The La Bella was a three-masted steel barquentine built in Norway in 1893. On 10 November 1905, inbound from Lyttelton, New Zealand, with a cargo of timber for Warrnambool, she was caught by a rising sea while waiting for the pilot and driven onto the reef just outside the breakwater. The town watched from the shore as the crew clung to the rigging through the night; the lifeboat capsized on its first attempt, and it was a young local fisherman, William Ferrier, who sculled his small dinghy out through the surf alone and brought back survivors, an act that made him a national hero and earned him a Royal Humane Society medal. Seven of the twelve crew died. The wreck is the best-known of the Lady Bay losses and the most substantial, and the rescue remains one of the great stories of the Warrnambool coast.

The La Bella lies on her port side in 13 m about 300 m south-east of the end of the breakwater, bow to the south-west. Heavily covered in kelp and weed, she is nevertheless relatively intact for a wreck of her age on this coast. The bow section stands about 5 m high, with the bowsprit, both anchors and their chain, catheads, winches and hawsepipes clearly visible; amidships are a donkey engine, fragments of rigging, decking frames, a deck winch, bilge pumps and bollards, and the hull plating runs on toward the collapsed stern. An information plinth placed by the Maritime Archaeology Unit marks the site. The wreck and the surrounding reef carry abundant marine life – the Historic Shipwreck Trail notes describe it as one of the richest sites on the trail – with schools of sweep and bullseyes over the hull, wrasse, magpie perch, boarfish and leatherjackets in the structure, crayfish in the plating, and rays on the sand. It is the best wreck dive in the Warrnambool area, shallow enough for Open Water divers, five minutes from the ramp, and the natural first choice for a visiting diver with access to a boat on a calm day. It is a protected historic shipwreck; nothing may be removed.

Launch at the Warrnambool (Lady Bay) boat ramp beside the breakwater at the end of Viaduct Road; the wreck is about 300 m south-east of the breakwater end, less than five minutes from the ramp. Anchor on sand beside the wreck, not on it. Although the site is within a few hundred metres of the breakwater, the Scuba Doctor states that shore diving is too dangerous because of the reef and surf outside the wall; treat it as a boat dive.

Warrnambool Diving on Fairy Street, 2 km away, supplies air and can advise on conditions.

Very calm conditions with minimal swell are essential – the wreck lies on the reef just outside the shelter of the breakwater where the south-west swell shoals, and surge is strong on the bottom in anything over about 1 m. Light offshore north-westerly to north-easterly winds are acceptable; the Scuba Doctor notes that moderate to strong easterly through westerly winds are unsuitable. Current is usually minimal.

Visibility is best after several settled days in autumn and is cut by sand movement and Merri River run-off after rain. Mornings are calmer than afternoons. Diveable on perhaps a third of days in autumn, fewer in winter.

Anchor on sand beside the wreck, descend to 13 m and start at the bow, which stands 5 m high with bowsprit, anchors, chain, catheads and winches. Work aft along the deck side past the donkey engine, deck winch, bilge pumps and bollards to the stern, cross over and return along the keel side, then back to the anchor line for a 3-minute stop. The information plinth marks the site.

Warrnambool Diving – guided dives and air; Warrnambool club divers with private boats. No scheduled charter; dived on calm days year-round.