Photos by Ben Crossett
The big seas on Friday night had dies back to a slow rolling swell which, with the light westerlys, made for a fast run up to Long Reef from Rose Bay on Yves boat. The fist dive of the day was the Dunkenfield, a 50m collier which hit long reef sank in 1889 and now sits at 25m. The large two cylinder engine is still sitting upright amongst the splattered plates with the boiler just off to one side. Stu made a good effort of examining every inch of it in the gloomy conditions.
Once all back on board the good ship Mv Mindarie there was lashing of soup (which now comes served with tabasco!) and timtams, before we headed south to the second dive site: the Royal Shepherd. Another collier, which was also under the command of Captain Hunter (although the sinking wasnt his fault this time!) which sank in 1890 and is at 29m. Bec I were the second pair in. Unfortunately the vis had dropped to 2m and the sinking feeling got worse when we realised that the anchor was sitting on sand! Not to be deterred we lined off and followed Stu Reds line (a bad plan at the best of times) into the distance. Somehow after going in a large arc we did hit the square boiler and then the engine which does have an unfeasibly large fly wheel. Due to the scenic tour taken to get there, there were only a few minutes before the deco was starting to click up so we headed back to the anchor. Just as I was unclipping the line there was a moment of clarity in which it was possible to see the wreck only a few feet to the right!
