The Notre Dame d'Arvor was a French three-masted iron barque built in 1902 – one of the many French sailing ships that carried grain from South Australia in the early twentieth century, when French government bounties kept a large sailing fleet in service. On 20 March 1920, in a storm, she ran aground on the south-western side of Wardang Island. Efforts to refloat her failed, and she was subsequently destroyed by an accidental fire.

The Department for Environment and Water records the remains in about 4 m, some 150 m from the rocks. The Marine Life Society notes that few visible remains survive, but that interesting items lie at snorkelling depth, some exposed at low water near the rocks. What is left is a low field of iron plating, frames and fittings, burnt and broken, colonised by weed and encrusting life and patrolled by sweep, old wives, leatherjackets and small reef fish.

The wreck's story – a proud French windjammer lost and then burnt – makes it one of the more poignant sites on the Wardang Island Maritime Heritage Trail, and its remains were long regarded as a warning to later mariners about the island's reefs. As a dive it is shallow and modest, best treated as a snorkel or as part of a multi-wreck day with the nearby Investigator. It suits snorkellers and beginner divers on calm days.

Like all the Wardang wrecks, it is protected: fire-blackened fittings and fragments may look like debris, but they are part of the heritage record and must be left in place. Photographs and sightings of anything unusual can be reported to Heritage SA, which monitors the trail sites.

From Adelaide drive about 190 km (2 hours 15 minutes) via Port Wakefield and Maitland to Port Victoria. Launch at the Port Victoria boat ramp beside the jetty and run west to Wardang Island – the island's nearest shore is about 8 km away and the southern wreck sites about 11 km (20-30 minutes in a small boat). The Port Victoria Maritime Museum and the Department for Environment and Water trail booklet give site details and coordinates.

Wardang Island is Aboriginal land held by the Point Pearce (Narungga) community: diving the wrecks from a boat is fine, but landing on the island requires permission. The wreck lies on the south-western side of Wardang Island about 150 m from the rocks, roughly 10-11 km from the ramp (25-30 minutes), close to the Investigator. Anchor in sand and approach only in low swell.

Wardang Island lies 8-11 km off Port Victoria in Spencer Gulf. Its western and southern shores – Aagot, Investigator, Notre Dame d'Arvor, Monarch, Australian and MacIntyre – face the open gulf and are subject to south-westerly swell, surge and wind-driven sand movement, so they need low swell and light winds, ideally easterlies. The eastern and northern sites (Songvaar, Moorara) are more sheltered from the prevailing south-westerlies but exposed to northerly and easterly chop.

The 20-30 minute boat run from Port Victoria becomes uncomfortable above about 15 knots. Summer and autumn mornings are the usual window; winter fronts bring days of south-westerly weather. The south-western side takes swell directly; surge makes the shallow remains hard to explore in anything over about 1 m.

Anchor off the site, swim or snorkel over the scattered ironwork at 3-5 m, then continue to the Investigator if gas and conditions allow.

No regular operator; visited on Wardang trail trips by Adelaide shops/clubs and private boats.