Sunken frigate proves a hit

An explosion sends the frigate Wellington to the bottom off Island Bay last November. Picture / Cook Strait News

The wreck of an old warship sunk in Cook Strait last year has become a dive bonanza, considered by some to be the best dive wreck in the world.

The 36-year-old Leander-class frigate Wellington was sunk off Island Bay in November amid protests that it would break up and bits would be washed ashore.

However, professional divers now rate the dive one of the best in the world, proving the critics wrong.

Bill Keddy, who runs dive training and charter dive shop Splash Gordon in Wellington, said the wreck was encouraging many people to return to diving and many others to take up the sport just so they could get down to an amazing wreck.

Since the Wellington broke into three during a big storm in March, it no longer looked like a film set, he said.

The bow section with the 4.5-inch main gun was intact and lying on its starboard side. It was held in place by a large anchor and could be dived inside by qualified wreck divers but the two stern sections had mostly collapsed and people were advised not to dive inside.

"It is a much better dive now that it has broken up. It is a much more realistic wreck dive. Everybody is coming up buzzing after it. It is just amazing what the sea has done to it," Mr Keddy said.

"There is twisted metal. There is stuff exposed that was not exposed before."

Mr Keddy said the frigate almost looked as if it had been sunk in action.

But he warned that divers needed to take personal responsibility and not dive outside their skill and experience.

Mr Keddy said the ship had attracted divers from Invercargill to Northland, including many former Navy people who had served on board.

It had also attracted thousands of fish, including juvenile kahawai, cod and tarakihi.

"A lot of the juvenile fish are using it as a base. I have not seen juvenile tarakihi anywhere on the south coast. It is amazing.

"There have been a few knockers but it is fantastic and it will be fantastic for the next 20 years," Mr Keddy said.

Marco Zeeman from the SinkF69 Trust, which spearheaded the sinking, said the 2000 divers who had gone down to see the wreck in the first few months had established it as a world-class dive attraction.

Wellington's sister ship, the decommissioned HMNZS Canterbury, is alongside at the Devonport naval base in Auckland and a decision is likely within two or three months on its future.

About 20 groups are believed to be interested in the ship, mostly for sinking as a dive attraction.

- NZPA