This is a project to locate and identify the HMS Sappho a 16 Gun British warship that was lost off the Victorian coast in 1858. Built at Plymouth and launched in 1837 the Sappho was classed as a second-class brig with a main armament of sixteen guns. Built to fight the Slave ships she was designed for…
02-14 was an Australian Air Sea Rescue Boat. Constructed in 1942 by Spring and Dinard in Brisbane, she was 48 feet long and originally ran Three Chrysler six cylinder engines. Based on the British design “Whaleback” by Hubert Scott Paine this type of hull was renowned for seaworthiness and speed . Fifteen of this type…
SS alert found off Cape Schank. The SS Alert was an iron screw steamship that foundered in a severe gale off Cape Schank, Victoria Australia on the 28th December 1893, resulting in the loss of 15 of the 16 people on board. While designed as a steamer, for the ship’s journey out to Australia, SS Alert was…
August 2025 IANTD Divers in conjunction with the MAAV and PDS place anodes on iron wreck for preservation. City of Launceston is one of the most preserved wrecks world wide for a vessel of its age. .The SS City of Launceston was a 368-ton iron steamship that sank in Port Phillip Bay on November 19,…
The Carlisle was a 3 masted iron Barque ship built in 1864. She sank in Bass Strait on the 6th of August 1890 , while traveling from Melbourne to Newcastle. The ship hit an uncharted rock near Crocodile Rock off Wilsons Promontory . The 23 crew abandoned ship in Lifeboats and survived. The wreck was…
The SS Vicky (originally known as the Caldare) departed Sydney on June 22, 1956, bound for Melbourne to tow a dredge. While navigating a severe storm off Wilsons Promontory, a faulty valve disabled the ship’s engine, causing her to lose steam. The vessel subsequently took on water, listed, and capsized. The SS Vicky is a…
IANTD Divers have identified the wreckage of the City of Hobart, which sank off the Eastern Victorian coast in 1877. Surveyors scanning the seabed for a proposed offshore wind farm site helped locate the wreckage. What’s next? The site will be preserved and is protected under federal heritage laws. On July 21, 1877, an iron…
In October 2017 IANTD members visited the Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey to visit the wrecks at Anzac including German wrecks in the Dardanelles channel. Land based monuments to honor the memory of those who served .One of the wrecks pictured was a small barge used to ferry donkeys and small Artillery pieces to the troops…
As we soared above the scattered south Pacific islands, pristine coral reefs and tropical coconut plantations, I couldn’t help imagining what this magnificent island paradise was like 60 years ago. With Aircraft patrolling the skies, carrier ships and destroyers keeping a watchful eye on the coast line, hangers, tented basses and hospitals along with thousands…
Although not a ship wreck , this story is about the sad demise of one of the handful of Australian made Fairmile B’s . In June 2015 after a fruitless search for a new owner the Challenger was broken up for scrap. After receiving damage to her keel her owners decided to let her go….