The Labuan Wrecks, Brunei - The Wrecks of Western Borneo

The following information on Northern Borneo wrecks was taken with kind permission from the Panaga Divers of Brunei,

web site http://www.panagadivers.com

Many thanks to Mark Tuttle, John Elder and also Maurice Davidsons book Brunei Laut.

Maurice Davidson must be regarded as the father of the Labuan Wrecks. His painstaking searches turned up the four wrecks during which time he drove the Bandar club to win the BSAC Heinke Trophy. Personally, he became BSAC's first ever National Instructor to qualify outside Britain. The best diagrams of these wrecks were drawn by Maurice, and appear in his book about diving in Bruneian waters, Laut Brunei.

Panaga Divers wish to thank Maurice very much for his kind permission to reproduce the pictures on this web site.

We have altered the Cement wreck picture to show the collapse of the funnel and the American wreck to show the general compacting of the wreckage. Even the Australian wreck has not withstood nature's depredations and a small modification was made recently (July 2006) to show the collapse of the shelter deck some years years ago. The Cement Wreck's superstructure is now more hole than steel, and one day, there will be a collapse. The infamous hydraulic wave forces that can suck divers into doorway are easily capable of blowing out full steel panels in a storm!

Tung Huang - the Cement Wreck

Approximate position: 5 Deg. 13.360’ N  115 Deg. 04.680’ E

Date of sinking: September 1980

This vessel carrying cement for construction in Brunei, hit the Samarang banks in Sabah. Whilst making a run for port, it sank close to Labuan. The vessel is a modern freighter with the superstructure aft. Nets are draped all over the vessel and in good visibility it appears almost like a Walt Disney creation. The easy penetrations to the engine room and superstructure are far riskier than they were10 years ago. The funnel fell over to port in the late 1990's, and the storms of August 2002 caused the hydraulic pumping of the sea to blow out a number of superstructure panels. In June 2003, the wreck was littered with dead fish, a sure sign that somebody had been fishing illegally.

Marine life abounds, and resident, huge lionfish patrol the superstructure. The wreck lies in about 32 metres (HW) with a scour under the counter revealing the propeller (35 metres). The superstructure rises to 18 metres and the kingposts to 9 metres. The deck lies at about 22 metres.

Being the shallowest of the four Labuan wrecks, this is often a second dive. Be careful. Always leave at least an hour (preferably 90 minutes) between dives. At the very least, your computer will punish you for diving again less than 60 minutes after the last dive. The algorithm is designed that way. Also, particularly if you ran into deco. on the first dive, it's easy to slip in again on the second dive, and even on a relatively shallow dive such as this, the penalty racks up surprisingly fast.

Also take care entering the engine room. It's often very murky deeper down, and a few pieces of falling rust dislodged by your exhaled air can turn into an instantaneous rust-out when visibility drops to zero. You won't be the first badly frightened and disorientated diver who regretted not having laid a line! Penetrating deep into the engines is not for the faint-hearted and certainly requires experience and technique.

2007: The superstructure appears to be very precarious. Huge gaps in the plating reveal bent and broken supporting members. Heavy machinery supported by very little hang over what used to be favourite penetrations. Warnings apart, this can be a gorgeous wreck in good visibility, and even when the vis. is poor, there's plenty of life to observe.

MV Tung Huang - 92 * 15 metres   2,500 tons

Pictures and images from 3rd August 2003

All the shots were taken around the stern superstructure in excellent 15+ metre vis. The interior shots show the deterioration of the superstructure. The entry to the engine room has been made easy since the funnel fell over, but beware the poor interior visibility. By 2007, most of the ladders and pipes in the engine room hatch had fallen down. In 2006, the wreck looks more like a red coral filled cave!

Panaga Divers have been visiting these wrecks ever since they were discovered. In the old days, the club boat "Wave Dancer" was used, since, being diesel powered it had the necessary range. These days it is simpler to join our friends at the BSADC and go out in their boat.

Some of the marine life to be found on this impressive wreck.

The wreck is famous for its resident stonefish,  Synanceja horrida. How many there are is unknown,

but they crop up everywhere, so watch where you put your hands.

The two stonefish on the right, photographed in profile, look identical but were living at either end of the wreck

On the left, in July 2006, lies another stonefish, in the same area as Terry's (extreme left). They seem to love hiding in

the draped nets around the stern. Two weeks later (right), it hadn't moved!

8th May 2005: Stunning visibility allowed us to take some excellent views of the wreck Right: The fore mast and centre walk way. Below - left to right: The very corroded superstructure, view of the kingposts, stern looking forward, the approach over the stern.

October 2005: The Cement Wreck and even the Blue Water Wreck, the best preserved of the Labuan wrecks, are decaying rapidly. The photograph shows the lack of plating on the CW superstructure, but more worryingly, the broken supporting vertical frame. The resident octopus, however, is unaware of this, and simply grows larger on the diet of available small fry.

Down into the engines, but take care. April 2007: The wreck has been colonised by all sorts of soft corals, and the abundance of black coral, one of the best nurseries for juvenile fish, ensures a healthy, diverse and abundant panoply of marine life - with the notable exception today of whale sharks! April is the season, and a massive beast (>5 metres) was seen earlier in the week, however, a weather change, and the departure of the spring-time jellies may mean that these benign monsters have moved on elsewhere.

USS Salute - The American Wreck

12th August 2007 - Memorial Plaque laid by BSADC

The attempted salvage of the USS Salute in 2006 galvanised a number of divers to raise strong objections with the relevant authorities. This action halted the salvage. An unexpected consequence, in these days of the internet, was that BSADC diver, Dick Pomeroy, managed to make contact with survivors, relatives and World War II veterans who served in the US Admirable Class Minesweepers during the liberation of Brunei. A plaque, the script designed by Dick and Wayne Shafer, whose brother died on the ship, was placed on the wreck by Dick, Cat and Nigel of BSADC.

Meanwhile, the wreck continues to provide a haven for myriads of fish. The schooling yellow-tail barracuda, sweetlips (Diagramma pictum) and the massive sting-ray that lives around the wreck demonstrate that the wreck has now returned to nature, and despite avaricious attempts to disturb this place, it remains a sanctuary for fish and provides a historical dive site for interested and respectful divers.

For a lot more information and pictures on the USS Salute please click on the link . . . . USS Salute

De Klerk - the Australian Wreck

Approximate position: 5 Deg. 08.350’ N  115 Deg. 05.240’ E

Date of sinking: 1945

Built in Britain around 1890, this was a typical Far East passenger cargo ship operated by the Dutch as the 'SS De Klerk'. She was taken over by the Dutch Indies Government at the end of January 1942 for conversion to a troop carrier for the Royal Dutch Navy at Tjilatjap. The conversion was cancelled due to shortage of personnel, and the Navy scuttled her at Tandjong Priok on 2nd March 1942. The Japanese Navy salvaged her on 28th November that year, renovated her, and she entered Japanese service as the 'Imaji Maru'. Fleeing Borneo, she was sunk by a bomb from the Australian air force on 16th September 1944(5?). Many female prisoners ('comfort ladies') were drowned as the Japanese took to the life boats. Several divers believe the wreck to be haunted. The vessel has lost most of its horizontal plating leaving just the riveted shell and the cross beams. The steam engine is a lovely example of its kind and the wreck is easy to penetrate. The vessel lies in 36 metres (HW), and in 1993 was canted over 45o onto her port side with the high side of the wreck rising to 22 metres at the shelter deck. For'ard there is a huge bomb hole in the starboard side. At the stern, the steel propeller and rudder were visible.

85 * 12 metres - The wreck in the early 1990's. Click on the picture for a more recent version.

Over ten years later in 2006, the wreck appears much the same, however, the frame of the shelter deck has collapsed. The wreck appears to have sunk a bit into the seabed whilst rotating a little back towards the vertical. Certainly the wreck is no longer canted over so extremely, probably only about 20^o off the horizontal, and the propeller is now buried in the sand. The highest point of the wreck is now some 26 metres (HW).

Diving this wreck is very atmospheric. The visibility is often less than 10 metres, and the skeletal remains of the ship and the tragic end to her life all combine with a touch of narcosis to produce a haunting, memorable dive.

The wreck retains the shell plating, however, al that remains of the horizontals are the frames. The bow hole in the starboard bow is impressive and a view from the hole looking upwards through the wreckage is shown below. The anchor chain runs from the starboard hawse pipe. The wreck is home to many lion fish, shrimp (Rhynchocinetes durbanensis), and barracuda of various species. The wreck's horizontal plating is all but rusted away, leaving the verticals and the machinery in place. In July 2006, we swam through the wreck end to end, passing the impressive steam engine (below) and boilers.

The photographs were taken between 2003 and 2006, however, a magical two weeks of over 10 metre vis. in July 2006 allowed us to see more of the wreck than ever before.

THE BOWS

THE ENGINE ROOM

The stem, anchor-chain coming from the hawse-pipe / Views upwards though forward holds from the bomb-hole (starboard bow)

Shrimp / Low pressure steam cylinder

MID-SHIPS

Holds / Portholes / Views of the canted deck

STERN

The toilets (starboard quarter), winches for the holds and details of the stern bollards and steering gear

January 29th 2005:  De Klerk's Ghost laid to rest ? This wreck is reputed to be haunted. Two divers from BSADC saw a lady in flowing white passing through the ship. So shocked were they, that they vowed never to dive the wreck again.

On 29th January 2005, Dale Chenery, was diving through the stern decks when he was startled by a white ethereal object floating across the interior of the ship. It was a marbled ray! I didn't see the ray, but witnessed the swirling cloud of silt disturbed by its passage. So is the ghost of the wreck nothing more than a resident ray ? Who knows.

Mabini Padre - the Blue Water Wreck

Estimated Position: 5 Deg. 17.440’ N  114 Deg. 59.850’ E

Date of sinking: 13th November 1981 (Yes; it was Friday 13th !)

This huge Filipino stern trawler sank on tow after a fire. Much further from the coast than the other wrecks (6 miles beyond the Cement wreck and 10 miles beyond the other two), it suffers little from the inshore murk and occasionally 40 metre visibility can be encountered that gives the wreck its name. 

The vessel lies on its port side in 35 metres with the starboard side rising to 24 metres. The side is a riot of soft corals (dendronephthya) except where some divers appear to have been clog dancing around the base of the 'permanent' shot line. The hull is easily penetrated aft of the bridge superstructure, however, as in all wrecks, the chance of a rust-out, particularly in any machine spaces is an ever present risk. The swim through the stern trawl shute is fun and it allows the diver to pass round and under the stern to observe the single screw. In 2003, the screw was virtually obscured by marine growth.

Mabini Padre 80 * 12 metres

There's a huge amount of life on all these wrecks. Scorpion fish (left) are common and there is a resident frog fish near the bridge. The school of barracuda that patrol in the blue water are big and, if you count them, number over 100 specimens. There was not much growth on the propeller in 1994, however, regard the same propeller in 2005 (below) and it's covered in black coral.

On the 8th May 2005, we got stunning vis. that allowed several panoramic shots.

Juvenile barracuda swarmed all over the wreck.

The picture of the stern and the side reveal a few discrepancies in the sketch of the wreck.

The propeller and rudder are very well disguised in their camouflage of coral..

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