WW2 hospital ship found

Led by Briton David Mearns, the search team first picked up sonar images of the 2000m-deep wreck before Christmas, some 30 nautical miles east of Queensland’s Moreton Island.

Now, an ROV equipped with a high-definition video camera has been sent down and the resulting images prove the wreck’s identity.

Red crosses, as well as the ship’s number 47, were recorded painted on each side of the wreck’s bow.

The Centaur was torpedoed by the Japanese submarine 1-177 in May 1943. Of 332 people aboard, 268 died.

The wreck sits on its keel, with a 25-degree list to port. The bow is nearly severed from the rest of the hull, as a result of the torpedo hit.

More filming is taking place to document the wreck. The team has faced challenges, the wreck being located in a gully subject to strong currents, which can whip up sand and other detritus to reduce visibility.

There will be no physical contact with the wreck, which is protected under the Commonwealth's Historic Shipwrecks Act 1976.

The exception is the possible placement of a memorial plaque. The problem is that the wreck is in a very fragile state.

If it were to be placed on the seabed, the plaque would almost certainly disappear into the soft clay in which the wreck sits.

Mearns has also led an Australian team which found the elusive WW2 Australian light cruiser HMAS Sydney off Western Australia in 2008.

The Sydney was sunk 1941 after a battle with the German warship Kormoran, with the loss of all 645 crew.

Mearns speaks about the Sydney project at February’s International Shipwreck Conference in Plymouth.

Related links
Aussie cruiser found (March 2008)
Plymouth hosts Shipwreck Conference