Maritime archaeologist Maddy McAllister's fascination with shipwrecks started when she was just a young girl, hearing stories of ghost ships and sea legends from her grandpa on the coast of Western Australia.
Her favourite story back then was the mystery of the Mary Celeste which was found abandoned off the coast of Portugal in 1872.
The tale sparked a lifelong passion for the secrets of shipwrecks, and diving the ocean's depths to uncover them.
"It was found just floating in the middle of the ocean and all the crew had disappeared," Dr McAllister said of the famous ghost ship.
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"It has that sort of amazing mystery, and adventure, and spooky aspect to it which I loved.
Dr McAllister had always wanted to be a marine biologist, but when she was 15 she discovered a new path.
"I found out there was this crazy, rarely heard of job called a maritime archaeologist where you get to combine history, archaeology and working underwater," she told nine.com.au.
Dr McAllister is now the senior curator of the Museum of Tropical Queensland in Townsville and James Cook University and said her job feels akin to detective work, piecing together stories from the past.
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The exploration of the unknown and the opportunity to piece together hidden stories drives her passion for the field.
"Once you get in the water, that's when it sort of comes back to you, that you're looking at something that's been there possibly for a couple hundred years," Dr McAllister said.
"I'm always incredibly excited because I'm getting the chance to be there and to see it.
I'm always excited to see how well that shipwreck might be preserved and what we can learn from it."
Dr McAllister has just come back from a weeks-long field project on the Coral Sea, working to identify new shipwrecks discovered on the Great Barrier Reef.
It's one of several research projects she's been a part of all over the world, from diving in the Middle East, to other famous wrecks all over Australia.
Once she slips below the surface of the water and is presented with a wreck, Dr McAllister has to piece together subtle clues to work out how it came to be on the ocean floor.
The structure of the ship can often indicate what period of time it came from.
Dr McAllister is acutely aware that death is often linked to sinking ships and said she performs her job with the upmost of respect for those lost.
"A lot of people have often died on these ships and that fills you with a sense of honour or respect that you have the job to investigate that and to tell that story if you can," Dr McAllister said.
Many people believe Dr McAllister's job involves treasure hunting, but she finds small, personal insights far more interesting than any valuable haul.
"I don't think that silver coins or gold bits and pieces are the most interesting parts of the wreck," she said.
"Often we find incredible things like leather shoes that may still have imprints from people wearing them, that may be 150 years old.
"You have this kind of direct connection to someone on board that shipwreck."
But the diver and curator said it's not always field work and new discoveries.
As the museum's senior curator, she has spent as much time out of the water than in, analysing and curating finds for her collections.
When she is not at work, she is sharing Australia's often unknown underwater history on social media as the "shipwreck mermaid," sharing dives on famous wrecks like "Australia's Titanic" - the luxurious SS Yongala that went missing off Townsville in 1911.
Dr McAllister said her dream wrecks aren't the grandiose sites that capture the public's imagination, but the ones still undiscovered.
She hopes to continue searching for the hundreds of mystery ships wrecked off Australia's coast.
"There are over 900 ship and aircraft wrecks on the Great Barrier Reef and we've probably only located 150 to 200 of those," she said.
"The dream would be to identify a new site and uncover an incredible story."
