[Wreck Archive] Wreck Dive Sites

The Unicorn is a Thai cargo vessel.

Her sinking was the result of a suspected insurance fraud - she moored up a little way north of Koh Tao, and sank slowly. The ships manifest claimed she was carrying a cargo of fish, but when salvage divers went to investigate, they found nothing more than low grade animal food!

She now rests on the seabed at around 48 metres, mostly upright with a slight list to port. Her rear superstructure still stands intact, there are open holds across the deck, plus a forward mast and winching machinery near the bow.

In comparison with other dive sites close to Koh Tao, her depth means she is beyond the ability of most divers, therefore very few people dive the Unicorn. This means that there is masses of marine life - lots of pelagic species, crabs and critters, and a some giant groupers living inside the bridge.

The Unicorn also exhibits some of the best soft coral growth seen around Koh Tao. We've also been lucky enough to see several whale sharks above the Unicorn Wreck!

Look out - since she's been down for some time, there are many nets and fishing lines snagged on the wreck.

This WW2 schooner was sunk during July 1945 by Baleo class submarine USS Bugara . Estimated at 200 tonnes, DJL Diving located this wreck close to Koh Tao during 2007. We had converging gps marks from three Thai fishermen, close to the location given in the submarine log.

Interestingly, this wreck is located just past the Chumphon Pinnacles - a dive site visited by many hundreds of divers every day! Just a few minutes further [on our high speed RIB] lies the WW2 schooner.

Rising up from the sand a little below 50 metres, this wooden hulled wreck has collapsed to form a mound standing on the seabed. We only dived the stern section - where the wreck was broken there were a large number of earthenware plates spilling from the wreck. Probably many more lie below the silt.

Much of the hull is still intact so you can identify the outline of the wreck, with ballast stones littered across her. We need to make more dives to map this wreck, and try to locate the missing bow section - although we suspect that the USS Buagara probably used her deck guns to sink the schooner, possible use of a torpedo may explain the lack of bow section!

There are many scorpionfish on this wreck [which are difficult to see]. Two of us found out the hard way!

The Torpedo wreck was lost in 1973. She is a small cargo vessel, around 60m long, and was carrying large teak logs which the Thais originally believed to be torpedos.

She is upright with the top of her superstructure at 42m, amidships around 46m, and the sand around 52-55m depending on the sand shifting.

Lots of large pelagic fish congregate above the wreck, and you can see many soft corals growing off the wreck.

Visibility on the Torpedo is generally better than the Unicorn duer to the greater distance from Koh Tao.

Launched on 8th January 1916, HMS Repulse is an enormous 794.2 feet long British Battleship, weighing 38,300 tonnes at full load.

Armed with 6 x 15 inch caliber deck guns, plus 9 x 4 inch guns and anti aircraft armament, she was paired together with the HMS Prince of Wales in a resistance effort known as force Z.

Sadly both vessels were sunk during 1941 as a result of Japanese aerial attack, suffering great losses.

Now, designated as a British war grave [& out of respect for those lost], no penetration of the HMS Repulse is permitted, and no artifacts are removed from the wreck.

In rememberence of the lost sailors, we lay wreaths on the HMS Repulse as part of our annual wreck diving liveaboard expeditions in the South China Sea.

Diving HMS Repulse is an awesome experience. The scale of this wreck is incredible and visibility in the South China Sea can be very good, giving fantastic views of the wreck. It would take many, many dives to take in the HMS Repulse - huge deck guns, towering bridge, anti aircraft guns, massive props, torpedo craters - diving HMS Repulse is is an incredible experience.

In addition to this, during our last dive liveaboard trip to the HMS Repulse, we had whale sharks accompany us on each of our dives for the first two days!

The best times to dive the HMS Repulse are during South East Asia's inter-monsoon periods - around May & late September.

The KXVIII Dutch Navy submarine was part of the KXVI Class - 74 metres in length, 1045 tonnes displacement when submerged. She had a maximum diving depth of 80 metres and was capable of 17 knots on the surface.

On 21st December 1941, KXVII struck a mine whilst exiting the Gulf of Siam . The submarine and all 36 hands were lost.

She now rests uprights on the seabed at 50 metres, her coning tower still standing proud. [Again, out of respect for the lost sailors we attempt to make no penetration of the submarine & do not remove artifacts].

This aircraft was located by a DJL Expedition during 2005.

Situated a long way north of Koh Tao she sits upright on the sea bed in 60 metres of water. Identification of this craft was made possible from a serial number obtained from part of the landing gear.

We believe this aircraft to be of commercial use rather than military application (i.e. post WW2) due to the lack of any machine gun mountings. The aircraft is heavily damaged, now lying twisted and broken on the seabed.

The remoteness, depth and small target size mean this is a challenging target to locate and dive, but well worth the effort!

The 'Klong Khao' is a steel barge with rotting wooden deck sitting upright in shallow water just one hour from Koh Tao.

She was discovered during 2006 by a DJL Team and is around 35 metres in length.

Because this wreck has rarely been dived there are massive numbers of fish surrounding it. Crabs and morays are littered amongst the debris on top of the deck.

Located by Davy Jones Locker during September 2006, the Dumb Dumb Maru was originally thought to be old, possible WWII, as she was located very close to a mark given for a war action dated 30 May 1945 by a baleo class sub called the Bergal, commanded by Jim Hyde. On closer inspection she was found to be of a latter construction, possibly 1970, carrying a cargo of wood.

She is around 40m long, 20m to the top of the bridge, 23m to the deck, 26m to the sand. She sits upright and has good penetration on the stern.

Located by a team of divers from Davy Jones Locker on the same day as the Dumb Dumb Maru, this ship is believed to be a WWII sloop of around 300 tonnes. She is 30m long and is inverted with her single phosphorus bronze prop sits proud of the sand.

Because this wreck has been down for some time it is rich with marine life - lot's of fan corals, sea whip structures and hard corals growing out from the hull. The are lots of critters to see around the wreck plus many colourful reef fish and moray eels.

The Tam Tong is a small cargo vessel, located by a team of DJL divers during late 2006.

She is around 40 meters in length, sitting in an upright position with portholes still intact.

When we first dived the mark (using a fisherman's mark) we had stunning visibility right down to 50 metres. The Thai's had suspended palm branches above the wreck to draw in small fish (similar to floatsom & jetsom), making quite a bizarre spectacle.

Typical wooden Thai cargo vessel, lying at 40 metres on the sand.

Aproximately 30 metres in length. Pretty recent.

Cause of sinking is currently unknown.