I can finally dive on the 1837 wreck of the 238-ton barque South Australian at Victor Harbor, through the magic of VR!
The story of the wreck of the South Australian is now being told in a museum exhibit that allows history buffs to see it through the eyes of divers. The exhibit at the Australian National Maritime Museum recreates the story of the South Australian, which was wrecked off Victor Harbor in SA on 8th December 1837, making it SA’s oldest colonial shipwreck.
It is hoped that the exhibition will travel to other museums around the country, and eventually become part of the National Trust Museum at Victor Harbor. See https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-07-10/south-australian-shipwreck-recreated-national-maritime-museum/104072212 for further details.
My only attempt to dive on the wreck of the South Australian was in April 2022. The site is a restricted area and I was allowed a permit to snorkel on the site that month. It turned out to be a disaster due to swells and low visibility.
According to my log book, the sea was calm apart from the swells. My buddy and I entered the water from the beach at the end of Ridgeway Street. It was a rocky entry. Once that we were in the water, I struggled to tow o0ur 'diver below' flag buoy. My buddy took over from me, but then he almost lost the attached buoy weights and catchbag holding my car keys. He somehow managed to retrieve them in the terrible vis.
We could not see the bottom at 3m depth where the wreck is located at all. I recorded the visibility as possibly being 'zero'. We had kept getting offcourse as we attempted to find the wreck site. We ultimately gave up on the idea and turned back to shore. It was even a struggle swimming back to shore.
After recovering from our ordeal, we visited the shore entry for the wreck of the Solway and the anchors from both the South Australian and the Solway. This made up for the disappointing snorkel at the South Australian site a little.
The anchor near the Bluff is thought to be from the 1837 wreck of the 238-ton barque South Australian (prev. Swallow).
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