Latest Dive Reviews

"The club has dived the wreck of the SS Nord a bit lately beginning with our dive in late May (see the report and phots here). Following this dive the huge east coast storm hit with east coast swells of 6-8m reported. Club members then dived the wreck next on 31 July and reported significant damage to the wreck particularly the stern. Eric F and myself dived the wreck the following week, as I was keen to see for myself the damage but vis was very poor (the worst I have ever seen on the wreck) which was less than 5m and my attempts to take photos were thwarted, but from my quick look it was obvious there had been significant damage.
A group of divers comprising of Andrew G, Stefan E, Eric F and myself dived the wreck last Saturday 3 September. On this dive vis was much better at around 10m (still poor compared to the usually good vis of at least 20m often encountered) and we were able to see clearly the full extent of the damage, spending around 40 minutes on the wreck. We headed first to the stern where we found the once magnificent stern had now significantly collapsed, with the hull plating having been pealed back and over the rudder and propeller. The rudder still stands upright, but is no longer movable and the prop is now in a little cave created by the folded back hull plating, you can still swim in and under the prop and exit the other side.
The extent of the damage was a shock and very sad to see, with the once spectacular stern now a crumpled, jumbled mass of steel. It had stood spectacularly proud and upright for over 100 years as the rest of the wreck collapsed in on itself. It is interesting to think back when we dived the wreck in late May that this was probably the last time anyone dived the wreck and last saw the magnificent stern prior to the storm that hit the following week.
Swimming up to the mid ships area the damage was not so obvious, the hull that had collapsed into the boilers and engine had further collapsed and the toilet that sat immediately behind the boiler on the port side is now no longer accessible, and can now be only seen by peering in under hull plating. The mid ships structure forward of the boilers was still intact and as I remembered it from previous dives.
The wreck as always was alive with fish activity particularly over the mid ships area, where there were large schools of pike and butterfly perch, numerous jackass morwong were seen over the wreck along with many of the familiar reef species, like wrasse, banded morwong, cod and leather jackets.
The dive concluded back at the stern where I got a few more photos and then ascended up the shot line that was nearby and did our decompression on the drifting deco station which we had deployed and tethered to the shot line.
Below are a few pictures from the dive highlighting the destruction of the stern along with a picture from a previous dive to compare with how the stern previously looked.
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By James P

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