SYDNEY, July 2 (Reuters) - A 40,000 tonne coal ship was dragged off an Australian beach late on Monday to the cheers of salvage workers almost four weeks after it was driven aground during a fierce storm.

Three tugs and winching equipment attached to sea anchors hauled the 225-metre (738 ft) coal bulkship Pasha Bulker into deeper waters late on Monday, helped by high tides and calm seas.

Cheering could be heard from the ship's deck, Australian Associated Press reported, as the vessel was towed off the reef at Nobby's Beach, near the world's biggest coal port of Newcastle, north of Sydney.

"We're happy to see it off," the New South Wales state Ports Minister Joe Tripodi told Australian television. "It's just great to see this ship moving out to sea peacefully, quietly and most importantly we hope without leaving any oil behind."

Two previous attempts to free the ship had turned the vessel's bow away from the beach and left a minor oil slick, which authorities said was caused by lubricating oil from the ship's propeller shaft rather than a leak from its fuel tanks.

Salvage experts had been waiting for weeks for a king tide before attempting to pull the empty Pasha Bulker off the beach.

The ship was in a queue of more than 50 vessels waiting at sea to enter the Newcastle port to load coal when it was driven onto the beach by powerful winds and seas on June 8.

Worried the ship could break up under pounding by rough seas, authorities pumped 700 tonnes of fuel oil in the vessel to tanks high up in the ship to minimise the possibility of a spill.

The ship has a hole in the hull, but divers will not be able to assess the full damage until they inspect it on Tuesday. The Pasha Bulker had become a tourist attraction over the past three weeks, with thousands of people going to its resting place at Nobby's Beach to take photographs and watch as salvage workers prepared the ship for rescue.

The first attempt to refloat the ship late last Thursday failed when cables attached to tugs and winches snapped under the strain, while a second attempt managed to turn the bow away from the beach but left the stern stuck on a reef.

The Panamanian-flagged vessel is owned by Japan's Fukujin Kisen Kaisha on charter to Denmark's Lauritzen Bulkers.

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