Divers: Ian, Chris P, Ben, Youri, Tim, Simon, Paul, Chris E, Jim, Josh & Mark

The Batman was a Steam Hopper Barge used by the Melbourne Habour Trust to take dredged spoil to the Spoil Ground & dump it. She had quite a long career, although she was involved in many collisions. During the 1850s when we thought Russia may invade us for our gold, the SHB Batman & her sister ship the SHB Fawkner, where fitted with ammunition magazines & later a 6’’ gun. Apart of fitting the gun was a requirement to reinforce the deck to support the weight of the gun, to do this a frame was constructed under the deck. This frame is still in situ. The cloud cover, combined with some run off from the Barwon River made for a low level ambient light, however the dive was still very enjoyable & we all agreed its just nice to out diving again.     

Mark

Gun support

Gun support