The Sydney Cove was a merchant ship on a speculative voyage from Calcutta to Port Jackson with a cargo that included rum when she began leaking badly and was run aground in shallow water at Preservation Island in February 1797. The Parks and Wildlife Service notes that she is Australia's eighth-oldest known shipwreck. The crew salvaged much of the cargo over several weeks, and 17 men set off in the longboat for Sydney; only three reached the settlement after walking much of the way, prompting two rescue voyages. Those voyages confirmed that Van Diemen's Land was separated from the mainland and started the Bass Strait sealing rush.

The wreck was rediscovered in 1977 and surveyed between 1977 and 1980, and a formal excavation by the Parks and Wildlife Service and the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery from 1991 revealed the lower hull timbers, ships' fittings and a large quantity of artefacts, now displayed at the museum in Launceston. The Marine Life Network guide rates the site 5 out of 10 as a dive: not scenic, much covered in sand and protective netting, but with timbers and the shape of the wreck discernible in 3-4 m, and historically comparable in significance to the Pandora and Sirius. It stresses that disturbing the wreck is illegal. Local advice from Flinders Island Dive or the charter skippers at Lady Barron on current conditions, tides and exact positions is the best starting point for any dive here.

The Furneaux Group - Flinders, Cape Barren, Clarke, Preservation and dozens of smaller islands - is one of Australia's least-dived temperate regions. Granite dominates, but Flinders Island also has unusual limestone reefs, and the islands' position on the eastern approach to Bass Strait left a long trail of shipwrecks from the colony's earliest years. The Marine Life Network guide remains the fullest published account of the dive sites; since then Flinders Island Dive at Emita has made air and guiding available on the island.

All wrecks over 75 years old are protected under Commonwealth and Tasmanian heritage law: nothing may be disturbed or removed, and new finds should be reported to the Parks and Wildlife Service. There is no chamber on the island, so a diving injury means aeromedical evacuation to Hobart or Melbourne; dive conservatively and carry oxygen.

Flinders Island is reached by air from Launceston (about 35 minutes) or Melbourne, landing at Whitemark, or by the vehicular freight ferry from Bridport. Flinders Island Dive at Emita can supply cylinders and weights, which avoids air-freighting heavy gear. Whitemark's ramp is difficult at tide extremes; Lady Barron in the south has the best ramp and most sheltered anchorage and is the base for trips to Cape Barren, Preservation and Clarke islands.

Preservation Island lies off the southern tip of Cape Barren Island, about 30-40 km (1-1.5 hours) by boat from Lady Barron through Franklin Sound and Armstrong Channel, where tidal streams run hard. The wreck is in shallow water in the sheltered passage near Rum Island and is usually visited as a snorkel or shallow dive after diving the Cambridgeshire.

The Furneaux Group sits in eastern Bass Strait: the west coast of Flinders Island is exposed to the prevailing westerlies, the east coast to easterly summer gales, and strong tidal streams run through Franklin Sound, Armstrong Channel and the passages between the islands, especially after gales. January-April offers the most settled weather, but sudden southerly or westerly changes can arrive with little warning, so plan around a safe anchorage. The wreck site is well protected, but reaching it requires crossing the tidal channels south of Cape Barren Island in calm weather.

Snorkel or dive gently over the site at 3-4 m, looking for exposed timbers and the outline of the hull without touching or fanning the sand. Turn the dive at half gas (thirds where current or overhead sections are involved), deploy an SMB before surfacing for the live-boat pick-up, and complete a 3-minute safety stop at about 5 m where depth allows.

Flinders Island Dive (Emita, west coast; ph 0428 598 529) offers scuba and snorkel hire, air, and small-group guided diving, snorkelling and fishing tours including reefs, caves and shipwrecks, year-round. Charter boats Rockjaw Tours and Latitude Charters (listed by Visit Flinders Island) run trips that can include diving; the southern wrecks are reached from Lady Barron.