Last Sunday Ron and Denise from Diving Adelaide joined the FUUC (Flinders University Underwater Club) on a dive trip to the historical shipwreck of the Norma here in Adelaide, South Australia. Having studied Maritime Archaeology at Flinders University, Denise was very keen to dive here.

The four-mast steel-hulled barque Norma wrecked in 1907 when the ship was hit by another ship (the Ardencraig) while the Norma was anchored! It’s a mystery how this could have happened. Surprisingly another ship, the Jessie Darling, was passing and approached the Ardencraig to offer help. Not picking up on the warning signals from the crew of the Ardencraig, they passed right over and into the flooded Norma and sank on top of it. (The Jessie Darling was later refloated and salvaged). For more information, read the description and interview with South Australia’s maritime heritage officer Amer Khan. The figurehead of the Norma, a druid priestess, is on display on at the South Australian Maritime Museum in Port Adelaide.

FUUC’s boat “Seaductive” went out from North Haven and after a short boat ride we were ready to jump in. Vis was quite good for the Norma, and the water was still nice and warm at 22 degrees! We were immediately surprised by the abundance of marine life around the wreck. There were lots of Bullseyes and King George Whiting around, it was great fun swimming through the big schools of fish! A curious cuttlefish that reached out to our camera and tried to grab Brett’s Sharkshield(?) added to the fun and provided material for our little video. Because explosives were used on the wreck (so it wouldn’t be in the way of any other boats and cause more trouble) the site is quite spread out but there are still big and recognisable parts everywhere, including an underwater trail plaque with information about the wreck on it.