HMAS Karangi was a 768 ton boom defence vessel, launched in 1941 at Cockatoo Island Dockyard, less than 9 kilometers from her final resting place. She saw extensive service during the Second World War. A lot of information about her history is available online, for example this page on the Royal Australian Navy website, and this article from the Naval Historical Society of Australia.

Karangi was decommissioned in 1957, and sold for scrap in 1966. Her superstructure was removed, but the scrapping was never completed, and she was apparently abandoned in Homebush Bay in 1970. She now lies in shallow water at the back of Homebush bay, alongside the wreck of the steam tug SS Heroic.

When I visited in 2018, the Karangi was heavily corroded after nearly half a century of exposure to the elements, but her hull was still mostly intact. She lay on an even keel, and at low tide her entire deck was above water.

I decided to board her on a few of my visits. I maneuvered my kayak through the narrow channel between the Karangi and the Heroic, tied it to one of the mangrove trees that were growing amidships, and clambered aboard. Getting in and out of the floating kayak was rather awkward, especially near low tide, when the Karangi's deck was significantly higher than the kayak. There was little risk of serious injury, but I was concerned about falling into the water with my expensive photographic equipment. Fortunately I managed to avoid this.

A large gap in the deck extended across most of the width of the hull amidships. I also avoided walking where the mangroves were growing, because I didn't want to damage their delicate aerial roots. (In some ways I'm a nce guy.) I was therefore mostly confined to the forward part of the deck, and a small portion near the stern. A large area of deck near the bow had corroded away, so I had to tread cautiously. Despite these limitations, I was quite satisfied with the photographs that I managed to take.