When the call came through that the 'sash' weights from the City of Launceston need to be collected up, I thought this would be a great opportunity to not only get the boys a dive on the site but also to blow the cobwebs off Pete's boat. We arrived at the site to find a farther & his young sons anchored at one end of the wreck. Once we had explained the situation and started to set up shot lines etc they decided to move their fishing some distance away. The objective of the dive was to gather up the sash weights and return them to Peter 'PT' Taylor for him to clean and weigh the weights in an effort to determine the rate of corrosion on the site. Unfortunately with the amount of weed growing over the site at the moment very little of the deck could be distinguished, let alone find any small objects sitting on it!! The numbering tags could not even be found. We did however see the sacrificial anodes which have been fitted, it appears they are really doing their job well.
We also had time to do a lap of the ship, with the bow now fallen off the Eliza Ramsden, then the City is possible now the best looking bow in PPB, we swam down around the stern, there is still quite a few items laying around ceramic & champagne bottles etc the prop is still visible and of course the famous Penola bow sits bang in the middle of the City's Starboard side. Our planned 50 minute bottom time is soon up & its back up the shot line disappointed that we didn't complete our mission but secretly glad that we now have an excuse to return to what is an absolutely fantastic wreck site.
