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The Courier lies on her keel in 42 meters of water in the north east corner of the ships graveyard Commonwealth Area #3 south of Point Lonsdale.
Resting on her keel on a white sandy bottom the Courier is bow to stern on a north to south alignment. The Courier is broken into three main sections - bow, boilers and stern section. Both bow and stern have a 45 degree list to starboard. The bow largely intact has three partially penetrable levels. Disintegrating wooden foredeck planking and starboard bow rails can be seen here standing 7 metres proud of the bottom.
Often described as an oasis in the middle of a sandy desert the Courier exposed to strong nutrient rich currents has become an anchor point for many temperate water flora and fauna. Brightly coloured multiformed sponges, anemones, hydrozoans, ascidians and soft corals including masses of bright yellow zoanthids can be seen encrusting any exposed wreckage from bow to stern.
Located in the ships graveyard Commonwealth Area #3 an area some 6 kilometres in diameter and ranging in depth from 40 to 60 metres the Courier like all vessels in the ships graveyard was declared historic on January 31 1996.
References
Written permission from the M.A.A.V. is required for the publication of any material. Any use of this material should credit the Maritime Archaeology Association Of Victoria.
Last modified: March, 2011 |
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