The Booya is the most intact and the most poignant of the Cyclone Tracy wrecks. She began life in Holland in 1917 as the De Lauwers, a three-masted, steel-hulled motor-sailing schooner of 262 gross tons and about 36-40 m. Renamed Argosy Lemal in England in 1920, she came to South Australia in 1923, was requisitioned by the Commonwealth in 1942 as a forces radio station, became the Ametco in 1949 and sank at Low Wooded Island in Queensland, was salvaged around 1952 as the Clair Crouch, converted to carry sulphuric acid in 1958, and in 1964 became the Booya, a mother ship for the northern prawn fleets.

In December 1974 she was owned by the Denham Island Transport Company and lying at anchor off Fort Hill Wharf with general cargo, freezers and fuel tanks aboard. Cyclone Tracy crossed Darwin in the early hours of 25 December 1974 with gusts estimated at over 200 km/h, destroying most of the city and killing 66 people, many of them at sea. More than 20 vessels sank or were driven ashore in and around the harbour, and several of those wrecks now form a second, much more intact wreck trail beside the 1942 sites.

The Booya disappeared with five people aboard: crew members Graham Dearden, Gerald Thompson, Gregory Westerman and Terrance Westwood, and 24-year-old Ruth Vincent. She was found by chance by Cullen Bay Dive divers on 22 October 2003, almost 29 years later, lying on her starboard side in about 20 m. Police divers searched her and found no remains, but personal effects were recovered, including Ruth Vincent's opal ring.

The hull is virtually intact, with one of the three masts broken away, deck fittings showing the crew's efforts to save her, and a distinct V-shaped dent in the stern that may be where another vessel struck her. She was declared a heritage site in 2005 with an exclusion zone, and DSAC laid a wreath on her for the 50th anniversary of Tracy in 2024. Divers describe it as an underwater garden, with coral and fish over a recognisable, complete ship - a rarity in Darwin.

It suits divers with low-visibility experience who will respect a site where lives were lost.

Boat only. Charters and private boats usually leave from Cullen Bay Marina or the Cullen Bay public boat ramp (off Marina Boulevard, 5 minutes' drive from the CBD, with trailer parking), then run out into the harbour; the Stokes Hill / Frances Bay ramp by the Waterfront is the alternative. Run time on a calm neap morning is typically 15-30 minutes.

There is no permanent surface marker on most sites, so a GPS mark and a shot line are needed; plan the trip to arrive before high-water slack. A permit from the NT Heritage Branch is required before diving, and anchoring is prohibited over the declared site.

Tide is everything in Darwin Harbour: the spring range is 7-8 m and tidal streams run hard through the harbour, so diving is generally only possible on neap tides (range under about 3-4 m), timed to the slack at high water when clearer ocean water sits over the site. Spring tides bring strong currents and silt-laden water with near-zero visibility. The dry season (May-October) gives the most consistent conditions; the south-east trade winds can chop up exposed water in the afternoon, so mornings are best.

In the wet season (November-April) run-off from the rivers and creeks drops visibility, afternoon storms build quickly, and the harbour is in cyclone season; box jellyfish are present October-May.

Descend the permitted mooring or a shot placed clear of the wreck at neap slack. Swim the length of the hull along the upper (port) side, look down onto the deck with its fittings, drop to the sand at the stern to see the V-shaped impact dent, and return along the keel side. No penetration and no contact; ascend on the line.

Access only with NT Heritage Branch permission. Darwin Sub Aqua Club divers monitor the site regularly on neap-tide days; commercial operators (Darwin Dive Centre, Dive Darwin) may arrange permitted trips on request. Not a scheduled charter site.