Dolphins delay scuttling of ship

DPA/Sydney

Combination photograph of spectators watching as explosives are ignited aboard the former Royal Australian Navy guided missile frigate HMAS Adelaide during a controlled sinking off Avoca Beach, north of Sydney

A pod of dolphins joined thousands of Australians gathered yesterday at an east coast beach to watch an old warship sink 30m to the seabed to begin its new life as a scuba diving attraction.The dolphins delayed the scuttling of HMAS Adelaide for over an hour to cheering from environmentalists who had run a campaign to have the frigate turned into scrap metal rather than sent to the bottom off Avoca Beach, 100km north of Sydney.The protesters stood with their backs to the massive grey ship for the 60 seconds it took to disappear from view.Because charges had been laid below the waterline, the crowds were treated to a firework display on deck when the detonators went off.A National Parks vessel took nearly 90 minutes to shoo the dolphins outside the exclusion zone.Dophins seem to have an affinity with the Adelaide. When the frigate left the west coast port of Freemantle on its final voyage, a pod of dolphins accompanied it out of the harbour.