The wreck of a ship that sank in one of Australia’s worst peacetime maritime disasters has been discovered more than five decades after the vessel went down.
The motor vessel Noongah went under in heavy seas off the coast of NSW while carrying steel from Newcastle to Townsville in August 1969.
Only five members of the 26 crew survived after their cohort were rescued from life rafts by vessels responding to the ship’s distress call.
A single body was recovered from those lost at sea.
Researchers have discovered the 71m coastal freighter’s wreck, mapping the ship’s underwater location off the NSW coast between Port Macquarie and Coffs Harbour in June.
National science agency CSIRO’s research vessel Investigator confirmed the find with high-resolution seafloor mapping and video footage of the wreck, which was located about 170m underwater.
CSIRO voyage manager Margot Hind said the wreck’s dimensions and profile matched the Noongah.
“We were lucky to have favourable sea conditions for the survey and our CSIRO technical teams were able to gather excellent bathymetry and drop camera vision of the wreck,” Ms Hind said in a statement on Thursday.
The data has been given to The Sydney Project – a group of shipwreck explorers who partnered in the search – to plan for a dive of the Noongah to gather further information.
Samir Alhafith, who is part of the project, said collaborations like the one with the CSIRO and Heritage NSW were important when dealing with challenging dive sites, but the sunken ships were worth looking for.
“Not only is the discovery of these significant wrecks important for the surviving sailors and families of those that perished during the tragedy but also it allows us to investigate the mystery behind the sinking,” he said.
Heritage NSW assessments director Tim Smith said he hoped the discovery brought closure to the crew’s surviving family.
Family members and descendants of the Noongah’s crew can contact the CSIRO for further details about its investigation.
Source Agencies
