Uralba was the last wooden coal-burning steamer built in Australia, launched in 1942 by E. Wright at Tuncurry on the NSW mid-north coast for the North Coast Steam Navigation Company. The Navy requisitioned her before she could enter the coastal trade: commissioned on 13 July 1942, armed with a 4-inch gun and a 20 mm Oerlikon, she served as an auxiliary boom-defence vessel and minefield tender out of Brisbane and in 1944 went to Milne Bay in New Guinea as an armament and stores carrier.

After the war she worked for the State Electricity Commission (1948–51) carrying materials from Tasmania, was sold, sank at her berth in the Maribyrnong River in 1960, was raised and re-caulked, and ended as a dumb lighter from 1964. On 5 November 1971 'Buck' Taylor scuttled her off Carrum with twenty sticks of gelignite – one observer remarked that one stick would have done – and the excess blew a good deal of the hull apart. She sits upright on a silty bottom in 18 m, rising about 5 m, stripped to a bare hull with her deck machinery and superstructure removed before sinking.

It is still a satisfying wreck: the foremast lies along the deck with its steel ladder on the port side, bollards and fittings line the bulwarks, the four large water tanks stand in the hull, a section of tiled galley floor survives near the stern, and the broken rudder lies in the sand off the stern with a couple of lost scallop dredges beside it. The forward accommodation is the only part that can be entered, and the decking above it is beginning to collapse. Fish life is the surprise – the wreck is an oasis on a featureless bottom and holds large numbers of snapper, leatherjackets, sweep and bullseyes, with seahorses, nudibranchs and sponges on the timbers and scallops in the surrounding sand.

The Uralba is the main wreck dive on Melbourne's eastern bayside, a 15-minute run from Patterson River, and the Scuba Doctor calls it a wonderful dive despite the visibility. It suits Open Water divers with a few dives' experience in low visibility, Advanced and Wreck courses, and locals who want a real wreck without the drive to the Heads.

Boat only. Launch at Patterson River (Launching Way, Carrum) – the biggest ramp on the eastern shore, with large trailer parking, toilets and fuel – and run about 3 km west-south-west, 10–15 minutes; Mordialloc and Frankston (Olivers Hill) ramps are alternatives. Drive Melbourne–Carrum via the Nepean Highway or Peninsula Link, about 45 minutes.

Charters are irregular: Scuba Culture, Aquability and Diveline (Frankston) run club and course dives to the Uralba from Patterson River or Frankston several times a year, and Dive Victoria Group lists it. Nothing shows on the surface; use the published GPS and anchor on the sand beside the hull, which rises 5 m. Gear is loaded at the ramp car park.

The eastern shore of the bay is exposed to westerly and south-westerly winds, which build a short chop across 40 km of fetch and stir the fine silt around the wreck; easterlies and light northerlies give the flattest water and clearest bottom. Visibility is the constraint: the Scuba Doctor says it is often very poor, the wreck is covered in sediment that is easily disturbed, and the advice is to avoid periods after rain (the Patterson River and Kananook Creek discharge nearby) and to dive on the flood tide when cleaner water moves up the bay. Two to five metres is normal, eight is a good day.

No ocean swell reaches the site; boat traffic and anglers are heavy on fine weekends.

Descend the anchor line to the deck at 13 m. Start at the bow, where the foremast lies along the deck with a steel ladder on the port side, and work aft along the deck past the bollards and the four water tanks (two each side) to the tiled galley area near the stern, then drop to the sand at 18 m to see the broken rudder and the scallop dredges lying alongside. Trained divers can look into the forward accommodation, the only penetrable space.

Return to the anchor for a 45-minute no-stop dive with a safety stop on the line.

Scuba Culture (Frankston/Cheltenham), Aquability (Frankston) and Diveline (Frankston) run occasional club and Advanced/Wreck course dives to the Uralba from Patterson River or Frankston, most often in autumn and winter; Dive Victoria Group lists it. Mostly dived from private boats.