D9 Dredge
Cockburn Sound
D 9 Dredge c.1960
GPS: S 32° 11.646'
E 115° 44.527'
Location: Cockburn Sound
Site depth: 12 metres
Divable conditions: protected from swell
Visibilty: 1-10 metres
Vessel: Suction Dredge
Construction: Steel
Tons: Unknown
Vessel length: 51 metres
Wreck event: Foundered 1962
Built in the 1930s as a bucket dredge and named the Parmelia, the dredge was sold to Dredging Industries Australia and renamed the D9 (Dredge 9). The company refitted the bucket dredge to a suction system and the D9 was employed as one of the two dredges that serviced Cockburn Sound maintaining the channel depths for commercial shipping in the sound. In 1962 the D9 foundered and was declared a loss. The 3 decade old dredge was towed to the middle of Cockburn Sound and sunk in 12 metres of water, almost 2 miles west of the Alcoa Jetty in Kwinana.
The closest boat ramp is the Naval Base boat ramp however, the ramp is of poor condition and only suitable to small boats in good weather. Resting at 12 metres depth, with the bow facing the coast, the structure rises 5 metres off the seafloor. The wreck is still largely intact and upright making the D9 is a very impressive, easily accessible site. However, it should be taken into account certain dangers associated with the diving the wreck. Given the popularity of fishing over the wreck and combined with poor visibillty means entanglement in fishing line or abandoned anchor rope is a possibility. The wreck also offers a good opportuity for penetration but the fine silt of Cockburn Sound can quickly reduce visibilty inside the wreck to zero.
