Memorial plaque
honours victims of Centaur tragedy
Excerpts from the Courier Mail, 12th January 2010
A MEMORIAL plaque honouring the lives of 268 Australians
who died aboard the torpedoed hospital ship Centaur has been successfully laid in what could be the last-ever visit to the
wreck.
The ship had been lost for 67 years but on
Sunday shipwreck hunter David Mearns and his crew of 33 aboard the Seahorse Spirit sent the submarine robot Remora 3 down
2,059 metres to take the first confirmation footage of the wreck.
Under the control of two pilots, Remora 3 made its fourth and what could possibly be the last ever visit to
the wreck at 6am (AEST) on Tuesday morning, carefully laying a memorial plaque on the ship's foredeck.
It was initially feared the plaque would be placed adjacent to the ship and
sink deep into clay-like sediment.
But federal Environment
and Heritage Minister Peter Garrett granted a special allowance at the 11th hour for the plaque to be laid on the ship, despite
it being protected under the Commonwealth's Historic Shipwrecks Act 1976.
``That's terrific fellas, thank you very much, it's as close as we could have hoped ...
it was a tricky manoeuvre,'' Mr Mearns told the pilots over radio. Mr Mearns told AAP aboard the Seahorse Spirit that in terms of a year-long project the laying of the plaque was the
single culmination of everything they wanted to do.
``On behalf of all the families and friends and supporters or anyone who has a connection to this ship they will all now
know that the gravesite is marked, the headstone has been laid,'' he said.
The plaque reads: ``In memory of shipmates, relatives, colleagues and friends who
paid the supreme sacrifice on a mission of mercy, May 14, 1943. 2/3 AHS Centaur Association 2010, Lest We Forget.''
