Shipwrecks are a funny thing, lure you in for a look even when you think they’re not going to be much chop. Starring at the multibeam scan we thought piece of wharf, barge, pontoon, even a cataraman yacht. With some ominous weather looming, we jumped in for a ‘quick look’, and found what we had expected – a scuttled barge/pontoon in around 57m of water.
The ocean’s a dangerous place, and this little weedy sea dragon is a great example of it. I stumbled on this guy feeding whilst testing out a DPV mounted camera rig. North Head, Sydney.
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.
Cruising out of Sydney Harbour, it’d been one year to the day since our good friend lost his life whilst we were exploring the MV Limerick. It only added to our anticipation, as the 70m dive we’d about to undertake was a relative unknown. Armed with more government survey data procured by Scott Willan, we’d previously scanned the site with our depth sounder and had a target in the GPS.
We drop a shot line on the target, gear up and descended. Not much is said, we just get on with the usual business of diving. As we hit the bottom, visibility is only about 3-4m and it’s twilight dark. Squinting, we see the outline of a wreck just out of view which gives us that feeling of relief, knowing we haven’t just done another deep dive to a sandy sea floor.
Together, two of us struggle to drag the heavy anchor and chain of our shot line across the sand to the bow of the wreck. Once there, we shake hands and acknowledge what we’ve achieved, before getting on with business. For me that’s shooting video, for Dave that’s firstly inflating a balloon as a signal to open-circuit divers that we’re on a wreck and to come down.
The current on the bottom is strong, such that we were fighting to hold position as we swam to the stern of the wreck. We can’t see a propeller, or an engine for that matter so we think it’s likely a scuttled ship. Having wasted time with the anchor, we’re quickly at the limit of our dive plan of 40min @ 74m. Reality hits, and we’ve got 2.5 hours of decompression ahead of us.
On deco, surface crew were kind enough to throw down some beers for a little celebration. Although not in the tec diving manual, it’s a welcomed break from the tiny jellyfish that sting my face as they drift past. On the surface, more celebration as we share what we’ve seen and ponder what it could be. At the time, we named it “Andrea’s Wreck” after our lost friend. Subsequent dives and research suggest that the wreck is that of the SS Yamba, but I’ll always remember it as Andreas’ wreck.
Previously Published: Asian Diver No 136 Issue Jan 2015
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).
