Diving Helmet

Henry Atwell purchased the salvage from SS Macedon in 1883, soon after the ship wrecked near Rottnest Island.

After hiring diving gear from the Fremantle Harbour Master, Atwell began salvage work in June using a small boat as a diving tender. While anchored over the wreck, he and his diver were lucky to survive when a sudden storm overcame their boat, sending it to the bottom with all their diving gear.

Not long after, Atwell received an indignant letter inquiring about the payment for the lost equipment. 

Though suffering a great financial loss, Henry Atwell went on to become a very successful Fremantle merchant. Atwell Arcade, in the High Street Mall is named after him. 

Greg Scharf first saw the helmet in 1976 while on a training dive with WAIT (now Curtin University) dive club. He and fellow member Stuart Baldock took WA Museum staff to the site and they spent two days recovering it.