Christmas Island · Australia · Wreck
Eidsvold
A 1942 torpedo casualty, broken in two and dived from 5 m
Area photo: David Stanley from Nanaimo, Canada · CC BY 2.0
A 4,184 GRT Norwegian motor freighter, torpedoed at Flying Fish Cove on 20 January 1942 and broken in two. What is left is dived between 5 and 16 metres and graded beginner: a shallow wreck the reef has taken over, with octopus in the broken plating and batfish holding above it.
Also known as MV Eidsvold, Eisevold Wreck.
Where it is and how deep
10.4412° S, 105.6587° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
This is a shallow wreck dive rather than a deep one. The operator lists it from 5 to 16 metres and grades it beginner, so the profile puts no ceiling on bottom time beyond gas and needs no deep certification to run. The ship broke in two when she was hit, and that is what you are swimming over: structure and broken plating rather than a ship-shaped hull sitting on the bottom.
The reef has taken the wreck over and it now works as habitat, with octopus in the plating, batfish holding above the higher sections and, in the operator's description, night-time visitors as well. The operator rates it one of the most accessible wreck dives in Australia, which is a fair description of a WWII casualty you can reach on a short boat run and dive on a beginner's certificate.
The wreck
- Vessel
- MV Eidsvold
- Type
- Motor freighter, 4,184 GRT
- Length
- 116.64 m (383 ft)
- Built
- 1934
- Sunk
- 1942
- Cause
- Torpedoed by a Japanese submarine at Flying Fish Cove, 20 January 1942
- Lies
- Broken in two; the national shipwreck register places her off Smith Point on the north coast, and the operator dives her at 5 to 16 metres
Eidsvold was delivered in September 1934 by Gotaverken A/B of Gothenburg, a 4,184 GRT motor vessel of 116.64 metres built for Norwegian owners. A torpedo from a Japanese submarine struck her at Flying Fish Cove on 20 January 1942; she broke in two and her 31 crew abandoned ship, were picked up by HMS Durban on 6 February and landed at Batavia on 20 February. The wreck was torpedoed a second time, by USS Searaven, on 5 October 1942.
Marine life and season
- Octopus & cuttlefish
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Fair | Fair | Prime | Prime | Prime |
Season follows Christmas Island: October to December brings the clearest water; August and September bring upwellings and lower visibility; from November to April swell can roughen the north side.
Dive videos
MS Eidsvold Wreck Dive · Graham Poke on YouTube
Questions divers ask
How deep is the Eidsvold wreck?+
The operator dives it between 5 and 16 metres and grades it beginner. She was a 116.64-metre motor freighter that broke in two when she was torpedoed in January 1942, so the dive runs over broken structure at shallow depth.
Sources
- MV Eidsvold — Wikipedia
- Dive Sites Christmas Island — Extra Divers Australia
- Christmas Island — Wikipedia
- MV Eidsvold (shipwreck id 14337) — Australasian Underwater Cultural Heritage Database
In The Logbook
- WWII wrecks you can dive, by theatreWrecks · 7 min read
- Your first wreck dive: what to expect and whereFirst dives · 6 min read
More dive sites in Christmas Island
Drift
A shallow drift with swirling current and elusive hammerheads
Reef
Walk-in shore diving with a sheer wall and a garden-eel flat
Shallow coral heads from 3 m with a dense garden-eel colony
A bottomless vertical cliff worked under a 30 m cap
Cave & cavern
A cavern that surfaces in a chamber open to the sky
Reef
Anemones and clownfish in 15 m, with whale sharks passing through
Similar dives elsewhere
Wreck
Conch Wreck
Hikkaduwa · Sri Lanka
The huge oil tanks of an 1892 tanker, still lying where she sank
A tanker sunk by six bombs the day the Hermes went down
.jpg){kind=link}
Stern of a steel-hulled wreck for experienced divers
Steamship wreck with boilers, pistons and propeller in place