipwrecks which are now regularly visited by local charter operators operating out of Portsea, Queenscliffe and Torquay.
All shipwrecks in Bass Strait are protected by Federal and State laws
Victorian Ships` Graveyard History
During the period 1913 to 1999 a total of 46 obsolete vessels have been systematically and purposely disposed of in the Victorian Ships` Graveyard. These vessels range in size from 50 tons to 3347 tons and include sailing ships, steam ships, dumb hopper barges, steam hopper barges, J-Class submarines, dredges, tugboats, a Paddle Steamer, and an RAN Attack Class Patrol Boat. Originally thought to be located in a single area, the Graveyard actually covers a 20-kilometre stretch of the Victorian coastline between Torquay and Port Phillip Heads with vessels dumped between 10 and 20 kilometres offshore.
There has been a long history of sea dumping in Bass Strait, which is the discarding of material into the ocean from vessels, platforms or aircraft.
The Graveyard was first dived in 1972, with intrepid explorers diving the remains of the MILORA and the BATMAN. In time the list of known wrecks would grow to include the ROTOMAHANA, J-CLASS SUBMARINES, COURIER, and COOGEE, all now regularly visited and easily accessible recreational dive sites. In the early 1990s interest in diving to 50 metres saw a number of new wrecks being found and dived on in Area #3. However, it was not until late 1999 that diving on shipwrecks deeper than 50 metres had surfaced. This phenomenon has been motivated by availability of better diving equipment and training in decompression diving to the recreational market.
We suspect that commercial fishermen, a rather tight knitted bunch, know the locations of most scuttled wrecks as they derive considerable income from fishing these artificial reefs. It is therefore not surprising that the locations of these vessels are closely guarded. For example, we were recently fortunate enough to acquire the location of a new wreck from a commercial fisherman. This wreck, located approximately 15 kilometres south of Port Phillip Heads resides in 70 metres of water. The wreck is covered in fishing lines/nets and scattered in and around the vessel are a proliferation of beer bottles from almost every decade of the 20th century! A large Cray pot has also fouled upon what remains of the vessels stern. We believe this wreck to be that of the ALBERT, a 50-ton ketch that capsized while being towed to Port Phillip Heads in 1890.
Since 1st June, 2000 the Red October Group have been systematically searching the Victorian Ships` Graveyard in an effort to locate new dive sites.
Location description: Some history:
Throughout the 1920s sea dumping was widely used as a method of disposal, but with this came an increase in the number of dumping related mishaps. For example, a failure to scuttle the 567-ton barque NORWESTER saw her hulk end up on the popular tourist beach at Portsea in November 1928. In a separate incident in February 1932 the wooden barques PLACE (339 tons) and BIRCHGROVE (381 tons) were disposed by incineration (set alight) off the Nobbies at Phillip Island. This practice was not successful as both vessels failed to sink, but instead ended up on Phillip Island, still ablaze, until eventually claimed by the rocky coastline. Public outcry at such mishaps saw the introduction of sea dumping legislation in 1932 by the Federal Government. These new laws placed restrictions on the type of material that could be dumped and identified 14 Commonwealth areas for disposal of obsolete vessels in Australian waters.
Commonwealth Area #3 is the designated Victorian zone for sea dumping of obsolete vessels. Area #3 is 6 kilometres in diameter and ranges in depth from 40 to 60 metres and is located approximately 10 kilometres south west of Barwon Heads. In 1981 the statutory rules were reviewed and updated so as to align with International legislation, thus further restricting what could be dumped in the ocean and updating the Commonwealth Sea dumping areas. Commonwealth Area #3 was first used in March 1935 with the scuttling of the 3347-ton S.S. MILORA. The MILORA, after a rather dubious career of accidents, ran aground on Point Lonsdale Reef at Port Phillip Heads in September 1934. After being refloated and towed to Melbourne for inspection, she was deemed too expensive to repair, was stripped of all valuable items and scuttled in Area 3. Her end was as error-prone as her life, the work crew overshooting the designated scuttling zone and sinking the vessel 1 kilometre outside the Area 3 boundary. The last vessel listed as being scuttled in Area 3 was the dumb hopper barge VHB 53 in 1971.
Prior to 1935 obsolete vessels were not dumped in Commonwealth Area #3, but outside the Port Phillip Heads 3 mile port limit. Unfortunately (for us), disposal crews favoured no single spot for disposal with vessels being scuttled over a wide area between Barwon Heads and Port Phillip Heads. The earliest official record of a scuttling in Bass Strait occurred in July 1913 with disposal of 375-ton iron barque BRUNETTE. The last vessel to be scuttled outside the Heads was the 150-ton Attack Class Patrol boat BAYONET in September 1999.

Website: Preview http://www.vicshipwrecks.com by Thumbshots.org http://www.vicshipwrecks.com
Home of the Red October Group of Underwater Explorers and Wreck Hunters.

Contact information:
Street Address:

Victoria
Australia
Spoken language(s): English
Open: from 09-00 till 17-00
Local time:  GMT + 10 Brisbain, Vladivostok, Sidney, Canberra
Note: No guarantee is made to the accuracy of these details.

If you are a representative of Victorian Shipwrecks , you may update your options or details in our scuba diving directory. Please use contact form or email us at info@divingfinder.com.


< — Previous   Next — >>

BritShop.ru

Mission statement: To collect all world scuba diving related businesses on the Web.- Add new!
Vision statement: 5400+ of dive centres, scuba diving shops, diving schools, scuba centers collected.

  • Site map