AIMA 2011 SHIPWRECK PHOTOGRAPHIC COMPETITION

Congratulations to Karen Byrnes from Roma, Queensland for being the January winner in the 2nd Australasian Institute for Maritime Archaeology (AIMA) Shipwreck Photography Competition. She won a night’s accommodation at the Merimbula Divers Lodge in NSW and a 1-day dive charter. Karen’s winning entry was published on page 4 of the February issue of Dive Log. Photographers from all over the world are invited to send in their best photos of any shipwrecks or other underwater cultural heritage above or below Australian or New Zealand waters. The competition is being run until December 2011, with judging occurring each month. Any entries received after the 1st of the month will automatically go into the following month's competition. Images must have been taken in 2011. All winners will be announced in Dive Log magazine until January 2012. For further details regarding the AIMA 2011 Shipwreck Photographic Competition, refer to

http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/shipwrecks/photo-competition/index.html.

Discovery of German U-boat SM UC-42

Deatils regarding the discovery of German U-boat SM UC-42 can be found at http://www.global-adventures.us/2011/01/26/sm-uc-42-german-u-boat/ .

Discovery of LR Doty in Lake Michigan

According to the web page found at http://www.ship-wreck.com/shipwreck/doty/ , the wreck of the steamship LR Doty, which vanished in a storm in 1898, was found at 300' by a group on 16th June 2010. Their video footage revealed that the wreck is upright & intact. The remains of her cargo were still present in her holds. The combination of cold, fresh water & extreme depth has preserved the wreck.

Anchors from HMS Investigator

OVER 200 YEARS AGO, Matthew Flinders and the crew from the Investigator became the 1^st to circumnavigate the Australian coast. At daylight on 21^st May 1803, Flinders was preparing to depart from Middle Island in the Recherche Archipelago off of Western Australia. Middle Island is the largest island in the archipelago. A fresh breeze started driving the Investigator towards rocks before the sails were loosed. Flinders used the ship’s spare anchors to hold her. He then had to cut two anchor cables just before the ship cleared the rocks at noon. Flinders had lost both his best bower anchor and stream anchor. A bower anchor is one at the bow of the ship. The Investigator’s best bower anchor was over 4m long and weighed over 1 tonne. It had giant flukes sharply offset like a massive arrow. The stream anchor was much smaller, being 3m long and weighing about 406kgs. In 1972, Doug Seton from the SA Museum organized an expedition with some of his fellow Underwater Explorers Club of SA members to find and raise the two anchors. Both anchors were located in Goose Island Bay on 14^th January 1973 by members of the Underwater Explorers Club of SA. The bay is so-called because Goose Island is situated in the bay, which is on the northern shore of Middle Island. The anchors were both raised up by the lighthouse ship Cape Don on 19^th January 1973. They have now been preserved and restored. The best bower anchor is now located at the SA Maritime Museum at Port Adelaide. The stream anchor was placed in Canberra along with an anchor from James Cook’s Endeavour.