DIVE LOG AUSTRALASIA FEB 2025 ISSUE 410

According to https://bit.ly/4gqMzEf , “analysis by UNESCO, over 3m shipwrecks are resting on the Earth’s ocean floors. Some ship wrecks were lost in the annals of time, others are miraculously well preserved, …... Intact wreckages are like windows into history, providing valuable insights about life during the ship’s heyday.” According to a reel on The Conversation Australia & NZ’s Face book page, there are thought to still be some 4000 undiscovered shipwrecks in Australia. According to Copilot, it’s estimated that there are also thousands of undiscovered shipwrecks around the UK coast. “The exact number is difficult to determine due to the vastness of the area and the challenges of underwater exploration. Many of these shipwrecks date back centuries and could hold sig nificant historical and archaeological value.” Further, “The UK’s waters have been a busy maritime route for mil lennia, and shipwrecks from various periods, including the Roman era, the Viking Age, and the Tudor period, are believed to be lying undiscovered on the seabed.” Meanwhile, the remains of a German U-boat (WWI Imperial Navy (UB-144, UB-145 or UB-150) are em bedded in mud flats on the River Medway, England. The ketch Ina sank at Sibsey Island while loading Guano in 1920. All the crew managed to get ashore alive. Allan Branford and Eric Kotz later salvaged the drive shaft and 4-blade propeller of the Ina. E ric wants to mount the propeller with a suitable inscription on one of those jetty trucks at the Traveller’s Rest at the base of the Tumby Bay jetty. “It would finally honour those brave men in their small ships who did so much to establish our small town’s jetty, its ident ity, and our heritage. It’s the least we could do,” says Eric. The of conservators and archaeologists has - , known as Stuka. Using with sacrificial anodes, they have stopped the deterioration of the Stuka wreck. The team’s dedication has led to an effective and economically viable way to preserve this wreck as a valuable historical monument and an in spiring diving destination. See https://www.icua.hr/clanak/pilot-pro jekt-katodne-zastite-na-primjeru-stuke/626 for more details. According to a recent article in Popular Mechanics, “Scientists re

covered the cargo of a 146-year-old shipwreck. Now, they want to turn it into whiskey - There’s just a few genetic engineering steps in the way. Researchers from Michigan State University are working to extract DNA from a variety of rye found on a shipwreck from the 1870s. The team recently dove to recover the rye from the Lake Huron shipwreck and will now extract DNA from its seeds to revive the plant. A new-again old-style version of rye would give Michigan farms and distillers a fresh perspective on rye and whiskey flavors.” The shipwreck in question is the 3-masted wooden schooner James R. Bentley which sank to the bottom of Lake Huron, just north of Rogers City on a Chicago-to-Buffalo voyage, during a stormy night in 1878. See page 336 of Cris Kohl’s “The Great Lakes Diving Guide” (enlarged 2 nd edition) for more details. Video footage showing the wreck and one of the scientists working on the rye project can be seen at https://youtu.be/fhIrfnGcJcY . A book was published in 2022 by the late Terry Arnott and Rick Bullers (with contributions by Louise Bird) titled “Shipwrecks of South Australia’s West Coast - A gazetteer of known shipwrecks between Cape Catastrophe and the Western Australian border” (South Australian Maritime Heritage Series No. 6, Department for Environment and Water.) A decommissioned Thai warship has been sunk to create artificial coral reefs. In a ceremony off the coast of Koh Chuang, Thailand, a patrol vessel was sunk to create an artificial coral reef. Presided over by Admiral Adung Phaniam of the Royal Thai Navy, the cer emony marked the end of an era for the Tor.91 class of patrol boats, which were built between 1967 and 1987. Officials hope the site will become a new tourist attraction for divers and marine life. Relatives of the crew lost from the SS Nemesis on the recent 120th anniversary of the sinking were taken out to the site to say goodbye to their loved ones. A bell was tolled, and a white rose was cast on the water for each member of the crew on a very moving day. According to the Wreck Diving Facebook page, The “collier, the Tuggerah, sunk in the early 20th century in 46 metres a few miles south of Botany Bay, New South Wales. Like others of her kind, which plied the coalfields runs from north and south almost daily she was overtaken by a strong storm and foundered”.

Four blade propellor of the Ina

Allan Branford & Eric Kotz salvaging the drive shaft

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DIVE LOG Australasia #410 February 25

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