Spear Fishermen Visit Wreckage Of Wiltshire

Press, Volume XCII, Issue 27731, 8 August 1955, Page 10

Spear Fishermen Visit Wreckage Of Wiltshire

(New Zealand Press Association)

AUCKLAND, August 7. Surrounded by shoals of curious fish, six Auckland spear fishermen invaded the gloomy wreckage of the steamer Wiltshire off the south-east coast of Great Barrier Tslahd this morning. They brought up parts of the ship, which sank 33 years ago. Led by Mr L. W. Subritzky, the expedition was one of the deepest mass dives yet undertaken in the Hauraki Gulf. The vessel lies 108 ft down, and 1000 ft from the shore. Mr Subritzky himself previously set a New Zealand record with a dive of 180 ft.

The Wiltshire was wrecked in 1922 without loss of life. Efforts to rescue the officers and crew lasted several days. The Auckland party comprised Messrs Subritzky, T. Pierce, A. Dickinson, K. Cbbray, N. Mander, and J. H. Bromleys, a crayfisherman. So accurate was Mr Bromleys’s estimation of the vessel’s position that the anchor from the party’s launch caught in one of the Wiltshire’s davits. Mr Subritzky visited the wreck four times, and was down for a total of two hours. He recorded parts of the group’s exploit on film taken with an underwater camera. Visibility was good. As he reached the wreck he was met by an immense circular school of snapper, bright scarlet in colour, yellow eels, kingfish, qnd a four-foot shark. After parting to let him through, the shoal moved in again to surround him and watch his search for a souvenir. It took him an hour to find a suitable memento—a barnacle-encrusted porthole which he manhandled to the boat. He had to leave behind a length of four-inch lead pipin 7. Mr Pierce emerged from the firebox of the boiler, triumphantly waving a crayfish which had made its home there. Mr Mander, investigating the wreck, had part of a deck fall on him, but was able to extricate himself. Generally the party found that the ship had “gone to pieces.” with one or two curious exceptions in the after part. Coils of wire—not copper—which had not rusted or become infested with barnacles, shone like stainless steel. This -was the first visit to the wre~k in 30 years. The last was made by a diver in a suit.