People have always entered wrecks for salvage. Sport wreck diving is a late-twentieth-century mix of Cousteau films, military-dump fleets and park protection.
The history is a salvage law wearing a GoPro.
Timeline
- Yongala lost
A cyclone takes the steamer off Cape Bowling Green; she becomes a later GBR icon.
- Thistlegorm sunk
Luftwaffe bombs a cargo ship at Sha’ab Ali.
- Coron fleet
US aircraft sink a Japanese supply fleet in the Philippines.
- Cousteau at Thistlegorm
Film makes a war wreck a destination.
- Artificial reef programmes
Ships deliberately sunk (e.g. later USS Spiegel Grove, 2002).
- Specialty cards
PADI Wreck and equivalents productise the exterior circuit.
- Technical wreck boom
Truk, Scapa and the Great Lakes go deeper and longer.
- Permit and grave rules
Parks tighten souvenirs and penetration.
Eras
- To 1950 — Salvage — Work, not sport.
- 1950–1980 — Film wrecks — Cousteau and the first holiday boats.
- 1980–2000 — Specialty era — Cards and artificial reefs.
- 2000–now — Tech and protection — Reels, helium, and no-take statutes.
Milestones
- Thistlegorm as mass wreck — The template of a cargo-hold photograph.
- Yongala protection — Historic-shipwreck law on the GBR.
- Coron as a fleet — A whole bay of wrecks as a destination.
- Artificial reef scuttlings — Purpose-sunk ships with planned penetration lines — still not a toy.
Wreck history is war and weather. The holiday is a late layer.