The deep-sea trawler and former tug the H.A. Lumb was scuttled off Port Noarlunga/O'Sullivan Beach as a recreational dive wreck by the Dive Industry Association of South Australia on 9th December 1994. The HA Lumb was a tug operating at Geelong, Victoria in the 1950s. It was scuttled close to the Port Noarlunga tyre reef. The fishing trawler Seawolf is located between the tyre reef and the H.A Lumb. The Seawolf was scuttled by the Seawolves Dive Club in March 2002.
According to the web page found at
http://www.environment.sa.gov.au/files/sharedassets/public/heritage/ha_lumb.pdf, “The (H.A. Lumb) measured 78.1 feet (23.8m)
in length, 23.8 feet (7.3m) breadth, 8.8 feet (2.7m) depth and was 153 gross
tons.
The Dive Industry Association of SA raised money to purchase the vessel. The vessel was stripped to make it visitor-friendly for both divers and marine life. Openings were enlarged and doors and potentially hazardous materials and structures removed. The tug Mudgee towed the H.A. Lumb to a site approximately 2 kilometres off O'Sullivan Beach, where it was scuttled in 20m of water.
Adelaide Scuba wrote on their Facebook page, “The H.A. Lumb, a steel tug built in 1943 by the Decatur Iron and Steel Company in Alabama in the United States, and registered to the US Navy. In 1956, it was brought to Geelong for use as a tug, and later converted to a deep-sea trawler in Port Lincoln. After serving as a deep-sea trawler, it was transformed into a popular dive site with the help of the Dive Industry Association, which raised funds to make it safe for both divers and marine life. On 9 December 1994, the tug was sunk in approx. 20m of water off O'Sullivan Beach, near the Port Noarlunga tyre reef. Today, it's a must-see for divers exploring South Australia’s underwater history!”
Photographer
Greg Adams took the photos of the newly scuttled wreck that feature on the pdf H.A.
LUMB – Port Noarlunga which is part of the Department for Environment and
Heritage’s Ships’ Graveyard of South Australia gallery: -
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