TSS Currajong shipwreck

The TSS Currajong off Bradleys Head: 67 metres long in 23 metres of water, the best preserved shipwreck in NSW, mapped and described.

Considered the best preserved shipwreck in NSW: 67 metres of her, in 23 metres of water, under the shipping channel off Bradleys Head. Depths here are at high tide, and the description was last checked in October 2020.

For the history of the ship and her sinking, see Michael McFadyen's page, which also has a great deal on diving her. What follows is extra detail, because this dive carries enough risk to be worth planning from every source you can find.

Before you plan this one

You swim under the shipping channel. Everything that moves in this harbour goes through it, so under no circumstances leave the bottom and surface. Carry an SMB in case an emergency forces you to.

Sailing boats are the less obvious risk. They make no noise to announce themselves, and they cut the corner around Bradleys Head into shallow water — exactly where you might assume you were safe. Stay low, and do not wander: there is nothing else to see out there anyway.

Check the traffic. The Port Authority daily vessel movements page will tell you whether anything is due past Bradleys Head while you are down.

Dive it across high tide. The harbour runs tidal currents.

You need to be genuinely comfortable on a compass. The water can be murky enough to hide anything beyond two metres.

On the legal position I have no answer. I could find nothing specific on the Port Authority website. Some operators run boat dives here at 1am, when there is no traffic and the boat can sit over the wreck — still with Port Authority clearance. I did that in 2017, in December, and the dive master was wearing a personal shark shield without making much of it. Knowing now that bull sharks have a seasonal pattern, I would avoid the harbour between November and April outside the usual spots.

Dive profile

The wreck runs 23 m at the bow to 26 m at the stern. I would dive nitrox, simply to take one variable out and leave the attention on navigation.

Most of the air goes on the transit — 200 m each way, even if you find her first time. Note your consumption on arrival; it tells you what the return will cost and therefore how long you can spend on the wreck.

As a guide on a 15 L, 230 bar nitrox tank — and this is personal, so calibrate it:


Out, 200 m in 8 minutes	50 bar
On the wreck, 23 minutes	80 bar
Back, 200 m in 8 minutes	50 bar, plus 50 bar reserve

Finding her

She sits 200 m off the coast with the bow pointing at Bradleys Head. Finding her is a bit like trying to hit her with a torpedo — and straightforward once you know how.

Published coordinates contradict each other, so I took a GPS fix on the donkey boiler halfway along her: −33.854794, 151.249064 (WGS84).

Walk down the steps to the jetty joining the white lighthouse to the head. Get in and swim east along the coast for 35 m. Before you gear up, walk to the lighthouse and pick that point out against the boulders — matching it to the satellite view makes it obvious.

From there, head 120° magnetic — 132° true. The bow is 200 m away.

Knowing your own cruising speed matters here. Mine with camera gear is 25 m/min, so eight minutes. If you have not found her by T + 1 minute, stop and run a T pattern: left and right, about 30 kicks each. Knowing when you should arrive is worth a lot for morale when you are in the middle of nowhere in two metres of visibility with little light, wondering whether you have overshot. Measure your speed between two known points — the side of a bath net works, or the GPS described here.

The stakes are the thing to look for. As the bottom drops away, from about 8 m, you should start seeing stakes standing 50 cm proud, roughly every 5 m and perfectly lined up on the 120° heading. Find those and you cannot miss her. If you do not see them you may be off course: swim at 8–10 m parallel to the coast until you cross one, then follow the line.

Coming back, aim 300°, or better, just follow the stakes from the bow. By then you will be at 100 bar or thereabouts.