Table Of Contentg b
reAt rItIsh
Shipwrecks
A Personal Adventure
Rod Macdonald
Whittles Publishing
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Published by
Whittles Publishing Ltd.,
Dunbeath,
Caithness, KW6 6EG,
Scotland, UK
www.whittlespublishing.com
© 2012 Rod Macdonald
ISBN 978-184995-077-0
Also by Rod Macdonald:
Dive Scapa Flow
Dive Scotland’s Greatest Wrecks
Dive England’s Greatest Wrecks
Into the Abyss: Diving to Adventure in the Liquid World
The Darkness Below
www.rod-macdonald.co.uk
www.authorsplace.co.uk/rod-macdonald
www.amazon.com/author/rodmacdonald
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted,
in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, recording or otherwise
without prior permission of the publishers.
Cover image courtesy of Barry McGill www.deepwreckexplorers.com
Printed by
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C
ontents
ACknowledgements v
IntroduCtIon vII
1. ORKNEY & SCAPA FLOW 1
(I) 21 June 1919 – the germAn hIgh seAs Fleet sCuttles At sCApA Flow 1
(II) sAlvAgIng the Fleet 6
(III) the bAttleshIps todAy 11
.. ..
(I) sms konIg (bAttleshIp – konIg ClAss) 11
..
(II) sms kronprInz wIlhelm (bAttleshIp – konIg ClAss) 18
..
(III) sms mArkgrAF (bAttleshIp – konIg ClAss) 22
(Iv) the lIght CruIser wreCks todAy 25
(I) sms brummer (lIght CruIser, bremse ClAss) 25
.. ..
(II) sms Coln (II) (lIght CruIser, Coln ClAss) 28
..
(III) sms dresden (lIght CruIser, Coln ClAss) 31
..
(Iv) sms kArlsruhe (lIght CruIser, konIgsberg II ClAss) 35
(v) the 15-InCh gun-turrets oF the bAttleshIp bAyern 38
(vI) the ICelAndIC trAwler JAmes bArrIe 42
(vII) the esCort vessel F 2 & the sAlvAge bArge yC 21 46
(vIII) the boom-deFenCe vessel hmt strAthgArry 48
(IX) the Armoured CruIser hms hAmpshIre 50
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2. ENGLISH CHANNEL 59
(I) the p&o pAssenger lIner moldAvIA, lIttlehAmpton, west susseX 59
(II) the CunArd lIner rms AlAunIA I, hAstIngs, eAst susseX 62
(III) the p&o lIner sAlsette, lyme bAy, dorset 63
2
(Iv) the submArIne hms/m m , lyme bAy, dorset 69
(v) the bAttleshIp hms hood, portlAnd hArbour, dorset 71
(vI) ss mAIne, sAlCombe, south devon 75
(vII) ss bretAgne, bAbbACombe bAy, eAst devon 77
(vIII) ss kyArrA, Isle oF purbeCk, dorset 80
(IX) the us lIberty shIp JAmes eAgAn lAyne, whItsAnd bAy, CornwAll 84
3. The NORTH CHANNEL, Irish Sea 89
(I) the whIte stAr lIner JustICIA, mAlIn heAd 89
(II) hms AudACIous, mAlIn heAd 92
(III) ss empIre herItAge, mAlIn heAd 99
4. WEST COAST OF SCOTLAND 105
(I) ss shunA, sound oF mull 105
(II) ss thesIs, sound oF mull 108
(III) ss hIspAnIA, sound oF mull 110
(Iv) ss rondo, sound oF mull 116
(v) ss bredA, obAn 119
(vI) mv AkkA, FIrth oF Clyde 123
(vII) ss wAllAChIA, FIrth oF Clyde 125
(vIII) hms port nApIer, loChAlsh, skye 128
5. NORTH SEA 133
(I) ms tAurus (III), InverbervIe 133
(II) ss FrAm, Aberdour bAy, morAy FIrth 136
(III) the tAnker sAn tIburCIo, tArbAt ness, morAy FIrth 140
(Iv) hms pAthFInder, FIrth oF Forth 145
(v) ss mongolIAn, FIley bAy, yorkshIre 147
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A
Cknowledgements
T o dive alone is to die alone. It’s one of the common phrases bandied Ben Wade of Scapa Scuba, Stromness, for his help with the new Scapa
about in diving circles – and is undeniably true. To try and avoid that Flow illustrations. www.scapascuba.co.uk
fate, divers tend to dive in buddy pairs, each looking after the other as best Grainne Patton for allowing me to use (again!) her wonderful photo
we can down there. To all those divers – too many to mention individually of the boilers on SS Empire Heritage and her haunting image of HMS
– who have accompanied me on survey dives and put up with me haring Audacious.
round a shipwreck on a personal mission, my grateful thanks. Thanks also Steve Collard, who accompanied me on all the English Channel ship-
to the many skippers around the UK who have gone out of their way to get wreck dives.
me to where I needed to go. Bob Macpherson, ex-crewman on the Empire Chief, who gave me his
Thanks are also due to the following contributors: World War II account of his crew’s night out with the Empire Heritage crew
Rob Ward of Illusion Illustration, Bridge of Muchalls, Aberdeenshire; in Hoboken, New York, the night before Empire Heritage set off for the UK
creator of all the wonderful shipwreck illustrations in this book over the on what would be her final fatal voyage.
course of the last 25 years or so. www.illusionillustration.co.uk Ian Williamson for preparing the location charts.
Ewan Rowell, legend of Scottish diving and closed circuit rebreathers Barry McGill of Ireland and Deep Wreck Explorers, for his assistance and
and my regular dive buddy on many of the wrecks in this book from 1989 for allowing me to use his wonderful photos of the Justicia, HMS Audacious
until a move to Oz a few years ago, for allowing me to use some of his and SS Empire Heritage. The stunning cover shot of the gun turret on HMS
underwater photos. Audacious is his. www.deepwreckexplorers.com
My present-day regular dive buddies, Greg Booth, Jim Burke, Richard Ian Lawler and Stewart Andrews for their constructive comments on my
Colliar, Paul Haynes, Gary Petrie and Tony Ray, for the adventures, support illustrations of HMS Audacious, SS Empire Heritage and Justicia.
and assistance (and general mick taking) they have offered. Stevie Adams, Ross Coventry and Shane Wasik for their assistance with
Bob Anderson, skipper of the MV Halton in Scapa Flow for casting his the section on HMS Pathfinder.
canny eye over my new Scapa Flow wreck illustrations and for use of some Dougall Campbell for his thoughts on the remains of HMS Audacious.
of his underwater photos. www.mvhalton.co.uk
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I
ntroduCtIon
Great British Shipwrecks focuses on 37 of the most well-known
shipwrecks around the UK, providing for each a narrative of the ship’s
history, its demise and condition today and an artist’s illustration of the
wreck on the seabed. It has taken a personal underwater journey of more
than 30 years diving to get into the position of being able to put all this
information into one book.
As a 21-year-old, newly qualifi ed diver, when I fi rst towed my beloved
5-metre squidgy infl atable dive boat up to Scapa Flow in 1981 to dive the
legendary scuttled German High Seas Fleet wrecks from World War I, I
was surprised to fi nd that there was virtually no information on the wrecks
available for the visiting diver. Th ere were no diver-orientated books, there
was no Internet teeming with information; there was nothing – and worse
still, the wrecks themselves were not buoyed. When we arrived, we looked
out forlornly across Scapa Flow and just saw a vast and empty 12-mile
expanse of black and foreboding water.
We had to find the wrecks the old way: by taking bearings to land
points from the wreck symbols marked on the Admiralty Chart. After
applying variation to the bearings, we motored my squidgy out to the
approximate position for the wreck in the middle of the Flow, using
a hand compass to check our charted land bearings and close in on
the target wreck as best we could. There were no cheap digital echo Salvage diver working on the scuttled German Fleet.
sounders available on the market then (as today), which would easily Orkney Library. William Hourston Collection
reveal the wreck on the bottom – so to finally find the German ships,
we dropped our anchor and trawled up and down the Flow dragging it
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greAt brItIsh shIpwreCks
in 1990 and now in its 4th edition).
Once I had come up with the idea of writ-
ing a diver guide to the Scapa Flow wrecks, I
decided to illustrate each of the main ship-
wrecks and provide an overview of the wreck
at a glance. I invited several artists to pitch
for the job of illustrating the wrecks, which
would be based on topside photos, under-
water photos and my own humble scratch-
ing’s made on waterproof notepads as I
swam round the wrecks. One artist stood out
head and shoulders above the others: Rob
Ward of Illusion Illustration – who coinciden-
tally lives just about 5 miles away from me. Rob
is a very talented and precise artist who is as
equally at home illustrating wildlife and creating
portraits as he is illustrating new houses for sales
brochures or illustrating an underwater ROV
(remotely-operated vehicle) for an off shore oil
company. He has illustrated many other books.
Rob’s illustrations of the German wrecks
Th e wreck of the light cruiser SMS Dresden at Scapa Flow with, inset, how she looked in 1989. Note the diff erence
for Dive Scapa Flow were the fi rst time any-
at the foredeck © Rod Macdonald
one had attempted to seriously illustrate these
behind on the bottom until we snagged ourselves a German battleship wrecks – and over the years, divers have given me much positive feedback,
– like an old wire-sweep from yesteryear. Even then, as we got ready to as they used them to plan dives and understand the wreck in advance. Any
dive we didn’t know which particular wreck we were diving – whether inaccuracies in the illustrations are mine alone – as Rob is not a diver and
it was a battleship or light cruiser, whether it was sitting upright on has never seen the wrecks.
its keel, laying on its side or completely upside down. Each first dive I was given six months to research, dive, and write the manuscript for
was a voyage of discovery, but gradually we could build up a picture of Dive Scapa Flow – and so I spent as much time as possible up in Orkney,
each wreck. This interest in shipwrecks, and the obvious dearth of diver frantically swimming round all of these huge wrecks and noting them as best
information for the historic wrecks at Scapa Flow, led to my first book, as I could. Of course, there were things that I missed – such as when I was
Dive Scapa Flow (first published by Mainstream Publishing, Edinburgh back home fi nalising the image of the light cruiser Dresden and I realised
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Introduction
that there was a large section midships that I
hadn’t noted properly. Th e skipper I was using
at the time in Orkney, Keith Th omson, kindly
took the local Kirkwall dive club out on a free
evening’s dive so they could survey the missing
section for me. It was also helpful latterly to be
put in touch with Dougall Campbell, whose
company Scapa Flow Salvage Co. Ltd, owned
the German wrecks in the 1970s and salved
the armour belts from the German battleships.
Despite many decades passing since he
worked in Scapa Flow, Dougall still has a
forensic knowledge of where the blasting took
place and was able to look over my images and
correct them as appropriate.
But, no sooner had I published these
illustrations than I realised the speed at
which the wrecks were decaying and falling
apart – rendering them out of date almost
immediately. Th roughout the following years,
as reprints and subsequent editions of the book
took place, I corrected the illustrations when I Th e wreck of the light cruiser SMS Brummer at Scapa Flow with, inset, the wreck as it looked in 1989. Note how
the foredeck 5.9-inch gun has fallen from its mount to the seabed © Rod Macdonald
could. Th e rate of decay and collapse however,
is accelerating – almost exponentially – and eventually signifi cant changes Likewise, above are two illustrations of the wreck of the light cruiser
had to be made to the original images. As an example, opposite are two Brummer. Th e main illustration is the 2007, 4th edition version and the
images of the Dresden. Th e main image is the 2007 (4th edition) version. inset image is the 1989, 1st edition image. Th e 2007 (4th edition) image
Th e inset image is the 1989, 1st edition image. Diff erential corrosion had shows how the foredeck 5.9-inch gun has fallen from its mount to the
been at work since she sank in 1919, turning the rivets that held the main seabed, pulling some of the foredeck with it. Over the last year or two the
foredeck to the hull, to dust. In about 1995, a small gap opened up at the join whole bridge superstructure and foredeck in front of it has now collapsed
of the deck to the uppermost starboard side of the hull. Th en, slowly but down so this illustration will be updated when it comes to a 5th edition.
inexorably over the coming years, the deck fell outwards and downwards to In 1993, my second book, Dive Scotland’s Greatest Wrecks, was published,
expose the whole innards of the bow section. covering 14 of the most well-known shipwrecks around Scotland – and
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