SS Ayrfield
Mayukh Saha
Mayukh Saha
December 19, 2022 Â·  4 min read

108-Year-Old SS Ayrfield Ship Has Turned Into A Floating Forest After Being Left Abandoned For So Many Years

The SS Ayrfield was originally built around 111 years ago, in 1911- where it served as the SS Corrimal. For those wondering, this was a 1,140-tonne massive vessel initially used as a steam collier. This served the American troops stationed in the Pacific region during the Second World War.

A frontal view of the SS Ayrfield at night
Image Credits: Rodney Campbell

After it managed to serve its purpose for over six decades, the ship was finally retired. It was sent to Homebush Bay, Australia, where it is currently situated. This bay was also an extremely bustling trading post at one point in history. However, it was later transformed into a yard for ship-breaking. The bay has several decommissioned ships that were initially used to transport war and coal supplies. After being left on the bay, they ended up being decomposed. 

Several Instagram pictures of the area would highlight that there are still four such ships that are visibly floating. They have been rusting in the water slowly. These ships are the SS Mortlake Bank, SS Ayrfield, SS Heroic, and the HMAS Karangi. Now while every single one of these ships is quite majestic, the SS Ayrfield definitely has an aura around it. One reason behind it could be the magnificent foliage that has sprouted from it.

A top-down view of the SS Ayrfield
Image Credits: iStock

With multiple branches of thriving mangrove trees that threaten to spill over this decommissioned ship’s sides, it looks like a floating paradise. The Homebush Bay, where this ship floats away silently, is not only known for the spooky ghost ship cemetery. This place also is home to the Olympic Stadium. Nevertheless, most of the people who take pictures usually focus on the ships as they float around with their massive forests. 

Read: ‘Like Time Travel’: Explorer’s Ship Found Off Antarctica’s Coast 100 Years After South Pole Expedition

The SS Ayrfield Has Quite A Rich Past, and A Richer Present Associated With It

The SS Ayrfield is also referred to as The Floating Forest due to the foliage that adorns the rusted hull. Interestingly, most of the ships in the heydays of Homebush Bay were seemingly winched out of the water and stripped of anything that could be valuable and utilized in the different industries. In fact, some of the ships only had a keel left to show for them. And yet, it does look like that SS Ayrfield had the ship gods smiling upon it as the value of scrap metal went down in the weeks that followed Ayrfield’s transport to Homebush Bay. The wrecking yards went out of business completely, and no one was around to take care of this mammoth ship. Therefore, it simply sat in the bay. 

Another night-time view of the wreck
Image Credits: Bruce Hood

The SS Ayrfield did sink after a few years and then started rusting. And finally, there was a healthy mangrove growing on top of it. Incidentally, this rusted wreck definitely is a sight to behold, something the citizens of Sydney don’t really realize. Despite the location not being hidden, the population doesn’t know that the ship is simply here- without any purpose.

In fact, the neighboring region around this ship is actually filled to the brim with commercialization. Some apartments are located just a stone’s throw away from the ship. An IKEA is also located not far from the ship. If someone wants to make a trip out of it, road access leads one to Shipwreck Lookout- where people normally view the wrecks. 

This Tourist Attraction Hides In Plain Sight

Interestingly, the specialty of the SS Ayrfield is not the history that backs it. Rather, the size of this carrier, along with the mangroves growing on top of it, makes it a vision. Photographers clamor to take the perfect shot, as from the right angles, it does appear that the wreck of this ship stands completely isolated from the rest of the world and is not, in any way, surrounded by industrialization. If one were to check some of the pictures which became hugely popular nine years ago, one would understand that the sight is quite surreal when seen during sunset. The colors of the sky get set off against the red of the hull and the green of the shrubbery inside. 

A view showing the mangroves overflowing from the sides.
Image Credits: AndyBrii

As luck would have it, the ships, including SS Ayrfield, will probably never be shifted from their current location. Even though the area around Homebush Bay has been renovated and refurbished in the last couple of decades, there are currently no plans to move the wrecks from their resting places. One can conclude that the fate of this gorgeous monstrosity is to be a tourist attraction that is quite underrated. The beauty is out there for everyone to see- but no one knows where it exists.

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Sources

  1. 102-Year-Old Ship in Sydney Became A Floating Forest.” Bored Panda. Lina D.
  2. 102-Year-Old Abandoned Ship is a Floating Forest.” My Modern Met. Pinar Noorata. May 18, 2013.
  3. SS Ayrfield, Homebush Bay: The strange Sydney Harbour shipwreck that grew a forest.” Traveller. Ben Groundwater
  4. Discover the Shipwrecks of Homebush Bay.” Sydney Uncovered. August 24, 2022