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Every year experienced divers die in diving related avoidable accidents that should not have happened because the victim was "always so careful". One of the more common examples is a failure to analyse gas before diving, but there are many different types of avoidable accidents. The usual explanation put forward is a lapse in following their training, typically as a result of complacency. The victim is blamed for becoming complacent, the dive community is again reminded to be vigilant against complacency, and then another avoidable accident occurs. Perhaps a different way of explaining the cause of these predictable accidents could help effect a change in this unfortunate cycle.
The concept of Normalisation of Deviance has been used to describe the cause of NASA's flawed decisions that led to the Challenger space shuttle disaster. Normalisation of deviance from dive safety begins when the diver has a lapse in one or more safety protocols (often as a result of time and/or financial pressures) and nothing bad happens. The lapse reoccurs without incident and slowly the diver grows more accustomed to the deviant behaviour. Eventually the diver becomes so accustomed to a deviation from dive safety standards that they consider their unsafe behaviour to be acceptably normal. Ultimately one or more safety protocols are permanently deleted from their routine; enabling the diver have a serious, perhaps fatal, accident. To other divers, the accident is bewildering because the behaviour seems obviously unsafe and the victim had enough training and certainly enough experience to "know better".
It's clearly not productive to keep blaming the victim for these avoidable accidents. We can't solve this complex problem in a Tech Tip but a step to addressing this dive safety issue is to begin a discussion within the dive training community. Do we need a different educational approach that formally recognises and addresses normalisation of deviance as an underlying cause of many avoidable accidents among experienced divers? If you are an experienced diver, or dive professional, The Scuba Doctor urges you to raise awareness of this issue among your peers.
Wreck Dive | Boat access
The Euro is the shipwreck of a steam tug that served for more than fifty years before being scuttled in the Victorian Ships' Graveyard, Bass Strait.
The Euro lies 50 metres deep in the Victorian Ships' Graveyard, Bass Strait. Being a tug, the Euro was built strong and her structure is still intact. You can see toilets, the triple expansion steam engine, tow anchor, boilers, and steering quadrant. Divers can penetrate the hull. This is a popular dive for deep/technical divers.
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.
The Euro was a steel screw steamer tug of 257 tons gross, built in 1897, by Grourlay Bros., at Dundee, Scotland, with an overall length of 130 ft (40 m), with a beam of 22.5 ft (6.86 m) and a draught of 12.2 ft (3.72 m).
The steam tug Euro was owned by the Adelaide Steamship Company for most of its working life. In its early years the Euro worked out of various South Australian ports. In 1904, it was stationed at Port Pirie, then later at Port Adelaide, and at some time was transferred to Fremantle.
Returning to Port Adelaide in 1926, it operated out of that port until bought by Howard Smith and Co in 1930. Then it began working in Port Phillip.
After half a century of use, the Euro was stripped of fittings, except for the steam engine. The Euro was towed by the tug Terawhiti out into Bass Strait and scuttled using explosive charges in the Victorian Ships' Graveyard on Thursday 10 June 1948.
See also, Heritage Council Victoria: Euro, and
Australian National Shipwreck Database: Euro.
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.
Over the years we've been provided with many GPS marks for the Euro. The GPS marks we know of in circulation for the Euro are:
Traditional Owners — This dive site does not lie in the acknowledged traditional Country of any first peoples of Australia.
Euro Location Map
Latitude: 38° 20.744′ S (38.345738° S / 38° 20′ 44.66″ S)
Longitude: 144° 26.094′ E (144.434905° E / 144° 26′ 5.66″ E)
Datum: WGS84 |
Google Map
Added: 2012-07-22 09:00:00 GMT, Last updated: 2022-05-12 23:59:25 GMT
Source: Book - Victoria's Ships' Graveyard GPS (verified by Ian Scholey, VSAG)
Nearest Neighbour: H.C. Piggot, 434 m, bearing 66°, ENE
Steam Tug, 257 ton.
Built: Dundee, Scotland, 1897.
Scuttled: 10 June 1948.
Victorian Ships' Graveyard, Bass Strait.
Depth: 44 to 50 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.
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