Meet the site
Hurricane was one of the first generation of iron clippers, a three-masted, 1,198-ton ship of 65.5 m (214.9 ft) launched by Alexander Stephen and Sons at Glasgow on 26 April 1853 for the Australian emigrant and wool trade. On 21 April 1869, inbound from Liverpool, she touched bottom twice near Point Lonsdale while entering Port Phillip. She carried on up the bay, but by the time she anchored off Arthur's Seat in Capel Sound there was six feet of water in the forehold, and on Thursday 22 April 1869 she sank by the head. Everyone aboard got away in the boats or was taken off the rigging by the tug Titan. The wreck sat as a hazard for a century until Ports and Harbours blasted it with explosives in the 1960s to reduce its height, and it now lies spread over a large area of sand, silt and shell in 8–12 m with the bow to the north-north-west. The most prominent feature is the stern, which rises about 3 m from the seabed and carries a concrete cairn describing the ship's history; the rest is a long field of steel plates, girders and surprisingly well-preserved wooden beams, with a large capstan among twisted metal near the bow. Star pickets left by the Victorian Archaeological Survey's 1980s survey still protrude from the bottom. It is an easy, atmospheric dive rather than a spectacular one. The iron is coated in sponges, bryozoans, sea stars and urchins, and it concentrates the fish of the otherwise featureless sound: dusky and banded morwong, magpie perch, senator and Maori wrasse, snapper, yellowtail scad and longfin pike, with scallops in the sand for those licensed to take them. Visibility is generally 5–15 m and the bottom silts if finned carelessly. At Open Water depth and inside the bay, the Hurricane is the historic wreck most Melbourne divers do first, and it is a useful boat-dive option when Bass Strait is unworkable. It suits new divers, wreck-orientation courses and anyone interested in the clipper era.
What you might see
Dusky morwong, banded morwong, magpie perch, senator wrasse, southern Maori wrasse, snapper, yellowtail scad, longfin pike, scallops, sponges, bryozoans, sea stars, rays
Location
On the sand of Capel Sound about 3 km off Rosebud/Rye on the southern Mornington Peninsula, inside Port Phillip.
Facilities nearby
Rye boat ramp: large car park, toilets, fish-cleaning tables; fills at Rye, Rosebud and Portsea dive shops.
Before you make plans
Conditions, access and operator schedules can change. This is a location guide, not a dive plan. Ask a local operator about current conditions and suitability for your training and experience.
Sources & further reading
scubadoctor.com.auscubadoctor.com.audivernet.comRecord updated 26 Sept 2026. Source claims are being reviewed.