Malaita began life in 1893 at the Grangemouth Dockyard in Scotland as the Antilla, a 940-ton, 61 m (200 ft) steel steamship for the Bahamas Steamship Company. Fire damaged her in 1904; Burns, Philp and Co bought and reconditioned her, renamed her Malaita in 1905 and put her into the Pacific island trade that gave the company its name. Huddart Parker took her over in 1914 and cut her down to a coal hulk in Melbourne.

In an unusual afterlife the Moreland Smelting Company re-engined her with machinery salvaged from the paddle steamer Excelsior and put her back into cargo service, but in December 1926 she broke her moorings in a gale and damaged the South Melbourne baths. Her owners had had enough, and she was scuttled in Bass Strait on Tuesday 20 November 1928. The wreck lies in about 65 m, one of the deepest in the official Graveyard and beyond the reach of anything but trimix or rebreather teams.

Published detail on its condition is thin because it is so seldom visited: reports describe a broken but recognisable steel hull with the engine and boiler space standing, heavy deep-water sponge growth, and the big ling, boarfish and crayfish typical of the 60 m band. Visibility at this depth is often 15–25 m on the good days that allow the dive at all. Malaita is realistically an expedition-style dive for experienced Melbourne technical divers, done a handful of times a year at most from private boats or a chartered technical vessel.

It appeals to those collecting the deep Graveyard set – Malaita, Hygeia, Leeuwin, Werfa, John Nimmo – rather than to divers wanting a well-documented tourist wreck.

Boat only. Charters leave from Queenscliff Harbour (Red Boats, Dive Victoria Group) or Portsea Pier (Dive Victoria Group, Bayplay); drive Melbourne–Queenscliff via the Geelong Ring Road and Bellarine Highway (about 1 h 40 min) or Melbourne–Portsea down the Mornington Peninsula Freeway (about 1 h 45 min). Private boats launch at Queenscliff (Larkin Parade) or Sorrento ramps; the wreck lies a few kilometres outside The Rip, so time the run through the Heads for slack or a following tide.

Boat time from Queenscliff is roughly 20–30 minutes and from Portsea 30–40 minutes in a fast RIB, longer in a displacement charter boat. Gear is loaded at the harbour; there is parking at Queenscliff Harbour and along Point Nepean Road at Portsea.

Fully exposed Bass Strait. South-westerly swell is the killer: most charters will not run on a forecast over about 1.5 m, and anything from the south or west over 2 m makes the site undiveable and the passage through The Rip dangerous. Northerly and north-easterly winds flatten the sea; a calm morning after several settled days gives the best visibility (often 15–25 m in autumn and winter).

Surge is felt on the wreck in any swell over 1 m. Tidal streams outside The Heads are weaker than inside but still run; charters aim for slack water at Port Phillip Heads or a favourable tide for the transit. Winter westerlies close the site for weeks at a time.

The wreck sits in or near the shipping approach and pilot boarding ground, so a shot line, surface cover and a delayed SMB are mandatory.

Trimix/CCR dive: shot onto the highest structure, spend 15–20 minutes working one side of the 61 m hull from the engine space to bow or stern, and ascend the shot with 60 minutes or more of staged decompression. A support diver at the first gas switch and a trapeze under the boat are standard practice for this depth in Bass Strait.

Technical (decompression) dive. Hypoxic or near-hypoxic trimix (e.g. 15/55 or 12/60) with EAN50 and oxygen; 15–20 min bottom time means 60–90 min of decompression. Rebreather divers dominate here; open-circuit needs multiple stages and a support boat with in-water support.

Drop a weighted shot on the wreck, use a delayed SMB from the wreck or a decompression trapeze under the boat; the site is in a shipping approach so free-drifting deco is discouraged.

No scheduled recreational charters. Red Boats (Queenscliff) and Dive Victoria Group run technical charters to the deep Graveyard wrecks on request or a few times a season for Melbourne technical clubs; otherwise private technical boats only. Expect the wreck to see only a handful of dives a year.