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A piece of driftwood on Raine Island |
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| Forerunner to a lighthouse. A simple tower was better than nothing. Landing on Raine Island requires a permit - which is difficult to obtain. |
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Elsewhere on the island are natural traps, deep crevices that easily catch and hold a nesting turtle. |
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| Later afternoon guarantee for Raine Island |
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| Beached. Broke free while under tow to Asia as scrap |
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| A different scanning effect for the same picture (below) |
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| Wally deserves a very decent recognition for finding and salvaging this bell, currently on display in a museum. |
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Within the wreck - available light, time exposure |
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| Bell has been obviously cleaned here, when found it was encrusted with barnacles. |
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The Yongala shipwreck is an oasis for marine life.   |
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| Anchor chains are bad for coral formations. |
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| JOHN SUMNER - SHIPWRECK BELLS BLOG <Click |
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Propeller of Quetta  |
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| Filmmaker Ben Cross explores Quetta shipwreck, Cape York. |
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Located in the Capricorn and Bunker Group (Central Queensland - Tropic of Capricorn)  |
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| SS COOMA shipwreck at North Reef (Capricorn and Bunker Group), southern Great Barrier Reef. Rom Taylor took the picture with a wide angle lens Rolleiflex in a custom housing. Propeller was often featured as a cut-away scene in "Flipper" - stock footage sold by Ben Cropp. A few years after this 1964 picture, pirate divers stole two of the blades, losing one into shallow surf when it floated away on drums. John H Harding holds "M" a nice and slightly twisted heavy brass piece that once composed part of the ship's name, possible from the stern. (USA Skin Diver, February 1965). |
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Middleton Reef 'maru' (1971) © jhh |
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| The story says 'Protector' was a South Australian naval ship (pre 1900) sunk to form a bit of a 'harbour' at Heron Island, Queensland. |
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| Outer edge off Townsville. Very large formations likened to giant forest trees in age. |
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Blue ocean water |
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| Extra saturation added to this picture - probably closer to the real thing. |
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| New South Wales variety - "rock Lobster". Catch and release example. 1986 |
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| "Painted' cray found within minutes of arriving at The Fish Tail (Nor' West Island) |
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At Seal Rocks NSW in 1964. (Picture courtesy Ron Taylor) Large lobsters now protected. CRAYFISH GALORE See pages 44,45 Fathom |
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| Coastal specimen, far Cape York, Queensland |
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| Resident at Beaver Cay (Mission Beach Qld). EASTERN BLUE GROPER (NSW)  They got a bit spooky by about 1965, Bob. Val Taylor had written text for a proposed children's book that featured a Blue Groper. Ron and Val were both stuck for a picture - can you believe that? I was asked to contribute a shot and couldn't help. The first underwater torch I tried, the very first fish I saw in a cave - in 50 feet on scuba- at Marley Point, was a terrified blue groper. But yes, in the early days these were the main easy catch - fished to a low population point by the some of the people who later instigated the ban, the USFA of NSW. A scuba spearing ban followed. You know the story of the largest blue groper in a clan being the male? At Point Lookout QLD where no ban exists I saw a blue groper (a male) six inches in length. He was the largest in the area. That is a bit rough. (A blue should not turn blue until it reaches maturity at about 12 pounds). JHH |
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