Is the shipwreck WTF actually SS Wear? I believe so, here’s why…
Identifying any wreck in 125m can be difficult, but the history behind the shipwreck named “What the Fuck” or WTF is confusing. Discovered by a Sydney Project team in 2006, the WW2 era wreck was originally identified as SS Iron Knight. Subsequent dives proved this to be incorrrect based on size and configuration, so the name WTF stuck. In more recent years, a case has also been made for it actually being SS Coast Farmer.
We dived a wreck on the weekend after Scott Willan and I did a Sydney to Pittwater multibeam scan several weeks prior (almost 100nm covering all known wrecks). On Saturday 11th February Scott Willan, Victoria Parr, Grant Joslin and myself went out to dive several of the targets identified including an object approximately 2.8km South East of the wreck of the Birchgrove Park, at position 33° 38.938’S 151° 24.362’E (WGS 85 DD MM.mmm).
The wreck is in 56m and is a crane barge of approximately 25m by 12m with the main deck structure coming up approximately 1.5 meters and 2 elements of the old crane then come up an additional approximately 1.5m above the old deck line. We believe this wreck has found in approximately 2007 and subsequently dived, but the location was never released by the divers.
Conditions on the day were excellent with flat seas, great visibility and an abundance of fish life. The wreck site is well worth a dive, should be easy to find using standard echo sounders and is a great new addition to the shipwrecks in the area.
The only wreck on record that may fit the description is from the ‘Scuttled and Abandoned Ships in Australian Waters’, 1998 Parsons, CRANE BARGE No.4 Owned Maritime Services Bd. Scuttled 12m ESE of Sydney Heads, June 22, 1972, but the location is wildly wrong.
Thanks to the tireless detective work of Scott Willan, we were fortunate enough to find and dive a new wreck off Sydney heads over the long weekend. The wreck, as yet to be identified is a small vessel that we guess is about 40m in length, now sitting in 72m of water. The hull is largely intact however the absence a boiler or engine strongly suggest the wreck to be scuttled.
Our initial dive was only 37min on the bottom, so we’ve more questions than answers at this stage. Conditions on the day weren’t the best, with limited vis and poor lighting. We did find small glass and porcelain artifacts, as well as coal on the site. Future dives to the site will allow us to measure the length accurately and hopefully use historical records to identify the wreck.
The site was reported to NSW Herritage this morning, and is located at 33 50.828’S 151 21.103’E (WGS 84 DD MM.mmm).
As we dived the wreck on the anniversary of our good friend’s death, and in lieu of a name we’re referring to the site as Andrea’s Wreck. RIP mate! Thanks to the whole team, Scott Willan & Dave Wood (divers) and Geoff Cook and Victoria Parr as excellent boat crew.
A story has also now been published in the Telegraph.
The unmistakable sight of a rudder and stern was the first glimpse we got of a vessel that has been forgotten for some 83 years. From our initial landing spot, we moved up through the twisted metal, coiled cabling, beams, plating, and on it went until we hit the pointed bow of the once 93m long ship. The signs were all there at that the ship had been scuttled, but who could blame me for a quick look for a bell around the bow.
Sitting in 67m, the dirty conditions made for a rather dark dive on the day. The 45 minutes we spent on the bottom gave us reasonable time to cover the length of the wreck and capture stills and video for identification purposes.
It took a team of maritime research boffins a week, and us another dive on the site to say with reasonable certainty that shipwreck is that of ex-HMAS Pioneer. A light cruiser originally built for the Royal Naval as HMS Pioneer, she entered the Royal Australian Navy in 1912, was stripped down and sold off by 1926, and finally scuttle outside Sydney Heads in 1931.
Identifying the shipwreck was an interesting affair. The very pointed bow and design of the propeller struts suggest strongly that the vessel had Navy origins. This reconciles with the fact that many ex-Navy vessels were scuttled off 
Sydney in the earlier part of last century. As usual, there seems to be a fair bit of Internet chatter about the find, petty squabbling by parties unrelated to the project, and some discussion about what the vessel might actually be.
Initially we suspected the vessel could be ex-HAMS Vendetta or ex-HMAS Pioneer, however an initial review of the images from the dive had led us to discount these two vessels due to the shape of the bow and position of the hawespipe. Subsequent dives on the wreck caused us to back track and ultimately we believe that she is indeed Pioneer. The bow appears to have been cut down one or more decks (presumably to salvage material), changing the appearance of the boat significantly. Also the rudder and keel design did not reconcile to the Pelorus-class arrangement plans that we had, however we eventually found dry dock images of Pioneer that reconcile we what we see underwater.
The size and direction of the shipwreck should provide an easy target to either shot or anchor on. The bow is facing south-east, with the stern towards the north-west. Bottom composition is mostly sad with some rock, so it is conceivable to snag a rock and not be on the wreck. My preference would be drop a shot mid ship (33 51.850’S 151 19.844’E – WGS 84 DD MM.mmm) and excursion from there depending on what you want to see.
Many thanks to Scott Willan for finding the shipwreck to begin with, and the team David Wood, Max Gleason and Geoff Cook (skipper).
Descending rapidly to 107m, I found myself drifting further from the descent line and thought “I’m might not make this”, until of course the 140m long ship came into view beneath me for the first time in 70 years. With the keel on the upside down hull clearly visible, I thought I’ve finally succeeded after 12 months of planning and several failed attempts months earlier.
Descending at speed on DPVs we pass 90, 100, 110, 120 metres; the pressure squeeze on my drysuit begins to exceed what I consider comfortable levels and the my power inflator, having been designed by an evil person, fails to keep up with the rate of descent. Like an inverted Polaris missile I reach for my wing inflator, which has of course has found its way into a position that requires shoulder dislocation to reach. After levelling out and getting my first glance of the bottom I thought, “This is a wreck for sure, look at all the plates on the bottom”, though at second glance I was disappointed to see it was actually plate shaped coral.
