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Hotels, dive operators, gear, and how to get here are on the Cod Hole location page.
Overview
A 110 m steel passenger steamer that vanished in a cyclone in March 1911 with all 122 on board, now lying intact on her starboard side on a sandy bottom in the open Coral Sea, roughly 22 km east of Cape Bowling Green and 90 km southeast of Townsville. The hull rises from 30 m sand to about 16 m at the highest stanchions, isolated from any reef, which concentrates pelagic life on the wreck like nowhere else on the Great Barrier Reef. Queensland groupers the size of small cars, schooling barracuda, eagle rays, mantas, olive sea snakes, bull sharks and a resident humphead wrasse all work the structure. Penetration is illegal — it is a protected gravesite.
Briefing note
Protected wreck under the Commonwealth Underwater Cultural Heritage Act 2018 — penetration is illegal and nothing may be touched or removed. Currents are routinely strong; many operators require an advanced certification, recent dive experience, and a deep adventure dive. Nitrox is widely recommended to extend bottom time at 25-30 m. Exposed open-ocean site: seasickness on the surface interval is common, and trips are cancelled in marginal weather.
What you'll see
10 species curated- year-roundQueensland grouper
- year-roundHumphead wrasse
- year-roundOlive sea snake
- seasonalBull sharkPeak: Dec · Jan · Feb · Mar
- seasonalReef manta rayPeak: May · Jun · Jul · Aug · Sep
- year-roundSpotted eagle ray
- year-roundGiant trevally
- year-roundGreat barracuda
- year-roundGreen sea turtle
- rareDwarf minke whalePeak: Jun · Jul · Aug
Sightings evidence
1 record on file- high confidenceQueensland grouper
- Last confirmed
- May 2026
- Recent records
- 130 within 10 km
Sources & methodology
How we summarise this
We aggregate confirmed occurrence records from GBIF and OBIS within a fixed radius of each dive site. Occurrence records confirm presence and reveal seasonality clustering, but they DO NOT measure per-dive probability — there is no eligible-effort denominator. We deliberately do not publish a numeric '% chance of sighting' from this data.
Sources
- Global Biodiversity Information Facility — GBIF Secretariat
- Ocean Biodiversity Information System — IOC-UNESCO
- OBIS-SEAMAP — Duke University Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab / OBIS
- iNaturalist — California Academy of Sciences & National Geographic Society
- IUCN Red List of Threatened Species — International Union for Conservation of Nature
- WoRMS — World Register of Marine Species — Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ)
- FishBase — FishBase Consortium
- Atlas of Living Australia — CSIRO / GBIF Australia
- REEF Volunteer Fish Survey — Reef Environmental Education Foundation
The wreck
Ship history- Underwater cultural heritage
Ferry · Australia
SS Yongala
- Built
- 1903
- Sunk
- Mar 23, 1911
- Length
- 110 m
- Tonnage
- 3,664
- Diveable depth
- 16–30 m
- How she sank
- Lost in storm
Steel passenger steamer that vanished in a cyclone between Mackay and Townsville with 122 passengers and crew. Not found until 1958. Sits upright on a sand plain isolated from the GBR — the result is enormous fish life clustered on a single artificial reef.
Notable features
- bull rays under the hull
- Queensland grouper
- sea snakes
- intact hull plates
Vessel histories sourced from the Naval History and Heritage Command (DANFS), NOAA ENC Direct, and editorial research. Bathymetry per GEBCO. See the methodology for limits.
Conditions
| Month | Water | Visibility | Current |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 28–30 °C | 5–15 m | strong |
| Feb | 28–30 °C | 5–15 m | strong |
| Mar | 27–29 °C | 8–18 m | moderate |
| Apr | 26–28 °C | 10–20 m | moderate |
| May | 24–26 °C | 15–25 m | moderate |
| Jun | 22–24 °C | 15–30 m | moderate |
| Jul | 22–24 °C | 15–30 m | moderate |
| Aug | 22–24 °C | 15–30 m | moderate |
| Sep | 23–25 °C | 15–25 m | moderate |
| Oct | 25–27 °C | 12–22 m | moderate |
| Nov | 26–28 °C | 10–20 m | moderate |
| Dec | 27–29 °C | 8–18 m | strong |
Season calendar
Peak season highlighted · current month outlined
Next step
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