Campana

Wreck Dive | Boat access

Three-Masted Iron Barque, Coal Hulk | Max Depth: 58 m (190 ft) — Graveyard

The Campana shipwreck lies in the Victorian Ships' Graveyard off Barwon Heads in Bass Strait.

Diving the Campana Shipwreck

The Campana shipwreck sits in 58 m (190 ft) of water and the bow steelworks are in-tact and provide easy penetration and multiple swim through locations. There is plenty of fish life and the soft sponges range in colours from white to yellow to orange to purple.

It feels larger than specified and is a better wreck dive than one might expect. As the wreck is on the shipping leads it is always subject to shipping.

Bass Strait Warning: Always keep an eye on sea conditions throughout any shore or boat dive in Bass Strait on Victoria's coastline. Please read the warnings on the web page diving-in-bass-strait before diving or snorkelling this site.

Campana Shipwreck History — Built in 1875

Campana
© Unknown

The Campana was a three-masted iron barque, built in 1875, by R. and J. Evans, in Liverpool, United Kingdom. The overall length of the vessel was 192 ft (59 m), with a beam of 31.7 ft (9.66 m) and draught 19.2 ft (5.85 m), 776 tons net and 815 tons gross.

The vessel was sold a number of times until purchased by Hamburg, Germany based owners and renamed the Vidette.

In 1899, the vessel was purchased by the Melbourne-based shipping company McIlwraith, McEacharn Ltd, converted into a coal hulk, and renamed Campana.

Campana Sinking — Scuttled 30 July 1927

The Campana departed Williamstown in tow of the tug Minah and was scuttled using explosives in the Victorian Ships' Graveyard off Barwon Heads in Bass Strait on 30 July 1927.

Heritage Warning: Any shipwreck or shipwreck relic that is 75 years or older is protected by legislation. Other items of maritime heritage 75 years or older are also protected by legislation. Activities such as digging for bottles, coins or other artefacts that involve the disturbance of archaeological sites may be in breach of the legislation, and penalties may apply. The legislation requires the mandatory reporting to Heritage Victoria as soon as practicable of any archaeological site that is identified. See Maritime heritage. Anyone with information about looting or stolen artefacts should call Heritage Victoria on (03) 7022 6390, or send an email to heritage.victoria@delwp.vic.gov.au.

Traditional Owners — This dive site does not lie in the acknowledged traditional Country of any first peoples of Australia.

Campana Location Map

Latitude: 38° 20.854′ S (38.347567° S / 38° 20′ 51.24″ S)
Longitude: 144° 34.150′ E (144.569167° E / 144° 34′ 9″ E)
Datum: WGS84 | Google Map
Added: 2012-07-22 09:00:00 GMT, Last updated: 2022-05-04 16:06:41 GMT
Source: Book - Victoria's Ships' Graveyard GPS (verified)
Nearest Neighbour: Auriga, 178 m, bearing 29°, NNE
Three-Masted Iron Barque, 815 ton.
Built: Liverpool, England, 1875.
Scuttled: 30 July 1927.
Victorian Ships' Graveyard, Bass Strait.
Depth: 54 to 56 m.

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DISCLAIMER: No claim is made by The Scuba Doctor as to the accuracy of the dive site coordinates listed here. Should anyone decide to use these GPS marks to locate and dive on a site, they do so entirely at their own risk. Always verify against other sources.

The marks come from numerous sources including commercial operators, independent dive clubs, reference works, and active divers. Some are known to be accurate, while others may not be. Some GPS marks may even have come from maps using the AGD66 datum, and thus may need be converted to the WGS84 datum. To distinguish between the possible accuracy of the dive site marks, we've tried to give each mark a source of GPS, Google Earth, or unknown.