Meet the site
Coramba was a twin-screw steamer of 531 tons built in Ayrshire, Scotland, and launched on 15 August 1911 for the Belfast and Koroit Steam Navigation Company, which ran her between Melbourne and the Western District ports of Warrnambool, Port Fairy and Portland with wool, dairy produce and general cargo. On 29 November 1934 she left Warrnambool for Melbourne loaded with wool and condensed milk. Overnight the weather worsened into a furious storm; she never arrived, and over the following days deckhouse wreckage and bodies washed ashore on the southern coast of Phillip Island. All seventeen aboard were lost, one of Victoria's worst shipwreck tragedies of the twentieth century, and the wreck's location remained a mystery. A diver, Johnno Johnstone, reported finding her in shallower water about 1.5 miles west of Seal Rocks decades later, but attempts to relocate that site failed. Southern Ocean Exploration searched for seven years and on 29 May 2011 found the Coramba about 10 nautical miles south of Seal Rocks in 66 m. She lies north–south with the bow to the south, on her port side and almost upside down, so the dive is over the exposed starboard side and keel of an intact small steamer with her bow and stern and twin screws recognisable. Deep-water sponges and sea whips have colonised the hull and ling, boarfish and big crayfish live around it; visibility of 20–30 m is typical on the rare suitable days. The Coramba is a protected historic shipwreck and a grave, and it is an expedition dive: trimix or rebreather, an hour or more of decompression in open Bass Strait, and a long run from Newhaven or Western Port. It is dived once or twice a year by experienced technical teams and suits only them; for everyone else the story is told at the Phillip Island museums and the memorial at Warrnambool.
What you might see
Deep-water sponges, sea whips, ling, boarfish, southern rock lobster, butterfly perch
Location
In Bass Strait about 10 nautical miles (18 km) south of Seal Rocks, Phillip Island, in 66 m; found by Southern Ocean Exploration in 2011.
Facilities nearby
Newhaven ramp (parking, toilets, fuel) or Western Port ramps; nothing at sea
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.auRecord updated 26 Sept 2026. Source claims are being reviewed.