100
BEST
WRECK
DIVES
The countdown has begun. It has meant sleepless nights and days of despair, but Kendall McDonald has emerged triumphant with his rankings of the finest wreck dives in Britain. Over the next 10 months Diver will list ever-better sites, until the identity of Number One is finally revealed. Will you agree with the placings?
100 Phoenix
6044-ton, A-1 type Mulberry unit, built 1943. 204ft x 56ft beam, 60ft high, drawing 20ft, concrete with steel reinforcing rods. Floating "egg-box " of 22 compartments. Part of prefab D-Day harbours being towed by tugs to Normandy. Bofors gun on top platform amidships.
Position: 50 44.63N; 00 42.32W, (all positions are GPS).
Depth: 9m.
Sunk: After being raised in 1944, settled again and broke back across hole that was former "parking" place. Showed 40ft until used for rocket practice by RAF.
Diving: Known as the Far Mulberry, very broken, partly under sand/shingle. Paradise for photographers with bass, pouting, pollack, brill and turbot. Southern end weed-covered. Northern sloping end, probably stern, clear and home to mussels and dead men's fingers. East side best preserved, towing bollards in place. Other victims of RAF bombing within finning distance - concrete petrol barge, infantry landing craft, air-sea rescue float called a Cuckoo.
Launch: Selsey, Pagham, Bognor, Littlehampton.
99 Barn Hill
5439-ton steamer. 390ft x 52ft.
Cargo: aluminium ingots, canned food, Halifax Nova Scotia for London.
Position: 50 47.38N; 00 20.33E.
Depth: 4m at low.
Sunk: Set on fire 20 March 1940 by bomb down funnel from German Dornier. Beached near Langney Point, Eastbourne while burning. Five of 34 crew died.
Diving: Can be shore dive (500m snorkel), but good second boat dive for beginners. Three boilers show at low. Salvaged of metals, but broken. Spread wreckage worth rummage. Many congers.
Launch: Eastbourne.
98 Lady Meath
1597-ton steamer. 350ft x 42ft. British and Irish Line cattle-carrier. Dublin for Birkenhead via Holyhead RN inspection control point.
Cargo: Irish cattle and sheep.
Position: 53 20.47N; 04 36.27W.
Depth: 25m.
Sunk: 16 August 1940, by first acoustic mine dropped in shipping lanes by German bomber. Explosion during RN inspection. All 20 crew and eight drovers saved. Inspection craft HMS Manx Lad sunk in same explosion.
Diving: Salvage, so fairly broken. Some parts stand upright 8m proud of shingle and sand. Bow section intact, anchor on chain. Bridge off wreck to port with two encrusted gantries. Stern 5m proud. Slack water three hours before both low and high. Often silty, so dive just after turn.
Launch: Holyhead Harbour.
97 Louis Sheid
6057-ton Belgian grain-carrier, built 1920 as Ultor. 418ft x 55ft.
Cargo: Wheat and general. Buenos Aires for Antwerp.
Position: 50 15.80N; 03 52.20W.
Depth: 10m.
Sunk: 8 December 1939, ran ashore at Thurlestone, south Devon, trying to evade U-47. Had picked up survivors of its earlier victim, Dutch cargo liner Tajandoen.
Diving: Good for novices, best by boat. Broken by storm and salvage. Stem post shows at low. Much plate among kelp. Boilers home to large wrasse. Part of bow on south side of Leas Foot bay. Viz usually good.
Launch: Thurlestone Sands, Hope Cove.
96 Preussen
5081-ton five-masted steel vessel. 408ft x 53ft. Was biggest sailing ship in world.
Cargo: General, cement, 100 pianos, Hamburg to Valparaiso.
Position: 58 08.02N; 01 22.17E.
Depth: 7m.
Sunk: 6 November 1910, driven ashore in Fan Bay after collision with cross-Channel steamer. Lines to tugs towing into Dover snapped in gale. Broken by later storms.
Diving: Wreckage broadside to great chalk cliff of Fan Point. Steel plates galore. Old bottles and gas lamps to be found in heavy kelp. "Stone" cement barrels run length of forehold. Most pianos salvaged. Some ribs show at low springs.
Launch: Dover.
95 Malta
2244-ton Cunard steamer, built 1865. 303ft x 39ft. 212hp compound engines.
Cargo: 2000 tons general including copper ingots, tin plate and pig iron. Liverpool for Genoa and Venice via Falmouth.
Position: 50 08.13N; 05 42.42W.
Depth: 8m-15m.
Sunk: 15 October, 1889, ran ashore in dense fog under cliffs of Kenidjack Castle, half-mile north of Cape Cornwall.
Diving: Wreckage in kelp and sand patches among boulders. Silver-plated Cunard-crested items - coffee pots found recently. Despite heavy salvage, copper ingots still turn up. Strong currents. Bow in 8m under iron spike driven into cliff. Stern in 15m. Wreck of Italian steamer Aldo Lauro close by. Bronze Age weapons also found in area.
Launch: Sennen, Cornwall.
94 Otranto
12,124-ton liner, built 1909, converted by RN to merchant cruiser in 1914. 535ft x 64ft. 12,000hp quadruple expansion engines. Nine 6in guns.
Cargo: 665 US troops and equipment, Halifax, Nova Scotia for Glasgow.
Position: 55 45.46N; 06 28.40W.
Depth: 11-17m.
Sunk: 6 October, 1918 in collision with liner Kashmir in same convoy during Force 11 gale. Broke up after grounding off Isle of Islay, Scotland. 431 drowned.
Diving: Very broken, salvaged. Much wreckage in Machir Bay. Owned by Tim Epps of Islay, who supplies air. Six massive boilers side by side, each 5m proud in centre of wreckage. Guns nearby. Beware 6in shellcases to right of boilers - warheads fitted. Silver dollars found during salvage. Swell over wreck in westerlies.
Launch: Kilchiaran Bay, Islay.
93 Amberley
2405-ton mv collier, built 1953. 262ft x 38ft. Eight-cylinder oil engine.
Cargo: 2290 tons coal. Goole, Humber, for Shoreham, Sussex.
Position: 53 02.92N; 00 58.20E.
Depth: 20m.
Sunk: Coal shifted on 2 April 1973 in Force 9 off Norfolk. Sank after crew airlifted in heroic RAF helicopter rescue.
Diving: Only shipwreck bought by BSAC for divers! Lies on sand so close to drop-off of Blackeney Overfalls (buoyed) that bow nudges bank top. Almost intact, coal still inside. Leans to port - deep scour on that side. Some turbulence over wreck.
Launch: Blakeney Harbour (dries), Cley-next-the-Sea, Weybourne.
92 Loch Shiel
1277-ton fully-rigged iron sailing ship, built 1877. 225ft x 36ft.
Cargo: 7000 cases of whisky, bottled beer, general. Brick ballast. Glasgow for Adelaide.
Position: 51 41.78N; 05 07.00W.
Depth: 10m.
Sunk: 30 January 1894, ran ashore on Thorn Island while seeking shelter from gale in Milford Haven. Heroic rescue of all 33 aboard by Angle lifeboat.
Diving: Very broken in kelp 20m from southern end of island. Some sections surprisingly large, decking still visible. Bricks all over bottom bear Glasgow manufacturer's name. "Whisky galore" on shore for locals and little of cargo recovered by Customs. Divers often find full, but undrinkable, bottles of whisky under sand patches. Good novice dive. Contact Milford Haven Port Authority before diving.
Launch: West Angle.
91 Indiana
2266-ton British cargo steamer, built 1889. 277ft x 38ft. 188hp triple-expansion engines.
Cargo: General, plus oranges and lemons. Venice for London, via Valencia.
Position: 50 47.05N; 00 22.20W.
Depth: 10m.
Sunk: 1 March 1901, collided with German steamer Washington in dense fog near Owers. Towed by tug and grounded a mile south of Worthing Pier.
Diving: Dispersed by explosives, but now emerging from sand. Bathroom exposed, complete with taps and china washbasin. Good second dive. Heavily potted.
Launch: Goring, Shoreham.
Appeared in DIVER - April 1999.
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