No Ship at Avoca

Oh buoy were we warned: ship debris on beach
June 3 2011

 SHARP metal sheeting from the ex-HMAS Adelaide washed up along North Avoca Beach on the eve of World Environment Day.
 
Severe storms in the past week littered the beach with ship debris and broke loose two navigational buoys.

The potentially dangerous debris, with some metal sheets up to 2 metres long, marks the beginning of the predicted break-up of the ex-HMAS Adelaide.

The No Ship Action Group has kept a piece of the debris to make a sculpture.

Many supporters of the scuttling claimed the wreck would be positive for the environment and that this was an environmentally friendly sea dumping.

The sculpture will highlight the irony of dumping an ex-naval vessel into the ocean as an ‘artificial reef’ which now endangers swimmers and marine life.

No Ship Action Group warned the frigate was the wrong type of ship to sink, and that it would break up as has its identical sister ship the ex-HMAS Canberra, sunk off the Victorian coast near Geelong in October, 2009.
 
The Geelong ship has cracked and is already breaking up with Parks Victoria issuing a warning to divers on its website 16 months after the ship sunk.
 
It is less two months since the ex-HMAS Adelaide was sunk on April 13 2011 and it is already breaking up.
 
Divers have reported that the hull has cracked. The crack has appeared in the ship’s ‘weak spot’ as outlined by a marine engineer in a  $4000 report NSAG commission in the month before the ex-HMAS was sunk in a last-minute bid to prove to authorities the ship would break up and pollute the bay. Read the report online here. http://bit.ly/fwNZFi
 
The report was the basis of a summons in the Land and Environment Court the day before the scuttling in what was a last-minute bid to stop the dumping. Read the Summons here http://bit.ly/kJi8EB
 
However, Premier Barry O’Farrell chose to ignore the report, as did Member for Terrigal Chris Hartcher.
 
The potentially dangerous metal sections of the ex-HMAS Adelaide made their way to the beach starting on Tuesday.
 
One piece of aluminium sheet measuring two metres by 60cm was found in the surf zone on Tuesday afternoon.

About 80 smaller sections measuring on average about 20cm by 20cm were seen strewn along the beach.

The sheet is of sandwich construction with air trapped in a honeycomb of very thin aluminium between two sheets of aluminium. The trapped air gives the sheets enough buoyancy to keep them floating
 
According to expert marine engineer, Werner Hoyt, “The material washing ashore are internal partitioning aluminum wall materials not removed during preparation for reefing.”

In this form with razor sharp edges it could prove deadly in the surf zone. A surfer or child struck by a thin sharp sheet this size could sustain a very serious injury.
 
Local surfers want answers. How many of the deadly sheets are still lurking in the surf area from Avoca Beach to North Avoca? This could be a serious hazard to marine life if ingested such as whales, dolphins, turtles and other marine creatures.

“It appears that the Adelaide is becoming the poster child of why ships should no longer be reefed,” Mr Hoyt said. “Cost of reefing is now at four times the raw cost to recycle with out counting the resource recovery. The planners failed to account for differences in construction technologies and their likely behavior when subjected to a reefing environment.”  
 
Once again, two ex-HMAS Adelaide marker buoys broke loose in recent storms This is the second occasion buoys have broken free, this time amidst sea twisters and massive swells.
 
The ship wreck is just 6 metres below the surface and a serious navigational hazard right now as there are no navigational marker buoys there.
 
Rumour has it that one buoy washed up at Wamberal and a reward for $600 is being offered to trawler captains if they find one.
 
The buoy system comprises two navigational marker buoys ($16,000 each) and six mooring buoys.

Media inquiries: Michelle Meares 0439 645 372

No Ship files to stop scuttling

April 12  2011
 
NO SHIP Action Group filed an 11th-hour summons at 4pm today to stop the ex-HMAS Adelaide being scuttled off Avoca Beach tomorrow morning.

Citing last-mintue evidence pertaining to the breaking up of the ex-HMAS Canberra off the coast of Victoria near Geelong, the group filed a summons addressed to State Minister for Primary Industries and Minister for Environment at the Land and Environment Court.
 
The latest evidence was received via Freedom of Information documents on Friday afternoon. It shows the Victorian ship, which is an identical sister ship to the ex-HMAS Adelaide, has broken up largely because of corrosion inherently caused by the ship’s structure.

Additionally, the ex-HMAS Adelaide’s 23000 sq m of lead paint has not been tested for toxic PCBs despite numerous requests.
 
“Will Premier O’Farrell respect the court system and allow the Land and Environment Court time to decide the rights and wrongs of sinking this warship?,” a No Ship spokesperson said.

“What is wrong with waiting and letting the court decide. There are serious concerns here.
 
“What is one week of waiting, compared to two hundred years of pollution washing up on our beaches.”

Friday’s FOI documents follow on from a $4000 report the community group received on Monday last week from a US marine engineer outlining why the ship in Victoria is breaking up so quickly.

“It turns out these frigates are the wrong type of ship to scuttle,” the NSAG spokesperson said.
 
“We are loathe to lodge the summons at this late and criticial stage but we had no choice. This corrosion must be looked at. We truly thought Barry O’Farrell and the Liberals meant a fresh wave of accountable, clean Governance.”  

“We are asking Mr O’Farrell to let the court be the umpire.”
 
Last year the community spent nearly $70,000 on a legal case against the NSW State Government, which spent about $1 million of taxpayers’ money fighting the residents of Avoca Beach. 

Media inquiries: Michelle Meares 0439 645 372

Related media

• Tides may turn on ship sinking

  Sun Herald 4-07-2010

• How five surfers with a laptop sank a scuttling

  Sydeny Morning Herald 2-04-2010

• HMAS Adelaide ready to be scuttled

  Channel 9 News 23-3-2010

• The Ship That Won’t Go Quietly

  Sydney Morning Herald 20–03–2010

• Will Garrett Push The Button?

  New Matilda 19–03–2010

• Protesters want scuttling of HMAS Adelaide scuttled

  Daily Telegraph 19–03–2010

• HMAS Adelaide threat to Avoca homes

  Coasting Magazine 17–03–2010

• Stateline

  ABCTV 12–03–2010

• Central Coast in a Spin Over Rumours Obama will Sink Their Battleship

  Crikey 12–03–2010

• Scuttled ship would wreck bay: residents

  Sydney Morning Herald 7–03–2010