Thursday, October 29, 2009

WRECK'S BOILER REMOVED FROM BEACH & PLACED IN MUSEUM

It seems that the boiler from the 1889 wreck of the screw steamer Cowry has been removed from Normanville beach by the Yankalilla council and placed in the local museum.

PROBABLE SOURCE OF LARGE ANCHOR AT PORT NOARLUNGA IDENTIFIED


The large iron-stocked anchor thought to be from the Tigress wreck
Christopher Deane has now made his announcement regarding Positive Photographic Proof about the probable source of the large anchor at Port Noarlunga reef. His announcement was included in his “South Aussie Snippets” column in the October issue of Dive Log. It seems that the Scuba Divers Club of SA had moved the anchor from the Tigress wreck site about 1970.

Monday, October 26, 2009

WRECK OF WWI SUB DISCOVERED

The wreck of the British WWI E-Class submarine HMAS E18 has been found off the coast of Estonia by Swedish marine survey company Marin Matteknik (MMT) that had been searching for it for the past 10 years. The sub had been launched in 1915 and she was sent to the Baltic Sea to help Russia stop German shipments of iron ore from Sweden. The sub had a crew of 33 who all perished when it sank. The wreck was found 140km west of Tallinn, near the island of Hiiumaa, during October. The wreck of the E18 was found in fairly good shape. Her port side was damaged and she suffered further minor damages elsewhere.
According to “The Encyclopedia of Ships”, 55 E-Class submarines were built between 1913 & 1916. 22 of them were lost during WWI. They were 55m long, had two screws, diesel engines and two electric motors. The history of the E18 is available through Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_E18 . According to the web page found at http://www.daylife.com/photo/0aYof5f7us4LQ, the British naval submarine HMS E18 has been found on the seabed close to the Estonian island of Dago after having been missing for over 90 years. The submarine disappeared with all hands in the Baltic Sea during routine exercises in May 1916. Carl Douglas, the leader of search operations and owner of MMT, was able to locate the vessel with the help of maps detailing the location of mines on the Baltic Sea sea bed. A YouTube video can be seen at www.youtube.com/watch?v=IF8QcB_u6m0 .

Thursday, October 1, 2009

HMAS Canberra is set to be scuttled

Tourism Victoria says "The ex HMAS Canberra is set to be scuttled off the shores east of Barwon Heads this weekend on Sunday 4 October 2009 at approximately 9.15 am. Suitable weather conditions have been forecast and the vessel will begin its final journey leaving the Geelong Port on Saturday 3 October. You will be able to see this once in a lifetime event on the shores between Barwon Heads and Ocean Grove, however please note that no commemorative event will be held on the day. An event to celebrate the opening of the new dive site is planned in future. Stakeholders will be notified in advance."