The Wreck of the Zanoni

 It seems that I started to become really interested in shipwrecks in mid-1983, the same year that the wreck of the Zanoni was found off Ardrossan, South Australia.

I was the Editor for the newsletter of the Marine Life Society of SA, a group that had only been a temperate marine aquarium group up until October 1982. As newsletter Editor, I had started to introduce the topic of shipwrecks into their newsletters back in April1982.

I see from the June 1983 issue of the MLSSA Newsletter that the Society had made plans to dive on the Norma wreck the following month. Although that did not eventuate, it would have been my first dive on a shipwreck.

The June 1983 newsletter included several items about shipwrecks, including their conservation, rewards for their discovery and protected wrecks throughout SA and Australia. It also made mention of the newly discovered1867 wreck of the Zanoni  being a protected wreck in SA. It explained that the Zanoni “was only discovered in April (1983) when a fisherman took some divers to the site off Ardrossan in St Vincent Gulf. It is a three-masted barque and is virtually intact. The wreck is considered so important that the State Government almost immediately declared a protected zone around it to prevent damage and destruction by divers and fishermen. Anyone found entering the zone without a permit from the heritage conservation branch of the Department of Environment and Planning faces a $1000 fine, or one year’s imprisonment, or both.”

The two divers that discovered the wreck of the Zanoni in April 1983 when a fisherman took them to the site off Ardrossan, (the late) Ian O’Donnell and (the late) John McGovern, both spoke at our November 1983 meeting about the work being done on the Zanoni. They showed us some slides and two short video films. This was all reported in detail in our December 1983 newsletter.

According to the first report about the actual meeting itself, “Ian O’Donnell and John McGovern from the Zanoni Shipwreck Project Inc. were our guest speakers at the November General Meeting. They both gave an interesting account of the events leading up to the sinking of the Zanoni and how they managed to discover the site of the wreck. They also showed us some fantastic slides and video tapes of the condition of the Zanoni and the marine life on it. We also saw several artifacts that they have collected from the wreck.”

This was followed by a 2 ½-page article about the Zanoni itself. Rex Tyrrell was the fisherman that led Ian and John to the wreck site. He had been fishing the site from the 1950s up to 1971. It was a wonder that he finally managed to relocate the wreck again 12 years later in 1983. The article outlined some of the ‘incredible’ marine life to be found on the wreck, including several wobbegong sharks and white pointer sharks, although we were assured that these sharks do not bother divers at all.

Of more concern than the sharks were the 2 ½ to 3 knot currents that were common at the Zanoni, although these were advantageous in that they quickly carry away any stirred-up sediment. Our committee soon recommended that our Society would participate in the study of the Zanoni wreck by conducting several transections of the wreck and general area. Unfortunately, that never eventuated either because we received a long letter from Ian O’Donnell which was reproduced in our May 1984 newsletter. It seems that, despite the protective zone around the wreck, fishermen were flocking to the site and causing much damage to it. Clearly, there was little policing of the protective zone around the wreck. According to Ian, the fish population had been decimated within less than one year, anchors were causing structural damage to the wreck, the wreck was being polluted with fishing line and tackle, beer bottles and other rubbish. The dive team working on the site had to continually reset its base and grid lines regularly due to fishing boat anchors and lines continually tearing them up.

Burleying by fishermen at the wreck site was stirring up the white pointer sharks and the divers decided that the risk of diving alongside the sharks was no longer acceptable. Fishermen were even targeting the sharks and there were cases of sharks attacking boats. The dive team terminated its permit in March 1984 and was critical of the government’s inaction over the protection zone declared around the wreck. All this led to our Society stepping away from any involvement at all.

A barge was sunk 1500 metres south of the Zanoni in April 1984 for fishermen to target rather than the Zanoni. Huge buoys were placed on both wrecks, but the buoy left at the Zanoni site was soon dragged over a kilometre away. It would have taken a huge boat to drag that huge buoy that long distance.

Our September 1984 newsletter featured a map by Ken Jury, a fishing reporter who had been critical of the boat owners that had relocated the buoy from the Zanoni, showing the location of the new “Barge Reef” south of the Zanoni wreck. Coordinates of 34 deg, 31 mins, 50.5 sec South, 138 deg,03 mins, 41 sec East were given for the barge’s site. Ken reported in August 1984 that fishermen were catching many fish on the new barge site.

Underwater cinematographer Malcolm Ludgate’s Pro-Image Productions produced a documentary titled “The Mystery of the Zanoni” in 1985. Forty years have now passed since that documentary was produced by Malcolm. Archaeologists have since recovered several artefacts from the wreck, including a large stove and the ship’s bell. The ship’s stove had to be recovered with the aid of huge airbags and winches. The bell was found underneath the stove.

I posted some photos of the recovery of the stove and bell and their conservation on Facebook in 2023. This has now been shared on Facebook in 2025. 

According to https://southaustralia.com/products/yorke-peninsula/attraction/the-zanoni-wreck , “Many of the artifacts retrieved from the wreck can now be viewed at the Ardrossan Museum. A short video about the Zanoni is available to watch in the Museum's Maritime room.”

According to https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-29/fishers-warned-steer-clear-of-protected-shipwrecks-or-be-fined/7793702 , “An underwater monument (at the wreck site) tells of the Zanoni's fate”.

Divers such as James Manna (2013) and Richard Harris  (2022) have posted video footage of their dives on the Zanoni.