SS Yongala - Queensland Australia
SS Yongala is regarded as one of the world’s best wreck diving sites. Whilst everyone has their own personal favourites no one could possible dispute the amazing sight of this awesome wreck with its mass of marine life.
The Yongala is one of only five protected wrecks in Queensland and is said to attract in the region of 2000 divers a year. A 109m steel passenger and freight steamer she sailed into the eye of a cyclone and was sunk with the loss of all on board in 1911. There had been 122 passengers most of which had been returning to their homes in Cairns and Townsville and the loss of so many was severely felt in the locality. She lay undisturbed for nearly fifty years and was not properly identified until 1958.
The Yongala was actually built in the shipyards of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England. She was then launched and left Southampton to begin her life in Australia in 1903. Although usually doing the Brisbane to Freemantle run, during the winter months the Yongalas regular route became one from Melbourne to Cairns. In March of 1911, she left Melbourne, stopping at Brisbane and Mackey to change passengers and cargo before leaving for the final leg of the journey up to Cairns.
Shortly after she had left the signal station at Mackey received a cyclone warning. Even though the Yongala could still be seen from land and was later seen by a lighthouse keeper in the Whitsunday Passage, with no wireless on board nothing could be done to alert her to the impending storm. Ironically the Marconi Company in England had recently dispatched a wireless set that had actually been intended for the Yongala but it was to be too late to save her from her fate.
Despite the fact that you are not allowed to penetrate the Yongala, (an American diver was fined $2000 for doing so in 2003), it is still an awesome dive. Several major liveaboard operators regularly dive the site and have been known to stay and do several days just diving this one wreck. Day boats usually depart from Townsville which can be a long trip out (up to 2hrs) or from Alva Beach near Ayr with a shorter trip of around 40mins. Here is the base for Yongala Dive with whom I dived.
Due to the shorter trip and speeds at which it can go they have named their 10m rigid inflatable the Yongala Express and it certainly makes for a fast ride out to the site, often arriving there before other boats. At 90km SE of Townsville and 10Km away from Cape Bowling Green the dive site is in a position that is very exposed. Even in good weather it is often rough at the surface with swift currents underneath so what it must have been like in 1911 in the dark during a cyclone must have been terrifying.
Whilst some operators will do one dive on the stern and one on the bow Yongala Dive did both dives from the stern swimming into the current along the bottom and then turning when divers got to 120bar drifting back higher up the wreck. Unfortunately because of this I never got to see the bow or forward section of the boat as not only do I tend to swim slowly but was also busy looking in every nook and cranny as there seemed to be thousands of things making their homes on the wreck.
Descending down the stern shot we saw a huge shovel nose ray cruising along the bottom then we too dropped more or less to the bottom of the wreck which sits on the sea bed at 30m listing to starboard. Lying in wait under the hull we could see the yellow pinprick eyes of a wobbegong lying motionless on the seabed. As you began to move along the wreck it is an incredible sight. Every inch was covered by hard and soft corals, sponges and a myriad of other forms of marine life so say nothing of the fish! It was like a garden that has been left and gone completely wild with every possible surface smothered with life. Shoals of yellowtailed snapper, black spot sea perch and orange lined sweetlips hug around the wreck and huge trevally would suddenly appear from nowhere making the smaller fish charge away in a frenzy. Hundreds of violet demoiselles swam in and out of the soft purpley pink soft corals that covered most of the deck while harder corals and a spaghetti like weed covered the hull that was facing uppermost.
Descending for the second time the other group were greeted by a bull shark that was cruising round the bottom of the wreck and has become a regular visitor. Again an olive sea snake came to join us as we made out way along the side of the wreck. I was determined to get a bit further this time but stopped too long to watch a turtle. Unfettered by regulations it could swim in and out of the wreck, stopping for a bite to eat every now and then. All too soon it was time to ascend but at least we had a superb shoal of barracuda to watch on the first stop at 10m and then a very bold maori wrasse to came over to say hello practically peering into our masks whilst we did the final stop before clambering back up the side of the boat.
The final identification of the Yongala makes an interesting anecdote in itself. Although the position and definite identification was not made until 1958, several incidents over the years could be attributed to this fabulous wreck. In 1943 an Australian minesweeper clearing shipping lanes fouled on an obstruction believed at the time to be a shoal of fish and therefore not investigated. In 1947 an Australian navy Hydrographic vessel stopped to examine ‘the obstruction’ using antisubmarine equipment and an echo sounder and whilst it was reported as a sunken wreck, presumably the Yongala, no further action was taken. That is until 1958 when the wreck was ‘found’ by George Konrat a salvage and construction diver from Cairns. It is reported that he identified the Yongala from the lettering on the Bow, however this could not be substantiated even from further dives with a research group. It was then hoped that raising the safe from the pursers cabin would result in papers proving the wrecks identity, but it contained none. However a Chubb employee spotted a photograph of the safe in the local paper. Because of the way the door was hung he thought it was one of theirs and sent the partial serial number to head office. Later it was confirmed that this was the safe that had been supplied and installed on the Yongala, so a positive identification could be made.
Investigation of the wreck provided no real answers as to why she had sunk. The hull was intact but there was little ballast and some of the portholes were open. Due to this it was thought that whilst the Yongala continued to steam into the weather either water was taken on board and she floundered or due to the lack of ballast and her narrow beam she capsized. Due to the fact that no life rafts or life saving equipment were found indicated that the chain of events happened swiftly and was fatal for all those on board.
