Strong tides and patches of standing waves rock a small boat as it carries a group of divers into Banks Strait - one of Tasmania's most dangerous sections of sea.
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But this was a relatively calm day north of Cape Portland on the far-North East tip of the state where conditions can quickly turn.
The experienced divers are waiting for a change of tide, which offers a 20-minute window to head below the surface.
What are they looking for? The scene of a maritime disaster: the Loch Finlas, a shipwreck resting beneath the waves on the edge of Fosters Island Reef.
As the swell bobbed their boat to and fro, the divers were given just a small taste of the conditions that faced 24 men on board the ship when it struck the reef and sank on September 26, 1908.
And, in particular, those who were cast adrift in the storm, clinging to an upturned hull hour after hour in the freezing waters.
Loch Finlas was an accident waiting to happen
There was every indication that the voyage of the Loch Finlas was going to be a rocky one as it sat at Port Pirie in South Australia, loaded with 27,704 bags of wheat bound for Chile.
Crews had taken one look at the circa-1885 iron ship and ran for cover. It was a time when sailing had fallen out of favour, seen as a slow and dangerous method of transport run by penny-pinchers.
One Australian seaman tried to flee the Loch Finlas, but was arrested and put back on board. He then shinnied down a rope, swam away with his clothes on his head and was rescued by a fishing boat.
Agents had to round up crews from around the world, and eventually the ship set sail.
It was going to be English Captain John Lonnen's last voyage as he planned to retire after 54 years at sea - a life of adventure that included participating as a soldier in the American Civil War.
They encountered constant bad weather as they passed Cape Otway, and then made a rapid southward course from Wilson's Promontory. They accidentally found themselves in Banks Strait, and hit the Fosters Island Reef under full sail.
Captain Lonnen refused to get into a life boat and went down with the ship, with three men clinging to the rigging.
Two boats were lowered and smashed to pieces. Another got clear with nine men inside with no oars.
It soon capsized and seven men resurfaced, clinging to the upturned boat. The other two men were seen drifting towards Swan Island, never to be seen again.
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Throughout the hours that followed, five more men slipped from the boat and drowned. Swedish sailor Gustav Carlson urged the other men on, and after 15 hours, they finally reached the breakers back on mainland Tasmania, where they lay for hours until daybreak.
The men then started the long walk towards Musselroe Bay and, hopefully, safety.
"Several times we were washed off the boat, and some of us did not come back ... there was only darkness around," Carlson, 28, told the Argus.
"It was a trying time, and the first time any of us had been shipwrecked.
"We left the life boat in the breakers, being too weak to pull it ashore.
"We lay huddled together until daybreak."
The four men - Carlson, along with a Russian Finn named Carl Dalgren, a 17-year-old apprentice John Braga and a carpenter - walked for hours, with their main injuries bruising and injured legs from attempting to land safely at the breakers.
They eventually reached a fisherman's house where they were given food. The men walked for a further four hours before they were rescued.
The Loch Finlas - and the 20 other men - could not be found.
A dangerous but fulfilling dive
A cloud of fish greeted members of the Seadragons Dive Group as they descended to the wreck last month, a "dangerous" dive only to be attempted by those with extensive experience.
"We were there on a good day, but the swell and tides were still pretty worrying at times, it must have been terrifying for the crew to be stranded there in the middle of a storm," the group's president Michael Jacques said.
"The wreck is very difficult to locate and dive without some local knowledge, but is an exciting dive for experienced divers only."
They spotted the large counter stern five metres off the bottom. The rudder was still in place.
The ship's bow touched the southern end of the Fosters Island Reef, laying on its starboard side.
The position of the hull had created a sheltered and shaded area for a colourful sponge garden to form.
But as soon as they descended, it was almost time to head back to the surface. The strong tide had made things difficult as the divers attempted to reach the anchor line, but they were adequately prepared and able to reach the boat without incident.
Group member Campbell Baxter acted as an alert on the boat, joking that he was happy to "wait for an easier dive".
As they surfaced, the group of divers could finally relax and reflect on the 112-year-old shipwreck.
"It's such a beautiful, amazing site. A very special experience," diver Simon Brooks said.