Freight ship sunk by Japanese submarine in WWII found off Victorian coast

An Australian freight ship sunk by a Japanese submarine in Bass Strait during World War II has been found by archaeologists less than an hour after they started looking.

An Australian freight ship sunk by a Japanese submarine in Bass Strait during World War II has been found by archaeologists less than an hour after they started looking.

The WWII shipwreck was discovered the team on-board the CSIRO research vessel Investigator about 70km south-southwest of Gabo Island off the coast of Victoria near Mallacoota.

It was found relatively intact and sitting upright on the sea floor in the Bass Strait just south of Victoria on April 16.

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The 100m long freighter, the SS Iron Crown, was located using seabed mapping technology and a special drop camera.

The Investigator returned to Hobart today.

Voyage chief scientist from the Australian National Maritime Museum, Emily Jateff, led the search and said the geophysical mapping team unique to the Investigator allowed for the discovery to take place.

CSIRO Investigator Voyage Manager Max McGuire and CSIRO scientist Emily Jateff made an important discovery of a WWII shipwreck. Picture: LUKE BOWDEN

Historical photo of the SS Iron Crown that was sunk by a Japanese submarine in WWII. Picture: SOUTH AUSTRALIAN MARITIME MUSEUM

“We were able to use the drop camera which has a bottom facing video camera and we also mounted a GoPro on it … that enabled us to get quite a lot of footage,” Ms Jateff said.

“Iron Crown is in 700m of water … we needed to put that drop camera down and to put it down to 600 plus metres is something the Investigator can do, and at the drop of a hat too.”

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Iron Crown was sunk by a Japanese submarine 77 years ago while travelling through Bass Strait carrying manganese ore. The heavily loaded freighter was hit by a torpedo from the submarine and sank within minutes.

Heritage Victoria maritime archaeologist Peter Harvey said it was one of Victoria’s worst shipwrecks in terms of loss of life.

“There were 43 crew from the Australian Merchant Navy on-board the ship and 38 lost their lives in the attack,” Mr Harvey said.

The bow of the SS Iron Crown. Picture: CSIRO

“Locating the wreck after 77 years of not knowing its final resting place will bring closure for relatives and family of those that were lost at sea, as well as for Australia’s maritime community.”

The shipwreck was found by the team on-board the Investigator in under one hour, which Ms Jateff said was unusually fast.

“Finding a shipwreck within an hour is still really, really uncommon,” she said.

The discovery of Iron Crown was an event of national significance and has been reported to the Victorian and Australian Governments. A memorial service will be planned for the site.

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