Shipwreck Databases Western Australian Museum

Cockburn Sound's World War II Anti-Submarine Boom Net: Historical background and site inspections

Author/s R. Anderson and M. Carter

Year of publication 2010

Report Number: 252

Introduction
The Cockburn Sound anti-submarine boom defences were a major engineering project undertaken during World War II to protect the approaches to Cockburn Sound, and the northern boom defences spanned 9.37 km of seabed. In 1964 the timber pylons and dolphins were demolished with explosives and the steel nets were cut and dropped onto the seabed (Jeffery 1988). There are still visible above-water remains of timber Dolphin No. 60 situated northeast of Garden Island, and underwater remains. This report summarises recent historical research, underwater archaeological surveys and legal protection issues, and makes recommendations for future management and protection of the site.