Clarence is the best-preserved early Australian-built schooner yet found in Australian waters, and for that reason one of the few Victorian wrecks protected by a permit-only zone. She was a two-masted wooden coastal trading schooner of about 50 tons, 15.5 m (51 ft) long, built in 1841 on the Williams River in the Hunter district of New South Wales, at a time when colonial shipwrights were adapting British designs to local timbers. She traded livestock and cargo between the colonies – her hold was fitted for carrying sheep and cattle – and on 2 September 1850, inbound with cargo, she went aground off St Leonards in Port Phillip and was abandoned.

She settled into the sand in 5 m and the sand preserved her. The outline of the hull is clear on the seabed and, on a good day, from the surface: the port side is almost complete from bow to stern, with paired hull frames standing out of the sand, while the starboard stern is buried. Sections of Baltic pine decking from her livestock-carrying days can still be seen.

Archaeologists from Heritage Victoria, the Maritime Archaeology Association of Victoria and Flinders University have excavated and recorded the site as a case study in colonial shipbuilding and in the in-situ preservation of wooden wrecks, reburying exposed timbers after each season. Because the timbers are exposed and fragile, the Clarence sits inside a 100 m radius protected zone: a Heritage Victoria permit is required to dive and anchoring is prohibited, with severe penalties. There is nothing here for a casual diver – a hull outline and frames in 5 m of often murky bay water – and the interest is entirely archaeological.

It suits maritime-archaeology volunteers and students on permitted fieldwork, and it belongs in this directory so that boaters and divers off St Leonards know to keep clear. The nearby Joanna, another protected schooner wreck 1 km to the south-east, is in the same category.

Boat only and permit only. St Leonards boat ramp (Murradoc Road/The Esplanade) is the nearest launch, five minutes from the wreck; Queenscliff is 15 km south. Drive Melbourne–St Leonards via the Geelong Ring Road and Bellarine Highway (about 1 h 40 min).

The wreck lies inside a 100 m radius protected zone in which anchoring is prohibited and diving requires a Heritage Victoria permit; the permitted dives that have been run (Heritage Victoria, the Maritime Archaeology Association of Victoria, Flinders University field schools) use a live boat and a marker placed by the supervisor. On a clear day the outline of the hull is visible from the surface.

The Bellarine's eastern shore is sheltered from swell but open to northerly, easterly and south-easterly winds across the bay, which chop the shallow water and stir the sand over the wreck; westerlies are offshore and give the flattest, clearest conditions. Visibility is 3–8 m and is best in cooler months after dry weather. Tidal streams are mild this far from The Heads and the site can be dived at any tide, though a flood brings cleaner water.

Boat traffic from St Leonards and Indented Head is heavy on summer weekends.

Permitted dives only: descend outside the hull in 5 m, swim the outline of the schooner from bow to stern along the near-complete port side, note the paired frames and the Baltic pine decking, and leave without touching or fanning the sand. Excellent buoyancy is a permit condition.

Permit only. Dived under Heritage Victoria permit by archaeological teams (Maritime Archaeology Association of Victoria, university field schools) and on rare supervised public heritage dives; no charter schedules it.