Will O the Wisp

Wreck Dive | Boat access

Wooden Schooner | Max Depth: 3 m (9.84 ft)

Historic shipwreck protected zone. Permit Required.
For more details please see vic-shipwreck-protection-zones.

Do not dive near the Will O The Wisp without a permit. The shipwreck lies in a 50 metre radius protection zone. If you enter this zone severe penalties apply. Stay clear!

Level: Open Water and beyond.

The Will O The Wisp shipwreck lies in only two to three metres of water, on the eastern side of William Sand, West Channel, Port Phillip.

Diving and Snorkelling the Will O The Wisp Shipwreck

Will O The Wisp
© Heritage Council Victoria

There is good potential for access to the snorkelling and diving public to interpret the site. The wreck is substantially intact, and stands above the seabed, with many artefacts still visible in situ.

The site of the Will O The Wisp is a historic shipwreck protected zone with a 50 metre radius from:
Latitude: 38° 14.490′ S (38.241498° S / 38° 14′ 29.39″ S)
Longitude: 144° 42.070′ E (144.701159° E / 144° 42′ 4.17″ E) .
A permit from Heritage Victoria is required to dive the Will O The Wisp. Anchoring is prohibited.

Will O The Wisp Shipwreck History — Built in 1840

The Will O' The Wisp was an armed wooden clipper schooner of 101 tons, built in 1840, at Liverpool, England especially for the opium trade, which it entered in 1842. The vessel had a length of 76 ft (23 m), a beam of 18 ft (5.49 m), and a depth of 10.5 ft (3.2 m).

As steamers displaced fast sailing vessels it went into the Pacific-Honolulu trade. In 1852-53 it engaged in intercolonial trading between New Zealand, Launceston and Melbourne during the Gold Rush.

Will O The Wisp Sinking — 8 October 1853

On its final voyage, the Will O The Wisp left Auckland, New Zealand, with a cargo of timber, bricks, potatoes and sundries bound for Melbourne under the command of its owner Captain R. Highat. The vessel had successfully entered The Heads and was beating up the West Channel but was unable to work off the Williams Sands on the east side of the channel, and went ashore of opposite Swan Point on 8 October 1853.

The captain and the crew were rescued and taken to Melbourne aboard the Wanderer the following day. The master was also the owner of the ship and its cargo.

Heritage Warning: Any shipwreck or shipwreck relic that is 75 years or older is protected by legislation. Other items of maritime heritage 75 years or older are also protected by legislation. Activities such as digging for bottles, coins or other artefacts that involve the disturbance of archaeological sites may be in breach of the legislation, and penalties may apply. The legislation requires the mandatory reporting to Heritage Victoria as soon as practicable of any archaeological site that is identified. See Maritime heritage. Anyone with information about looting or stolen artefacts should call Heritage Victoria on (03) 7022 6390, or send an email to heritage.victoria@delwp.vic.gov.au.

Wathaurong (Wadda-Warrung) country

Traditional Owners — This dive site is in the traditional Country of the Wathaurong (Wadda-Warrung) people of the Kulin Nation. This truly ancient Country includes the coastline of Port Phillip, from the Werribee River in the north-east, the Bellarine Peninsula, and down to Cape Otway in the south-west. We wish to acknowledge the Wathaurong as Traditional Owners. We pay respect to their Ancestors and their Elders, past, present and emerging. We acknowledge Bunjil the Creator Spirit of this beautiful land, who travels as an eagle, and Waarn, who protects the waterways and travels as a crow, and thank them for continuing to watch over this Country today and beyond.

Will O the Wisp Location Map

Latitude: 38° 14.490′ S (38.241498° S / 38° 14′ 29.39″ S)
Longitude: 144° 42.070′ E (144.701159° E / 144° 42′ 4.17″ E)
Datum: WGS84 | Google Map
Added: 2012-07-22 09:00:00 GMT, Last updated: 2022-05-09 00:11:29 GMT
Source: Victorian Government GPS (verified)
Nearest Neighbour: J3 Swan Island Submarine, 328 m, bearing 149°, SSE
Historic shipwreck protected zone.
Permit Required.
Wooden Schooner.
Built: Liverpool, England, 1840.
Sunk: 8 October 1853.
West Channel, Port Phillip.
Depth: 3 m.

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DISCLAIMER: No claim is made by The Scuba Doctor as to the accuracy of the dive site coordinates listed here. Should anyone decide to use these GPS marks to locate and dive on a site, they do so entirely at their own risk. Always verify against other sources.

The marks come from numerous sources including commercial operators, independent dive clubs, reference works, and active divers. Some are known to be accurate, while others may not be. Some GPS marks may even have come from maps using the AGD66 datum, and thus may need be converted to the WGS84 datum. To distinguish between the possible accuracy of the dive site marks, we've tried to give each mark a source of GPS, Google Earth, or unknown.