Written by local divers Mark Ryan, Peter Taylor & Mick Whitmore (Aquatic Adventures alumni), Victoria’s Ships’ Graveyard gives the technical details and a brief history of all 47 ships that were to be dumped in ‘Area No: 3’ Victoria’s official Ships Graveyard.

The history of the deliberate scuttling of obsolete vessels off Port Phillip Heads appears to have commenced in 1910; with the sinking of the Rob Roy, a steamer owned and operated by the Adelaide Steamship Co. In 1901, the Rob Roy had passed its prime years as steam passenger vessel and was converted into a coal hulk for the company. For a number more years, it bunkered coal on Port Phillip for the Adelaide Steamship Co., until its upkeep and annual survey would have made it uneconomical to keep afloat.

One of the main reasons that old vessels were scuttled was one of economy, throughout history, the price of scrap metal has varied at different times. Sometimes the complete breaking up of the hull and fittings of an obsolete or condemned vessel would have been an economical proposition, labour costs plus profit would have to outweigh the option of scuttling. At other times, only the recovery of high value easily assessable materials such as, copper, brass, bronze, ship fittings and timber would be worth while, leaving the stripped out hulk to be scuttled. For scuttling purposes, a tug would be procured and on a suitable day the hulk with a small crew on board would be taken down the bay and out through the Heads, the crew taken off and the vessel sunk.