SYDNEY Harbour may be the city's sparkling centrepiece but its sandy bottom reveals its darker side.
The city's coast and harbour have claimed more than 140 ships and hundreds of lives since the First Fleet arrived in 1788.
While many of the vessels have long since succumbed to the relentless toll of the ocean, several major shipwrecks are still visible to divers.
Sydney Harbour was considered one of the world's safest shipping harbours until the cargo ship Edward Lombe broke apart during a storm and was driven on to Middle Head in 1834, killing 12.
Nearly 180 years on, the ship's anchors can still be seen sitting on the bottom of the harbour.
Divers can still find pieces of coal west of North Head after the cargo ship Centurion sank in 1887 carrying 400 tonnes of the fuel. Parts of the steamers SS Centennial and Royal Shepherd, which sank in 1889 and 1890 respectively, can also be spotted by divers.
But the most intact wreck on the Harbour floor - the iron-hulled TSS Currajong - which sank in March 1910 off Bradleys Head, rests in a shipping channel and can't be reached without permission from Sydney Ports Authority.
The sinking of The Dunbar in 1857 remains Sydney's worst maritime disaster.
The international clipper was returning from England with passengers and cargo bound for Australia's gold mines when it misjudged the entrance to the heads during a storm and was washed onto rocks not far from The Gap.
The subsequent sinking of the Catherine Adamson off North Head in October of that year, which claimed 12 lives, led to the installation of Hornsby Lighthouse on South Head and the introduction of mandatory pilotage of ships leaving and entering the port.
The wreck of the Dunbar was not located until 1957 and was raided by opportunistic divers over the next decade, National Maritime Museum curator Kieran Hosty said.
"There were people certainly taking keepsakes off the wrecks in the 1950s and 1960s and there were also people commercially salvaging metals," Mr Hosty said. The commercial operators used dynamite to open the hull to strip it of bronze and copper, causing significant damage, he said. After 150 years all that remains of The Dunbar are large anchors and chain and ballast blocks.
Since 1977, all shipwrecks over 50 years of age in Sydney Harbour have been protected under the NSW Heritage Act.
"These days divers are pretty respectful and 99.9 per cent do the right thing," Mr Hosty said.
Author: Henry Budd | Source: The Daily Telegraph [October 12, 2010]