Ride on a 'monster' changed the life of underwater adventurer Ben Cropp

Ben Cropp went from hunting sharks to finding treasures. He tells the ABC about seeking stories below the surface. 
(ABC News: Chris Lewis)

By Tyne Logan

Ben Cropp likes to think of the ocean as the great humbler.

"The wonderful thing when you get out at sea, the big knob comes down to your level.

"Because your level is just nature."

Sitting surrounded by shelves of books adorning his name at his home in Wonga Beach, in Queensland's far north, humility is not part of his make-up.

"You know you've made it when your name is printed bigger than the title of the book," he jokes, flipping through its pages and recounting the stories within it.

Cropp is one of the pioneers of underwater film in Australia, having been the first Australian producer to sell his documentaries to the giant US networks in the early 60s.

One of his photographs, taken while positioned nose to nose with a great white shark, was on the front cover of Time Magazine in 1997.

He's been diving with Clint Eastwood and Leonard Nimoy, spearfished with former prime minister Harold Holt and had a beer at the back of the boat with Rupert Murdoch.

He's even shot nude models underwater for Playboy.

And if that's not enough, he also lays claim to more than 100 shipwreck discoveries — including HMS Pandora, which was wrecked while bringing back the mutineers of the Bounty in 1791 — a story etched into seafaring folklore.

At 88 years old, it seems the mysteries of the deep ocean have cast a spell on Cropp that's impossible to give up.

Even in retirement, he's been working on his next adventure, and it could be his biggest one yet.

Ben Cropp, now 88, is nowhere near finished with the deep blue. (ABC News: Chris Lewis)

From shark hunter to conservationist

Cropp's obsession with the underwater world goes back as far as he can remember.

He began skindiving in his teens while living in Lennox Head, when the sport was still in its infancy, fitted at first with just a homemade mask and spear, and eventually became the six-time Open Australia spearfishing champion.

The moment that changed Ben Cropps trajectory: riding a whale shark in the 1960s. (Supplied: Ben Cropp)

First published at ABC News, December 28, 2024

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