Casino

Meet the site

The SS Casino was the western district's ship. Built by Gourlay Brothers in Dundee in 1882, the 160 ft iron screw steamer of 425 tons was bought by the Belfast and Koroit Steam Navigation Company and for nearly fifty years ran cargo and passengers between Melbourne and Apollo Bay, Warrnambool, Port Fairy and Portland – something like 2,500 voyages. On the morning of 10 July 1932, in a heavy sea, she tried to pick up her moorings off the Apollo Bay pier, dragged, and while the crew tried to run her ashore her own port anchor was driven through the hull. She rolled and sank within sight of the town; Captain Middleton and nine others died. It remains the worst tragedy in Apollo Bay's history and the wreck is commemorated by a memorial on the foreshore.

Today the Casino lies on her port side on a sand bottom about 300 m off the main beach in 9 m, stern toward the shore. The hull is about 50 m long and progressively broken toward the stern, but the bow and the midships engine section are still recognisable: the boiler and engine stand up from the sand, the propeller shaft and steering gear can be traced aft, and lifeboat davits, bollards and the stumps of the masts lie around the plating. The Victorian Maritime Archaeology Unit placed an information plinth on the site. Sand comes and goes with the swell, so the amount exposed varies from visit to visit, and the same surge that moves the sand keeps visibility in the 3–8 m range. Marine life is what you expect on an iron wreck in surge: kelp and turf on the upper plating, sweep and wrasse around the boiler, leatherjackets, crabs and the odd cray in the crevices, and rays on the surrounding sand. It is a shallow, easy dive in terms of depth and navigation and the most accessible wreck on the Great Ocean Road, but it earns an Intermediate rating for the long open-water swim and the need to judge the sea. Protected under the Heritage Act; nothing may be removed.

What you might see

Sea sweep, blue-throat wrasse, leatherjackets, southern rock lobster in the plating, crabs, smooth rays and fiddler rays on the sand, kelp and encrusting growth on the hull

Location

Iron coastal steamer lying on her port side on sand about 300 m off Apollo Bay main beach, opposite the Apollo Bay Museum, in 9 m of water.

Facilities nearby

Beachside car park, toilets at the foreshore, Apollo Bay Museum and cafes within 500 m, holiday park next door; no air fills in Apollo Bay – nearest Warrnambool or Geelong.