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Recommended reading
Cedric Verdier
This book is dedicated to Nitrox rebreather diving and the basic principles and skills that every rebreather diver should know and master. It covers some topics like balance and trim with a rebreather, risk management, and proper Nitrox dive planning.
# Paperback: 84 pages # Publisher: Nitrox Rebreather Diving (January 26, 2008) # Language: English # ISBN-10: 2953093508 # ISBN-13: 978-2953093506 # Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 8.2 x 0.2 inches

Deep divers plunder shipwreck safe

Thieving divers have looted the 123-year-old shipwreck, the SS Keilawarra, off North Solitary Island , North South Wales. One of the safes aboard the heritage-listed wreck has been cut open and its contents stolen.
Credit:  
Commercial shipwreck salvagers are believed responsible for the crime given the difficulty of using underwater oxy-cutting tools at such a depth.
Source:    Daily Examiner  |  Thieves plunder shipwreck safe
   |   02-08-2010
The SS Keilawarra collided with another steamer in 1886, killing at least 40 people – NSW’s worst peace-time maritime disaster Commercial shipwreck salvagers are believed responsible for the crime, given the difficulty of using underwater welding and cutting tools at a depth of 75 metres.

Experienced local divers who discovered the heist have notified authorities but it’s still unclear exactly how and when the safe was ‘cracked’.

“Usually if treasure or anything of precious value is found on a shipwreck and illegally taken there’s scuttlebutt that passes around diving circles – but up until now we haven’t heard any rumours,” Coffs Harbour diver Mark Spencer said.

Leading maritime archaeologist, NSW Heritage Branch deputy director Tim Smith, said the government was waiting on further evidence from the site. “This is significant. Of the 1800 shipwrecks in NSW, only 10 per cent have been discovered and this was the only wreck we know of with a safe onboard,” Mr Smith said.

Based on the damage shown in photos, corrosion scientist from the Western Australian Maritime Museum Dr Ian McLeod believes the safe was raided about three years ago.

Under Australian Federal and State laws, divers caught tampering with shipwrecks face fines of between $100,000 and $1 million.

When the iron steamer Keilawarra sank on the night of 8th December 1886 it created history. The shocking loss of life rocked maritime centres around Australia. The scale of the disaster, the unnecessary waste of life and tales of cowardice raised alarm, then anger.

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