His Majesty’s Submarine HMS M2

HMS M2 was one of four Monitor Class submarines ordered for the Royal Navy in the latter years of World War 1, in fact only one of those ordered would ever see service during that war, HMS M1, a submarine fitted with a single large gun, as all of the class were first intended to be. The use of such a weapon on a submarine platform seems odd today and perhaps was so even back in the day. The logic seems to have been a surface attack using a large gun was far more likely to result in the sinking of an enemy ship than an experimental torpedo, before the start of World War 1 in 1914 there had not been a recorded successful attack from a submerged weapon since the American civil war, when a charge was, literally, rammed into the side of the Yankee USS Housatonic by the Confederate submarine H L Hunley, in February of 1864 (Clive Cussler in Hicks. B: “Sea of Darkness: Unraveling the mysteries of the H. L. Hunley” ISBN-10 1938170601. Spry Publishing LLC, Mar 2015)

The role the M Class submarines, of which only 3 were ever completed, were intended for was as replacements for the last of the obsolete “K” Class steam powered submarines, the M Class being Diesel Electric and far more efficient than their steam predecessors. The weapon platform was operated at near surface depth, the sighting of the gun being crude to the point of “line of sight”. It seems the drill was to achieve periscope depth, line up to the target, and then rise until the gun was out of the water to fire. An absurd sequence considering if the first shot was unsuccessful, or further targets were observed, the sub had to surface to re-load. It must have come as a complete and devastating shock to the admiralty when, in September of 1914 the German U Boat U21, commanded by Kapitanleutnant Otto Hersing, sank the British Light Cruiser HMS Pathfinder off the Firth of Forth in Scotland, becoming the first submarine in history to sink a ship with a self-propelled torpedo

Perhaps it was the outdated concept of operation that doomed the M Class submarine as a weapon platform, perhaps it was the perfecting of the self-propelled torpedo, and the pace of progress in war, outdating the design of the M Class submarines that demanded the Admiralty stopped thinking of submarine warfare as somewhat underhand, and even ungentlemanly (if that even registers in terms of global conflict)? Then again, perhaps it was the fate of the M1, lost in a collision whilst submerged on an exercise in 1925 (only 7 years after the end of WWI and a mere 14 before the outbreak of WWII in 1939), when the Swedish merchant vessel SS Vidar struck her gun, knocking it from its hull mount and opening the hull to water ingress, flooding her and sending her to the bottom of the Channel off Plymouth with all hands lost? Whatever the reason, two of the three M Class submarines were assigned to other roles and their guns removed M2 becoming a submersible aircraft carrier, M3 becoming a minelayer and M4, still under construction was scrapped before completion

The M2 had started life in 1916, from an admiralty order for four K class submarines an order that increased to 17 (6 were built at Vickers & one, K26, a joint Vickers/Chatham build) which was later changed to an order to build to a new Diesel Electric design, and the Vickers Barrow In Furness yard converted K17, 18, 19, (K27 & 28 were cancelled Vickers orders) into “M” Class Diesel Electric Submarines, M4 (K21) was an Armstrong Whitworth build when cancelled & scrapped in build (K+M Class Submarines. Online resource:  http://www.gwpda.org/naval/ks000001.htm Accessed: 20/04/2022). Of these K class submarines it would be K19 that would become the M2, originally fitted with the 12” 40 Calibre Mark IX Gun, as were all 3 of the completed M Class submarines, M2 also had four 182 torpedo tubes as standard. For those of you who love the technical specifications:

So why was M2’s gun removed and for what reason was she fitted with an aircraft hangar and a stowable aircraft? The initial role of the M Class submarines was supposed to be coastal bombardment, appear out of nowhere and shell coastal batteries defending approaches to harbours and strategic coastal cities, I imagine Gallipoli and the Dardanelles were still in the minds of some at the Admiralty at the time of contract, an enemy submarine appearing off Constantinople and shelling the city, or its defences, might have been the final straw that could have turned the campaign around completely. Anecdotal evidence from the time says the Turks were within 8 hours of fleeing to the hills, in truth there is a quote from one of the senior Turkish Generals to that effect from the day (which despite some hours of looking for it I cannot get my hands on it so you will have to take my word for it until I stumble across it again!), suffice to say there was at least some merit in the proposed concept of operations

There was perhaps more merit in the role of commerce raider, a submarine challenge to the supply chains of Germany, surfacing when steamers were inbound and fully laden with war supplies, or bringing imported goods for retail and much needed food supplies for civilian and military uses. Neither role would be undertaken by the remaining M Class submarines, they were not completed in time to see service during the First World War, and would spend their time on exercise or flying the flag for Britain around the world as a show of strength and sea power. Following the loss of M1 in 1925 both M2 and M3 were taken out of service, the Admiralty no longer confident the huge guns were of any use, nor the roles realistic. M2 had her gun removed and was modified to carry an observation plane in a hangar, M3 re-designed to undertake mine laying duties, the large platforms of the M Class seemingly ideal to take such dramatic changes in purpose and function, but still able to submerge and manoeuvre in the anonymity of the sub surface world

The idea of a submarine equipped with a spotter plane might seem odd, it was certainly a novelty at the time and, on her completion in 1927, it propelled M2 into the headlines across the world. The basis of the need might be a little less evidenced, however the concept of a submarine, ahead of the main battle fleet, surfacing out of the depths and launching a lead spotter plane to look for enemy shipping, or potential enemy threats to the battle fleet, clearly has its attractions. The practicalities of such a submerged operation were not insurmountable, the stowing, launching, and recovery of such an aircraft posed significant problems. The aircraft would have to have foldable wings to reduce its width, it would have to be light enough to take off in a very limited distance, and from a potentially unstable platform, after all, submarines were not the largest craft even given the size of the M Class, and they were prone to rolling from side to side in anything other than mild swells

The M2 re-design, proposed by Greenwich in 1916, would take almost the entire width of the Sub’s pressure hull and have a distinctive domed appearance being slightly narrower at the hull joint. There would be a Jib above, capable of a 180’ pivot across the hull to facilitate the recovery of the aircraft back onto the vessel following a flight. The plane would require pontoons to enable it to land back on the sea and position itself for recovery. Perhaps the most challenging of the problems surrounding carrying an aircraft on the submarine would relate to its stowage and deployment. Lift of any aircraft is dependent on the surface area of the wing in relation to its weight and engine power, to fit the available space of the hangar the wings had to be stubby, and they had to fold back on the hull to narrow the planes stowed cross section, that limited the lift generated and, combined with the size and power of the engine, affected the take-off potential significantly. It would take the ingenuity of perhaps the first aircraft catapult launch system, and definitely the first submarine mounted steam launch catapult, to finally ensure the specially designed Parnall Peto bi-plane could take off from its ground breaking submarine platform

The submarine and its hull could take the modification, the Chatham design proved that, the optimal space available when all the parameters had been calculated, gave the plane its dimensions, and an aircraft manufacturer, George Parnall & Company, took on the design. The Parnall Peto began life as prototype N181, built to Air Ministry Specification 16/24 which described a “Submarine Bourne Reconnaissance Sea Plane” with general characteristics:

This gave George Parnall and his team another challenge as the intended crew was 2, this would allow an observer and a pilot, ideal for spotting missions, far from ideal when considering power to weight, to wing area, on a necessarily small aircraft. However, that was George Parnall’s speciality, probably why he was chosen to prototype the requirement in the first place? Parnall specialised in small aircraft and his answer, designed by Harold Bolas, the Parnall Peto, was exactly that. Harold Bolas, design engineer at Parnall’s, proposed a wood and fabric construction, strengthened with Aluminium and occasional Steel, it was originally powered by a Bristol Lucifer Engine giving out 128 Hp, with plywood floats. Graces Guide (Parnall Aircraft, Peto. Online Resource: https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Parnall_Aircraft Accessed 26/04/2022) has it that it was generally a success, however “….modifications were put in hand and the machine was rebuilt with new wings, metal floats and a 169hp AS Mongoose engine. Tests both on the sea and in the air showed that Bolas had fully met the requirements and it was officially judged to be exceptionally good”

The specification of the Parnall Peto gave it just about enough lift to ensure it could get off the ground, or in this case the M2’s hull, fly a spotting mission with its two occupants and get back to the submarine. This wasn’t an elegant solution it was one born of necessity….compact and bijoux Mostyn….compact & Bijoux

The land trials of the Peto had proven the concept, the steam catapult provided sufficient lift to launch the aircraft, and the jib would allow recovery. In 1927 the M2 had completed fit-out at Chatham and would now take to sea to undergo a more immediate and realistic sea trial, with swells, whitecaps, repetitive submerge and surface trials to check the seaworthiness of the submarine, and the execution of the concept of a stealth platform the like of which had never been seen before

Submarines had occasionally previously carried aircraft, the German U-Boat U12 had sailed to within 30 miles of the Thames Estuary carrying a Friedrichshafen FF29 strapped to its hull. However that was just floated off when the submarine dived, and the plane had to fly back to Zeebrugge itself following its mission over the South Coast. The M2 was an entirely new weapon, one that could appear out of nowhere, in the days before Sonar, deploy its spotter plane, and then lurk at periscope depth awaiting the plane’s return, before lifting it back aboard and sinking into the anonymity of the sea with its aircraft back safe in its hangar. Conditions aboard any submarine of the time were not ideal, there were two shifts of crew in order to carry out “watches” as in any naval vessel, and as a result space was at a premium, even more-so in a submarine than on a Battleship

The M2 seemed to perform well in her sea trials and the aircraft hangar maintained its watertight status throughout, drills became slicker, and the times taken to surface and deploy the tiny Parnall Peto improved with each new exercise. Perhaps the M Class had finally found its place amongst the submarine fleets of the Admiralty, perhaps wars had become far less “gentlemanly” and now, of necessity, were going to be far more clandestine affairs

Deploying the Parnall Peto quickly, in order to maximise the element of stealth and avoid chance encounters with enemy ships, meant preparing her before the submarine was surfaced “The crew of 5 squeezed into the watertight hangar and electric heaters warmed the engine oil.  On the surface, the lowered hangar door was part of the launching ramp and the Peto was pushed onto the ramp and the engine started.  The aircrew climbed aboard as the wings were being unfolded and the sub turned into wind” (Subaeronautical Tales, Para 4. Online Resource: https://www.a-e-g.org.uk/subaeronautical-tales.html Accessed: 01/05/2022). To ensure readiness 24/7, there were two teams of flying crew, and to maintain and launch the aircraft there were 5 mechanics/crew aboard the M2

Contemporary comments have the deployments of the aircraft at around 5 minutes from surfacing. It seems the period between the 1927 conversion completion and 1932 were a continual round of exercises and trials and, on January 26^th of 1932, it seemed just another exercise when M2 and her crew left Portland, in the company of another submarine, to take part in an exercise in the bay area off Chesil Beach

The M2 had sent a radio message at 10:11 that morning to her surface ship the Titania, to announce she would dive at 10:30 (Aviation Safety Network “ASN Wikibase, Occurrence #210792” Online Resource:  https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/210792 Accessed: 01/05/2022). By a twist of fate the M2 had been seen by a passing vessel, the coaster Tyneside, on her way in to dock at Portland:  “That afternoon the coaster Tynesider put in to Portland where the captain told a man at the coaling wharf that he had seen a submarine dive stern first that morning. Later he had seen a surfaced submarine enter Portland and assumed it must have been the same boat. The Tynesider then sailed on to Gravelines and it was not until the evening that the M2 was reported overdue and a search began” (Rod Arnold “The Dugout” Issue 20 May 2020 “M Class Submarines” P19, Para 1. Online Resource: https://www.westernfrontassociation.com/media/11774/dugout-20.pdf Accessed: 01/05/2022)

Nothing more would be seen or heard of the M2 until divers located her hull in 30m of water on the 03^rd February, following extensive searches of West bay, the M2’s last known location. It seemed the M Class of submarines was ill fated, perhaps just like the K Class before them, all further M Class operations were stopped by the Admiralty and Ernest Cox, famed for the Scapa Flow German High Seas Fleet Recovery Operation, was hired to bring the M2 back to the surface to discover what had gone wrong and sent her to the bottom

When Divers located the M2 30m deep in Portland Bay, the hangar door was found to be open, the Parnall Peto was still in its hangar, and several of her hatches were open, what had gone wrong? The two most often proposed scenarios cover the most likely causes, firstly that the hangar door was opened before the submarine had properly surfaced. The second most likely scenario is that the stern hydroplanes, the method the submarine uses to pitch its bow down and drive the hull under the water to submerge, failed in some way causing the submarine to flood the hangar and the main of the hull

There is a third, perhaps less palatable explanation too, if the captain of the Tyneside, who presumably had not seen an M Class submarine before, had identified the stern as the bow……and you will perhaps agree, from a distance the conning tower of the M2 gives the impression the hangar is located behind it…….then the M2 was actually diving as usual, with the hangar doors not fully closed, or worse, the hangar doors failed as the M2 dived and flooded her through the hangar

Apparently there were procedural issues from the outset, the manner in which the M2 maintained her launch state on the surface was unusual, “High pressure air tanks were used to bring the boat to the surface in an awash condition, but to conserve compressed air compressors were then started to completely clear the ballast tanks of water by blowing air into them. This could take as long as 15 minutes to complete. The normal procedure for launching the aircraft was therefore to hold the boat on the surface using the hydroplanes whilst the hangar door was opened and the aircraft launched” (Aviation Safety Network “ASN Wikibase, Occurrence #210792” Online Resource:  https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/210792 Accessed: 01/05/2022)

As far as I can make out the writer of the piece (apologies if I am in error with this), Dr John Smith, makes the conclusion that, if the M2 was using this method to hold surface, then a failure of the hydroplanes would have forced the stern down and dragged the submarine under, as the captain of the Tyneside said he observed, until the hangar flooded and the M2 was beyond saving. There is no doubt the sinking of the M2 could have been caused by a combination of factors, an attempt to improve deployment times, mechanical issues, or just plain human error, whatever the real reason it is unlikely we shall ever truly know exactly how she ended up on the sea bed

The attempts to salvage the M2 were unsuccessful, even Ernest Cox couldn’t get her to the surface, although he came very close, reaching a couple of meters from the surface on one occasion, the weather hindered every attempt and the equipment available to Cox clearly was not up to raising a flooded submarine, from 30m in a series of sets of increasingly bad weather conditions, “The process of making HMS M2 ready for lifting was dogged with a number of severe setbacks. These included bad weather and the parting of the lifting “camels” from the wreck. In fact a total five different attempts were made to raise HMS M2 and they all ended in failure. Finally, in December 1932, plans to salvage the wreck were abandoned.” (Innes McCartney “Lost Patrols: Submarine Wrecks of the English Channel No 3/21, HMS M2 – Aircraft Carrier” P82). In December of 1932 the M2 was finally allowed to rest where she sits today, in Portland Bay. Whatever the reason, the M2 was the final loss of an M Class submarine, the Admiralty could not ignore the repeated failures, and would not tolerate the continued losses, the M Class was abandoned and all remaining craft sold for scrap, including the (up-to that point), successful minelayer M3. M2 is the final, tragic resting place of 58 of her crew, a living memorial to the arms race of the inter-war years, and the ultimate sacrifice of 60 sailors in the service of their country

I dived the M2 in April of 2004 and was lucky enough to have a student with me taking some video, the quality of the video isn’t up to today’s HD standards, but it was early days for your average diver to have a video set-up, it was early days for Brad filming too, but you can see what he shot later in this piece. My Navy Log records: “M2 Portland Dorset  Good descent to the hull with viz @ 5-6m and plenty of life – a great Lobster which came out to play fearlessly! The wreck is splendid with dead man’s fingers everywhere & intact throughout. The bow is odd with cut-outs in the centre. The hangar is silted but we entered for 2 – 3 m then went round the rails & then the conning tower area before ascending. The masts are still in place – remarkably. Buddy Keith Air In 240 Out 100”

As usual, the description is brief noting the main points of the dive. Remembering the dive, I recall trying hard to work out what the launch system was, and how it would have worked, the steam piston tubes were still present but, apart from a basic understanding, the technical details were lost on me. The viz was not bad, it gave enough to see the area you were in, but not enough to get the scale of the wreck. I know I was surprised how long it took to reach the bow and circle back to the conning tower. The hangar was very silted on our dive and it would have been great to see it when cleared, perhaps there are even remnants of the Peto in all the debris blocking it? All I could think at the time was how tragic such an end would have been, I had no idea bodies had been recovered back then, believing there had been total loss. It is clear some tried to escape and, to have been caught in a hatch perhaps indicated the first to attempt to escape failed, and blocked the way for others behind them. At the time the Davis escape gear was a very new piece of kit, I wonder how many would have put faith in it, whatever the circumstances……but we will never truly know

You can watch the edited version of our dive on HMS M2 courtesy of Brad, Considering the conditions on the day it’s a good introduction to the wreck

As ever, the details included here have been supported by the research of others and, for the opportunity to stand on the shoulders of giants, I am indebted to: Dr Innes McCartney, Peter Mitchell (1947-2015) and the infinite resource of the “Tinterweb”

Want to see M2 launch & recover her Parnall Peto aircraft on Movietone News?

Rosalie Moller

The Rosalie Moller began life in 1910 as the steamer SS Francis, built for the Booth Line of Liverpool by the Clydebank shipyard Barclay, Curle & Company of Whiteinch, Glasgow. The Francis was built to be an intermediate Passenger & Cargo ship, her capacity sufficient to take economic loads whilst able to accommodate some passenger trade. The Francis had accommodation for 17 First Class passengers, 5 x 3 bed cabins and 2 x 2 bed cabins, these would most likely see senior executives of the Booth Line, transiting to Manaus and back, or its premiere customers, (Booth Line had several larger “Tourist” vessels, notably SS Hildebrand & SS Hilary and others… far more luxurious than the SS Francis, for larger scale tourism & Grand Tour purposes) and perhaps some senior managers and foremen, essentially upper management. The SS Francis also had accommodation for up to 76 passengers to her stern in the No 4 Hold area indicated as “steerage”, she was also, ahead of her time, fitted with a “Marconi House” for a telegraph

Barclay Curle & Company, shipbuilders, had a traditional Clydebank Shipyard, typical of the  Scottish opportunists of the Victorian era, a yard having begun with sailing ships and progressed to building Iron, and eventually steel hulled vessels, as the industrial steam age accelerated the industries of Great Britain in the late 18^th and early 19^th century. Founded in 1818, by John Barclay, the yard was successful and, when John died in 1845 the sailing-ship business was taken over by his son, Robert, who took James Hamilton and Robert Curle into partnership as Robert Barclay and Curle. The name changed again in 1863, when Robert Barclay died, becoming Barclay, Curle and Co

The SS Francis was a typical ship of her time, a triple expansion steam engine driving a single propeller shaft, producing some 400 or so nominal horsepower, and giving her a top speed of 11 knots. The Francis was a workhorse, reliable, well designed, and using dependable technology, in order to ensure the Booth Line many years of service, hauling Leather and Rubber in her Four spacious holds, configured Two to her For’ard and another Two to her Aft. The Francis was a good looking, utilitarian ship, economic but attractive in a kind of “industrial” sense, exactly what the Booth Line wanted for the long journey to Brazil and the colonies

Additional Details:

It would only be two years after the successful delivery to Booth Line (in 1912) that the Barclay & Curle Shipbuilding business would be taken over by Swan, Hunter and Wigham Richardson, including the Clydeholm and Elderslie shipyards and dry docks, and the dry docks in Govan. You might remember Swan Hunter Wigham & Richardson built the Port Napier, another Clyde wreck on this site……..another 6 degrees of separation!

Barclay Curle & Co had begun making their own engines in 1857, they were Steam driven, largely triple expansion engines from what I can determine. The SS Francis was certainly fitted with a triple expansion engine, and it was one of Barclay & Curles’ own designs with an output of 401 horsepower, the boiler likely of the Inglis Marine design of 1909, illustrated in the Barclay & Curle trade advert from Graces’ Guide (Grace’s Guide: “Barclay, Curle & Co” illustration 3 “Inglis Marine Boiler”. https:// www.gracesguide.co.uk/ Barclay,_Curle_and_Co Accessed: 09/01/2022) shown below

Triple Expansion engines work by passing steam (from boiling water), under pressure, into a chamber containing a piston, the “Triple Expansion” method makes use of the highest pressure in the smallest cylinder first, the expanding (cooling) steam then passes into a second slightly larger (slightly lower pressure) cylinder, activating a second piston, and then finally the steam moves into the largest, lowest pressure cylinder where it activates a third piston. Following the expansion, or driving, cycle the remaining steam is passed into a condenser which re-cycles it back, as water, to the boiler for re-use. If you want to see an example of a Triple Expansion steam engine sat on the sea-bed, then look up the video of the Torpedo Alley wreck “Caribsea”, which will eventually be loaded on this site………….  Craig and I get to swim around the engine from the Steamer Caribsea, in the Atlantic, on the North Carolina coast, and it gives you some idea of a smaller sized triple expansion steam engine, and offers some perspective of scale  

The Clydeside shipyards mostly relied on the heavy lift cranes at Glasgow Harbour, at the western end of Plantation Quay, for fitting engines, transmissions, and the larger plant into the ships they constructed. The first built was the Clyde Villa Crane, capable of lifting up to 130 tons. (“Finnieston Crane, History” Online Resource:  https://www.scotlandguides.org/tour/finnieston-crane-glasgow-3281.htm Accessed: 18/11/2021) installed in the 1890s in Princes Dock, in front of Govan Town Hall

A sister crane (The Finnieston Crane) was located a bit further upriver on the site now occupied by the City Inn. These cranes would eventually be complimented by “Titan” cantilever cranes, luckily Scotland is proud enough to have kept these reminders of their shipyard history, and examples of the Titans can still be seen alongside the Barclay, Curle & Company buildings and in the Glasgow port

The SS Francis owners, Booth line, were trading in Leather exports, Rubber imports and passenger routes between Liverpool and the Amazon basin. In 1910 the global rubber trade centered around Manaus, 94% of the substance originated from the Amazon region, Amazonia, and this was shipped via the River Negro (Rio Negro) primarily by the Booth Line, the most significant traders in Amazonia, with palatial offices in the town that would not have looked out of place in any British city, typical statement edifices, not unlike those in the City Centre of Liverpool itself

Discovered by Spanish explorers in 1499, the mouth of the Amazon River is 70 odd miles wide, Francisco Orellano sailed it in 1542 and it was settled at Sao Jose de Rio Negrinho in 1699 (“Port of Call, Manaus” Middlemiss, N. Oct 2021 in “Features” Online Resource:  https://www.shippingtandy.com/features/manaus/ Accessed: 20/11/2021). “…….the Rio Negro and Solimoes rivers that combine to form the mighty Amazon leading eventually to the sea. The black waters of the Rio Negro form a black diving line with the brown waters of the Solimoes at the junction, and do not mix together for many miles downstream” The situation and environment conjures scenes from the Roland Joffe film The Mission, not a million miles from the exploration and early settlement of the Amazon Basin, and the challenges met on the Rio Negro I imagine?

Manaus, the capital of the Amazonas State of Brazil, is situated in the heart of the Brazilian rainforest 900 miles inland from the Atlantic coast in an area colloquially known as the “Amazon Basin”…..There is another more descriptive name for the area….”inferno verde” which translates as “green hell’. There were two million square miles of tropical rainforest in the Amazon Basin in 1900, with an average temperature of 25’c, the Rio Negro and its tributaries feed the Amazon River and, as Manaus is only 302 feet above sea level, navigation from the distant South Atlantic using both rivers, allows travel to Manaus by vessels such as the SS Francis. There are two floating wharves in Manaus’ Port (Paredao and Malcher). The Paredao has four deep sea inside and outside berths, the Malcher floating platform is for river passenger craft and fishing boats. The snows of the high Andes melt and flood the Rio Negro in February and March, receding in June. A record 29.97 metres was recorded at Manaus in 2012, (ebb level of 13.63 metres) a range of almost 16m, as a result all waterside properties in Manaus were built on stilts

Founded in 1866 by Alfred & Charles Booth, “Alfred Booth and Company” was a British trading and shipping enterprise, born in Liverpool, that would eventually trade for more than a century. The company was managed well, and grew to become a significant merchant shipping company, with commercial interests in the United States and South America, specifically, in the time of the SS Francis, Brazil and the Amazon Basin

Liverpool, in Victoria’s reign, was a thriving hub of empire, it was also a centre of industrial development, seeing the birth of the railways of Great Britain, the transition from wooden sailing ships, to Iron, and then Steel hulled steamships, and the immense wealth associated with global trade and commerce. Alfred and Charles Booth worked together at Lamport and Holt Shipping Company in Liverpool, they were cousins of the owner, and co-founder of Lamport & Holts, William Lamport. In 1851 Lamport, transferred shares in the SS Nile, a cargo steamship, to Charles Booth and George Holt. Booth, and Holt’s father, later took minority shares in another of Lamport’s steamships, the Orontes, meaning Charles Booth had shares in the Nile and one in the Orontes. In yet another of those 6 degrees of separation George Holt would, with his brother, Alfred, eventually establish the Blue Funnel Line in Liverpool

In 1862 Charles Booth joined his eldest brother Alfred, and invested part of the £20,000 his father (also Charles) had bequeathed to each of his 5 children, on his death, in the construction of two steamships, the Augustine and the Jerome. The Booth brothers’ acumen grew the Booth Steamship Company, slowly building up a substantial fleet, to carry merchandise to and fro across the Atlantic. The enterprise was very successful, becoming a huge concern which had interests in many countries, especially the Amazon River trade of Brazil. Charles Booth was also something of a radical in his time, he was a philanthropist and champion of the poor, devoting 17 years to the study, and detailed reporting, of the grievous social conditions suffered by the Victorian working classes in London. Booth, pictured above in an unusual manner for the time (perhaps specifically to emphasize his “difference” from traditional Victorian gentry), shows him in an almost scruffy, casual pose, tie somewhat adrift, aloof, but with piercing, if distant stare

Charles Booth funded his own research, and his business interests, throughout those years and tirelessly campaigned for the introduction of old age pensions, laying the foundations of Bevan’s welfare state through the influence of the “Beveridge Report” of 1942 on “social insurance and allied benefits” where the post war “home for Hero’s” was supposed to become reality, and the rhetoric espoused nirvana,  “Now, when the war is abolishing landmarks of every kind, is the opportunity for using experience in a clear field. A revolutionary moment in the world’s history is a time for revolutions, not for patching.” (National Archives: “The Beveridge Report and the foundations of the Welfare State” Online Resource: https:// blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk /beveridge-report-foundations-welfare-state/ Accessed 19/11/2021) Charles would remain Chairman of the Booth Line until 1912. Charles Booth retired and passed the chairmanship to his nephew (Charles Booth 1868 – 1938) in 1912, however, in 1915 he returned to help the company get through the First World War, but sadly died in November of 1916 before the war ended. Charles memorial is on a tablet in St Paul’s Cathedral:

By 1914 the Booth Line fleet had more than 30 ships, 11 were requisitioned for war service, Booth Line lost 9 to enemy action, by 1919 only 18 ships remained. There were no more ships built between 1919 and 1927, a ship was purchased from Germany, perhaps the war office reparations fleet, re-named Dominic. The Booth Line renewed another 7 vessels and bought another second hand ship between 1928 and 1935, but in 1931, having given the Booth Line two decades and more of stirling service, between Liverpool and Brazil, with the demise of the India Rubber trade out of Manaus, the SS Francis was about to change ownership….. Not only was the Francis now 21 years old, but the route she had sailed, and the trade goods she had carried, were now dwindled to almost nothing. The monopoly on the rubber tree, (up until then only grown and harvested in the Amazon Basin and Brasilia’s) was broken when, In 1876, British traveler Henry Wickham stole (or exported, depending on your perspective), 70,000 seeds of “Hevea brasiliensis”, also known as the Para Rubber Tree, and seeded areas of Southeast Asia (including Ceylon (Sri-Lanka) and Malaya (Peninsular Malaysia), then under British Empire control), in order to break the Amazon monopoly and gain control of the product for Britain

By the 1920’s it was becoming less and less economically viable to trade rubber out of Manaus, “By the early twentieth century the economy of Manaus entered a downward turn, as managed plantations in Malaysia outperformed Brazilian forest extractors. Whereas in 1909 Amazonian rubber constituted 94% of the world supply, by 1918 it had fallen to 10.9%. The Amazonian rubber boom was over,” (“An End to Difference Imagining Amazonian Modernity at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century” 2018 Chernela, J & Periera, E. P28, Para 2. Online Resource: https:// anth.umd.edu/sites/anth.umd.edu/files/2018chernelaboom.pdfAccessed 14/11/2021). The monopoly the Amazon Basin held over rubber extraction had been effectively, and fatally broken, (“Rubber in Brazil: Dominance & Collapse, 1876-1945” Resor, R. R. Online Resource: https:// www.jstor.org /stable/3113637 Accessed 19/11/2021) “For the first few years of this century, Brazil was the major supplier of rubber to the world. However, the Amazonian wild rubber industry was unable to compete, in either price or quality, with the Asian plantation rubber that began to appear on world markets after 1906. Development of a successful plantation culture in the Amazon seemed imperative, but even with public subsidy, plantations remained an economic impossibility. By 1945 the Brazilian rubber industry, overwhelmed by Asian production, had virtually disappeared”

Chernela and Periera write a succinct and telling obituary on the rubber industry of the Amazon basin and the decline of Manaus as an exporter: “…..with no export commodity to replace rubber, the city entered a period of stagnation. The population contracted to a fraction of its former size, dependent for revenue on the export of a few raw forest products with limited markets” and the Booth Line stalwart the SS Francis was duly sold on to Nils Moller of Moller & Company Shipping, a Shanghai based Swedish Company

Nils Möller, a Swedish sailing-ship Captain, suffered the death of his first wife Jenny in 1859, the effect this had on him must have been very significant as it prompted him to sail his brigantine, the Osaka, to China looking for commissions (Online Resource: https://www.myheritage.com/site-186892972/moller Accessed 14/11/2021). Captain Moller not only found cargoes there, but must also have fared well, as he ended up in an argument with the Swedish government over the right to fly Swedish flags on his ships. It was apparently forbidden for a Swedish national, living abroad, to fly the Swedish flag, and that seems to have caused Nils to register his fleet of ships in Great Britain, more so, he removed the umlaut (double dot) from over his last name, presumably in anger or frustration, and declared himself a citizen of Shanghai!

Nils operated sailing ships from 1882 on the China routes and to Eastern Russia, Japan and the Philippines, sailing out of Shanghai, and he obviously liked the place, settling down and having two more families, one with Alethea Stephenson, and a later one with Hannah Clappison. In 1903 Nils’ two sons took over the business and it was registered as Moller Bros, in 1907 ownership was taken over by Eric Moller and the name changed to Moller & Company. In 1910 the Moller Co bought their first steamship, the same year the SS Francis was launched, Moller Line & Company prospered in Shanghai, opening several subsidiary companies and trading globally, until Moller shipping became the largest fleet of tramp traders in the China Seas, only ceasing to trade in the early 1980’s

The SS Francis was re-named the Rosalie Moller in the tradition of the Moller line, named after one of the Moller children although, to present date (20/11/2021), I can’t find which line of the family Rosalie Moller belongs to. In 1938 the Rosalie Moller was requisitioned by the Admiralty as a collier, transporting Welsh mined coal to a variety of UK Naval Ports. In 1939 she was running between Yokahama and Shanghai and Shanghai and Hong Kong, with occasional trips to Singapore and Haiphong. In December of 1939 The Rosalie Moller found herself directed from Singapore to Calcutta, a return journey which she would repeat in February, departing Singapore on the 22^nd Feb arriving in Calcutta on the 29^th  and returning to dock at Shanghai 27^th of March.  1940 heralded a change of scenery for the Rosalie Moller, there is no movement noted between April & September of 1940, and it is believed she was given a full overhaul around that time

In September of 1940 the routine for the Rosalie Moller changed, and her route was altered to put her in Alexandria, Egypt (via Singapore, Calcutta and Aden), at Port Said for the 12^th of November of 1940. From Alexandria she sailed to Columbo on the 22^nd of November arriving on the 22^nd of December from there she sailed to Sandheads Calcutta on Christmas Eve, arriving on the 31^st December and departing 15^th January 1941 when she sailed to Aden arriving on the 30^th. From Aden she journeyed to Alexandria arriving at Port said 18^th of March, after a quick turn-around the Rosalie Moller was dispatched via Mozambique, South Africa (@ Lourenço Marques, 19^th April), to Port Elizabeth, arriving on St George’s day, the 23^rd of April. It seems there were some repairs carried out there which completed on the 05^th May, not without the mention of “crew trouble”, however nothing more is noted, so what “trouble” that might have been is lost to history….

In July 1941 the Rosalie Moller was re-allocated to S.T.N.8, the Admiralty Collier Service, however it would not be until the 19^th of August that Rosalie Moller sailed again, this time to Durban, South Africa, arriving it seems on the 25^th of August, having been expected on the 21^st and there is a note of repairs in Port Elizabeth 18^th of August to 22^nd of August for some reason? Although she did not know it, it seems time was running out for the Rosalie Moller, her next assignment was to Capetown, 13^th of September, but again there is a note of repairs and dates of the 30^th August and 11^th of September, clearly something wasn’t right with Rosalie Moller, but whatever it may have been, she sailed again from Durban on the 11^th of September bound for Aden, arriving on the 28^th of September

Leaving Aden on the first of October for Alexandria, under the command of Australian Captain James Byrne, and laden with 4680 tons of coal, the Rosalie Moller was to use the Suez Canal to reach Alexandria on the 9^th October, but fate had other plans for her. A collision of ships elsewhere in the canal meant that Rosalie Moller was unable to transit the Suez Canal and was directed to “Safe Anchorage H, Towala” until the way was cleared

On 5th October 1941, German Intelligence reports believed the Queen Mary had been sighted in the area and dispatched 2 Heinkel HE111’s on a search and destroy mission. The Queen Mary had indeed been running from Suez to Trincomalee (Ceylon, modern day Sri-Lanka) under command of her master, Captain Irving. She had completed two trips, carrying troops and supplies, from the 16^th September to 23^rd September, and again from September 24^th to October 01^st…….but the Heinkel’s missed her…..

The Heinkel’s sent to find the Queen Mary were from Kampfgeschwader 26 (KG 26) which translates as bomber wing 26, the nickname of the group was “Löwengeschwader” or Lions’ Wing, taken from the insignia, although the translation reads more closely as “Lion’s Shield”. The Germans formed its Luftwaffe long before it was officially revealed in the Spanish Civil War, KG 26 were part of the then, newly formed, “flieger-Division” which included several different types of aircraft (also JU87’s, JU88’s and ME110’s) specific to different roles. The Heinkel HE111’s were bombers (designed by Siegfried and Walter Günter at Heinkel Flugzeugwerke in 1934), KG 26’s HE111’s were primarily anti-shipping aircraft, under the command of Generalleutnant Hans Geisler as of 03^rd September of 1939. Originally stationed in Germany as part of 10 Fliegerkorps, KG 26 was transferred to Norway in 1940, following the sinking of two of its own battleships, the Leberecht Maas and the Max Schultz (Operation Wikinger, February 1940), and then from Norway to Sicily in 1941 to support the Afrika Korps. Over the 17/18 January 1941, 12 of KG 26’s He 111s were sent to bomb the Suez Canal, however they did not have the range and 1. Gruppe lost seven machines to fuel starvation. On 31 January KG 26 sank the freighter Sollum and minesweeper Huntley, the unit also took part in missions over Malta, losing its first aircraft on 8 February 1941. Those of you who relish research can dig further into KG 26 in the book “Die Spur des Löwen” or “The trail of the lion” in English, (Alex Steenbeck) although it’s a challenge as the book is in German and there is no plan to release an English translation

Personally, I have a problem with the HE111’s as a presence in the Gubal straits, where Thistlegorm and the Rosalie Moller were anchored. As KG 26, 1. Gruppe had already seen (losing 7 aircraft in an attempt to bomb the Suez Canal earlier in 1941), the HE111, with a range of only 680 miles, could not have reached the Gubal area without re-fueling for the return or landing locally.  If the Luftwaffe records are accurate, and for the most part at that time of the war they were better than any allied records, the locations of the X korps KG 26 HE111’s in 1941 are tabled below (X Fliegerkorps in “Air Ministry A.H.B. 6 Translation of Enemy Documents” Online Resource: http:// www.ww2.dk/misc/obmed .pdf Accessed: 20/11/2021). The main of the HE111’s were at Comiso, a distance from Comiso airfield (on Sicily) to Gubal of 1,311 miles, one way. The only aircraft that could possibly have patrolled Gubal would have been those of St.G 3, based in Libya, which are anecdotal (in the comments column) to the records, giving no idea which airfield, how many there were, or from what Korps/Gruppe

Whichever Airfield was used, fate played out her hand, and the Heinkel’s sent to find the RMS Queen Mary on the 06^th of October found only the merchant vessel SS Thistlegorm, sat at anchor, awaiting a passage through Suez to Alexandria, and so they bombed her to the bottom of the Red sea on October 6^th 1941. It is said that the explosion from the Thistlegorm was so massive that it lit up the night sky, exposing another ship lying in Anchorage H, and in a final, bitter irony, the Heinkel’s spotted her and returned on the 8th October to send the Rosalie Moller to the sea bed

The only realistically achievable patrolling by HE111’s would be from Egyptian or Libyan airfields and, although those were sometimes available, they were constantly changing hands as the Allies overran strategic air-fields in offensive actions, or the Germans re-occupied airfields on counter-attacks. Even the authorities at the time had issues with the information available: “Sunk by Heinkel 111 bombers from No. 2 Squadron 26th Kampfgeschwader based in Crete bombing during night of 7-8/10/1941 at Anchorage “H”, Towala, Gulf of Suez (Durban for Alexandria with coal)(until 6/10 the Towala anchorages had been thought to be beyond the range of German bombers)” reported in many of the dive and steamship details for the SS Francis and Rosalie Moller alike, (“FRANCIS, Disposal Detail” Online Resource: http:// www.clydeships.co.uk/ view.php? ref=1616 Accessed 21/11/2021) I have trolled many archives, (the Air Ministry A.H.B 6 Translation, Henry deZeng’s “Luftwaffe Airfields 1935-45 Greece, Crete and the Dodecanese” (https://www.ww2.dk/Airfields%20-%20Greece%20Crete%20and%20the%20Dodecanese.pdf) and several Luftwaffe interest sites too),  but failed to come up with a plausible location for KG 26 to have attacked the anchorages at Gubal, that doesn’t mean it wasn’t KG 26 HE111’s that took down Thistlegorm & Rosalie Moller, it just means there are more pieces to fit in the puzzle!

Rosalie Moller was hit once, on her Starbord side between No4 and No3 hold, her cargo was coal, there was a high chance of a secondary explosion from accumulated dust, this was the Gubal area of Egypt and temperatures are always high, but there was no report of a secondary explosion and casualties were, thankfully, as low as could be hoped for in the circumstances, only two of the crew are noted to have died when Rosalie Moller went to the bottom, it is likely they were killed in the initial explosion

I first dived the Rosalie Moller in November of 2008, I had been told about her a couple of times by divers who compared her to the Thistlegorm, but said Rosalie was better than Thistlegorm. At the time I couldn’t take what was being said seriously, Thistlegorm was the most iconic wreck I had dived, the idea that the wreck of a Steamship, carrying a cargo of coal, could be better than Thistlegorm with all her splendor and variety was, to say the least, stretching my imagination….. But I would get to find out, Craig and I had just completed the “three dives in one” on Abu Nuhas, using nitrox to extend our dive times and keep the deco manageable, and Rosalie Moller was next up on the Liveaboard itinerary

The little Red Log was full, the Rosalie Moller was one of the first couple of wreck dives I wrote up in the Green Navy Log and it records: “26/11/08 ROSALIE MOLLER – EGYPT This is the second raid victim of the Thistlegorm saga being spotted by the returning Heinkel HE111 who went back the next day and sank her at anchor we dropped straight down to the prop which is very large with the stern & rudder making a great sight round the port side and up to mid ships to drop into the hold in front of the collapsed engine room. Sadly a diver died when this collapsed early in this year. We swam through into the next hold towards the bridge and then under the collapsed funnel. We went down the bridge deck corridor past the tool room and captains bath. Round over the stern & to the starbord bridge deck corridor and through that to pass over the holds & run to the mast and on to the bows. The bow winches and hatch covers are awesome looking back from the bow light post. Shoals of Glass fish all over the wreck being attacked by Trevally – lots of Fusiliers and other fish about – literally alive with fish. Back to the mast and then over the bridge to start deco an amazing dive a fantastic wreck. Air and 50% Buddy Nick”

I have to say, the sight of Rosalie Moller, appearing out of the blue haze as we descended the shot line, was impressive. Whilst Thistlegorm is a very damaged ship, a large area of her stern essentially blown off her hull, and a mass of tangled and rent metalwork where her cargo holds burst and her decking peeled back, Rosalie Moller is a complete ship, she looked as if she could have been sailed away, although her funnel lay over to her Port side the rest of her was just as she sank in October of 1941. As Rosalie is a deeper wreck we needed to see as much as we could without getting into too long a deco requirement. As is always the case, first dive on a new wreck is a tour and look around, we dropped to the prop first, it’s the deepest part of the wreck at 50m or so and, as always a main attraction of any wreck, Rosalie has a wonderful Prop & Rudder set amidships as can be seen in Derek’s photo. The return to her deck and subsequent tour is written up without much mention of the huge shoals of glass-fish we encountered and the multitude of life aboard her. Although Rosalie Moller has not a massive amount of soft or hard corals on her she teems with fish of small to mid-size, almost everywhere you go, but especially around her mast base, I have yet to see much in the way of the larger fish on her though

The superstructure is all there, Rosalie has great companionway swims for those diving her initially, and there is plenty of space in her holds to drop down a level to safely explore a little further too. The funnel, brought down by the most idiotic of skippers in 2001, in an attempt to pull the steam whistle away by tying a line to it and towing it off the funnel, now lies over to her Port side and you can look right down the length, it’s a temptation, and an effort not to try to swim through, but that’s another rather reckless thought considering the stiffeners within……  I loved Rosalie Moller more with every minute, it was beginning to be apparent why some considered her better than Thistlegorm, I still wasn’t sure of that at this point, but the complete nature of the wreck, the minimal damage (her No3 hold has the bomb hole which sank her and which would become an entry point in later dives on her) to her throughout, and the opportunities to see all of her as she had been on the day, a time-capsule, immediate and undeniable…..Rosalie Moller had made her impression on me

In 2010 I had the chance to dive Rosalie again, this was off the Tornado Fleet Vessel MV Hurricane, another great boat and one who’s captain was excellent, allowing us to choose our dive-sites within the areas he was scheduled to travel, there will be more on that in other wreck dives on here in the future…. But this was Rosalie Moller in April of 2010 and the Green Navy Log tells us “ Gubal Island “ROSALIE MOLLER” I love this wreck –tragically the stern mast is now down but still intact as the day she was hit by Heinkel HE 1111’s down the shot and along the starboard rails to the bow to 42m & then back up to the bow winches & into the forward hold along and between holds to come out on the deck just in front of the funnel across the bridge & along the starboard companionway & into the galley past the stove and out @ centre deck facing the stern passing a huge Lion Fish & tiny Peppered Moray. Dropping into the stern hold to cross and come out of the blast damaged deck & raise up onto the main deck again across the downed mast by the two huge winches & on up to deco for 29 mins Viz 10-15m buddy Craig Air In 200 Out 100” …….

I think by this time that if anyone had asked me which was my favourite Red Sea wreck it would be Rosalie Moller, the sheer exuberance of diving her, her near pristine condition, and the fact fewer divers dived Rosalie at that time would have been enough to swing it for me. I hated the fact that inconsiderate, no, moronic dive skippers were attaching their craft to such points as masts and funnels, rather than far stronger points such as mooring bollards. I hated the fact that after a mere 2 years the stern mast had been brought down, I hated the fact that someone was moron enough to try to drag a steam whistle off a funnel using a boat to try to wrench it away…….All these things, and far more, are really things that diving as an industry needs to address…… If any dive boat skipper was to do such things in the Great Lakes of Canada and the USA they would be prosecuted, small wonder there are still wooden wrecks with telegraphs and bells still in place in those lakes……what future is there for wreck diving in the Red Sea…….

My next dives on Rosalie Moller would be in 2013 and another amazing skipper, this time Blue O2 off “Melody” another excellent and modern Liveaboard with everything you could expect and great food too, no chance of coming back slimmer off this trip! But I digress… the Green Book says: “30/07/13 NIGHT DIVE – ROSALIE MOLLER- RED SEA! This is the first time I know that anyone has done a night dive on Rosie!! What a privilege it is! Down a shot to the No 4 hold at the stern then round the stern deck house along the starboard rail the full length of the ship with all the deck rails festooned with brittle star anemones & fan corals all out and blazing with colour the whole way. Past the holds to the Bridge deck accommodation & the lifeboat davits, past the winches & on to the bow over the fallen mast area & bomb damage to the bow deck house (chain locker) & over those to the bow itself then back to the main for’ard mast where the shot was for ascent. Great view of the bow as we ascended to deco & a whole sky of stars as we surfaced MAGICAL DIVE Air In 200 Out 100 Buddy Craig”   It should be clear by now that Rosalie Moller was without doubt my favourite dive, no two ways about that, she had just had an effect that still lasts to this day, if I could only dive one wreck ever again then, to this day, it would be Rosalie Moller. I should add that surfacing to a completely cloudless and beautifully moonlit sky, with the heavens lit across the whole horizon with tiny twinkling stars was like nothing on Earth….the feeling of being in the sea, but beneath the heavens on a tiny rock in one of, who knows how many Universes, was just……..well……..indescribable really, I truly lack sufficiently eloquent or profound enough words

The Captain of Melody asked if we would like to stay for a second dive the next morning or depart first thing, I don’t think a soul on board wanted to leave Rosalie Moller so the next morning, bright and early, we were back down to say farewell……. “ROSALIE MOLLER – RED SEA- A daytime return to the stern and first off the shot at No4 hold over the steering room & down the port side to go through the prop & rudder a run back over the starboard side to look and dive through the small galley (stove or bench) and then into the hatch to access the lower deck for a run from Port to No3 hold & across the decks to exit the bomb damage @ No ¾ hold. Through the blast hole & over the mast & deck to pick up the shot & deco out Air In 200 Out 100 Buddy Craig” This was one of those “Even better than that” Fast Show days as we managed to convince the captain to stay on Gubal until after lunch and allow us a third dive on Rosalie……could life get any better…… “31/07/13 Rosalie Moller – Red Sea Second day dive this time the bow area – down the bow shot to look at the Hawsed Port anchor then through the forecastle chain lockers & winch gear to drop down into No1 hold & pass through to No2 hold then up into the Bridge accommodation area, through the galley & workshop & across to the store & bunk rooms then out at the bridge front to do the funnel & the bridge roof before heading down the centre line over the midships & stern to deco on the stern shot – an excellent dive!! Viz 10m Air In 200 Out 100 Buddy Craig”

There were several more dives on Rosalie taking similar routes in 2015 “02/08/15 Rosalie Moller Red Sea an early start on Rosalie my favourite Red Sea dive down to the stern & a drop over to see the prop – three of four blades intact – 1 missing. We swam gently up the starboard side to the bomb damage & used it to enter the stern holds & swim round the tween decks to exit by the crew & officers bridge accomm block – down the gangway & out to the funnel & if I had no side-mount I swear I could do the funnel end to end! Swam in and round the bridge & forward hold for a while up & down the deck to swim the opposite (port) gangway & across the deck to the forward hold then on & up the bridge to the shot line & up to 6m for 30 minutes of deco which we incurred as we spent a fair part of the dive @ 35m plus! Deco was made easy when we were joined by 2 or 3 Bat Fish & then tiny jellies which ended up as a huge shoal passing us! Air In 220 Out 75 Viz 20m Buddy Craig”

No one quite shows a wreck like Rico Oldfield, of all the illustrators I have seen in 30 plus years of diving Rico is the one who captures a wreck as she sits, as she looks and feels to a diver. The routes I have taken on Rosalie could be traced on Rico’s stunning representation of Rosalie, but why spoil a great work with a bunch of squiggles? I will leave the reader, should they wish, to trace the routes I have described on the marvelous and most iconic of Red Sea wrecks. I have at last come clean and, as you have just read, described Rosalie Moller as “my favourite Red Sea wreck”, I apologise to all the other wrecks in the Red Sea, as most of those are pretty magnificent too, but Rosalie has that “something” which is hard to describe but stands her out from all others. I suppose it is easier to look at in this way, if you sign up for a Red Sea wreck diving Liveaboard you are pretty excited and the anticipation is high enough, but if the skipper hasn’t got Gubal Island on the itinerary you feel let down, it’s not that you won’t enjoy the dives, it’s not that you won’t have a great time, it’s just there will be “something” missing…..the Cherry on the top…..that’s what Rosalie Moller is…….the Cherry on the top of the Red Sea wrecks   

My last dive on Rosalie was taken on the afternoon of the 02^nd August of 2015 and the Green navy Log records: “02/08/15 ROSALIE MOLLER Gubal Island Red Sea this tour began at the stern but going for’ard we swam the starboard side to the bow & then swam in to the hawsed anchor & over onto the bow deck where we ran the chain lines & dropped between decks in the for’ard hold – a swim round that then to the bridge & in & out over the galley & through to the mess bathroom & down & out to the funnel  we spent time over & round the funnel & then over the decks to swim back through the gangway on the starboard mess deck – into & out the bridge & round the mast to end at the stern line & on up to deco – a wonderful dive captured on go-pro  – let’s see if it comes out!! Air In 220 Out 100 Buddy Craig”

Well…..shall we see if the video came out ok?

As ever this piece is only possible with the help of those who contribute most to it and I am indebted to Derek Aughton & Margaret Blair for their photos, to Craig Toplis for his patience, to Rico Oldfield for his illustration and to Roger Hull and the National Archives for their assistance with data & records

SS Breda

The Breda was a typical steamship of her time and named after a city in the Nederlands (Holland) in the North Brabant province of southern Holland, she had her keel laid on 16 December 1919 at the Nieuwe Waterweg Scheepsbouwmaatschappij (“New Waterway Shipbuilding Company”) yard at Schiedam in Rotterdam. Breda was constructed for the Koninklijke Nederlandsche Stoomboot Maatschappij (“Royal Netherlands Steamship Company”) following completion, she was launched on the 2^nd of July 1921, her fit-out was completed 10^th  December 1921. The Koninklijke Nederlandse Stoomboot-Maatschappij (KNSM) which translates, in English, to The Royal Netherlands Steamship Company, was based in Amsterdam from 1856 to 1981. It was once considered the largest company in Amsterdam, and was one of the top five shipping lines in Holland. The company operated mid-sized freighters similar to the Breda, with most having additional passenger accommodation. KNSM at its peak in 1939 and at the outbreak of World War II, had 79 vessels, 48 of which were lost during World War II, many, like the Breda, were requisitioned for service with the Allied forces as transports

The Nieuwe Waterweg, (New Waterway in English) was excavated out of sand dunes at Gravenzande in 1872 and ran for 4.3 Km to provide the last part of Rotterdam’s connection with the sea. In 1877 the passage was significantly widened and deepened, and a new waterway reached the end of the dam that it shares with the Calandkanaal, where the Maasmond starts, making it now around 7 km in length. Today it is better known as the Hoek van Holland (Hook of Holland)

The Netherlands have been using Rotterdam for hundreds of years to build ships for commerce, and (out of the Dutch Admiralty Yard on the Haringvliet & Delfshaven), for military use too. The yards were initially financed by well-known Dutch families such as the Mees and Hoboken’s and, up to the end of the First World War, very successful on behalf of their investors too. In 1918, just after the Breda’s completion, the Dutch shipyard employed around 4700 in shipbuilding and its associated activities. For those of you who love the technical detail

The Breda was powered by two steam turbine engines, a high and a low pressure engine, by Metropolitan-Vickers, founded in the UK in 1899 as British Westinghouse. In 1917 Metrovick was formed to address problems with the degree of separation needed to isolate UK concerns over the USA involvement in British Westinghouse. The need came about in order to avoid issues surrounding bidding and awards of government contracts. British Westinghouse, up to that point, was a subsidiary of the Pittsburgh, USA based “Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company”. Following the purchase of equipment and titles British Westinghouse became a subsidiary of Metropolitan-Vickers in 1919. The Metrovick steam turbines, state of the propulsion art in the day, gave Breda a top speed of 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph). She had five cargo holds, and could also accommodate up to 16 passengers

Whilst it was Charles Parsons who invented the modern steam turbine in 1894, the basic principal was harnessed in a design so ancient as to have been described in Roman times by a renowned experimenter & writer called Hero, (c10 AD to c70 AD) it was named “Aeolipile” and  was just 2 x 90’vent pipes, mounted opposite each other on a copper sphere, mounted on a rotating shaft through its centre which, when the reservoir below is filled half full of water, and heated over a fire until the water boiled, forced steam out of each vent, making the sphere spin on its shaft

Parsons design, a central shaft with small vanes along its length (arranged around the shaft radially, when allowed to pressurize with steam along its length, expended its energy driving the shaft round),  had revolutionized steamship speed in the 1900’s, from the first example, “Turbinia” unveiled at the Spithead review in 1897, the Steam Turbine had practically consigned compound steam piston engines to obsolescence. Designed & built by Charles Parsons in 1894, Turbinia embarrassed all other ships at Spithead when Parson’s showed her, completely unannounced, and evaded the review security boat by completely outpacing it, in front of the whole admiralty, and Edward VII, the Prince of Wales. Turbinia’s stellar performance on that day ensured the next generation of steamships, including the Breda, would nearly all be turbine powered

There is a little I can find on the SS Breda between the wars (although it doesn’t help that I don’t speak Dutch), she missed the First World War, which finished in 1918, however, as she was built for Koninklijke Nederlandsche, it can be assumed that a fair proportion of her employment would have been the transportation of raw materials for the Iron & Steel industry to and from Ijmuiden on the Dutch North Sea coast. The journeys I can find some detail on, and could probably dig a little deeper into have the Breda on a regular South America to Liverpool route

1924 the initial Port of departure for SS Breda being Corral, in Southern Chile, would probably mean a cargo of nitrates, the major export of Southern Chile at the time according to Robert Lane (Division of US Regional Information) ,  & Spencer Green (US Trade Commissioner to the West Coast) in their 1928 publication on Pacific & South American trade (Greene, S. B & Lane, R. M “Trade of the Pacific Coast States with the West Coast of South America” Trade Information Bulletin 525 P12 1928 Online Resource. Accessed 08/11/2021)

It can, perhaps, again be assumed that the export of Iron & Steel pipework from the Nederlands to Chile and South America also makes sense, although without cargo manifests the definitive answer cannot at this point be given. Trade is always a two way street, no ship wishes to undertake a voyage “in ballast” unless they really “must”, so an assumption of return cargoes of Lumber, Bananas (Cristobel Colon, Panama) and Nitrates seems reasonable. By 1937 Chile has an increased export portfolio and increasing output too, the January, May and September trips of the Breda could have had any of a dozen or more cargoes, however it is interesting to see Copper (a material commonly used in the manufacture of pipes) is one of the “majors” noted in the 1940 Commerce Report (“The Port of Valparaiso, Foreign & Coastwise Trade of Chile Feb 10, 1940 P145 Online Resource: www.google.co.uk / books / edition / Commerce _Reports Accessed 08/11/2021)

Koninklijke Nederlandsche (now part of the modern day Tata group) begins its history on September 20^th, 1918, when “Koninklijke Nederlandsche Hoogovens” was founded in The Hague, Holland. It was created to “……enable Dutch industry to become less dependent on imports” (Tata Steel Editorial “History of Koninklijke Nederlansche Hoogovens” Online Resource: https:// www.tatasteeleurope.com/sites/default/files/History_ KH.pdf  Accessed 02/11/2021). It made sense to establish an Iron & Steel company in Holland, it is very central in wider European terms, has excellent coastal and inland canal access, and therefore sits well for import and export of raw materials and final product. “By the mid 1930’s, Hoogovens had become the largest exporter of pig iron in the world. In 1936, they began producing cast-iron pipes. Steel production began in 1939, using open-hearth furnaces. In 1941, Hoogovens acquired Van Leer’s Walsbedrijven, a rolling mill that was renamed Walserij Oost (East Rolling Mill)”. So, it again makes sense that a ship with the capacity of the SS Breda, would be employed by her owners in a manner befitting their business needs, the import of raw materials for Iron & steel manufacture and the export of finished product from that industry

It is equally possible the Breda carried cement products “….In 1930 the cement factory, Cemij, a subsidiary enterprise, was formed in collaboration with ENCI, to produce blast furnace sealants. By this means a competitive war between the Dutch cement producers Hoogovens and ENCI was prevented, and independence from foreign competition achieved. Compared with pig iron turnover, sales of by-products were stable, and were sufficient to cover Hoogovens’s fixed expenses.” (Editorial in “International Directory of Company Histories, Koninklijke Nederlandsche Hoogovens En Staalfabrieken NV” Online Resource: https://www.encyclopedia.com/books/politics-and-business-magazines/koninklijke-nederlandsche-hoogovens-en-staalfabrieken-nv Accessed 02/11/2021)

By 1920, due to the increased requirement for shipping materials and people, for re-construction projects after the devastating effects the war had seen, the number of employees in shipping had almost doubled to around 7500 people, that meant almost 40 percent of all Dutch shipbuilding production came from Rotterdam. That situation had peaked and following 1920 there was far less demand on Dutch shipping and the industry needed to adapt, in 1925 RDM bought the shares of Nieuwe Waterweg in Schiedam and brokered a merger between the largest shipyards at Wilton and Fijenoord. Information taken from Allard Schellen’s Piece ( Allard, S: “The end of the great shipbuilding industry in the region” vergetenverhalen.nl 23/09/2015 Online Resource: Accessed 03/11/2021) tells us the measure was less successful than anticipated, the 1929 crash on Wall Street exacerbated the problem, less was being imported by the USA as its economy tanked. Wilton-Fijenoord laid off 8,000 employees in 1929, and many smaller companies simply went to administration, RDM did survive, but not unscathed. As Europe plunged towards a second World War in the late 1930’s Germany had its eyes on the shipyards of Rotterdam, when war finally broke out in 1939 and Germany invaded Holland it took over  the yards and port of Rotterdam, and production was begun under the Nazi regime to manufacture for the Kriegsmarine

When Germany eventually invaded the Netherlands in May 1940 the Breda’s Captain, Johannis Fooy, fearing capture and the loss of his ship to the Germans,rather than doing nothing and letting the Breda fall into the hands of the Nazis, slipped Breda out of Antwerp and took her to Britain. On arrival in Newcastle the Breda was requisitioned for the war effort and given to the P&O Line to manage, she was also armed, although only with a single 4.7-inch (120 mm) gun. Fate was not going to be kind to the plucky steamship despite her gutsy escape from the German’s they were not going to let her escape quite so easily it would seem, fate bringing her, on 23 December 1940, to anchor off Oban, one of a convoy of 100 ships sitting in the Firth of Lorn, eventually bound for Bombay

The Breda was built to carry optimal quantities of cargo along with her potential 16 passengers, “She had 3 decks, a cruiser stern and a flat bottom.  The bridge lay between the second and third of the Breda’s five holds, and contained the radio and navigation rooms, officer’s accommodation and cabins for 16 passengers.  Aft of hold 3 lay the engine room whose four boilers were originally coal fired, but were converted to oil in 1938.  These produced steam for two turbines with double reduction gearing to a single screw.  Her service speed was 11.8 knots, and fuel consumption ran at 36 tons of oil per day.  The stern housed accommodation for the 37 crew.  On the main deck is the steering gear, with the emergency steering position on the deck above.  This had originally been open to the elements, but a platform was erected above this position to carry the gun which was fitted during the war” (J Banks Editorial: “The J Banks cargo of SS Breda” On Line Resource at https:// www.jbanks.co.uk/about-us/history/the-j-banks-cargo-of-ss-breda Accessed: 03/11/2021)

On Christmas Eve 1940, the Breda was bombed during a German air raid on Oban roads, while waiting to join a convoy from London to Mombasa and Bombay.  The aircraft were Heinkel’s He 111 bombers based at Stavanger, Norway, which flew across the bay, and straddled the Breda with four 250-kilogram (550 lb) bombs. Although not directly hit, the pressure of the explosions ruptured a water inlet pipe, and the engine room flooded,  eventually depriving the Breda of all power. Luckily Captain Fooy managed, just, to beach Breda on the limits of shallow water in Ardmucknish Bay. The next day, only part of Breda’s cargo had been offloaded when a storm swept in and moved her into deeper water where she now sits with her stern at around 26 metres and her bow near 15m at 56°28′32″N 5°25′04″W

Breda had been loaded with a varied, general cargo, a comprehensive listing can be found, with a little digging, on the J Banks & Co Ltd (originally of Willenhall, Manchester, but now based in Featherstone, Staffordshire) web-site, I am not sure some of this content has not been “borrowed” from one of the dive centre sites so I quote it here, on that basis: (Editorial “The J Banks Cargo of SS Breda” https://www.jbanks.co.uk/about-us/history/the-j-banks-cargo-of-ss-breda/ On Line Resource: Accessed 03/11/2021) “At the time of her sinking, the Breda was carrying a very mixed cargo, consisting of 3000 tons of cement, (now set solid), 175 tons of tobacco and cigarettes, (very soggy and hard to smoke), 3 Hawker and 30 de Havilland Tiger Moth biplanes.  Aircraft engines, propellers, windscreens, instruments and various other parts have been recovered.  The aircraft, which are now hard to recognise, are stored in holds one, two and three. Sandals with leather uppers and rubber soles, medical supplies, including kaoline in what may best be described as square-shaped Mk 1 waisted Coca Cola bottles, batteries, wide strips of leather, tyres, telephone pole insulators, lengths of solder, black boot polish and innumerable other items have been recovered from hold No1. On the deck alongside hold 2 lies an upside down 4×4 vehicle with the tyres still fully-inflated.  Another similar vehicle has fallen from the deck to the bottom of hold 2, which also contains aircraft and beer bottles. Hold 3 contains aircraft, tin lids, tyres, barrels containing stoneware bottles of Stephens blue ink, (how many divers can claim to have dived in in?), dental supplies, including what appears to be drinks coasters, but which are actually material for taking dental impressions, and the pink material for making gums of false teeth.  Regretfully, all efforts have so far failed to find the material for making gold fillings. Hold 4 contains truck spares, gas masks, spectacle lenses, fire hoses, the spare propeller, (cast iron), trolley compressors with brass, double-acting cylinders (for inflating tyres), brass fire extinguishers, aircraft batteries, and between holds 4 and 5, the 3000 tons of cement. Square porthole glasses of two different diameters, individually separated by pages of a 1940 Dutch newspaper were also recovered as recently as 1989.  The newspaper was still legible, and included the pages giving the BBC radio programmes.  Brass oil lamps with gimballed brackets cast in the shape of dolphins were also recovered at the same time. Apart from more of the cement, hold 5 contains bicycles, electrical equipment including switches, fuses and GEC ceiling fans, along with bales of hay for feeding the 10 horses, reputedly belonging to the Aga Khan, which was also part of the cargo.” It is a matter of record that the war office tried, wherever possible, to spread cargo’s throughout convoys to ensure as many ships that survived the journeys through the U Boat Wolfpacks, carried as much variety as practical for the supply of those in need, a common sense approach driven out of a necessity to supply under extremes of circumstance and borne out by the hugely varied Breda cargo

For those of you who rest better knowing an animal’s fate, rather than having it left to the imagination, there is a record of the animals of the Breda’s cargo, including the Aga Khan’s horses, (wartime reparations paid in barter by any other name) the J Banks piece details: “……When the Breda was beached, the horses were either released to swim ashore, or the horse boxes drifted off with the horses still inside.  One of these boxes came ashore near Ledalo Spit, with a horse still inside and a very distraught dog standing on top of the box.  They were rescued by Mrs Mary Mac Niven, wife of the caretaker at Dunstaffnage Castle.  Not all of the horses survived, but at least one was kept in the old smiddy adjacent to the cemetery at the southern edge of the village of Benderloch. The last survivor of the horses died in the Oban area in 1961. Sometime after sinking, the body of a monkey was found in the grounds of Letterwalton House, a few miles north of Benderloch.  Around its neck was a collar bearing the inscription “SS Breda””. I believe that the horse Mary Mac Niven saved was called “Bradshaws” and was one of the Aga Khan’s 10 racehorses on board the Breda when it sank. Mary was honoured by the Royal Humane Society for her efforts in saving the horse, which she rowed out to, as it was still tethered in its container afloat in the bay. Now the details regarding the monkey are often referred to as “local legend” which means either the truth of the matter has been lost locally over time, or that the story is seen as rather fanciful, either way it is not for the likes of me to judge!

The sinking of the Breda was another of those rather unfortunate events, the German Heinkel HE111 bombers had overshot their intended industrial targets and headed for the shipping routes around the West of Scotland as secondary targets of opportunity, although the bombing did not result in a direct hit, Breda suffered pressure wave damage, through her hull, in the form of ruptured plating and a fractured cooling water inlet pipe, taking in water. Breda still managed, under her own power, to make it to the east shore of Ardmucknish Bay, Captain Fooy, exhibiting remarkable cool in the circumstances, drove her into a shallow submerged shelf which extends 600 yards out to sea at a depth of only 6 metres.  Any further out from land and the bottom slopes quickly to over 30 metres.  Breda managed to sit on this shelf long enough for some cargo to be removed, however in another unfortunate event, a storm reached across the Bay and, just when the Breda had looked safe and her cargo recoverable, fate and the storm forces took her out and deeper under the waters of Ardmucknish bay

For some time after, until the 1960’s in fact, her goalpost foremasts were visible above the surface at low tide, but in 1961 the Royal Navy swept the Breda with towed wires and removed the goalposts along with the bridge, funnel, and forepeak to give a swept clearance of 28ft, the reports from HMS Shackleton (“Breda: Ardmucknish Bay, Firth Of Lorn” Online Resource https://canmore.org.uk/site/102573/breda-ardmucknish-bay-firth-of-lorn Accessed 05/11/2021) telling us: “The site was wire swept clear at 5.4 metres but fouled sweep at 6.1 metres. The least depth by echosounder was 8.22 metres. To the seabed is 22.8 metres. There is no scour. One sweeping sinker distinctly fouled a large piece of wreckage at 6.1 metres”, (HMS SHACKLETON, 25 July 1960) and “The site was again swept and it cleared at 8.22 metres, but fouled at 8.5 metres. The site was wire sweep to a least echosounder depth of 9.1 metres. To the seabed is 21.9 metres. The wreck twice cleared at 8.22, but three firm fouls were obtained at 8.5 metres. These were examined by divers. The highest point appears to be remains of after superstructure. A mast was sighted lying athwartships on the well deck”.(HMS SHACKLETON, 31 July 1961)

The superstructure remnants are now lying in the mud off the port side of the ship, you can see the stern goalposts lying back in the superb ADUS scan, from the Scottish Association for Marine Science Facebook page, from the Norbit iWMBS multi-beam sonar system above (Online Resource: https:// www.facebook.com/ SAMS. Marine/ photos/ pcb. 3653148651371407/3653146174704988 Accessed: 05/11/2021). The gun mounted on the platform structure at the stern was presumably also removed by HMS Shackleton’s divers at that time. It was not until 1966 that the Breda was rediscovered by divers from Edinburgh BSAC, and despite her bridge, derricks and funnel having been lost from the wire dragging of the Navy, otherwise she looked pretty much undamaged. Of course finding a “new” wreck sometimes brings its own issues and, from the J Banks piece: “Blasting by Oban Divers removed the bronze propeller in 1968 and further blasting has since removed most of the remaining superstructure, improving access to the lower decks and engine room.  The copper degaussing cable, for protection against magnetic mines, was also recovered by Oban Divers, and the insulation burned off on Eilean Mor”. I cannot confirm further blasting occurred on the decks, there is no reference other than the J Banks piece that I can find, but as BSAC did, in the early years, have an (albeit short lived), “underwater explosives” course, it is a very real possibility

The legacy of the Breda is not confined to the wreck itself, items of the cargo have been recovered, there are many noted, including Windshields from one of the de Havilland Tiger Moth biplanes, banknote paper destined for the Bank of India for 10 Rupee banknotes and, bottles, tiles, pages from an atlas, still coloured, a huge variety, the link to J Banks & Company, Brass “Button Sticks”, and yes, I am old enough (Just) to have used one of these to lift the buttons on No2 Dress Uniform & polish them, something I think may now be unique to the military, and was still the practice until recently, if a former Life-Guards colleague & friend is correct!

The J Banks editorial details how the button sticks are used far better than I could: “…..In 1992 a diver found a wooden crate, we believe in hold No 1.  Whilst the timber crate was rotting away, the diver originally thought the box contained Gold, but in fact was Brass Button Sticks manufactured by J Banks. The Brass Button Sticks were used to protect the fabric of a uniform or coat whilst cleaning buttons. The stick would be placed behind a button, the polishing cloth could make contact with the button and the stick would prevent the fabric from being damaged.  The sticks were stamped with J Banks & Co Ltd Willenhall and the diver traced them back to us and returned a handful that we still have today on display.” (Editorial “The J Banks Cargo of SS Breda” Online resource: https://www.jbanks.co.uk/about-us/history/the-j-banks-cargo-of-ss-breda/ Accessed 04/11/2021). I have half a mind to drop in to take a look at the button sticks and see if J Banks & Co might part with one, their Featherstone base is not far from me (in Uttoxeter) and it would be a great souvenir of my past on two levels!

The 10 Rupee unprinted banknote shown above bears a copy of the watermark “Reserve Bank of India – 10 Rupees” and a profile picture  of the head of George VI. The manufacturer, Portals, owned by the Bank of England, manufactured special paper for the printing of the Indian banknotes, watermarked with the portrait of King George VI. The transportation of unprinted banknote paper was an attempt to deter theft, the printing would be carried out on safe arrival at destination. The wooden boxes carrying the banknote paper had degraded during their 30 years or so immersion in Ardmucknish Bay before their recovery sometime in the 1970’s and the edges of the uncut sheets were a little ragged, the sheet in the New Zealand auction house catalogue above is in remarkable condition when all is considered

I dived the Breda in August of 2004, in what I described at the time to Brad, one of my dive buddies, as “marginal” conditions, the Puffin Divers location was being swept through by high winds and very choppy seas, it was going to be a lucky window to get on Breda and dive her……but we went for it, we were lucky too and the little Green Navy log records: “…29/08/04 BREDA Ardmucknish Bay Oban Descent down shot line in very green but clear water down to the starboard side & probably no 3 hold – broken up with swim throughs & cement bags forward & to the sides. Plenty of deck & machinery evident & two sets of broken hold ladders. Swim the line back to the shot & over the side to 22m at the sea bed towards the stern – several large Pollack & masses of tube anemones great dive – plenty left to do Air In 230 Out 180 (Eanx 32) Buddy Sam”

I had no means of recording the dive other than my ramblings in the log, I couldn’t afford the exotics of an underwater camera set-up and these were the days way before I could even imagine a Go-Pro, but Mark Kirkland’s superb Black & White shots from a dive on her perfectly match the feel of our dive, which I remember very well as the viz was not brilliant, down to a couple of meters as a result of the weather over the days we were there, but I tied off my run reel, as matter of course on a new and un-dived (to me) wreck, and we started up along her from the stern around the mid-ships. Breda was an eerie wreck in the viz, calm and Green, the Green you get in Stoney Cove when the Algae is in bloom, but darker as a result of the higher Tannin content from wash-off & percolation locally. The atmospheric nature of the dive, and the occasional tying off of the line, as we made our way forward was a slower process and meant not quite so much exploration of the Breda, she is also a mass of twisted metal due to the wire sweeps the Navy completed, but her decks and fittings are still clear and recognizable and our run along her was great fun, trying to figure out exactly where we were on her length, and peering into the hold spaces which we did not enter in the circumstances. Breda is another of those wrecks I’d love to go back and do again, there is plenty to explore in and around her 122m hull

I am, as always, indebted to the photos & scans contributing to the additional detail in this piece, notably, Norbit and ADUS for the use of their stunning side-scans & sonar work and particularly to Mark Kirkland and Steve Jones for their amazing Black and White shots of Breda

HMT Elk

The Elk was originally designed as a Steam Trawler, by Cook, Welton & Gemmell, of Beverley in Yorkshire, she was laid down in 1902 for the Thomas E. Fisher & Henry Morris Co., Ltd and was destined to spend her life fishing the prolific Cod grounds off Iceland for her new owners. There was no other expectation of her than she be fit for purpose and commercially effective, her lines had been honed over generations of sailing trawlers that had gone before her. Elk would be a side trawl, meaning her nets would be operated Port or Starboard, rather than dragged from her stern, allowing her catch to be landed and processed on the broader and longer forward deck, without using complicated arrangements to move the haul for’ard in heavy seas for processing and stowage. Icelandic trawling required sometimes 6 or 8 week long fishing trips from her home port of Grimsby, to get the Elk to the Cod grounds off Isafjordour or Seyoisfjordour and back, and for that, her Amos & Smith 3 cylinder 62 Hp steam engine would drive her well at around 9 knots until she cast her trawls

Why would such tiny vessels make such an arduous journey, after all it is 1229 miles, one way, to the West Coast of Iceland, at 9 knots that’s a 6 day trip before any fishing even starts! SigfÚs JÓnsson tells us in his piece (“The Icelandic fisheries in the pre-mechanization Era, C. 1800–1905: Spatial and economic implications of growth” Online Resource:    https:// www.tandfonline.com/doi/ pdf/ 10.1080/ 03585522. 1983. 10408006 Accessed 26/11/2021) “….The first steam trawlers were built in Britain and France around 1880. These proved an immediate success as the fishing operation became much less subject to wind and tide. The speed and flexibility of vessels increased drastically, catches grew proportionally, landings became more dependable and many new sea areas became intensively fished” so, from even an Icelandic perspective, the fishing of Cod from as far away as England and Wales made economic sense, even if it did come as a high risk activity. What is more, the boats designed to travel the North Sea and Arctic Oceans were very well built……and they needed to be!

The Elk had been made for the relatively new company of Thomas E. Fisher & Henry Morris Co Ltd, in the Grovehill Shipyard on the River Hull in Beverley. The firm of Cook, Welton & Gemmell was founded in 1883 on South Bridge Road, on the Humber bank in Hull, by founding partners William James Cook, Charles Keen Welton and William Gemmell

In 1901–1902 the business was moved up-river, nine miles, to a new yard at Grovehill, (acquired from Cochrane, Hamilton & Cooper). Now Hull might not be a place you would normally expect shipbuilding to be carried out, the river Hull seems an unlikely watercourse for anything but the smallest of vessels perhaps, however, in typical and ingenious manner, large ships, significantly larger than our small vessel the Elk, were indeed launched, sideways on, into the River Hull from the early 1800’s on up until as late as 1962 in fact

The river was dredged to facilitate the deeper draught hulls of the larger vessels Cook, Walton & Gemmell intended on building, photos of the time show the exercise to have been very successful, most vessels from 1902 were larger than the sail-ships that had gone before

Thomas E. Fisher & Henry Morris Co Ltd had been started around 1893 and, as the name implies, was a partnership between the main Trawler Owner, Thomas Fisher, and a local Trawler Captain Henry Morris. It would be Henry Morris that captained the Elk out of Grimsby, and his crew would be responsible for the catch, its cleaning and stowage and its landing back in Grimsby. The Elk was a traditional if innovative trawler known locally as “Ketch” rigged, meaning it still had the ability to deploy and use sails when or “if” the right moment called for it

It would be interesting to talk to skippers of the time to hear if the sails were ever deployed on these trawlers, they seem a throwback rather than anything really practical, although they likely wouldn’t have been fitted unless there was actual use envisaged, even occasional, a Yorkshireman would not waste the expense of rigging and sails unless there was good reason! Perhaps the truth of it is the period was a transition, sail giving way, reluctantly, to steam and perhaps the “learning curve” included judging the right amount of coal to carry for long journeys (with few ports of call once Scotland was to stern), or the expectation of occasional “issues” with the new steam technology, either way in 1902 the Elk was fitted with a sail to rearward and two on her main mast for’ard

The GA Drawings above show the arrangement & layout used on Elk, at hull 329, Elk was only a couple of years after Bardolph & Caliban and, as Cook, Walton & Gemmell were progressive rather than “cutting edge”, the assumption (born out by the hull of Elk and the few but reasonably clear photos of her), is that she was very similar to both those earlier trawlers. Elk was a “sidewinder” where her trawling gear was concerned, dragging her trawl from Port or Starboard side by means of a boom & tackle arrangement controlled from the centre of the deck just in front of the funnel where the steam winches were situated

The Elk would make many dangerous journeys for her owners, between her launch in 1902 and the onset of war in 1914, she proved herself a rugged and, it would seem, profitable little ship. Her owner in 1914 being registered as Morris & Fisher Ltd, a change of name of the original company but retaining the same shipping manager, Thomas E Fisher. It would be the rugged construction of the Elk and her companions, fishing the brutal waters of Iceland, which attracted her to the British Admiralty, as the declaration of war between Austro-Hungary and Serbia plunged the countries of Europe and the Levant into a mass conflagration, one that would eventually be declared a World War and be commemorated in history as World War One

The decision taken by the Admiralty, on the declaration of war in 1914, to requisition the Elk & many of the Grimsby & Milford trawler fleet vessels, had been taken as a result of a far earlier recommendation by Admiral Lord Charles Beresford, made in 1907 (“Hullwebs History of Hull, Trawlers at War-World War One” Online Resource: https://www.hullwebs.co.uk/content/l-20c/conflict/ww1/trawlers/default.htm Accessed: 27/11/2021) “….Beresford recommended that steam trawlers be used in the role of minesweepers in the event of war. This would free up warships for other, more appropriate, duties”.  Beresford clearly understood the trawlers were more than ideal, they were small craft and maneuverable, they were used to often working in close proximity to each other when catching tightly massed shoals of fish, they were also used to towing, something perhaps the British Navy were not! Minesweeping was a similar activity, and unremarkably both trawling and minesweeping were high risk activities, the men of Hull, Grimsby and the fishing ports of the UK were no strangers to imminent and often fatal danger……..

Dr Katherine Storr writes (“FISHING PORTS AND COASTAL TOWNS, War-Time” P4, Para2. Online Resource: https://www.heritagesouthholland.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/AOS-D-0166-7_-Fishing.pdf  Accessed: 27/11/2021) “On Tuesday, 4 August 1914, fishing craft returning to Grimsby found light cruisers, submarines and treacherous mines laid in the North Sea by Britain and Germany, so the fish dock quickly became clogged. Most trawlers were immediately commandeered for Admiralty service and within a few hours some were engaged in minesweeping” It is not hard to believe that the Trawlers of England, Wales & Scotland were put to use almost immediately, the Germans had developed new mine technology (see the piece on the Adriatic wreck Baron Gautsch) and it was proving very effective. The world’s battleship fleets had been engaged in a race for supremacy since the British invention of the “Dreadnought” class, and although Britain had the largest Dreadnought fleet, under Admiral John (Jackie) Fischer, berthed at Scapa Flow in the Orkneys, by 1914 the Kaiser’s “Hochseeflotte” (High Seas Fleet), under Admiral Alfred Von Tirpitz, was a very close (too close) second place

The first action of the German high seas fleet must have galvanized the trawlermen of Grimsby, it was very close to home….. Rear Amiral Franz Von Hipper’s “Scouting Group” tried to entice the British out of Scapa Flow by carrying out shelling of Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby on 15–16 December 1914

The Elk would be in the thick of WWI very quickly, she and many of her Grimsby fleet were needed for 1^st sea Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill’s, Gallipoli Campaign. Churchill had submitted a plan to the War Cabinet in late 1914 (as the land campaign in Europe became mired in trench warfare), to force a fleet of pre-Dreadnought battleships up the Bospherous, to bombard Constantinople (Istanbul), in order to prevent the Ottoman Turks joining the Germans in mainland Europe, (the Turks having refused to join the Allies against the Austro-Hungarians at the outbreak of war) and potentially to threaten Germany from the Southern flank of the conflict

The Elk sailed to Gallipoli, (a distance of 3686 nautical miles, expected to take 10 to 14 days at 9 knots) along with her trawler sister-ship fleets to take up various duties, they were, on arrival, and from the outset in mortal danger, undertaking the towing of “Lighters” the large rowing boats that carried troops ashore

They carried out transfers between ships and, perhaps most dangerous of all, minesweeping duties to keep the Allied fleet of British and French warships free to manœuvre. Churchill’s plans were thwarted when the Turks resistance proved far more effective than expected, the fleet did not manage to break through to Constantinople, the Ottoman shore based artillery managing to hold off several ferocious and determined assaults by the combined fleet

Indeed, in a devastating twist of irony, the Turks managed to outwit the Allies, having noticed the manner of attacks by the battleships, on several occasions, and, using guile and stunning alacrity, they laid a mine run of 20 mines across a stretch of the Dardanelles (Erin Keui Bay). The Allies had used the bay, repeatedly, to turn about (180’ about face) the well laid mines took out 3 battleships in one morning, the French Battleship Bouvet, the British Battleship HMS Irresistible and the British Battleship HMS Ocean, they seriously damaged 3 more (French ships Gaulois & Suffren and British ship HMS Inflexible), although there is modern day contention the Bouvet “may” have been hit by shore based Ottoman artillery

If ever there was a visceral demonstration of “Hubris” then this was it, from that point on the Dardanelles would not see another significant Battleship attack, and the allied fleet withdrew to the bays at Suvla, Gaba Tepe (Anzac Beach), Tekke Burnu & Hellespoint. The battle became land based on the headlands at Anzac Beach and Hellespoint, and quickly bogged down in exactly the manner of Ypres, Verdun and Mons. The trawlers of Grimsby, Hull and Milford would now be in a constant state of extreme danger, the Ottoman forces occupied the high ground with clear observation points across all of the allied lines of offence, although, at first undermanned, it did not take them long to grind the allies to a halt without them getting far off the beaches and headlands. The waters in front of the beaches were easily observed and it is a miracle that more ships were not sunk between the landing and the evacuation of troops in January of 1916 (New Zealand History  “The Gallipoli campaign, The Evacuation” P6, Para 4. Online Resource: https:// nzhistory.govt.nz /war/the-gallipoli-campaign/the-end-of-the-campaign Accessed: 28/11/2021) “The evacuation of Anzac began on 15 December, and 36,000 troops were shipped out over four nights. Support troops and reserves went first, then the fighting units were thinned out until only 10,000 remained on 19 December. They moved out that night in a coordinated withdrawal from the front-line trenches. At 4.10 a.m. on the 20th, the last men left Anzac Cove. Suvla was evacuated the same night, but British and French forces remained at Helles until 8-9 January 1916. Then the campaign was over”

Those who survived Gallipoli did not necessarily survive the war, when the trawlers came back from the Dardanelles the war raged on in Europe for another 3 years, and there was still mortal danger around the shores of Britain and France, the U Boat was a threat and mines were constantly being laid in nighttime forays by the Germans around our coasts, “….By the end of the war, of Grimsby’s 700 steam trawlers, 600 were requisitioned, 433 became fighting units, and some 60 were lost with 519 men, leaving 313 widows and 480 orphans. Altogether 5,875 Grimsby men joined the Navy or the auxiliary services on patrol and minesweeping duties” (“FISHING PORTS AND COASTAL TOWNS, War-Time” P4, Para2. Online Resource: https://www.heritagesouthholland.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/AOS-D-0166-7_-Fishing.pdf Accessed: 27/11/2021) Remarkably, the Elk survived her minesweeping duties and brought her crew back to Grimsby, fishing again (initially for the Admiralty, for the Fishing Reserve, flying the White Ensign but fishing under Navy control, but then returned to civilian ownership), for almost another decade in what was a more peaceful time, but would very soon become known as  the “Between War” years

By the time the Elk was sold by the Victoria Steam Fishing Company, to a Mr Oliver Curphey of Milford in Wales, becoming registered as the M36 14^th Nov 1929, there were rumblings from Germany of a new threat rising. A month later, in December of 1929 the German Nation held a referendum, in it the National Socialist German Worker’s Party (or Nazi’s for short), proposed a new law against the “Enslavement of the German People”, an attempt to formally renounce the Treaty of Versailles (which compelled reparations on the German economy in repayment for the damages caused by World War I)……. it would only be a little less than 4 years later that Adolf Hitler would become “Reichschancellor” of Germany and galvanize the German Nation, once more, against the rest of Europe and eventually most of the globe. In 1931, the Elk was again sold on, this time to move down to the South Coast, on the 21^st of Jun 1932 she joined her new owner, William Henry Edward Nichols, in dock at Plymouth to fish the waters of Plymouth Sound

  “Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more”……Shakespeare’s King Henry V could not have put it more aptly, the Anschluss, or “annexation” of Austria in 1938 was nothing less than a declaration of war, but the British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, as so often happens, sought to appease Hitler and the German Nation. It would not be until Hitler scornfully stormed into Poland, 01^st of September of 1939, that the world realised appeasement of an enemy just delays your potential destruction….it doesn’t…ever…. stop it (look up the Aztec Ruler Montezuma, the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra, or the Indian Nations of America to name just a few). Far better to let Shakespeare and King Henry V again lead the way “In peace there’s nothing so becomes a man as modest stillness and humility, but when the blast of war blows in our ears, then imitate the action of the tiger, stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood, disguise fair nature with hard-favour’d rage”. Once the realisation dawned, and Chamberlains’ “peace in our time” was seen for what it was, it would fall to another veteran of war, Winston Churchill, (former disgraced and removed 1^st Sea-Lord of the Admiralty, re-appointed to the same title by Chamberlain, only 2 days following the invasion of Poland, who by the 10^th of May 1940, had succeeded Neville Chamberlain as Prime Minister)……. to ensure the days of appeasement were over 

The war did not come entirely unexpectedly, as a result, the British War Office had begun making rudimentary preparations in advance, at least where the Royal Navy was concerned. In the spring of 1939 the Elk and 39 of her sisterships were requisitioned, once again, for service as minesweepers and converted from their trawls to Oropesa (Paravanes) or Dan laying duties. Nick Stanley wrote a comprehensive account of minesweeping in WWII which details the preparations: “These measures included the conversion of trawlers into minesweepers; a process the Admiralty had started in Spring 39. Training for the new crews took place at sea throughout that summer from bases such as Sheerness & Chatham. With war drawing closer, Sparrow’s Nest at Lowestoft was activated on 1 September 1939 for trawler conversions. War’s outbreak on 3rd September 1939 saw the RN’s sweeping force stand at 36 Fleet Sweepers & 40 Trawlers crewed by 2000 personnel” (Stanley, N. in “World War II, Minesweeping in the second world war”, Online Resource: https://www.vernonlink.uk/wwii Accessed 03/12/2021). Elk was fitted out with a single bow mounted gun for self defence (likely a 6 pounder), and given her pennant (Admiralty Trawler No 706, Pennant FY 4.24) and assigned for Dan laying

Dan-laying was the task allotted to indicate “swept” channels cleared of mines “Mark buoys, “Dan” type, are casks with an axial spar and counterweight, causing the spar to float vertically. The moorings consist of a 500-pound sinker and a 30-fathom mooring line of 1/2-inch flexible steel wire with eye and thimble spliced in each end. The buoy itself is equipped with a vertical bridle for mooring, with two thimble cringles, for attachment of the mooring lines for shoal and for deep water” (Editorial: “Mine Sweeping Manual United States Navy 1917” In Online Resource: https:// www.history.navy.mil/research/library/ online-reading-room/ title-list-alphabetically/ m/mine-sweeping-manual-1917.html Accessed 05/12/2021) and the practice hadn’t changed much since HMT Elk’s last Naval experiences. This would be just as dangerous as clearing itself, often at the very limits of swept lanes, which meant the Elk was exposed to the unswept side of the lane and any mines within it…….

Elk took up her 1939 duties in WWII as she had in 1914, this time patrolling the approaches of Plymouth Sound, the area off Fort Bovisands and the Breakwater would have been very familiar from her fishing days. Elk patrolled with the Minelayers of the Royal Naval Patrol Service (RNPS) under a Captain J. S. Bush of the Royal Navy Reserve, not a regular Naval Captain but a usually seasoned seaman or recently retired Naval Officer. The threat this time even more potent than that in Gallipoli, the Germans were not only laying “contact” mines, the horned, acid circuit EMC mines, seen as cutting edge in 1914, but had added several new and dramatically improved versions such as the ground mine, an inappropriate name for a mine usually dropped by parachute from an aircraft, but named for its ability to sit on the sea floor

Now the threat included delayed mines, sitting in wait and counting a number of acoustic or magnetic contacts until the numbers crunched and the mine detonated, “…..mines in the Bristol Channel were observed detonating even though there had been no evidence of a ‘lay’. Suspicions over the introduction of arming delays & ship counts were then confirmed by Mine Destructor Ship HMS BUSHWOOD over a period of 4 days in Swansea Bay” (Stanley, N. in “World War II, Minesweeping in the second world war”, Online Resource: https://www.vernonlink.uk/wwii Accessed: 03/12/2021), then there were the acoustic mines that floated just below the surface, tethered to weighted “trucks” pushed off the back of their destroyers and E Boats, or free-floating dropped by aircraft or from boats, waiting for a ships engine signature noise and detonating as the noise reached a set level, and the most dangerous perhaps of them all, the electromagnetic mine

Although the Germans did not have a large store of these mines (developed from a British design) they were deadly, recognizing the magnetic disturbance a steel hulled ship gave off through the water and then detonating based on strength of signal, up close usually, which inevitably meant a devastating effect on any vessel caught out by one of these mines. The minelayers task being made even more difficult in mid-1940 “in May 1940, Germany had introduced bi-polarity into its magnetic mines, necessitating a second sweep and therefore a doubling of the influence sweepers’ workload. (Stanley, N. in “World War II, Minesweeping in the second world war”, Online Resource: https://www.vernonlink.uk/wwii Accessed: 03/12/2021). The only other mine to have a similar effect being the Oyster mine, set off by the bow-wave pressure of a ship, a deadly threat, but again the Germans lacked the number or delivery methods to make these effective either

Mine warfare was a denial tactic “The mine’s primary effectiveness is in its psychological impact. Mines can be laid by any platform (ship, plane, or submarine), encountered anywhere, and they are virtually undetectable. Thus, prudent mariners avoid known or suspected minefields. More significantly, mines require more effort to clear than they do to deploy” (Editorial, “Weapons and Warfare, Naval Mine Warfare, WWII” Online Resource: https://weaponsandwarfare.com/2020/05/31/naval-mine-warfare-wwii/ Accessed 04/12/2021) the Germans keenly remembered the starvation caused to their population by Britain’s denial of their ability to trade by ship. The blockading of sea trade into Germany had a devastating effect on the morale of the German public, they learned from this, and used U Boats and Minefields in an attempt to starve the British in the same manner, in fact Churchill is on record as saying his biggest fear of the war was the U Boats and the effect they could have on the war effort

So HMT Elk is laying Dan’s for minesweepers in 1939 and Plymouth is a priority target for the Germans, as many mines as could be laid….. were, by U-Boat through deck chutes, by Heinkel’s parachuted in at night or rolled from the back of Destroyers or E and S Boats……whatever method, there were likely thousands deployed in the early stages of WWII, all were potentially deadly, and all were targeted at British and Allied shipping, and it was indiscriminate targeting, as happy to sink a freighter as a passenger liner or a fishing trawler without thought, without conscience……

 As 1940 begins things are going well for the Elk, in fact very well, in January two of her crew receive the Distinguished Service Cross, Lieutenant Charles Chapple RNVR and Petty Officer Bernard Donnelly RNR are awarded for “…unfailing courage, endurance and resources in H.M. Trawlers, Drifters and Minesweepers in their hard and perilous task of sweeping the seas clear of enemy mines, and combating submarines.”

As 1940 marched on and activities got more and more intense, with an ever increasing German campaign to starve Britain into submission, more and more of the Elk’s peers were lost. In 1939 Allied shipping losses had totaled 47 (Source: “National Museums Liverpool, The Battle of the Atlantic, The cost of battle” https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/battle-of-atlantic/cost-of-battle Accessed: 04/12/2021), by the close of 1940 losses from all causes, bombings, torpedo, mines etc, in the “Battle for the Atlantic”, would stand at 349. Sometime in 1940 the Elk was assigned to experimental countermeasures testing, in response to the changing tactics of the Germans and the introduction of acoustic mines. It seems Elk was fitted with a type of steam powered apparatus, designed at the Royal Naval Engineering College, of Keyham in Plymouth

I can find no mention of which specific type of acoustic equipment was fitted to the Elk, however an educated guess would be an early version of the “Kango” pneumatic hammer arrangement, “The next step was to mount the hammers inside an external box that was lowered into the water when in use — after a few sweepers had been sunk by acoustic mines while using internally mounted Kango hammers. The external hammers were usually hung over the side of the ship with a winch, though sometimes they were used over the bow of the ship” (Moffatt. I: “Mines and Minesweeping Techniques of WW2, Protective Measures & Minesweeping Techniques, Acoustic Minesweeping” Online Resource: http:// edinburghmodelboatclub.org.uk/ resources/ minesweepinginfofinal.pdf Accessed: 04/12/2012). Some of the trawlers mentioned as lost in the quoted piece were the Trawler Lord Inchcape, the Free French Navy Vessel Poulmic, and the Kingston Alalite, the Poulmic is another wreck written up in this blog, and it is believed she fell to an acoustic mine on the 7^th November, just 20 days before HMT Elk would finally lose her gallant battle against the German Mines in Plymouth Sound…….

My first dive on the Elk came in October of 2000 and is the only wreck dive I know that fell between the pages of my log books, the Elk appears as the usual “starred” entry in my Green Navy Log, but is marked as “wreck book II” for the description……I never instigated a second, separate wreck book, I just began to include the descriptions in my Green Navy Log……ahh well, lessons learned! I recall the dive well as it was an FSAC trip and my buddy was Phill Sherratt, we had dived the Eddystone the day before and were back on the 7m RIB, out to the Elk, as first dive on the Saturday morning in decent conditions. The descent to Elk went well, she sits upright, her hull intact, the shot had landed and dragged, luckily Jason & Paul had been in first and secured the descent line after a bit of a line search for her. Phill and I dropped right on her stern and I was immediately struck by the abundance of fish on her, Elk was covered in Bib and Pouting, a shoal of what must have been close to a hundred fish hovered over her hull, quite the largest amount of fish I had ever seen in UK waters in what had been 10 years or more of UK dives to that date! I was also struck by the Stern on Elk, the exposed frame showing through remnants of her deck, mostly she was open at deck level, with her hull interior showing   

We carried on up her hull, taking in her steam boiler and engine on the way, although at the time I would not have known what type her engine was, coal or oil, I did know Elk was a steam trawler which fascinated me. I was also surprised to see the Bib hanging off the hull, when you look over the sides of the hull they are looking directly at you as if swimming vertically towards you, but they were almost motionless as if they had been stuck in place by some means, it was the first time I had seen fish hang in such a manner and it looked slightly surreal to me

We got up towards the bow, and the remnants of what had been the bridge area, I was a bit confused, nothing was really identifiable. I did not know that most of the superstructure had been destroyed by fire following the mine explosion in 1940, and the layout of a 1902 trawler was not something I was very familiar with. To me the Elk was similar in looks to the Stanegarth, and I was kind of expecting a forward deck bridge, it seemed there was a larger deck for’ard than I’d seen before and, following the dive on Poulmic (another valiant WWII minesweeper/observer lost earlier in November of 1940), I was a little more confused than I would have admitted at the time…..Anyhow, we swam around her again following the hull in pretty respectable viz, somewhere around 10m or so, and then ascended to our deco stops, after what had been not only a great dive but also an intriguing one! It would be 6 years before I got another chance to dive the Elk and things had moved on a little for me, I had a new job which involved a lot of travel and had closed Deep Blue Diving, and, sadly, Fenton SAC, but the selling of the dive kits, and various equipment associated with both, had allowed me to take my own diving somewhere I had not expected it to go

I bought an AP Valves “Inspiration” re-breather and had signed up for training with Richie Stevens, of Deep Blue Diving in Plymouth, now there is plenty of time to discuss the co-incidence (or such) of the naming of both businesses, let’s just move on for the moment shall we….. On the course I was delighted to find we would get another shot at the Elk, and my Navy log records: “21/06/2006 HMS ELK- Plymouth Sound – 30m Rebreather dive, descent was OK, wreck was fine with the usual Bib & Pollack & one Cuckoo Wrasse, Viz OK at 3m or so & silty but OK. Dive was simple getting used to the Inspiration ascent was OK but last 6m was a nightmare fighting the solenoid – the loop & the suit…Buddy Mike” I recall the Elk sitting just as I had left her, in almost exactly the same condition, although the remains of the for’ard deck had rotted more, unsurprisingly. There were not as many fish on her either, but the viz, as described, was not anywhere near as good as we had back in 2000, but that’s UK diving for you, the Elk was still a lovely dive, even if the distractions of a new toy got the better of me in the narrative!

If you want to see and hear those who undertook both the laying of mines, and the clearance of mines then I would recommend you have a look here:

As for the Elk, luckily no one died as a result of the mine explosion that took down the courageous little steam trawler, veteran of World War 1 and willing protector of her country, yet again, 21 years later, as World War 2 ravaged Europe and threatened to do the same to Great Britain. I think the following description (Editorial “The Ships Project, HMT Elk” Online Resource: http://www.shipsproject.org/Wrecks/Wk_Elk.html Accessed: 05/12/2021) serves the Grimsby & Milford Trawler, Gallipoli Minesweeper and World War II Stalwart adequately:

“On the 27th November, just a month after the first acoustic mine had been taken apart, the Elk was off Plymouth trying out a new acoustic mine clearing device.  That day she was sweeping in the approaches to the main entrance to Plymouth Sound, on the west side just off Penlee Point, moving at a steady 5 knots with the armed trawler HMT Sasebo nearby. Over the port side of the ship she had an experimental steam powered apparatus that was designed to set off acoustic mines, this new device had been designed by the Royal Naval Engineering College in Keyham, Plymouth.  While busy sweeping there was a big explosion right underneath the ship which lifted the Elk out of the water and fractured her hull from the engine room to the stern, the vessel caught fire but stayed afloat for 45 minutes allowing all of her crew to escape unharmed”

If it wasn’t for such vessels, and those who gallantly crewed and commanded them (never the stars of Hollywood block-busters or Netflix box sets, often just receiving a couple of lines in old newspapers of the time), there wouldn’t be an England, nor a Europe free to choose, however foolishly, its own destiny……….Even in death the brave little ship managed to hang on long enough for those aboard to get to safety…….

“…unfailing courage, endurance and resources in H.M. Trawlers, Drifters and Minesweepers in their hard and perilous task of sweeping the seas clear of enemy mines, and combating submarines.”

I am, as always, deeply indebted to those who have helped me cover the story of my dives on the Elk and to go some way to recount the heroism of those involved in Mine Warfare!

The excellent photos of HMT Elk by Peter Rowlands, the archive photos & research prompts provided in the late Peter Mitchell’s (RIP) dive recollections and Simon Balderson of Lincs Inspire for the one really good photo of the Elk in her Grimsby Trawling days lastly to the Ships Project & Vernonlink for a great deal of background information on the Elk, Mine warfare and Minefield Clearance

Le Poulmic

The (Le) Poulmic started her life in the Forges & Chantiers de la Mediterranee shipyard in Graville, on the river Seine at Le Havre, specifically by the village of Le Trait “……In 1917, the rural village of Le Trait became a major industrial centre with the establishment of shipbuilding activity under the aegis of the Ateliers et Chantiers de la Seine-Maritime (Maheut, 1982). A small village of three hundred inhabitants at its origins, Le Trait experienced an unprecedented expansion with the arrival of the shipyard. It then became the main source of economic development in the city of Trait. The first ship was launched in 1921” (“A work of mourning around the Ateliers et Chantiers du Havre?” Queval, S. P111 Para 1 Online Resource: https:// books.openedition.org/purh/5155? lang=en Accessed 12/11/2021). She was built as a service and passenger tender to ship parts and labour across the bay at Brest, between the town and arsenal at Brest, and the aero-marine base at Lanvéoc-Poulmic. Her name, and that of her sister ship Lanvéoc (built and engaged in the same service), coming from the name of the airfield, the ships built as Le Poulmic and Le Lanvéoc, but this piece is specific to Le Poulmic. For those of you who love the technical details: 

In what I found to be an unusual twist (if, in hindsight, perhaps predictable, given the Victorian zeal for expansion and industrialization), the shipyard at Le Havre was an entirely British concept and execution. So, a French shipyard and engineering concern, initiated and seed funded by the British, eventually builds a ship that escapes France, to come to the Aid of Britain in its time of greatest need……there’s an epic movie in there if ever I saw one! Philip Taylor with his sons Robert & Philip founded the company “Société des Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée” in 1853, which went on to be incorporated into a joint stock company founded by the Frenchman Armand Behic in 1856. Behic (15 January 1809 – 2 March 1891) was a French lawyer, businessman and politician who eventually served as minister of Agriculture, Commerce and Public Works in the government of Napoleon III

Despite some early challenges the shipyard, and the additional acquisitions of Philip and his sons, were successful and increased its foothold in French shipbuilding sector. Philip was another of the Victorian era business innovators and, like those in the Cosulich brothers yards in Monfalcone, Italy (The Shipyard of another wreck on this site, the Brioni), were perhaps the first manifestation of the term “Brain Drain”, as Philip brought many of his engineers and foremen to Le Havre from Britain: “…….In 1846 he went into partnership with the Marseille ironmaster Amédée Armand, thus putting together an industrial empire with all the components for the manufacture of steam vessels. Taylor’s recruitment of British engineers and foremen proved to be significant in the transfer of new technology to the Mediterranean countries. Among his employees were William Adams, Fleeming Jenkin and Robert Whitehead.”  (Wikipedia “Philip Taylor (Civil Engineer)” Online Resource: https:// en. wikipedia .org /wiki/Philip Taylor (civil_engineer) #cite_note-30 Accessed: 12/11/2021)

We know what the early layout of the Forges & Chantiers de la Mediterranee shipyard in Graville looked like, in some detail, thanks to illustrations found in the Chantier Navires, and, as the illustration is specific to 1912, we can safely assume the Poulmic and her sistership the Lanvéoc were drawn up in building 2, her boilers made in building 3, their carpentry completed in Building 11, machining done in building 15 and her engine in Building 17….. And on it goes, everything necessary was on one sprawling site, with sufficient cranage to effect the fit out of a range of ships way beyond the size of our diminutive Poulmic, but Poulmic would eventually be far larger in stature than any other ship from that yard 

Le Poulmic was delivered in the summer of 1937 to her customer, the French Navy, along with her sistership the Lanvéoc. Both Poulmic & Lanvéoc had identical characteristics, displacing 350 Tons, both were powered by a 540 hp diesel engine that achieved a speed of 12 knots, and both were 37.03 m long by 8.08 m wide with a 3.10m draught. As both were destined for the ferrying of equipment between Brest and the airfield and aero-marine yard and slips at Lanveoc-Poulmic, (following their successful launch in the idyllic summer months of 1937), they had a journey of some 500Km to travel to be commissioned into service

Poulmic took up her role with the French Navy and, between 1937 and 1939, seems to have had no dramas, Lanveoc-Poulmic Airfield was one of 37 French aviation centres that had been allocated sea-planes in 1920 and the following years had seen the slipways at Brest developed to protect the French coast and the local port: “…..This choice meets the following criteria: the bay of Brest is a body of water capable of accommodating, in all weathers, the seaplanes of the time, an airfield can be developed for the benefit of squadron aviation based in Brest, the strategic interest: close to Brest (8 km in direct line), Lanvéoc is far enough away however not to be subject to possible blockades of military and commercial ports”  (“Base D’Aeronautique Naval Lanveoc-Poulmic, Historical” Online Resource: http://www.ffaa.net /naval_stations/ lanveoc-poulmic/lanveoc-poulmic_fr.htm Accessed: 12/11/2021)

Looking closely at the photo of the sea planes lined up on the slip at Lanveoc-Poulmic, the keen eyed amongst you will likely pick out the familiar lines of either Poulmic or her sistership Lanveoc at the dock. As already noted, before the outbreak of the Second World War both Poulmic and her sister were carriers between the Maritime Airport at Lanveoc and Brest, seen beyond the dock, in the distance. The Sea-Planes aligned on the slip look like Construction Aeromarines De La Seine  (CAMS) 55-10 variants fitted with 4 blade front prop and 2 bladed rear Props, and Gnôme & Rhône Radial engines of 1928 or so vintage

The CAMS 55 series were anecdotally noted as being the best product ever made at Construction Aeromarines De La Seine and had several engine options, the CAMS type 55-10 had Gnôme & Rhône motors, the CAMS 55 variants were more numerous than those fitted with Hispano-Suiza engines fitted with 2 bladed props forward & rearward. (“Naissance des Chantiers Aéro Maritimes de la Seine (CAMS)” Online Resource: http://www.hydroretro.net/etudegh/cams.pdf P17. Accessed 11/11/2021)

It seemed the Poulmic had found her niche, she and her sistership carried out their duties faithfully, delivering the workforce to their place of work twice daily, and ferrying equipment and materials between the railheads at Brest and the slips at the quayside without incident. But fate held more in store for the Poulmic, in the East of Europe that fate was being cast as Germany invaded Poland, Sept 01^st 1939, plunging Europe into a second mass conflict that seemingly none could escape, indeed, the fate of the Poulmic was sealed only two days later when Germany turned her wrath on France on September the 3^rd of 1939

The French were mostly siding with the allies, and the Brest airfield and aero-marine yards shared information to assist the war effort for as long as they could hold out against Nazi Germany, reports such as the one above, from Lanveoc Poulmic radio station (https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/-/media/royal-navy-responsive/ documents /units/rnssc/ admiralty-war-diary-november-1939.pdf) evidence the French fight, and the valuable information passed to the allies during that time, as much as the fighting in the countryside around Paris did. The German forces were superior to those of the ill-prepared allies, Germany had provided military support to the Spanish civil war helping Franco seize Spain from the Republicans, their Condor Legion gave their pilots valuable experience and helped Hitler develop “Blitzkrieg” (Lightening War) tactics, faced paced, asymmetric attacks quickly overwhelming huge areas past outdated “battle lines” supposed to defend France, static, old fashioned methodologies, easily by-passed by modern mobile and agile German forces. By the 25^th of June 1940 the fate of France had been sealed, the battle for Paris was over and the Germans, under Adolf Hitler, were in control of Paris, effectively giving them control of all of France……but not all of the French

The Poulmic had taken her chance and, under the command of Chief Boatswain’s Mate Le Guen, had sailed for England, arriving in Plymouth 18^th June 1940 where she, her Captain, and her crew were taken over by the British Admiralty for war service. Under the banner of the Free French Navy, (Les Forces Navales Francaises Libres, abbreviated, in timeless tradition, to “FNFL”) Poulmic was tasked as a patrol boat and provided a harbour service between French ships Until 3 July of 1940

30^th August 1940 the British Admiralty returned Poulmic to the command of the Free French, under Admiral Emile Muselier of the FNFL (Emile Muselier one of only 5 French Generals to align with the Allies under De Gaulle & was responsible for distinguishing his fleet from that of Vichy France by adopting the Cross of Lorraine, which would become the emblem of all of the Free French Forces during WWII), and command of Poulmic was transferred to Captain Paul Vibert, formerly second in command of the French Submarine Minerve (“The Poulmic Patroller, Historical Context” Online Resource: http:// museedelaresistanceenligne. org/media2880-Le-patrouilleur-iPoulmic-i#fiche-tab Accessed:  13/11/2021). Paul Vibert and his crew of 17 would operate Le Poulmic, from that point on, as a mine patrol ship. On 7^th November 1940, the Poulmic left the safety of the harbour to take up a position off Plymouth  

Captain Paul Vibert details his mission on taking command of Le Poulmic: (“The end of the Poulmic patrol boat” In “Testimonials” Cornil, S.  7 may 2019 Online Resource: https://www.france-libre.net/la-fin-du-patrouilleur-poulmic/ Accessed: 14/11/2021) “On November 7, 1940, I was ordered to set sail at 5 p.m. and take up position for the night at a point about three miles south of the Plymouth breakwater. My instructions were as follows: as soon as the enemy planes were flagged from land two converging searchlights would illuminate the sea. We had to try to spot each parachuted mine by the light of these projectors, take a bearing and appreciate the distance in order to immediately signal their position on land”

 

Preparations began immediately the instructions were received, Captain Vibert ordering the Poulmic prepared for the worst, and the crew to take all precautions possible in the circumstances: “…We knew the positions of some mines, set the previous days, which forced us to sail carefully to get out of the port. I had taken all the usual precautions, the life rafts were divested and every man, including the mechanics in the machine, wore his life belt. On this subject, I had a small discussion with the liaison officer, a young and friendly second lieutenant R.N.V.R. Indeed, I thought it was better to give more confidence to the crew, that I did not wear the belt myself and he felt that being also an officer he should imitate me. I made him understand that my order was also addressed to him, alas, his belt was useless to him because a little more than an hour later, he disappeared with the ship and I believe that his body was never found.”

The mission would be the last the Poulmic would ever take, on arrival at the search area, as Poulmic was maneuvering into position there was a massive explosion, identified by many at the time as likely that from a German acoustic parachute mine, Poulmic had been taken down by the very mines she was sent to identify, Captain Vibert describes the incident: “…..The first maneuver master, second in command, followed a ferry lift with a compass.”Another 10 degrees, Commander” – “The two engines front half” – “Another 5 degrees” – “Stop” – “Another 3 degrees” – “The two engines behind half” – “Ready to anchor” I leaned to starboard from the navigation bridge to see the eddies of the propellers, a few seconds of waiting… a foamy stir and suddenly a terrible explosion, an extraordinary breath tore me from the footbridge like a straw fetu. I kept from this short air trip an impression of colors, black and white, then gray, probably the color of the boat, before landing head first on the deck where I lost consciousness. We had just jumped on an acoustic mine submerged exactly at our anchorage. The ship, open under the bridge, sank in 15 seconds, leaving no chance for the mechanics at their engine maneuvering station”

Le Poulmic had struck a mine, tearing her apart and believed to have set off two more mines in the vicinity, Poulmic was said to have been torn to the level of her engine room, literally blasted to shreds by the explosion: “…..I regained consciousness, the water entering the interior of the vessel was placing me against the hull. At the cost of violent efforts, I returned to the surface. Only the top of the mast emerged, I vaguely distinguished in the darkness a few men clinging to a raft. Another was near me. The English helmsman was hanging on the mast and was quick to sing us the last successes of his country, probably to encourage those who did not have such a solid point of support. A torpedo boat about two miles away illuminated the scene with its projector” The Poulmic sank quickly, south of Plymouth Breakwater, in the explosion and its aftermath, 11 crew were lost, luckily 7 were rescued by the MTB Captain Vibert mentions in his recalling of the incident, Paul Vibert himself was severely wounded and unwittingly Le Poulmic had become the first ship loss of World War II for the FNFL

Honouring Le Poulmic and her Lost Crew Members:

March of 1947, (“Le Patroller Poulmic” In: “Revue de la France Libre” No 33, December 1950) General de Gaulle, Commander-in-Chief of the Free French Forces, from the medal citation of Le Poulmic:

“This small vessel participated during the months of September and October 1940, in often difficult conditions, in numerous patrol missions along the coast of Great Britain. Commanded by crew officer Vibert, and fell to an enemy mine on the night of November 7, 1940.”

Le Poulmic was honoured in the FNFL by decree of General de Gaulle and awarded the newly created, Médaille de la Résistance, by decree dated March 31, 1947. The medal had been decided on by General de Gaulle, as “leader of Fighting France” (“Aux Marins, Marins morts pour la France, Le Poulmic” Online Resource: https://memorial-national-des-marins.fr/12-aux-marins/batiments/3424-poulmic Accessed: 14/11/2021) The medal’s purpose was to “recognise the remarkable acts of faith and bravery which, in France, throughout the Empire and abroad, have been contributing to the resistance of the French people against the enemy and their accomplices since 18 June 1940.” On 20 August 1942, the medal commission settled on the name “Médaille de la Résistance Française” The French Resistance Medal was instituted in London on 9 February 1943 and was the second and only other decoration created during the war by General de Gaulle, after the Order of Liberation

I dived Le Poulmic in March of 1999 off the local Hardboat “UK National” with Jason McNamara dive-master from Deep Blue Diving and a couple of the FSAC divers, including Jason Underwood. The remains of Le Poulmic lie outside the Plymouth Breakwater at around 20m, my little Red Wreck Log records: “03/04/99 Plymouth (NW of Breakwater) POULMIC (Free French Navy) There’s little left of Poulmic but old pieces of twisted metal & bits she hit a mine and went Bang “Big Time” We found U Bolts & some winch gear with a large toothed wheel or gear but the rest is just bits of the reef now, hunting was fun but surge was heavy.” I recall a little more than that as the visibility was 5 or 6m which isn’t bad considering the Atlantic swells that run up Plymouth Sound on a regular basis. The area Le Poulmic was destroyed over is largely rock gullies with occasional patches of shale and kelp. There is the usual marine life present too, shoals of Pouting, plenty of crabs, the occasional Juvenile, and sometimes larger Wrasse. I’ve often seen Cuckoo Wrasse in the Sound too, but don’t recall seeing any on Poulmic.  On the day we didn’t see much more than twisted bits of metal which would have taken a far better marine archaeologist or engineer to determine than I have ever been, but there is more to be found on the site I believe at least one boiler has been found and some of the wreckage sits 1.5m off the bottom, needless to say that was not the area we found ourselves on in 1999, but it shows there is more to the site if you can dig around the area

The Fate of the Crew of Le Poulmic

“At The Going Down Of The Sun…..And In The Morning”

Valentia Southern Ireland

Thomas Royden, a master carpenter, opened a shipyard on Baffin Street on the west side of Queens Dock, Liverpool in 1818. Thomas Royden  was an English ship-owner and Conservative Party politician. After a brief partnership with James Ward as Royden & Ward in 1819-20, he eventually took his two sons, Thomas Bland Royden and Joseph Royden, into partnership and the company was renamed Thomas Royden & Sons in 1859 (Royden. M “The Roydens of Frankby a Brief History of a famous Wirral family” Royden Family History Pages – The Roydens of Frankby (roydenhistory.co.uk) On Line resource: Accessed 26/10/21): “In 1808 Thomas moved to Liverpool and secured employment as a master carpenter with Charles Grayson, a prominent shipbuilding firm. There was a brief lull in trade and shipbuilding during the period of his employment, mainly due to trade restrictions resulting from the wars with France and America, but by 1818 Thomas was confident enough to set up his own yard to capitalise on the consequent resurgence. The site was Baffin Street on the west side of Queens Dock, and Thomas lived nearby in Harrington Street. The business grew steadily and despite a devastating fire in 1825, success continued while several other shipyards folded around him. 1825 also saw his marriage to Ann Dean, step-daughter of Thomas Bland of Bland, Chaloner Co, another established Liverpool shipbuilder” Thomas Royden & Sons expanded by acquiring a neighboring Queens Dock shipyard from Peter Chaloner & Son in 1863, shipbuilding was changing rapidly at the time and Royden & Sons made the transition from building wooden to iron-hulled ships, Thomas Royden, perhaps unwilling to embrace the transition from wooden to steel ships himself, retired, leaving the company in the hands of his son Thomas Bland Royden. The increased size of the combined yards facilitated a gradual increase in output, from six ships in 1866 to twelve in 1869, in 1890 The Royden Yard Built The SV Crompton for their client MacVicar Marshall & Company

Thomas Bland Royden became a member of Liverpool City Council in 1873, and was elected Mayor of Liverpool in 1878–1879. Thomas & his family, two sons (Thomas & Ernest) and six daughters, lived at Frankby Hall on the Wirral. Thomas became a Justice of the Peace for Liverpool and was elected Member of Parliament for Liverpool West, Toxteth, eventually standing down in 1892. Thomas was appointed High Sheriff of Cheshire in 1903, and then a deputy lieutenant of Cheshire at the end of that year,two years later being made Baronet Royden on 29 July 1905.  He died 29^th August 1917 at the age of 86

The company also began operating its own ships, founding the Indra Line in 1888. This came to dominate the company’s activities, and in 1893 Royden’s sold their shipyard to concentrate on shipping operations and management. In another of those 5 degrees of separation, given my Father’s maritime history, Royden’s sold the Indra Line to Alfred Holt’s Blue Funnel Line in 1915, and from 1916 operated the Santa Clara Steam Ship Company on the South American route. The Santa Clara Company was eventually sold to the Bristol City Line in 1930 finally bringing Royden’s independent shipping operations to a close

From the volume ‘British Owned Iron and Steel Ships (IV) Masted Barques and Ships’.

The Crompton’s Owners were MacVicar, Marshall and Co. registered in Liverpool: (Graces Guide to British Industrial History: “1914 Who’s Who in Business: Company M” On Line resource https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/ 1914_Who%27s_Who_in_Business:_Company_M Accessed: 26/10/2021) “Macvicar Marshall & Co: Shipowners, 13, Castle Street, Liverpool. Hours of Business: 9.30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Established in 1882 by A. R. Marshall and Neil Macvicar (d). Present Principals: A. R. Marshall, P. Hugh Marshall and William Pritchard. Claim to have been owners at one time of some of the largest sailing-ships in England. Premises: Consist of the front second floor at Queen Insurance Buildings, Castle Street, Liverpool. Staff: Seven, and Consulting Engineer and Marine Superintendent. Business: Steamship Owners and Insurance Agents. Connection: United Kingdom, Foreign and Colonial. Telephone: No. 844 Central, Liverpool. Telegraphic Address: “Martial, Liverpool.” Codes: Scott’s, ABC and Watkin’s. Bankers: London City and Midland Bank Ltd., and Parr’s Bank, Ltd. Clubs: Exchange and Conservative, &c.,” Liverpool, MacVicar Marshall & Co survived as shipowners up until a couple of months prior to the grounding of the Crompton in 1907

On 23rd November 1910 the Crompton was en route from Tacoma to Limerick filled to the gunwales with grain, when she encountered a combination of bad weather and fog and ran aground on rocks at Dromgour Point near Port Magee, Ireland. Crompton was carrying 38,233 sacks of Wheat, weighing 2700 tons, from the Tacoma, Washington state in the USA. Why bring wheat in from the USA when the UK & Ireland produce wheat themselves, well this was the 1900’s and industrialization was concentrating the majority of the population into cities, specifically, the major employers were new industrial factories, people were no longer content eking out a hand to mouth existence on small-holdings, even larger scale farmers were under pressure and struggling to produce sufficient crop to meet the needs of the growing population, import was becoming more and more inevitable as the UK became less and less able to meet the requirements for food from her own lands and farming techniques, but the vast spaces of the USA were ideal for huge crops, more than sufficient for the needs of their population…..with plenty to spare for export and the revenue that would bring……huge ships like the Crompton were queuing up in Tacoma to fill their holds for the journey East across the Atlantic

The background to the Crompton’s transatlantic journeys, her embarkation from Tacoma, Washington State in Southern USA, her stop in Melbourne, Australia and her passages across the wild Atlantic ocean were a part of the wheat trade between the Great Britain and the USA, at that time just a hundred or so years on from having been a colony of the British Empire, but now well-established as an independent trading nation and just as happy to sell her produce, wherever there were buyers, as Great Britain was to feed her growing industrial cities………   

 

There is an interesting potted history of the US Southern States Wheat trade by Norman Reed, which details the Tacoma area wheat farming and export, I think it adds some context to both the development of the USA as a global trading nation and also to the background of the Crompton and its eventual loss off Valentia (Reed, N. “Flour Milling in Washington — A Brief History” On Line resource: https://www.historylink.org/File/9474 Accessed 27/10/2021): “……..Every farm community needed a mill within horse-and-wagon distance so that the annual crop could be milled into flour. As mentioned, it all started at Colville and eight mills were running in Stevens County in the years between 1816 and 1889. As the settlers arrived over the Oregon Trail and became acquainted with the soil they discovered that Eastern Washington was extraordinarily suited to growing wheat. Wheat grew everywhere — on the round tops of hills, on the benches, on the plateaus and foothills. No irrigation was necessary, and the rich soil required no fertilizing. The earliest railroads were established for the grain and flour trade. Eastern Washington’s wheat was already being exported out of Portland and to areas as far away as Liverpool, England. Between 1880 and 1893 the Pacific Northwest experienced a rate of growth seldom equaled in any section of the United States. Tacoma’s and Spokane’s growth were even more impressive. This growth was, in great part, the result of the development of the railroads and their aggressive advertising. The flour-milling industry reached its heyday at this time. Spokane was said to rank as the seventh largest milling center in the nation by 1900, ranking just behind such locations as Niagara Falls, Grand Rapids, and Minneapolis-St. Paul.”

Reed goes on to mention the rapid expansion of the wheat and flour trade in the Tacoma area and Portland: “The trade with the Orient and the growing Western Washington population encouraged larger and more modern flour mills to be established in the Puget Sound cities. First in Seattle was the Novelty Mills, out towards West Seattle. Centennial built its mill on the waterfront just south of the current sports domes, opening in 1898. By 1906 that stretch of waterfront was home to three mills: the Hammond Milling Company, Albers Cereal Mills, and Centennial. The Fisher Flouring Mills opened on Harbor Island in 1911. Seattle now had seven mills, as the Chas. Lilly Company produced flour as well as seeds, feeds, and fertilizer, and City Mills was just north of downtown. Tacoma had the Puget Sound Flouring Mills, the Tacoma Grain Company, Watson & Olds, Albers Milling Company, and the Cascade Cereal Mills. Everett had the Everett Flour Mill producing its “Best Everett” brand. Bellingham had a big mill on South Hill next to the water, where the three-masted schooners could easily load up. The grain trade was huge as well. Tacoma had a mile-long grain warehouse on the waterfront, handling wheat. Railroad trains stopped on the shore side and the great ocean-going schooners tied up at the water side for loading. Large quantities of Washington’s wheat also shipped out of Portland and Astoria. Combined, the grain and flour trade was our state’s major industry”

It is anomalous to say the least to find the Crompton described in the (Sydney, Australia) Examiner newspaper, wrecked in 1907 rather than her generally accepted & recorded loss of 23/11/1910 (“S V Compton (+1910)” www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspex?148392 On Line resource: Accessed 26/10/2021). Working back from the date of the Examiner report “…on Saturday last received a cable, been beached at Queenstown.…” given that the report is in the paper of Saturday 11^th May 1907, it then would indicate the report from London arriving in Sydney 04^th May of 1907 leaving the Crompton lost at best sometime in the month leading up to May 04^th of 1907 (“DISASTER TO A WHEAT VESSEL” (Editorial) in The Examiner, May 11 1907. Shipping, P6, Para 5. On Line resource: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/45812966 Accessed 26/10/2021) If nothing else, we are putting historical records streight by revealing the correct time of the loss of the Compton, even if the exact day has been lost. If the Compton left Melbourne, as described in the Examiner, January 27^th of 1907 we can search other sources to see if we can better identify the exact day and month of her loss. The New Zealand Mail of 1907 confirms the press association telegraph from London in its article “Marine Mishaps” of May 06^th (Editorial: “Marine Mishaps, Wheat ship ashore”. New Zealand Mail: Issue 1835, 08^th May 1907, P35. In “paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZMAIL19070508.2.101” On Line resource. Accessed 26/10/2021)     describing “…..the barque Crompton, bound from Melbourne to Queenstown, with 2700 tons of wheat, has been beached at Queenstown.”

A little further digging in local archives, with the assistance of Michael Lynch of the Kerry County Library, unearthed a copy of the Irish Examiner dates 03^rd May of 1907 which carries far more detailed descriptions of the Crompton’s fate at Queenstown (Editorial “Ship aground at Queenstown” Irish Examiner 03.05.1907 P5 C2 ) “The four –masted ship Crompton, of Liverpool which arrived yesterday with 20,310 quarters of wheat from Melbourne, for orders went aground on her anchor to-day, and had to be beached on the Spike Bank, where she now lies with tugs still holding her.”

The Irish Examiner piece goes on to describe a series of unfortunate events that our friend Lemony Snicket would have found fascinating….. The Crompton arrives at Queenstown, modern day Cork, on the 02^nd of May of 1907, she is assigned a pilot, a Mr Samuel Dean (difficult to ascertain as the print of the Examiner clip is less than perfect) and sails perfectly well to her mooring point noted as being west of No 7 Buoy at “Chapel Hole”. The Crompton is said to be “….drawing 23 feet of water on arrival and the depth of water at the point where she was moored is in or about from 23 to 26 ft. at places…” Now a ship of the size of the Crompton and drawing 23 feet of water (the amount of her hull in and under the water) is not going to last long in water the same depth or slightly deeper in places, she is a disaster waiting to happen at that point and it seems everyone knew about it as the Irish Examiner notes “….It seems quite clear that those in authority did not approve of the berth she was in. for the pilot remained on board all night with a view to getting her into another berth to-day, and accordingly about noon today she had her port anchor up.” So all preparations are in place and it seems the Crompton is about to be moved to a more appropriate depth of water and moored correctly, but the day was not going to be saved, the weather was in no way ideal to move such a big ship and a gale was blowing down the harbour from the West to North West. Now a gale blowing West alone might have saved the Crompton, that would have blown her towards the deeper channel into Cork, but all North West winds would have blown her closer to the Spike Island fort and shallower water and the Irish Examiner reports exactly that “….During today’s gale from W.N.W setting on her port side she got on the ground, and appears to have got her own anchor under her, with the result that she became badly holed Both anchors were down when she grounded, that which was previously lifted with a view to shifting her having been again let go.” It became a matter only of time, the Crompton being badly holed by her own anchor (perhaps even the anchor mounted in Queenstown, Valentia, outside Des Lavelle’s Dive Center?), and a gale pounding her sides, tons of water would be pouring in through such a hole, the Examiner piece notes that at 16:30 she had 2 feet of water in her and 18:30 she had 16 feet in her hull, later the author states “….as I write, at 8 p.m. the water appears to be within one foot of her main deck. In other words the ship is full of water and in a most precarious condition.”

At some time during the events unfolding signals were run up calling for assistance and the local tug company, which was, oddly the Clyde Company of Scotland, (owning the local steam tug boats for harbour duties, and using a local manager to do so) who’s manager a Mr J J Brennan set to, sending 3 tugs to assist the Crompton, the Flying Fish, the Flying Fox and the Flying Sportsman. It was decided by the Captain of the Crompton, who had come back aboard after seeing the distress signal flags from ashore (where he was dealing with the local shipping agent, a Mr J Kelleher of Scott and company, in relation perhaps, to the Crompton’s cargo or onward journey), and agreed with the Tugs agent to drive the Crompton onto the bar at Spike island which would see her grounded but safe from further sinking. The Examiner details the activities undertaken “…..it does not take long to put a ship aground, difficult though it is to take her off again, and the Flying Fox at her helm and the Sportsman and Fish at her port and starboard side respectively, took hold of her and all three vessels, finely handled, safely beached the ship and kept attendance on her during the night until further danger was averted, as it was possible she might have dropped off if let go.” 

The three tugs of the Clyde Company must have had a very difficult task during the dying hours of the night of the 02^nd May 1907, the Crompton was full to a foot of the main deck with water making her a huge almost dead weight, and the weather was horrible with a W.N.W gale blowing against them to make things even harder….it is no surprise the tugs come in for praise for their actions, little short of miraculous in the circumstances and recognised by the Examiner “…..Mr Henry T. Ensor and his salvage staff reached the ship very promptly after the appearance of the signals and rendered valuable assistance, and as I write Messrs. Ensor and staff with their powerful pumps are on board pumping the ship, aided by the crew but it is difficult to keep down the inrush of water to the ship” and goes on to note “The tugs Blazer, Columbia and the Government tug Stormcock proceeded to the ship’s assistance, but the Clyde Company’s tugs did all the work required of them” in effect praising Flying Fish, Fox and Sportsman for the saving of Crompton whilst noting others were there after the main of the dangerous and professionally challenging work had been completed. It would not be the last time the Flying Fish showed her mettle, a mere 7 years after the Crompton grounding she would take part in a far more tragic sinking, the Lusitania, off Kinsale Head on 07^th of May 1951 under her Captain  Thomas Brierley, the Cobh and Cork Harbour Centenaries Facebook site has a quotation which sadly is not referenced but details “……the Flying Fish made several such trips, gathering and ferrying survivors from the scene to Queenstown, and many of those survivors owed their lives to him and his vessel……….. Captain Thomas Brierley was born in 1859, and was 56 at the time of the disaster. He was awarded a medal for the outstanding gallantry he displayed during the endless trips he and his vessel made back and forth from Queenstown, to where the Lusitania had sunk. Bringing back the living, as well as the dead”

The Examiner notes the crew were taken off the Crompton at around midnight and taken to the “sailors Home” (presumably the local lost sailor’s mission), but that her captain and the ship’s officers stayed aboard. The Examiner also notes the exact location of the damage is still to be determined and that divers will probably have to remove most of the cargo to find and repair the damage from Crompton’s anchor, but that the salvage values could, if Mr Henry Thomas Ensor and his divers manage it, value £20,000 for the Crompton herself and £30,000 for the wheat with freight at around £7,000. If anyone could achieve this, in the circumstances, it would be Henry Thomas Ensor, who would be described in the Wonders of World Engineering (Editorial in: https://wondersofworldengineering.com/salvage_engineers.html On Line resource: Accessed 30/10/2021) following his salvage of the huge dredger Silurus, 81m Long, 14m wide and 6m deep weighing over 2,000 tons, sunk in a gale in October of 1915 after breaking her moorings in Gareloch, Scotland, as: “……..the late Henry Ensor, of Queenstown (Cobh), Ireland, who was one of the most brilliant exponents of marine salvage. A red-bearded man of average height and slight build, he had a quiet voice and bore little resemblance to the popular conception of a man who had spent his days grappling with intricate salvage problems”

It seems Crompton was both a lucky vessel of sorts, and doomed, as are we all, to a fatal end, a little more digging with the Kerry County Archivist, Michael Lynch, at the Kerry Library reveals the 1907 grounding to be only the first of the Crompton’s adventures with the Kerry coast. Indeed the 1907 grounding reported in Australia and New Zealand and in the Irish Examiner was followed a mere three years later with the Crompton’s sinking in her current resting place off Dromgour point, Valentia Island County Kerry. Michael has kindly supplied pieces from the local newspapers, the Cork Examiner, the Kerry Evening Post and the Kerry Weekly Reporter and carrying reports of the ultimate demise of the Crompton where previously the only mention found was Antipodean, nothing evident or easily accessible from the various internet sources. If nothing else it shows the value of Library copies of local newspapers and the archival benefits of local and county libraries, the internet is an amazing resource, but it will be decades before it has the full human archive available at your fingertips in any “complete” sense, and if I do not miss in guessing, that will come at a cost as more and more web based archives charge for access privileges……. It is only 3 years later and the Crompton is again aground on the coast of Kerry, this time against Drumgour and with little, if any, chance of survival as the report in the Kerry Evening Post of 26^th November 1910 details

There was no chance on this occasion that salvage could be made as the report clearly states “The Crompton has sunk, only the top of the masts being visible” for a barque of 17 years and veteran of many Atlantic crossings to be lost in this manner would mean the economics of salvage would not add up, effectively she and her cargo are lost and all that remains is the destructive effects of the sea and the Crompton’s position below the unforgiving cliffs at Drumgour on Valentia 

I dived the Crompton, or what remains of her, from Des Lavelle’s boat, Bael Bocht, (from the book An Béal Bocht (meaning “the poor mouth”) by Flann O’Brien (pen name of Brian O’Nolan) a classic satire in Irish, parodying the expression attributed to Irish farmers to “put on the poor mouth” or exaggerate their poor circumstances to invoke sympathy……… You see Des, I did eventually find out!) on a trip to Valentia & the Skelligs in 1998, this was the first trip I had taken to Ireland specifically to dive, (my last trip involved a great deal of walking, usually dropped off by Lynx or Puma, sometimes collected by them too, when not too close to the north-South border)…… I was struck by the warmth of the Irish, their welcoming nature and quick wit in any situation, the country is beautiful and Valentia and Kerry were like stepping back in time 40 years, charming people, beautiful countryside and a warm welcome, idyllic, truly idyllic…….

Des Lavelle is a very well known and well respected senior of the Queenstown community having been one of those working for the Atlantic Telegraph Company based on Valentia, the first landfall of the Transatlantic sub-sea telegraph line between the USA & Ireland. It was Des’ boat the Bael Bocht that was the dive platform for the retrieval of the Crompton’s main anchor, now sat outside Des’s dive centre in Queenstown Valentia. On his retirement from the telegraph company Des used his little boat to take out tourists to Skellig Michael & Small Skellig, visible on the Drumgour Cliffs photo, to visit the ancient monks slate beehive huts, and spend time with the remote islands wildlife and sea life. The local seals, Gannets & Puffins are well loved and popular with divers and tourists alike, those of you of a certain age and possessed of perhaps even a small degree of “the force” will perhaps recognise the Skelligs, at least Skellig Michael

My little Red Log book records the dive: “13 04 98 Valentia Eire WRECK OF “CROMPTON” A four masted Barque that was wrecked in 1910 & not discovered again till 1970. The main anchor is on Des Lavelle’s forecourt. We dropped onto the second anchor – slightly smaller & quickly found the mass of rusting chains from the for’ard chain locker & then ferreted back amongst the spars & plating back to a great little rock “squeeze” & back up to find the 3^rd anchor & more chain – great ferret about & well worth another visit great viz”   The wreck was well broken up even then, hardly surprising as it is at the base of cliffs with nothing between the cliffs and the raging Atlantic from the USA across to Ireland! The sheer force of the sea can only truly be appreciated in a storm, I watched the Grey mountainous seas smash against the cliffs on a later trip to Valentia when we lost 2 days to harsh seas and storm and did some walking in the area, the conditions below us were extreme and those fleeing the sinking Crompton were incredibly lucky to escape with their lives, it’s little short of a miracle all the Crompton’s crew were saved

The Kerry Evening Star reports “Five of the men scrambled up the cliff at Filenagaragh…” which is a considerable feat in the circumstances and would also have come as a shock to the locals on Valentia, confronted by 5 bedraggled and likely scraped and bleeding negro sailors from the Southern states of the USA, a not so usual sight on a Southern Irish Island such as Valentia. The memorial in Valentia adds a little detail to those climbing the cliff and their circumstances “…..the crew scrambled up the rocks and made off the houses of Jeremiah O’Sullivan and Sean More Devane where they were fed and cleaned up. The next day they were met by Harbour Master Shanahan and brought to Caherciveen where they were put on a train to begin their long journey home.” Who knows, there may have been some present who assisted in the 1907 grounding, there may be more to write about in family archives locally or sleeping in long defunct local newspapers, there is nothing written I can find other than the pieces shared here, and I suppose it fitting in rounding up this piece, to mention the rather cryptic line in the Kerry Evening Post: “….Her Master, Captain Williams, is very well known in Cork and Queenstown…..”  Now I’m not exactly sure how to take that, being predisposed to a naturally suspicious nature myself, hopefully it is just a bit of the Irish Craic in reference to the 1907 grounding of the Crompton

I recall the dive very well, not so much for the wreckage of the Crompton, this is another very similar to the Barque Herzogin Cecille, where most of the wreckage is simply remnants of heavy plate steel, indeterminate from any other wreckage save for the knowledge of the loss of the Crompton and the area of her demise. The gullies we were diving in were mostly flat and shallow, but one in particular was a huge fissure running parallel to shore by the feel of it underwater, and descending from around 5m to about 20m, we swam its length and it became narrower and narrower until divers could not swim abreast but were forced to be one above the other, with all the buoyancy issues that can invoke…..The swim was a great experience and made only better by the chains and debris oddments from the Crompton as we returned up to safety stops and another root around the area in search of more of the Crompton

As ever, I have to thank those that have made this piece what it is, Mr Des Lavelle of Lavelle’s Valentia Diving Centre, for our trips to Crompton and, in this case, it would have been a far less interesting tale without the help of Michael Lynch, of the Kerry County Library, who provided the articles from the Kerry Evening Star, the Kerry Evening Post, the Cork and the Irish Examiner and to both of whom I am, and will remain, eternally grateful

SS Rondo 

SS Rondo was an American built steam cargo ship launched in 1917. She was built by Tampa Shipbuilding & Dry-dock Company of Florida, for the British government, under the name “War Wonder” but during construction her name was changed to Lithopolis, perhaps as the First World War ended before she could be completed. Lithopolis entered service for the US Shipping Board and was eventually sold to various Norwegian companies, in 1930 as the “Laurie”, finally becoming the Rondo in 1934

Tampa Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company operated from 1917 to 1948 in Tampa, Florida. It was also known as Tampa Shipbuilding and TASCO. The company took over an existing shipyard run by Tampa Foundry & Machine Co. which had been founded in 1892, and incorporated in 1905, and which had got into shipbuilding with the award of the contract for a passenger ship in 1916. It built two ships the initial passenger ship Poughkeepsie in 1916, and the War Wonder in 1917, before the end of World War I (WWI) in November of 1918

The vessel seen close to completion on the slip alongside the War Wonder at the Tampa Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company in 1918 above is the SS Everglades, This is what the War Wonder would have ended up like when she was launched had WWI lasted but a few months longer. Dazzle Paint was the brainchild of Norman Wilkinson and likely taken or heavily influenced by the work of Abbot Thayer in his 1909 book “Concealing Coloration in the Animal Kingdom” which described camouflage in the wild as a way to conceal or disrupt

Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in the USA holds an archive of ship designs and a multitude of the Dazzle Designs, in their slide-set presentation of the collection they note: (Covert. C & Petraits. E: “Dazzle Prints: Digitizing a Large Format Collection” Fleet Library @ RISD. On-line resource: scalabledigital.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/dazzle.pdf Accessed 29/09/21) “Dazzle is disruptive camouflage (think of a zebra). Military camouflage was developed in World War I by French artists. Ships were hard to camouflage against U-boats because the sea and sky were always changing and of the smoke they produced. Norman Wilkinson, a marine painter who was in the Royal Navy is credited with being the first to developed dazzle camouflage for ships. The Royal Navy allowed him to test his idea. When the test went well Wilkinson was told to proceed, however, he was given no office space. So he went to his alma mater the Royal Academy and was given a classroom. Wilkinson hired Vorticist Edward Wadsworth, to be a port officer in Liverpool, England and oversee the painting of dazzle ships. In 1918 Wilkinson came to United States to share his dazzle plans. 1,000 plans were developed through this partnership” The SS Everglades is noted as the first US vessel ever delivered pre-camouflaged, it makes it almost shame the Lithopolis was not in time to have the same livery……..

The Tampa Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company ownership and function changed to that of a repair yard before U.S. involvement in World War II, 1942 (the shipyard had been mired in a major financial crisis), as one of the merchant shipbuilders selected for the USMC’s pre-war long-range shipbuilding program. It went back to shipbuilding during WWII, employing 16,000 workers, and at its height of operation, was the largest employer in Tampa.  Shortly after starting work on its initial USMC contract, however, it again got into financial difficulties and was sold to George B. Howell, who renamed it Tampa Shipbuilding Company, or TASCO  the site is now occupied by Gulf Marine Repair

The Rondo had been ordered through the Cunard Steamship Company to avoid contravening America’s “neutral” status in what was to become the last months of World War 1.  This ended up an unnecessary artifice as, even before she was complete, America entered the war and such disguise became pointless.  As Lithopolis she did not complete fitting out till September 1918, missing any closing actions of the war. It may seem somewhat ridiculous to have employed such subterfuge in order to procure ships from the US, it becomes far less so when “neutrality” can be seen objectively. Germany knew the USA, despite being neutral, had maintained favorable trade links with Great Britain and her allies throughout the War, in fact Germany also traded with the USA right up until her entry into the war on the side of Britain. It was not that either nation could or should challenge the USA’s neutrality as such, it was the diplomatic nature of the trading between each side which could have become an international incident should either of the combatants decided to carry the acts of aggression across the Atlantic to the US coastline

German U Boats had made the crossing several times by 1917, it was a very real possibility that hostilities could have occurred between Great Britain and Germany in sight of the shores of New York. In a paper to the US Congress in December of 1919, just a year after the war ended, Captain C.C. Marsh Officer in Charge of the US Navy Department Historical Section (Marsh. C.C. “German Submarine Activities on the Atlantic Coast of the United States and Canada” Dec 12^th 1919) wrote: “It is not believed necessary to go into the discussion based on opinions or surmises during the early years of the war in Europe as to whether or not an attack by the Germans would be made on the American coast. Therefore, the operations herein described are those which actually took place in the year 1918, with a description of the preliminary cruises made by the Deutschland and the U-53 in the year 1916”. The paper goes on to explore the very real journeys of German U Boats to and from US ports and to postulate on the likelihood of incidents between British and German navies accordingly

Captain Marsh’s piece occasionally shows a level of expectation arising from the nature of the German U Boat’s various nefarious visits: “…….Of course, it must remain a matter, more or less, of conjecture as to what was actually the object of the cruises made by the Deutschland in 1916. Apparently, they were both purely commercial voyages. The voyage of the U-53 assumes more a character of a path-finding expedition. This vessel was a strictly combative vessel. It is interesting to note that on the arrival of this vessel at Newport, the commanding officer stated to the American submarine that he did not need or want a pilot to enter Newport, and that he wanted no supplies or provisions or materials of any kind….” I think it fair to deduce that Captain Marsh had anticipated, if not expected, incidents of likely breach of the neutrality of US waters….but they never actually occurred

Although it was anticipated War Wonder would be launched into a global conflict the like of which the world had not seen before, she actually took no part in war as the Lithopolis, or later as the Laurie, and she continued to carry out whatever duties her Norwegian owners deemed expedient in the post war years right up until, as the Laurie, in 1934 her name was change to the Rondo. In January 1935 the Rondo, was in Glasgow and left for Dunstan, in ballast, due to pick up a cargo in Northumberland for delivery into Oslo. As she sailed into the Sound of Mull on the 25th of January the weather had gone from bad to appalling, Rondo’s master made the decision to anchor in Aros Bay, near Tobermory, for shelter and to sit out a blinding snowstorm.  Believing themselves secured and turning in for the evening, still in the midst of the storm conditions, things took a turn for the worse for Rondo and her crew. Straining against the storm their anchor chain parted and Rondo began drifting down the Sound at the mercy of winds and tide.  The Rondo was swept down the sound of Mull and came to rest hard against Dearg Sgeir (Red Skerry, or Red Rocks in Gaelic) near Eileanan Glas, adjacent to the lighthouse placed on the pinnacle to warn of the dangers of the exposed rock outcrop to passing ships

Attempts were made to float Rondo off Dearg Sgeir in the subsequent weeks but whatever was tried was to no avail. It became obvious she would not readily float free and the decision was made to strip out whatever could be readily removed to improve the chances of salvaging her. Whilst the attempt was made Rondo remained controversial, a fire breaking out amongst the wood paneling still aboard having been stripped for removal. It was during this phase of her attempted salvage that things went distinctly sideways. With the lightening of her hull on the rocks, and the movement of the tides against her hull, Rondo finally succumbed to her fate and sank down the submerged rock face of Dear Sgeir until all but her stern post was underwater, eventually she rested, fully submerged, just 10m or so from the surface her bow at 50m and her rudder at around 10 depending on the tide

My dive on the Rondo was as part of the first FSAC UK dive Exped, I had been in touch with David Ainsley and booked a party into his accommodation on Seil on the West Coast of Scotland not far from Oban, and places aboard his boat Porpoise, an Atlantic Offshore 105 of which he was rightly very proud, and which was a flawless dive platform during our bank holiday weekend trip to Ardmucknish, Corryveckan and the Sound of Mull. I had Darren & Jason with me as Divemaster’s and a party of recently trained Advanced Open Water Divers who had been co-opted into accompanying Aaron Durber, a local & colourful Stafford Landlord, through Open Water Diver and on into the ocean…….

Only Rondo’s shell remains now, you can swim down inside the hull, sheltered from most of a running tide for most of her length, stern to bow, more broken wreckage lies beyond 30 metres and down to the crushed bow at 50 metres. On the return journey there is a choice at various points to swim the outside or stay within the hull. I dived Rondo in 1998 on the first FSAC Scottish dive trip and my little Red Wreck book records: “31/01/98 Sound of Mull, Oban RONDO Rondo holed up in bad weather in Mull and in a real foul patch broke her anchor chain & drifted down the Sound of Mull till hitting rocks and going down. She lies stern up and nearly vertical with the rudder mount @ 6m for ideal deco. There’s not much growth on her (but this was winter) and the hull is bare & easily accessible she was a steam cargo vessel & would bare another dive. Best to go deep then slowly take the rest in Twin 7’s 300 bar independent 2 x Poseidon’s Buddy Colin Woodall”

 I recall the dive being in good viz throughout and the feeling our descent required more than my normal “dump n drop” technique, a sort of free-fall I’d got used to and enjoyed, this was not the time or place despite the viz and I had Colin with me, we both needed to avoid the exposed pieces of potentially dangerous wreckage, whilst giving each other enough space too. It was an enjoyable dive which we took down to around 25m before turning the dive and slowly ascending back through the sparse wreckage we had dropped past, I don’t recall much in the way of sea life either, there was plenty of kelp and weed, Plumrose Anemones etc, but Rondo was an interesting dive for the way she rested, one of few near vertical wrecks I have dived to this day but I had been warned most of the gear and machinery had been salvaged before she sank and the hull was fairly bare. One of the most interesting wrecks in the sound of Mull though, if only for her aspect and the chance for the adventurous to dive to 50m out of the flow of the sound……

Rondo & The Sound of Mull are another of those locations that I’d love another shot at….perhaps one day!

The Chrisoula K

THE CHRISOULA K was built in 1954 as the DORA OLDENDORFF by Orenstein Koppel & Lubecker, she was 320ft long, 3720 tons and fitted with a two stroke MAN engine, for Egon Oldendorff of E.L OLDENDORFF & CO. In 1970 she changed her name and ownership and became the ANNA B. In 1979 she was purchased by Dimitris P Kavadas, via Clarion Marine, and was renamed the CHRISOULA K

The MV LUDOLF OLDENDORFF (2) of 4,650 tdw, delivered to Egon Oldendorff by Lübecker Maschinenbau-Gesellschaft on 2 December 1952, and her sistership DORA OLDENDORFF (delivered two years thereafter), both had been designed as multi-purpose vessels and had a comparatively generous cubic capacity of 270,000 cu ft each. They spent most of their time in the Oldendorff fleet, chartered to passenger liner operators on period (time based) charters, but they also occasionally accepted voyage charters. Both ships frequently travelled the St. Lawrence Seaway after it’s re-opening in 1959, and sometimes ventured further into the Great Lakes. Between 1960 and 1964 the Dora Oldendorff performed no fewer than 33 trips into the Great Lakes on time charter to transport operators, Canadian Pacific, the St Lawrence affords direct access for the larger deep sea vessels to important North American industrial centers

The degree of technical innovation in the Dora Oldendorff and her sistership is reflected by an article in the Lübecker Nachrichten daily paper of 13 December 1952, reporting on the commissioning of the MV LUDOLF OLDENDORFF: “When LMG shipyard director Schiml handed over, outside territorial waters, the newbuilding to her owner, the Lübeck shipping company had added to its fleet its tenth ship, and its first motor vessel. The LUDOLF OLDENDORFF did 15.9 knots in ballast condition. Her 2,700 HP two-stroke MAN diesel engine gives her a fully laden speed of up to 14 knots. Her modern equipment includes a Decca radar set, a ‘Telegon’ goniometer first introduced in 1952 and a complete radio station, all supplied by DEBEG. The vessel has also been fitted with an echo sounder. The radar set pays for itself within three days of dense fog when the ship would otherwise be forced to idle, assuming a loss per fog-bound day of DM 10,000”

E.L. Oldendorff & Co, Hamburg, Germany

Egon Oldendorff was drafted for military service shortly before the war ended and was discharged from the army on 31 December 1918 as a qualified cavalryman. He seriously considered to take up farming but agreed to his father’s suggestion to commence his working life in the parental private bank and thereafter serve as a trainee in Hamburg before finally deciding his future career. He worked in the bank until June 1920 and opted for shipping during his time as a trainee with Lilienfeld & Homuth

Alfred Homuth retired early in 1921, at that point Albert Lilienfeld made Egon Oldendorff his business partner, (Hamburg register of companies, 19 February 1921). Egon had been an apprentice for some 9 months at this point, however, the influence of his banking family background clearly impressed Lilienfeld and the result seems to justify the decision. The company changed its name to Lilienfeld & Oldendorff, Shipowners and Shipbrokers, Hamburg, with a branch office in Lübeck. Egon Oldendorff had come of age, at 21, merely two days before that date, a legal prerequisite for holding company shares in Germany at that time. Just days later the company announced the news in a letter to its clients, making reference to Mr Egon Oldendorff the banker, without any mention of the age of the new business partner

 The Dora Oldendorff was built in 1953/54 by the Orenstein-Koppel / Lübecker Maschinenbaugesellschaft AG shipyard, Lübeck as hull number 467, and handed over to the E.L. Oldendorff & Co shipping company in February 1954. The vessel was 106.45 m long, 14.8 m wide and registered at 3807 GRT, she was powered by a 2-stroke G9Z 52/90 (MAN) Diesel engine (9 cylinders / 52 cm piston diameter / 90 cm piston stroke) and produced 2700 PSe at 136 rpm giving her a top speed of 13.5 knots. On August 30, 1981, some 28 years after her launch, she ran into a reef in the southern Gulf of Suez on journey from Naples to Jeddah carrying Italian floor tiles. The entire crew was recovered unharmed, however salvage of cargo or ship was not deemed to be worthwhile, and she was deemed a total constructive loss

I first dived the “Tile Wreck” in 1997 on the FSAC Red Sea trip from the Princess Dalal, she was identified to us by our German dive guide, Renate Veldmeier, as the Chrisoula K and, even then, was in a conspiracy of confusion with the local dive guides…… “06.08.97 ABU NUHAS CHRISOULA K The “K” was a 1954 made Greek cargo vessel carrying stone block & lentils en-route from Italy to Jeddah when she hit Abu Nuhas at speed breaking in two. We dropped to the stern and swam in between the blades of the prop and rudder then round to the holds, she’s on her starboard side and is rotting heavily we swam through the main hold taking in the bronze spare prop & the stern accommodation then back in to the engine room midships and through the whole of it & out to the hull a great dive which we continued…..”

Now, the intriguing “…..which we continued”,  alludes to the second wreck lying within a short distance of “Chrisoula K” which our dive guide identified as the “Sea Star” which was apparently “….a cargo ship carrying lentils and stone slabs when she hit Abu Nuhas in 1976”. It is easy to see that whatever the facts of any shipwreck, different stories crop up even in tight diving communities like those of the Red Sea. There is of course the local Egyptian/Arab naming protocols for the wrecks they find and make use of on their shores, those they get “Tiles” from and those they got “Lentils” from, I’m sure Giannis D was at one time the “Wood” wreck (or might have been had her deck cargo stayed aboard long enough) after her cargo of timber! I should note here that both wrecks we dived at the time were very similar in state, one looking somewhat “younger” than the other in terms of time on the bottom. In researching another of the wrecks for this blog (the aforementioned Giannis D), I came across the writings of Peter Collings and, when I went to illustrate the Abu Nuhas wrecks to identify the Giannis D’s location, I became intrigued by the widespread confusion surrounding what had been, up until then, an unidentified wreck. In 1997, when I dived Abu Nuhas, the wreck had been identified and was generally accepted as the Kimon M (launched as the Brunsbuttel, out of Stulcken & Sohn shipyard, Hamburg, 1952, sunk 12^th December 1978) sparking an internet spat on the Yorkshire Divers site between Peter Collings and his supporters, and Ned Middleton and those agreeing with his identification of the two Eastern of the wrecks on Abu Nuhas. The degree of difficulty identifying shipwrecks is not surprising, the Greek shipping magnates of the 1970’s and 80’s frequently traded in “ad-hoc” cargoes, often registering their vessels under flags of convenience in order to “bend” the rules of import and export, frequently selling their ships to “shell companies” and changing their names between ports, and, as noted elsewhere in this blog (when is a shipwreck not a shipwreck), often loading specifically perishable high value cargoes and managing to “navigate”, seemingly by error, into convenient and relatively safe, borderline “sub surface”, coral reefs……..

It is far more likely that the wreck I was told, and had no reason not to believe to be, “Chrisoula K”, but was in fact the “Unbekanntes” on the illustration, which we now know to be the Kimon M. I say that as the dive we continued onto, referred to as the “Sea Star” was, as I recall, to the right of the first wreck. We exited the first wreck fairly shallow and went, with the reef on our Left shoulders, to the second wreck, it would have been very evident (distance is way greater if nothing else) had that wreck turned out to be Carnatic, so I am at peace with the first wreck being Kimon M and the second being Chrisoula K. Peter Collings went on to describe the Chrisoula K as actually being a wreck called the “Marcus”, disputing Ned Middleton’s identification of the Tile Wreck being the Chrisoula K, that is where controversy really kicked in…….. Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous authors…….

The Marcus……..? (According to Peter Collings)

“……She was a German registered vessel and sailed under several names, including ‘Naguilan’, ‘Nordhaff’ and ‘Atlas’ until 1971, when after an extensive fire, she was declared a total constructive loss. She was then sold to Greek interests and again went through several changes in ownership and name changes. The vessel finally took on the name ‘Marcus’ in 1978.”

Peter Collings (Collings. P. “The Tile Wreck Her True Story” https://issuu.com/maxshow/docs/4-2019_tile_wreck  07/2019. Maxshow Ltd. Accessed 17/08/21) e- book:

“BUILT at Flensburgh Bremen in 1956 by Flensburger Schiffe for the Atlas Levante Line, as the MV ATLAS and registered at Bremen, (Lloyds list no less than 18 vessels called ATLAS at this time) she was described as a general cargo ship, fitted with MAN diesel engines, 381 ft long, 2699 tons. In 1959 she became the NAGUILAN, until in 1959 she was sold to Klauss E Oldendorff (who had owned the Dora Oldendorff, later to become the Chrisoula K). Under that ownership she became the NORDHAFF. In 1971 she was on a voyage from New Orleans to Bordeaux and Brest with a cargo of soya bean meal when fire broke out in her engine room. One man died and four were injured. She made port at Mobile. After making temporary repairs she finalised her journey, but was then declared a total constructive loss. At this point she would appear to have become declassified with Lloyds and the trail goes cold”

1. P Collings assertion the Atlas/Nordhaff (5246001) trail goes cold following declassification by Lloyds does not follow the information known for the vessel, which has “Nordhoff” sold to Pandio Shipping Corporation, Piraeus, Greece and re-named as Nikitas II 1971-1974 and then sold to Siam Maritime Lines Co Ltd, Bangkok, Thailand and re-named Siam Queen 1974-1976 and finally re-named Simali 1 from 1976 to 2015

M/S ATLAS 1951 LR No.(IMO) 5246001
Built 1951 at Flensburger shiffsbau

Launched: 15.03.1951 & Delivered to Atlas Levante-Linie A.G., Bremen on 30.05.1951

  The Atlas has had an interesting life, apart from the immersion in the controversy of the Abu Nuhas “Tile Wreck”. Whilst in Hamburg, Germany, 02^nd October in 1958 she suffered an explosion from “a magnetic mine” towards her bows, flooding her from the Starboard and immobilizing her with a 55’ list and grounded bow at shed 72/3 for some time. Atlas was repaired at Blohm und Voss shipyard and returned to the Levante Line on Jan 27^th of 1959, the Levante Line then changing her name to Naguilan

I am not sure how Atlas could ever be confused as the Tile Wreck on Abu Nuhas notwithstanding the fact she is still sailing or at least likely afloat up till 2015, her stern is just incompatible with the Tile Wreck, Atlas had a stern castle shelter-deck which extends to her hull in all directions which the Tile Wreck does not show and never had as there is no evidence of removal and no wreckage of such a feature present at the site. For both those reasons it is safe to say that the Atlas IMO 5246001 is not, and never could have been the Tile Wreck on Abu Nuhas

My next dive on the Tile Wreck would be in November of 2008, the infamous “THREE WRECKS IN ONE DIVE” (25/11/2008), detailed in the Giannis D, and Carnatic piece in the wreck section of this blog: “…..Starting with the Chrisoula K Dropping onto the stern and round the rudder & prop She’s on her Starboard side – round to the bridge & then through the tool room past the lathe & on into the hold through the cargo of floor tiles round to the bows passing many colourful fish & a spotted Ray. A five minute swim with the reef on our left took us to the Carnatic…….” 

To Be or Not to Be……The Chrisoula K or Marcus Debate……

Let us consider the facts before we debate the circumstances, “….I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him…….”

Fact 1:

The bow of the Chrisoula K was clearly identified as completely separate from the main wreckage on Abu Nuhas, incidental to where the remains of the hull may be

Fact 2:

The wreck known locally as the “tile wreck” still has the bow attached and therefore cannot be the Chrisoula K

Statement:

  From these two facts it can be logically determined that there is a wreck full of tiles on Abu Nuhas which remains to this day controversially “nameless” in as much as there is nothing to identify her visible in terms of hull markings. It can also be determined that the only way of identifying this wreck must come from physical characteristics matched to a vessel and a record, or records of a vessel which can then be traced to the reef at Abu Nuhas

The next opportunity I got to dive the Tile Wreck was in July of 2013, my first trip with a Go-Pro camera, unfortunately also the first time 64GB micro SD cards were available and, unknown to most of us, especially those new to the Go-Pro, those same cards caused an OS meltdown rendering the £500 spent on the camera and its peripherals useless, I still had the dives but also a bitter disappointment that there was no record of them! Anyhow, my Navy Log Book describes the dive in typical fashion: “30/07/13 Kimon M & Chrisoula K – Abu Nuhas – Red Sea dropped onto Chrisoula K we spent time diving the prop & rudder before entering the stern section & winding our way round the battered stern hold area which is collapsing in on itself slowly a long swim from stern to bow along the port side to exit at the break aft of the bow which is missing. Through the remains of the starboard side & hold to exit and transit the reef for a couple of hundred meters to the Kimon M again down the starboard side to the prop & rudder which lie on the seabed to starboard. We swam through then circled to the stern deck housing and wended through the collapsed rear section which is dangerously collapsed in but can still be negotiated up through the hull which leads to the engine room which was swam through & then back into to go through the port side which allowed a swim through and out to turn back at the missing bow section and a swim along the starboard side – over the hull to deco below our moored boat Air In 210 Out 80 Buddy Craig” Once again it seems the dive guide has briefed the Kimon M as the Chrisoula K and vice-versa as the dive description as I re-read it now would make far more sense to have started on the Kimon M where her stern is over to Starboard and more damaged than the Chrisoula K however at that time I was more interested in the wrecks themselves than the accuracy of the identification, after all, both vessels are very similar until you lens them a little deeper…….

Disclaimer:

  Those of you who have spent time on this site will perhaps be aware that I know Ned Middleton, not in any hugely significant (to this issue at least) way, it would be unfair to claim much more than a passing acquaintance, however I have met, briefly worked with, and get on very well (to date at least, although I’m sure this article might grate a little, I trust Ned’s innate sense of fair play to not let that truly antagonise….) with Ned and I admire Ned’s professionalism and diligence in all he writes. I have no personal knowledge of Peter Collings, save that I also admire his writings and have enjoyed coming across his pieces whilst researching some detail on the wrecks I have dived in the Red Sea. I also trust this piece, if either ever reads it, stands as a review of fact and an interesting “other” viewpoint, generated from the controversy of the Chrisoula K alone, and not of any desire to throw incendiaries amongst the Yorkshire Divers “MMA” (Mixed Maritime Articles…..?) web-site ding-dong of a few years ago……

And so…… to de-bunking current assumptions:

Peter Collings (Collings. P. “The Tile Wreck Her True Story” https://issuu.com/maxshow/docs/4-2019_tile_wreck  07/2019. Maxshow Ltd. Accessed 17/08/21)

“BUILT at Flensburgh Bremen in 1956 by Flensburger Schiffe for the Atlas Levante Line, as the MV ATLAS and registered at Bremen, (Lloyds list no less than 18 vessels called ATLAS at this time) she was described as a general cargo ship, fitted with MAN diesel engines, 381 ft long, 2699 tons. In 1959 she became the NAGUILAN, until in 1959 she was sold to Klauss E Oldendorff (who had owned the Dora Oldendorff, later to become the Chrisoula K). Under that ownership she became the NORDHAFF…….”

1. Peter Collings assertion the wreck he goes on to refer to as “Marcus” had originally been named MV ATLAS built in 1956 is not possible if, as he asserts, she then became the Naguilan and Nordhaff etc. That vessel was the MV Atlas built at Flensburgh Bremen by Flensburger Schiffe for the Atlas Levante Line in 1951 (not 1956), LR Number 5246001. Renamed on 27.01.1959 as NAGUILAN (DEAA) 1959-1967, then returned to her original name ATLAS from 1967-1969. She was sold to shipping company “Nord” (Klaus Oldendorff), Hamburg 02.10.1969 and re-named  NORDHAFF (DEAA) 1969-1971. On the 21.05.1971 she was sold to Pandio Shipping Corporation, Piraeus, Greece and re-named NIKITAS II 1971-1974. In 1974 she was again sold, this time to Siam Maritime Lines Co. Ltd., Bangkok, Thailand when she was re-named SIAM QUEEN (HSKG) 1974-1976. In 1976 she was again, and for the last time re-named SIMALI I (HSKG) 1976-2015. As Simali 1, LR No. 5246001 she was still in motion in Equasis (Maritime Tracking Database)in 2015 making it impossible she was sunk on Abu Nuhas

“…….In 1971 she was on a voyage from New Orleans to Bordeaux and Brest with a cargo of soya bean meal when fire broke out in her engine room. One man died and four were injured. She made port at Mobile. After making temporary repairs she finalised her journey, but was then declared a total constructive loss. At this point she would appear to have become declassified with Lloyds and the trail goes cold”

2. Peter Collings assertion the Atlas/Nordhaff (5246001) trail goes cold following declassification by Lloyds does not follow the information known for the vessel, as noted above, which has the Nordhoff sold to Pandio Shipping Corporation, Piraeus, Greece and re-named as Nikitas II 1971-1974 and then sold to Siam Maritime Lines Co Ltd, Bangkok, Thailand and re-named Siam Queen 1974-1976 and finally re-named Simali 1 from 1976 to 2015 and was still in motion (sailing) in 2015 according to several maritime tracking systems

“During our two dives (no nitrox, no computers, no camera’s) the ships bell was recovered and retained by Saleem. As well as bearing her original name the date and port of registry were marked clearly – BREMEN 1951,.- a fact lost for many years. The painted name on her hull and wooden boards reading Marcus……”

3. Peter Collings assertion here, that the Atlas Bell was marked 1951 differs from his later claim, and indeed the photograph he presents as that of the Atlas Bell, “….recovered and retained by Saleem”, the captain of the dive boat who recovered it from the tile wreck bears the markings Atlas Bremen 19(8?)56….

4. To have the Bell marked “Atlas Bremen” as Peter Collings asserts, she must have started life as the Atlas……(Bells are not removed from the ship at transfer of ownership or name)

“After many years I tracked Saleem down and among the many treasures he had collected was several of the stone statues and indeed a ships bell – covered in white paint. He had obviously gone back to the wreck after our visit! After much persuasion and many shisha’s, he allowed me to clean up the bell and take photos of it. So we both ended up with a piece of treasure from the tile wreck. I now had the ultimate proof of the vessels identity …. The bell, inscribed ATLAS, BREMEN 1956……..”

5. Peter Collings may be forgiven for the initial date claimed for the bell and perhaps the later statement changing the year of manufacture, based on the years between the original dives on the wreck and the re-discovery and cleaning of the bell, were it not contained in the same piece, where at the very least the discrepancy merits some clarification? The original date claimed (1951) for the bell would have been aligned to the MV Atlas, 5246001, but the later date of 1956 clearly removes that vessel from the bell itself if not from the whole of Peter Collings proposal of that vessel being the tile wreck. (I have to mention the photo of the bell gives my tired old eyes the distinct impression it is dated 1856 rather than 1956…..)     

“Reproduction of a postcard from Stefan Jablonski’s collection. Many vessels carried a stock of postcards on board for the crews use. Printed on the back the notation “M.V ATLAS 1956 BREMEN, ATLAS LEVANTE. Inscribed in Stefan’s hand in Polish,” Joined May 78 as Marcus V.S.L…….”

6. The postcard exhibited in Peter Collings piece cannot be categorically identified as any particular vessel, the stern name is unclear, however, the shipping line is on the funnel as YS….or is it VS?…the shipping line Stephan Jablonski asserts he was signed with was the “Vikki Shipping Line”

“…….In 1978 I was employed by the Vikki Shipping Line. They were a Greek merchant fleet, made up of very old ships…..”

 It would perhaps have been more “immediate” as evidence if the reverse of the card had been an accompanying photograph? I have seen many ships cards and they often use generic photos to represent a class of ships a particular line favours or owns. One thing is clear Stephan Jablonski (the crew member Peter Collings interviewed from several Abu Nuhas wrecks, aboard each at the time of wrecking) confirms the postcard he sent to Peter Collings

“……Quite often the ship would have a different name on the postcard. (I have previously sent one of these to Peter because of his interest in the ships)……”

One thing though is certain, the stern of this vessel is not that of the tile wreck which has distinctive differences, the most obvious being the lifeboat davits present on the tile wreck but absent on the postcard vessel. There is also a gangway extending to stern on the stern-castle of the postcard vessel, but not on the tile wreck, nor is there any evidence of a second level of stern deck/accommodation on the tile wreck, even the mast showing on the tile wreck is different from that on the postcard vessel, all things considered, unless extensive modification had been carried out on the postcard vessel (and could be evidenced), it cannot legitimately claim to be the tile wreck

7. Finally It should be noted that the Atlas (5246001) has two 9 cylinder engines, “…single-acting four-stroke Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg (MAN) Augsburg Diesel Engines 3,600 PSe / 375 rpm” whilst the Dora Oldendorff (IMO 5092723)  has only a single 9 cylinder two stroke MAN Diesel “2-stroke diesel engine (MAN) of the type G 9 Z 52/90 (9 cylinders / 52 cm piston diameter / 90 cm piston stroke” producing 2700 PSe at 136 rpm

Burden of proof:

P Collings perhaps has the means of categorically proving the tile wreck is indeed the MV Marcus and if so, I am not sure why that wider range of evidence has not been shared and does not appear in his piece on the Chrisoula K

“……two significant pieces of evidence came into my possession, one of which was a photograph taken in 1979 – by non other than HOWARD ROSENSTEIN (who had discovered the DUNRAVEN) – the photo clearly shows the MARCUS sinking and indeed her name can be made out quite clearly painted on the bow – Shadwan Island is discernible in the background….”

If the photo above is truly supposed to show the MARCUS sinking,“……..and indeed her name can be made out quite clearly painted on the bow….” then I am at odds with Peter Collings insomuch as I cannot adequately discern the name on the bow, perhaps, again, my eyes are too old? If a better photograph exists  I suggest that it is shared with the wider diving public (if it hasn’t so far?) then all that will remain is categorically tying the wreck with a named and built vessel with clear and dated origins, history and ownership from birth to death and a proven timeline to meet its sinking…..but then isn’t that where we are currently?

So to the Ned Middleton Piece and the Yorkshire Divers website piece, (the tone of which is oddly not like Ned’s usual outlook from what I have seen of Ned, and from how Ned’s research has always come across to me after reading most of his books and hoovering up his Red Sea pieces, especially on Thistlegorm, but I digress……) Ned seems fixed on the “lack” of a Marcus and polarized on the “must” therefore be Chrisoula K……I don’t get that, it’s just not really Ned….

“…….I can assure people that there is no shipwreck on Sha’ab Abu Nuhas (or anywhere else in Egypt) called Marko, Markos, Markus or Marcus and instead of my having to continually refute these assertions to the contrary, I do so wish those who insist otherwise would simply provide details of such a ship…….”

All I can take from the YD piece (https//www.yorkshire-divers.com/threads/marcus- or- Chrisoula- K.47077/#post-576870:.On-Line resource: Accessed 18/08/2021) is perhaps a sense of deep frustration from Ned that others are simply challenging “by assumption” rather than presenting hard fact or compelling evidence, I can easily understand Ned’s situation from that perspective

I have a couple of points which perplex me and the first is that the stern of the Tile wreck is not a perfect match for the Dora Oldendorff, which eventually became the Chrisoula K before her known and widely proven demise on Abu Nuhas. This (above) is the stern of the Dora Oldendorff, launched. 27.2.1954, completed by Orenstein & Koppel & Lübecker Maschinenbau Gesellschaft, Lübeck (No. 467) for E. L. Oldendorff & Co. GmbH., Lübeck (DEU) taken from their own company history, and (below) a close-up taken prior to her sale on the 16.12.1970 to Interocean Shipping Co. SA., Piraeus (GRC), when she was renamed ANNA B

Comparison with the Tile Wreck is certainly far better than that of the supposed Marcus of Stephan Jablonski’s postcard, inasmuch as there is no Secondary superstructure at the stern-castle, and there is no Gangway to the stern from the stern castle deck. It should also be evident the stern mooring bollards (x3 port and starboard) are accurate to both the Dora Oldendorff and the Tile Wreck, the lifeboat davits are present and correct to both ships, as is the stern mast, neither of which is the case for the supposed “Marcus” in Stephan Jablonski’s postcard

In another shot of the stern of the Tile Wreck (below) we can see a slightly more advantageous angle which allows comparison of the stern castle door, in the shot above it looks distinctly “Portside” whereas the Dora Oldendorff had a central Stern castle door, apparent in the Oldendorff history shot and in the pre-sale close-up. That is clarified in the shot below which also shows the stern has a row of open ports, two either side of the centre-line of the stern and one each port and starboard on the stern castle either side of the door, and two stern rope eyes again identical to the Dora Oldendorff shots. The perplexing bit is the stern castle door is much narrower on the Tile Wreck than the Dora Oldendorff seems to be, a minor point but nevertheless an obvious one, and the obvious and prominent raised plate laps or seams on the Dora Oldendorff do not appear on the Tile Wreck, another minor point and perhaps moot if the concretion of years underwater could be rubbed away to reveal such features, highly possible, (far more so than finding a second stern deck level as we would have to do to match the supposed “Marcus” postcard and the Tile wreck)

 Enough of the he said she said……..let’s Break Stuff…..

Let’s examine a different “perspective” for a moment and review what, before now, has been taken to be “fact”…. Fact 1 (from the outset of this piece) can be challenged, it may seem a little odd to do so, however, indulge me for a moment, let’s take another look at the bow shot of the Chrisoula K on Abu Nuhas

The initial impression is of a bow, separate from the remainder of her hull at or around the fore-peak deck division yes? OK, how about we ask ourselves a couple of questions before we look at the second “Chrisoula K” bow shot. Firstly, can we see any rails at the bow between the highest point of the bow at the break of forepeak and fore-castle deck? Secondly there is a clearly defined plate overlap/strake under the Port Anchor hawse and a distinct strengthener welded around the Port Anchor hawse. Lastly is it too far-fetched to believe the remains of the hull may……and I am going to repeat that….. “may” be obscured by the angle of the shot? Let’s take another look at the second Abu Nuhas bow shot

This is purported to be a second shot of the bow of Chrisoula K and features in many of the written pieces on her sinking, looking at this shot, a different angle admittedly, this would seem to show conclusively that the Chrisoula K’s bow was indeed entirely separate from her hull remains. Peter Collings uses an engineer’s report on the similarities, in part, to underscore his piece. It can be seen that there is a distinct handrail set, not bent over but upright, in fact seemingly bowed out at the third & fourth upright, on the Port Bow between the fore-peak and the Forecastle deck where it meets the break at the main deck. It may just be the angle the bow is sitting at but it seems the starboard anchor is hawsed higher on this bow than it does on the Chrisoula K’s bow? Sadly, the strengthener around the Starboard Hawse does not show on the unnamed bow shot, oddly, and, again it “may” just be the angle of the shot, but neither does the welded plate overlap/seam show, no matter how much I zoom the shot…..It would seem there are some distinct and noteworthy anomalies if we are to confidently believe the two shots are of the same bow, lastly there is a distinct flag-staff or “angled vent pipe” at the bow of the second shot, absent from the fist by the angle…..co-incidence……. or deliberate cropping of the shot?

 In the shot above it is clear there were two bows in close proximity believed to be in 1978 when the Kimon M hit Abu Nuhas and sank. I cannot adequately discern from the photo the name on the right hand side of the photo although Peter Collings is convinced it shows “Marcus”, I will leave each reader to decide the accuracy of that. On the Left hand side it is clear the bow in question has a vent/flag-staff with a “crook” style turn at its top, an anchor hawse very close to the bow and, from the vent visible above the water to the rear of the fore-mast & derrick, it would seem the remains of the wreck are still attached to the bow, sadly there is no name discernible from the bow of this vessel either. Is it too much to think this is the Chrisoula K, and that the shot was taken not in 1978 but a little later in 1981, and that this is in fact Chrisoula K, her bow and remaining hull still attached as she slips back off the reef in tidal surge due to buoyancy and the weight of her hull and cargo? It would certainly leave an intact hull, to a greater or lesser extent, as in the tile wreck on Abu Nuhas, and it would leave an unnamed, almost identical, if earlier bow remaining on the reef in very close proximity to the Tile Wreck

Atlas: Ask Not For Whom the Bell Tolls…..   

Let us now examine the 1957 built ATLAS, IMO 5029788, is it likely or even possible this is the vessel “Marcus”? Firstly, the Bell (Marked 19(8?)56) displayed as evidence in P Collings piece would still be incorrect to the vessel and its build date, especially considering the 1957 Atlas was built by John Readhead of South Tyneside and therefore it is impossible her bell would be cast as “Atlas Bremen” unless that was her full christened name, which we know not to be the case. We also know that the Atlas of 1957 (5029788) was re-named Kapetan Xilas in 1973 and then re-named Moajil 5 in 1979 spending some 8 years stranded in Umm Qasr before being re-named Bhojanii II and being broken up at Guajarati in 1989, making it impossible for her to have been the Marcus or being the tile wreck at Abu Nuhas  

The Tolling of the Iron Bell……..

At this point it would seem that neither of the “Atlas” vessels could be the “Marcus” as both have absolute ends and neither was at Abu Nuhas, the MV Atlas IMO 5246001 of 1951 is still afloat in 2015 as the Simalee I, and the MV Atlas IMO 5029788 of 1957 was broken up on the shore at Guajarati in 1989 as the Bhojani II

Summary & Closing Comments:

Having examined the Peter Collings claim that the “Tile Wreck” is the MV Marcus, formerly the Levante “Atlas” and having conclusively proved that cannot be the case, there are still questions to be answered as there is indeed one too many ships bows on Abu Nuhas in the North Eastern Reef area. Is Peter Collings right when he states “….The final piece of the puzzle was solved by a skipper onboard one of the safari boats I had worked on. As he watched my presentation of the wrecks at Abu Nu has he recalled seeing two tugs attempting to pull the Chrisoula K off the reef. The main section of the ship broke off, leaving the bow behind, and as the tugs surged forward the ship began to sink almost taking the tugs with it.” Which indicates another wreck, minus it’s bow, should be found in the North East section of Abu Nuhas away from the main reef in deeper water, Peter Collings claims to have identified such a wreck however I know of no other divers who have had the privilege of diving it, at some 80m it is out of most diver’s usual range, although even other technical divers have not come forward with such a find or evidence of such  a wreck, it would be a newsworthy event at the least even if mainly for the diving community……

  My last dive on the Tile Wreck took place in August of 2015 off the Liveaboard Blue Melody, of the Blue 02 fleet…..In true fashion the wreck leaves me with another mystery, the film is some 43 minutes or so long, missing the deco around 10 or 15 minutes of dive-time, easily explained by a battery fail on the Go-Pro, however more so, the mystery deepens as there is no record of the dive in my Navy Log….no write-up, nothing, the date on the video “properties” is 09^th August 2015, that’s not possible, we were on Abu Nuhas 03^rd August of 2015, we moved to Abu Nuhas from Sha’ab Ali on the 02^nd after a night dive on Thistlegorm, dived Carnatic, the Tile Wreck and Ghiannis D before moving to the Brother Islands on the night of the 03^rd August….but there isn’t a log entry for the Tile Wreck nor Chrisoula K, but the video is there ultimately proving the dive took place and, in truth, just adding to the enigma that the Tile Wreck has become……

Will there ever be conclusive proof that the Tile Wreck is the Chrisoula K? It kind of depends on your requirement for absolute or overwhelming evidence, there is not likely to be manufacturer’s plates remaining, serialized in sufficient detail to conclusively prove the Chrisoula K is the tile wreck, and there certainly isn’t a smoking gun in terms of a hull name. If you consider the similarities of the remaining wreckage on the reef itself, then it might be apparent to you that the overwhelming evidence available indicates that the Tile Wreck is in fact the Chrisoula K. If you are a more cynical or perhaps a more “agenda” oriented individual, then it is likely you will see conspiracy everywhere you look on Abu Nuhas, and that will likely only re-enforce the “Atlas/Marcus” slant to the wreck…..for me, having (clearly from the Giannis D piece elsewhere on here) been at times in both “camps”, I have reached the personal conclusion, based on the premise “if it looks like shit, it smells like shit and tastes like shit….”  Then the “Tile Wreck” is, in the most demonstrably realistic of cases, the Chrisoula K, originally the Dora Oldendorff IMO 5092723, however, to conclusively prove that…..It seems the easiest of ways to evidence the Tile Wreck as the Chrisoula K (Dora Oldendorff), is to confirm there is only one engine in her hull, as there is only, as far as I recall, one engine in the Tile Wreck and not two, although I am going from memory here and it would need conclusive photos or video to finally and categorically close this issue……

Anyhow, why not take a dive with me on the Tile Wreck, or, as I will return to calling her….The Chrisoula K

As always I am lucky enough to stand on the shoulders of giants, my thanks for that privilege goes to Ned Middleton for his superb Red Sea Wreck Diving books and to Peter Colling’s intriguing pieces on the Tile Wreck and for introducing the mysterious “Marcus” into the Abu Nuhas enigma and to Rico Oldfield for his Stunning Wreck Depiction

I am, again, deeply indebted and grateful to Mark Milburn & Derek Aughton for the use of their Photos of our dives on the Chrisoula K on Abu Nuhas

SS Carnatic

SS Carnatic was a British sail-steamship, one of many built on the banks of the river Thames in London, not far from the mouth of the River Lea, at Cubitt Town on the Isle of Dogs in 1862-63. The Carnatic, originally intended to be named “Mysore”, was built by the Samuda Brothers for the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O) and intended for the Bombay run in the years before the Suez Canal was opened. There was a popular and regular trade route to what was a British colony at that time, India…..there were many who traded, many who served and those who lived there, all needed dependable, fast transport and a sail-steamship-operated route from Britain to India, (connecting with similar steamships running through the Mediterranean to Alexandria, with an overland crossing to Suez) was the optimum route right up until the canal was completed in 1869, some 7 years after Carnatic sailed her maiden voyage

SS Carnatic was, eventually (more on that a little later) named after a region in India, somewhat unsurprisingly considering her intended trade route. Carnatic is a peninsular South Indian region between the Eastern Ghats and the Bay of Bengal, known as the “Coromandel Coast” in Madras. The region was, again, “somewhat unsurprisingly” (given its local Anglicized nick-name), known for the beautifully grained Coromandel wood, much favoured by furniture makers of the time, and is now known as the “Madras Presidency” in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Carnatic is also a form of Southern Indian music, known as Karnāṭaka saṅgītam (Online resource, Wikipedia: “Carnatic Music” accessed 11/07/2021.  )  “…..It is one of two main subgenres of Indian classical music that evolved from ancient Sanatana dharma sciences and traditions” and takes its most common form as “…..usually performed by a small ensemble of musicians, consisting of a principal performer (usually a vocalist), a melodic accompaniment (usually a violin), a rhythm accompaniment (usually a mridangam), and a tambura, which acts as a drone throughout the performance”

For those of you addicted to technical details the Carnatic was built to these requirements, when contracted between P&O and the Samuda Brothers:

Carnatic was one of the earlier ships to be fitted with a compound engine, intended to achieve a better fuel economy (at 2lbs of coal per indicated horsepower-hour, against a consumption of 2.2lbs for a non-compound unit) than most other contemporary steamers. On journeys of such length as Britain to India the more economically a ship could sail, the better profit from the related trade, it also made sense as there was limited capacity for carrying coal on board. The compound engine was unusual at that time for a British ship, Carnatic’s boiler was run at 26 psi (180 kPa) due to the regulations of the day, in 1862 higher pressures were not allowed by the British Board of Trade. A compound steam engine operates cylinders through more than one stage, at different pressure levels (Until the development of compound engines, steam engines used the steam only once before they recycled it back to the boiler). The invention of the marine compound steam engine is mostly accredited to John Elder of Glasgow in or around 1850, it seems that Elder took a design by an American, J. P. Allaire, from 1824 and improved it to make it safe for marine use and more economical. The Carnatic was fitted with a Humphry’s, Tennant & Dykes 4 cylinder expansion engine, with cylinders in two pairs, using a Woolf compound system. (Online resource, Wikipedia: “Humphrys Tennant & Dykes. Woolf expansion engines exhibited 1862”accessed 11/07/2021) “…..The cylinders were steam jacketed and arranged in pairs using the Woolf compound system, with the smaller (43” diameter) cylinder being above the larger one (of 96 inch diameter). The 4 cylinders drove a single screw propeller 16 feet in diameter”. Carnatic was originally to be named Mysore, I have no information on why her name was changed seemingly “last minute”, however, she was launched as Carnatic on 12 June 1862, and completed 25 April 1863, having been constructed with an iron-framed, wooden-planked, hull and fitted with square-rigged sails described as “fully rigged”, being a sailing vessel with two or more masts, all of them square-rigged

According to “THE MARINE STEAM ENGINE, A Treatise for Engineering Students, Young Engineers, and Officers of the Royal Navy and Mercantile Marine”,  (Sennett, R (Engineer-in-Chief of the Navy) & Oram, H.J. (Senior Engineer Director at the Admiralty) Published By Longmann’s, Green & Co1899), a “compound” engine recycles the steam into one or more larger, lower-pressure second cylinders first, to use more of its heat energy, the number of expansion stages defines the engine, not the number of cylinders, a compound engine can refer to a steam engine with any number of different-pressure cylinders, however, the term usually refers to engines that expand steam through only two stages, operating cylinders at only two different pressures (also known as “double-expansion” engines)

Carnatic’s builders, the Samuda Brothers, leased a dockyard on the Goodluck Hope peninsula, Leamouth, London, from 1843 part of the “Isle of Dogs” at the mouth of Bow Creek. Joseph D’Aguilar Samuda, born in 1813, was the son of Abraham Samuda a Jewish East and West India merchant from Finsbury, and Joy, daughter of H. D’Aguilar of Enfield Chase Middlesex. Joseph became an engineer, shipbuilder, MP (Liberal Party Member for Tavistock, 1865, retained until the dissolution in 1868, then as Member for the Tower Hamlets, re-elected in 1874 until 1880) and founder-member of the Institution of Naval Architects. In the 1830s he and his brother, Jacob, partnered in an ironworks and engineering yard at Southwark

  In 1843, the brothers leased land on Goodluck Hope peninsula, (a site that was, perhaps, not ideal, being closely surrounded by other industrial premises, however, these businesses provided vital support functions initially) and began a shipyard specialising in the construction of iron steamships. The original Samuda Brothers site can be seen in the illustration below, marked as the “Old Mill” site, “Samudas did not relinquish the Orchard Place yard until about 1856” (On-Line Resource: Courtesy british–history.ac.uk/survey-london/vols43-4/pp655-685#anchorn164 Accessed 12/07/2021)

The Samuda brothers had learned the art of steam and its maritime application in the hardest of ways, disaster struck with Gypsy Queen, one of their first ships, which exploded on return from its test trip in November 1844. Jacob Samuda was killed with nine of the firm’s employees. There was a further explosion at their shipyard in 1845 and another three workers were killed, it seemed tragedy was only a heartbeat away in the early days of steam and sailing ships…..

A contemporary report of the day, taken from the illustrated London news, November 16, 1844 and reported in the Isle of Dogs Life, “Shipbuilding on the Isle of Dogs: The Story of the Samuda Brothers” (On-Line Resource: isleofdogslife.wordpress.com/tag/joseph-daguilar-samuda/ Accessed 12/07/2021) has it that “About five o’clock on Tuesday afternoon, a most frightful and fatal accident, involving the death of seven persons, occurred on board the steam boat Gypsy Queen, lying at one of the Blackwall buoys off the Brunswick Pier. Besides loss of life, there are five persons more or less injured by the unfortunate occurrence, and who were conveyed to the London Hospital, one or two with slight hopes of recovery. It would appear that the unfortunate vessel (the Gypsy Queen) is a new iron steam-boat, of about 500 tons burden, having two engines of 150 horse power each. The boat is the first built by the firm of Jacob and Joseph Samuda, who, within the last two years, took premises in Bow-creek, for the purpose of carrying out their intention of building steam-boats……”

“……… At 3 o’clock in the afternoon the vessel left the creek for an experimental trip, having on board about 20 persons, including Mr Benjamin Samuda, the principal of the firm. She went down the river to below Woolwich in gallant style, answering all the expectations of her constructors. On her return to Blackwall she was moored to one of the buoys, where it was intended she should remain all night, and be got ready for another trip the following day, In a short time after the vessel had been made fast, an explosion was heard by persons on the Brunswick Pier to proceed from the direction of the steamer, and almost immediately afterwards, cries for boats proceeded from the same quarter. Not a moment was lost in making towards the steamer, when the most heart-rending sight presented itself to those who went to the rescue. Five persons were there found, apparently in a state of madness, running to and fro the deck, screaming with anguish, while their appearance showed that their lamentations were real. With all speed they were conveyed on shore and met with every attention. The agonizing cries of these unfortunate persons were said to be dreadful. They begged for cold water to quell the scalding heat they were suffering in their throats, and when the cooling fluid was applied to the mouths of one or two, the skin from their lips peeled off as though under the influence of a scaring iron. They were conveyed, without loss of time, to the London Hospital. It is well known to those who went on board that the above five were not the only sufferers; but, alas for them there was no means of escape; they were in the engine-room which was so filled with steam, that to get them out was impossible until the scalding vapour had escaped. In order, therefore, to facilitate their extrication, the decks were cut up with pickaxes, adzes, crowbars. Seven human forms, scalded to death, were there discovered. Six of them were shortly after recognised and proved to be Mr. Jacob Samuda, the head of the firm ; Dodds, engineer; James Saunders, also an engineer, appointed to the Gypsy Queen, and who only went on board a few hours before he lost his life; Mr. Scofield, engine-fitter at the factory of the Messrs. Samuda ; Thomas Nugent, an apprentice; John Newman, stoker ; and a man whose name is not yet known, he having been employed only a few hours by the firm”

If the report is accurate, and there is no reason to doubt its authenticity, “…the cause of the accident was found to be the giving way of the joints of a large steam-pipe connecting the boilers with the cylinders of the machinery”

The Samudas moved to Cubitt Town in 1852, the need to expand coming from a growing order book and reducing space surrounding them, by now the company was run solely by Joseph Samuda, following Jacob’s untimely death. The Samuda yard in Cubitt Town specialised in iron and steel warships and steamers, beating other London shipyards to orders from Germany, Russia and Japan. By the time of Carnatic’s launch the Samuda brothers were the pre-eminent shipbuilders on the Thames and Carnatic could be considered as a state of the art sail-steamer, quite rightly an exemplar of the genre, and a worthy investment for the new and proud owners, the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company

  P&O already had a fleet of compound-engined ships built in the 1860’s, Carnatic would be an addition to the steamships Poonah (1863), Golconda (1863) and Baronda (1864). Prior to the Suez Canal opening the shortest route to India from Great Britain was to sail round the Cape of Good Hope, a distance at which steam ships were not yet sufficiently economical to be commercially competitive with sail-ships. Compound steam engines made a significant difference and, with their more dependent journey times assuring passengers of meeting onward deadlines, they were fast becoming the ships of choice. Peninsular Steam Navigation Company began when Brodie Willcox, a London ship broker, and Arthur Anderson, a Shetland Isles sailor, initiated a partnership operating routes between England and Spain and Portugal. In 1835, Dublin ship owner and Captain, Richard Bourne joined the business and they expanded services to include Vigo, Oporto, Lisbon and Cádiz

The company flag colours represent the Portuguese and Spanish flags. During the Carlist Wars of 1833 – 1876, followers of Don Carlos fought a civil war against “Liberalism”, a threat to the Catholic ways of Spain & Portugal, similar in some ways to the British “Left Wing – Right Wing” dichotomy of the present day….but with weapons. The British supported the “legitimate heirs of Spain and Portugal”, essentially Don Carlos and his “Carlists”, the three P&O founders were passionate supporters too, undertaking gun running and chartering steamers on behalf of the cause, because of this association and involvement, P&O officers are still the only Merchant Navy officers entitled to wear swords. In 1837 P&O had won a British Admiralty contract to deliver mail to the Iberian Peninsula and in 1840 they acquired a contract to deliver mail to Alexandria in Egypt. P&O was “incorporated” in 1840 by Royal Charter, in 1844 P&O introduced their first passenger services, a leisure cruise from Southampton to the Mediterranean (the first ever passenger “cruise service”), later introducing more adventurous trips, to Egypt (Alexandria) and even Constantinople, modern day Istanbul. In 1869, Sept 12^th, when Carnatic ran hard aground on Abu Nuhas, breaking apart and going to the bottom the following morning (Sept 14th 1869), she was carrying 34 passengers and 176 crew. Carnatic’s cargo was mail from the Indian colonies and Egypt, cotton, bottles of wine, soda and £40,000 worth of copper sheet and gold, she sank taking with her 5 passengers and 26 crew, a tragic loss of 31 souls. What follows is the full transcript of one of those wrecked on the Carnatic, taken from the London Illustrated News of 16^th October 1869, from the account of Major J.U. Champain RE (Royal Engineers), who, remarkably, along with several other passengers on the Carnatic, had just survived the grounding of another vessel off Alexandria, the “Pera”. I make no apologies for including the entire piece without edit

The Illustrated London News, 16 October 1869: (P&O Heritage Ship “Fact Sheet” Carnatic (1863) poheritage.com/Upload/Mimsy/factsheet/92888CARNATIC-1863pdf.pdf Online resource: Accessed 20/07/2021) “THE WRECK OF THE CARNATIC. “The wreck of the Peninsular and Oriental Company’s steam-ship Carnatic – having struck, on Monday, the 13th ult, an hour after midnight, upon a reef of coral off the desolate isle of Shadwan, or Shadooan, at the mouth of the Gulf of Suez – has been related in former accounts. We have been favoured by one of the passengers, Major J U Champain, RE, with a sketch of the position of the wreck and the people, some clinging to the foremast, others standing up to their waists in the sea, after the vessel broke asunder, on the Tuesday. Major Champain also contributes to our Journal the following narrative, which will be read with interest :– “At ten o’clock on the morning of Sunday, Sept. 12, the steamship Carnatic, a magnificent vessel of 1,700 tons, commanded by Captain Jones, left Suez on her way to Bombay. There were on board, altogether, some 230 souls and a valuable cargo. The weather was lovely and, with a fair breeze, we went at ten or twelve knots an hour. About one o’clock on Monday morning we were roused from our sleep by a smart shock, and, going on deck, we saw what had happened. The night was brilliantly clear, though the moon had set. The Ushruffi lighthouse, which we had passed an hour before, on our starboard side, showed brightly on our port quarter. Close under our bows was a long line of white surf, apparently extending at right angles to our direction several hundred yards on each side of the ship, and high in front of us loomed the CARNATIC (1863) 0083 1863/0418 island of Shadooan, some 600 ft. above the sea at its most elevated peak. At night the passengers were of opinion that the island was not more than a mile or a mile and a half distant; but when day broke it was evidently much farther, and I shall not be very wrong if I say it was three or four miles from us in a direct line. On examining our position, we found that the vessel, running before the wind at about eleven knots, had struck full on a large coral reef (plainly marked on the chart), and had forced herself into a most critical position. The reef itself lay exactly ahead of the ship, and was about a square mile in extent; nearly out of water at low tide, but about 4 ft. under at high water. Its surface was almost level, though here and there a few small rocks rose above the water-line when the tide was out. The wind was moderate and the sea by no means rough; but, lying on the weather side of the shoal, the vessel was bumped about rather ominously. From the moment of striking every effort was made to get the ship off into deep water, there being at the time about 4 ft. under our bows, 8 ft. or 10 ft. abreast the engines on the starboard side, deep water just above the foremast on the port side, and any depth under our stern. The whole ship, besides sloping steeply from bow to stern, lay over considerably on her starboard side. The passengers were quiet and collected from first to last; many of us were accustomed to the sensation, having been on board the Pera, which, on the previous Saturday, had been bumping for three hours and a half on the Alexandria bar. Every one did his utmost to help the crew, by hauling at ropes, throwing cargo overboard, and working at the capstan; anchors having been laid out astern, to drag the ship from an awkward position into what seemed to us one of still greater danger. We were nearly all convinced that the leaks, after a few hours’ bumping, would have sunk the ship had the captain’s first attempt to get her off been successful; but the general belief of the passengers was that the Great Eastern herself would scarcely have sufficed to drag the Carnatic from her place on the reef. Our meals went on as usual, and we even amused ourselves with angling unsuccessfully for the fish, of dazzling colours, that swarmed beneath us. Towards mid-day on Monday, some of those on board appeared their anxiety to hear from the captain what measures he proposed to adopt. Most of us, however, felt it would be better to remain passive and await his instructions. At half-past five in the evening Captain Jones came aft, and spoke to us for the first time, thanking us for our behaviour, and asking us to nominate a committee, to whom he would explain his views, and the condition of the vessel. Three of us, having been chosen, went forward immediately, but, as the sun had set, and the boats, though alongside, were utterly unfurnished with stores and provisions, we agreed with the captain that, under the circumstances, the weather being calm, it would be advisable to remain on board for the night, and go ashore in the early morning. “I for one went below at eleven o’clock, undressed completely, and slept till one in the morning. At that hour a man awoke me, and told me that, as the water had gained on us so far as to extinguish the fires and thus stop the engines pumping, everyone on board was to proceed at once to the forecastle. There, consequently, we assembled; and, as the wind gradually freshened with the coming day, it proved to be a rather exposed situation. The passengers, however, employed themselves in helping the crew to get cut another anchor forward and to set foresail, foretopsail, and forestaysail, to prevent the ship slipping backwards into deep water. At last, too, the victualling of the boats was commenced. “In the mean time, the angle at which the vessel lay was slowly but steadily increasing, CARNATIC (1863) 0083 1863/0418 and the rising tide was washing the quarter-deck nearly up to the companion. Some of us, after waiting hours for orders to take to the boats, went below out of curiosity, and were witnesses of a very remarkable sight. The saloon was full of water, which poured in with amazing violence through the shattered skylights, every advancing wave threatening to carry away the whole after part of the ship. Tables, chairs, and benches were careering about, washed hither and thither by the swirling water. On returning to the fore part of the ship, a climb of some difficulty, we found that the only women on board (two passengers and the stewardess), with a little girl about three years old, had just been placed in the life-boat and some of the passengers were on the point of following. It was ten minutes before eleven in the forenoon. At this instant the vessel suddenly fell back, a frightful crash told us that she had parted amid-ships, and we were all plunged with terrific force into a whirlpool. The ship had been, as I mentioned above, lying over on her starboard side, but after the shock she fell completely over to the port side; so that luggage, cargo, mail-bags, and men, with one eighteen-pounder gun in their midst, slid together at lightning speed down the deck until sucked under by the gigantic wave which had already swallowed up half of the ship. Bruised, bleeding, half stunned, and battered by the luggage, we were carried under till all seemed dark. On coming to the surface the sight that presented itself was one which I shall never forget, but which I find it absolutely impossible to describe. Heads, arms, and legs, bales of merchandise, boxes, sheep, fowls, and things of all sorts were being tossed backwards and forwards, up and down, by the rushing water. Drowning men were clutching at each other in their frantic struggles to reach a resting-place, which too many found only at the bottom of the sea. I myself was thus dragged under three times, but, being a good swimmer, I finally got hold of the foretop, which was half above water, and crawled up into the crosstrees, to take breath. In a short time, mutually assisting each other, all the men that could be seen in the water were hauled up. Being now in a safe position, we could look about us; but the foretopsail prevented our seeing the boats, or the men who had escaped direct to the reef, from the starboard side of the ship, as she went under, and for about two hours we knew not the state of affairs on the other side. At length a boat came off to us; we fastened those who could not swim and those half-stunned by a rope about their waists, and let them down. We were all taken off in three or four trips. Many of the survivors, who had struck out for the surf, and had somehow or other got through it, were standing on the coral up to their waists in smooth water. Happily, no sharks showed themselves, though in these parts they abound, and I am told a large one had been seen the day before. The bodies of Captain Pope, of the purser, and, I believe, of Mr. Warren, were dragged from the surf and laid on a bale of cotton. In each case endeavours were made to restore life, but without avail. “We were busily engaged during the next few hours in dragging the boats across the reef to the deep channel, which was about three miles broad, dividing us from Shadooan; then pulling across to the island, landing the stores there, and getting the boats over the cruel coral fringe to the sandy beach, where they lay high and dry. It was about eight in the evening when, after this fatiguing task, the wet and weary remnant of our company found themselves at last fairly ashore. The island is totally devoid of fresh water, and we had brought but little with us. Many of the casks were empty, having been placed unbunged in the boats, and some had been idiotically emptied by the African stokers to make unnecessary rafts for coming ashore. We knew that the next passing ship would be either the Sumatra or the Neaera, which might be expected at any moment. There seemed at first to be no possible means of making a signal in the CARNATIC (1863) 0083 1863/0418 dark. It was therefore decided that the chief officer, two of the passengers, and three Chinamen of the crew should launch a boat, make for the usual channel, and lie off all night, in hopes of stopping a ship. If no ship came in the night, the boat would try to beat up or pull up eighteen or twenty miles against current and wind to the Ushruffi lighthouse and obtain all the fresh water that could be spared. One rocket only could be found, and this, with half the only dry box of matches was placed in the boat. But, most providentially, several hundred huge bales of Manchester calicos and cotton cloths had floated, the day before the final break up, on to the island, having been thrown overboard, when we first struck the reef. These bales, very tightly pressed, had remained dry inside, and were of inestimable value in a variety of ways. From their contents we made ourselves turbans, most of us having lost our hats, as well as coats and bedding to lie on the sand. But the grandest notion of all was to collect an immense pile and set it alight. It was found to blaze gloriously, and one of our greatest anxieties was at once dispelled. “Before this discovery, however, we had commenced to launch the cutter, when a Chinaman ran down the bank, shouting that the lights of a steamer were visible. We strained every nerve to haul the boat out over the coral, and got away about nine o’clock at night. There was a doubt whether we should sail fast enough to reach the ship before she got by on her way to Suez; but, after putting a quarter of a mile between ourselves and the land, we looked back and saw the bonfire flaring most conspicuously. By the position of the steamer’s lights, it was evident that her attention was attracted, and at the critical moment we succeeded in firing our rocket. This settled the matter; the ship hove to, and we were soon alongside and on deck of the Peninsular and Oriental Company’s steamer Sumatra, from Bombay, with Lord Napier and other passengers on board. Boats were at once lowered, and, with the one in which we had arrived, went back for the Carnatic’s company. The wind had, however, risen, and all were not on board the Sumatra till ten o’clock on Wednesday morning, when we started on our return voyage to Suez. I cannot overrate the kindness and attention shown to us by all on board the Sumatra, and, in truth, we sorely needed help. Of all the baggage in the Carnatic, one small dressing-bag alone had been saved. We displayed our whole property on our persons, and, as we were all nearly alike, I may state, for example, that my costume consisted of a pair of tattered trousers, a shirt, and fifteen yards of Manchester calico gracefully wreathed round my temples. “The loss of life was fifteen Europeans and as many natives; of the former were five first-class passengers-viz., Captain Pope, R.A; Mr. Cuppage, 35th Regiment; Mr. Warren, Dr. Thomson, and Mr. Pidding, the ship’s purser, Mr. Gardner, and his clerk, Mr. Mackintosh, and the doctor, Mr. Ransford, with two engineers, a steward, and others. A more complete wreck than that of the ill-fated Carnatic has rarely taken place.”

Recovery of the Carnatic’s cargo would have been, to say the least, adventurous in the circumstances, the Victorians were superb innovators, very often at the cutting edge of technological breakthroughs and some of that, as witnessed by the loss of Jacob Samuda on the Gypsy Queen, came at a very heavy price! Setting out to undertake underwater recovery of sunken cargo was in its infancy, it was not so many years before (1824) that Charles & John Deane had invented a bellows-fed hard hat that could be used relatively safely to spend time under water

  It is said the Deane helmet was invented on the spur of the moment to free horses from a burning barn, indeed there are records of an extensive fire in Whitstable in 1821, where Charles & John Deane were living at the time. There is no reason to doubt that such an incident could well have seen such an inventive use of an antique Knight’s Helmet and a hose to save such valuable animals, after all, horses were the transport and work-engines of the era, no one would readily sacrifice such animals and, after all, Plato (“Republic”) had it that “our need will be the real creator” the precursor to the well-known and widely used proverb “necessity is the mother of invention”. Whatever the truth of the “invention” of the smoke helmet, by 1869 when Carnatic sank, the Deane smoke hood had developed into the Deane diving helmet and further on into the Augustus Siebe “Standard” dive dress. Standard dress involved locking the dive helmet to the divers suit by a corselet and bolts, a far safer system, not prone to flooding when the diver was working underwater as much as the earlier Deane helmet, which was held in place by weights over the suit, and otherwise unattached. It was Charles Deane who asked Siebe to improve the earlier design, and the corselet was the idea of George Edwards, the Engineer in charge of Lowestoft harbour, (gracesguide.co.uk/Augustus_Siebe On-Line resource: Accessed 27/07/2021), the Siebe system was in use from around 1830

Recovering sunken spoil off a reef in the Red Sea was little short of reckless, but Lloyd’s of London had not long since been almost bankrupted by the losses of ships in the Napoleonic wars and the American War of Independence (1775-1815), Lloyd’s had only just survived and was still licking its wounds, the loss of the “Lutine” off Holland in 1799 did not help, the Lutine was carrying “……a vast sum of gold and silver…..” (Lloyds.com/about-lloyds/history/corporate-history Online resource: accessed 21/07/2021) in 1824, just 45 years before Carnatic’s sinking, Lloyds monopoly on marine insurance had been revoked with a bill that ended the restriction of other bodies entering the marine insurance market, allowing people like the Rothschild family to found alternate, more competitive shipping insurers, Lloyd’s could ill-afford to let gold sit on the sea-bed, wherever it may be…….

   Had Carnatic not carried copper and gold perhaps the story might have ended there, however the P&O line could not abandon a wreck of such value without attempting salvage, after all, to put things in perspective, the cargo today would be worth millions of pounds. Lloyd’s, the Carnatic’s cargo insurers immediately dispatched Captain Gann to undertake a salvage operation. Gann engaged the salvage ship “Tor” and hard hat divers from Whitstable, a Mr Stephen Saffery and Mr George Rowden, to undertake the recovery of valuables and cargo on behalf of the insurers. Whitstable was the birthplace of hard hat diving largely because of the Deane family who lived there. When Charles & John Deane carried out their hard hat diving experiments it was from Whitstable, by the time John Deane was coming to the end of his diving career in 1858 (following his exploits clearing the harbour in Sevastopol in the Crimea), several families had taken up his and Siebe’s equipment and dived out of Whitstable, the Gann family was pre-eminent in this, indeed, they had 4 or 5 dive vessels working around the coast of the UK, and some even wider afield, in France and the Channel Islands

  Lloyds of London had helped with this by establishing a telegraph station in Whitstable to ensure they could recover as much of a cargo, or indeed a whole ship where practical, Whitstable was “the” place to go for diving and recovery expertise. More of this history can be read in John Bevan’s exemplary history of Whitstable and hard hat Diving “Another Whitstable Trade” (ISBN: 0 950 8242 5 9) and I am indebted to Ann Bevan, John’s wife, for providing my copy which has informed this piece remarkably well. I strongly recommend that anyone with an interest in the history of Hard Hat diving has a word with the historic diving society who might still have a few copies left, membership of the society will also reduce the price a little…… and maybe offer the chance to take a dive in “standard” dive dress too…..check out my dive with them in the “Best Dives Ever” section of this blog, an awesome experience!

When the Lloyd’s telegraph sent word of the loss of the Carnatic, it went first to Whitstable and was taken up by the superintendent of divers Captain John (Jack) Gann (Bevan J: “Another Whitstable Trade”. Ch 1.4 P 81 Para 4. 2009. Publisher, Print Alliance). Jack Gann was asked by Lloyds to go to Egypt to recover the cargo of Carnatic, specifically gold to the value of £40000 at that time, John Bevan has it that “Divers Stephen Saffery and George Rowden were sent out. The Whitstable divers were able to recover 30 boxes of bar silver and 6 boxes of bar gold by the end of September. Rowden had to return in December due to a severe attack of gastric fever…” Gann had initially been told on his arrival in Egypt that Carnatic was unrecoverable and had gone down in 40 fathoms of water, Gann very nearly didn’t continue, but, at what looks like the last minute, he decided to see for himself, and it was a good job that he did! The Tor arrived at Shadwan on the 29^th of September 1869 to find Arab Dhows around the wreck of the Carnatic and had to chase them off, to Gann’s delight the Carnatic was shallower than he had been told, and accessible to his divers, indeed some of Carnatic, presumably masts, and perhaps even the bow-sprit, were still visible above the surface at that time. It is reported that bad local weather prevented Saffery & Rowden diving for two weeks until the 15^th of October, from the first dives undertaken Saffery & Rowden were confronted by the bodies of those lost with the ship, but the divers brought mail, and eventually the ships safe to the surface, and then Saffery was able to get to the gold, not before having to remove one of the Carnatic’s bulkheads though, as between the mailroom and ships’ post office his progress was stopped until it could be opened up

Saffery managed to get through the bulkhead by the 24^th October and recovered 16 mail bags and two days later on the 26^th Saffery & Rowden recovered the first box of bullion, it took them until November 8^th to recover the bullion and, whilst that was undertaken, Gann employed local free divers from the Bedouin tribes to recover some 700 sheets of copper. John Bevan reports “…..the ‘English diver’ worked for four hours at 78 feet. In March 1870, the wreck was washed off the reef into deep water by which time all but £8000 of the specie had been recovered”. It is difficult to see how people believe there was any of the gold left aboard, Gann was not under any time constraint to salvage the Carnatic and, at such shallow depths, in the clear waters of the Red Sea, it would be inconceivable to think Saffery would not have been able to get the entire of the gold out of the wreck, there was no danger of her slipping any deeper, having dived the site the seabed around Carnatic is flat for the discernable are around her, and no other known dangers at the site at the time. Personally I doubt anything of value was left aboard……but, in truth, you never really know……

British & Commonwealth Postal History has an example of mail recovered from the Carnatic at auction (D Morrison Ltd) and apparently “The mail was salvaged by divers on the 24th October, having been under water for six weeks. The mail, all of which had been extensively damaged, received a cachet on a printed label ‘Recovered from wreck of the “Carnatic”.’ This cover from London dated AU 28 69 has various transit cancels before arriving on November 15 1869” …..Amazing that such fragile records of the tragedy remain to this day

  I first dived the Carnatic in 2008 from a day boat out of Hurghada, whilst on a week’s holiday with Ellie and the boys to escape the dire November weather in England, we were staying with Mark Hill and his family and Craig Toplis, both of whom you will have heard of if you spend any time on this blog-site. Carnatic was one of “three wrecks in one dive” on Abu Nuhas and at the time I did not realise “Abu Nuhas” was Arabic for “Copper Reef” which had been the local name for the reef at Shadwan since the Bedouin free-divers assisted Captain Gann during the salvage operation in 1869. The piece in my log book is short, we passed over Carnatic on our way to Ghiannis D, I recorded it so: “THREE WRECKS IN ONE DIVE ON ABU-NUHAS-EGYPT………a five minute swim with the reef on our left took us to the Carnatic – this has the bow still intact but all from the chain locker to the stern is collapsed the stern is still there and the stern rails are hanging there but the decking is see through now with the wood rotting away…..” Not the most flattering of write-ups on one of the most historic wrecks in the Red Sea, I mean, which other wreck can say it features, if briefly, in Jules Verne’s “Around The World in 80 Days” or that it has a Red Sea reef named for its cargo? At that time I would, in my defence, say that we had just spent time on the Chrisoula K, a wreck with almost everything intact, and so much to see as to need several dives to appreciate her, a far cry from the remains, albeit of huge historical significance, of the Carnatic, long since bereft of her embellishments and finery, courtesy of Messrs. Gann, Rowden and Saffery…….

It would not be until April of 2010 that I had a chance to “redeem” myself and dive the Carnatic properly….. I had joined a trip organized by Derek Aughton, another of the FSAC divers that had become a firm friend (and whom I had the British Army in common with) and who I later found out was born in Southport, just down the road from my favourite pub of the day, the Sandpiper, in Marshside….talk about 5 degrees of separation! Anyhow, I digress…..This trip was a Liveaboard based out of Hurghada on the MY Hurricane, part of the Tornado Marine fleet, a lovely boat with a very “can-do” local Egyptian crew, and a divemaster who could be best described as “contradictory”…. Eh Sammi……? So my Navy Log records: “26/04/10 Abu Nuhas wreck of “CARNATIC” down onto the bow looking through the hole for the bow-sprit & then down the starboard side to the stern windows & prop shaft & rudder – big prop for her size and age! Winding in and out of the wreck is easy as she is well rotted now shoals of glass fish and plenty more to see – small Napoleon Wrasse – nudibranchs etc really nice dive, old porthole off the stern mast great fun any direction. Plenty of penetration runs down to keel level! Great dive. Buddy Craig Gas in 200 Out 110 Viz 30+ M” Not quite “redemption”, but progress, I had spent more time on Carnatic and, perhaps you can tell, she was growing on me!

  If you look at contemporary engravings of the time, in 1865 the Samuda Brothers built a very similar vessel to the Carnatic called the “Mahroussee”, it might surprise you to know that vessel, built for the “Khedive” of Egypt (Viceroy) at that time, Isma’il Pasa, is now the “Royal Yacht” equivalent for the Egyptian President, a “Presidential Yacht” if you will, which I am sure gives Abdel Fattah el-Sisi a great deal of pleasure. It is the oldest surviving (active) yacht in the world and currently (July 2021) the ninth largest. A contemporary view of the fit-out of the Mahroussee (London Illustrated News) shows the likely, if slightly less lavish, look of the stern dining area of the Carnatic, the Samuda brothers had a distinct style to their ships from the examples of the day, the lines are very similar between the Carnatic and the Mahroussee, which was the larger of the vessels but generally quite similar in look. The Mahroussee today has been extensively modified from its original Samuda Brothers sail-steam arrangement, hardly surprising when you consider it is still in use………   

  I love the fact you can see where Carnatic was built even today, the wharf and Bow Creek are still where they were in Samuda days, the buildings have long since gone, replaced by factories and housing estates, but the place still exists. It only takes a little imagination to put yourself back into the past, back into the days when ships were made of wood and men were made of Iron, when there was no place on Earth the sun didn’t set over the British Empire and when a tiny country took innovation and democracy far and wide into what was, at the time, uncharted territory. It is not popular today to speak of Empire, and those in this country now represent all of the countries of the world, but that “new” world has lost any sense of identity, there are no more “men of iron”, just lesser men, content only with the industry of their thumbs and an intent focus on tiny digital screens rather than the vastness of the unknown territories, and the fearless ambition to discover and claim as much of it as they could, or lose their lives in the trying

So why did the Carnatic hit Abu Nuhas, in what was documented by Major J U Champain (in his London Illustrated News account), as almost idyllic sailing conditions  “The weather was lovely and, with a fair breeze, we went at ten or twelve knots an hour”. There was, by the sound of it, no reason the Carnatic “should” have hit the reef at Shadwan, although at high tide there is no sign of the reef if there are no waves impacting it, it was marked on the charts Captain Jones had on Carnatic at the time. To my mind the best wreck investigator I know, Ned Middleton, has captured the essence of Captain Jones situation in his Book “Shipwrecks from the Egyptian Red Sea” (ISBN: 9781853981531, of which I am privileged enough to have a signed copy) “At 10am on the morning of Sunday 12th September 1869, Captain Jones ordered the mooring lines slipped and the Carnatic sailed for Bombay. Captain Jones personally negotiated the long narrow confines of the hazardous Gulf of Suez and remained on the bridge to give his personal attention to every detail of navigating his vessel safely. Not trusting his more junior officers, Captain Jones remained on the bridge, supplementing this continual lack of sleep with copious amounts of coffee – just to stay awake. Maintaining a steady speed of 11 knots, the light at Ashrafi was sighted at 11:40pm and by the time the Second Officer came on duty just after midnight, it was already 5 or 6 miles astern – though no bearing was ever taken”

Ned Middleton describes the journey and actual loss of Carnatic better than any other: (although aboard, Major Champain was asleep in his berth immediately before the impact) “the headlands and islands through which the Carnatic plotted her course, were all visible. At 1am Shadwan Island was sighted by the Second Officer – dead ahead. The Master altered course to S. 46 true and gradually to S. 51 true. Eighteen minutes later, however, breakers were seen on the starboard bow. The helm was instantly put hard-a-starboard and the engines at full speed astern. Too late, the Carnatic struck Shaab Abu Nuhas Reef” As an independent perspective than that of Major Champain, the account Ned Middleton has of the actions of Captain Jones following the stranding, although similar to that of major Champain in the facts of the following decisions, offer insight into the reasoning behind those decisions:

“Jones was most thorough in checking every single aspect of the ships condition and was quite satisfied that the pumps could handle the amount of water being taken on. Judging the passengers and crew to be as safe as could be expected, he decided everyone would remain on board. At daybreak on the 13th, Jones assessed the situation once again. The ship was stuck fast on a large Coral Reef and, although she was leaking, she was still in pretty good shape and the pumps were coping. Jones then ordered a large amount of the cotton dumped overboard in order to lighten the vessel in the forlorn hope that she would float off with the tide. There was no panic amongst the passengers although some did ask the Captain for permission to make for Shadwan Island. Jones refused. Jones was well aware of the dangers involved in moving 210 people to a remote island on the far side of a dangerous coral reef in small boats and of the deprivations they would suffer until rescued. For the moment at least, his vessel was relatively sound, they had power and considerable comfort. He also knew that the P & O Liner – Sumatra, was due to pass by at any time, inbound for Suez and he fully expected to be rescued later that day. Meals were served, people strolled the decks and, up aloft, a constant lookout was kept for a passing ship. But none came and, as evening fell, a second deputation of passengers approached the Captain with a plea to be allowed to reach Shadwan Island by lifeboat. Again he refused. Totally underestimating the power of a Coral Reef to inflict damage on a steel-hulled vessel, Jones decided all would spend another night on board. Accepting his authority, some of the passengers even dressed for dinner and the waiters served drinks before they all enjoyed a sumptuous evening meal. For some, it would be their last”

To dive a wreck such as the Carnatic is one of the purest forms of historical research anyone can undertake, I have waxed lyrical, in other posts on this blog, in respect to the physical connection between diver and the ship and its circumstances, and will not repeat that here, however there is still often an element of the abstract, there are those who can dive a wreck and be oblivious to anything more than “that moment” and metal, coral and fishes, completely oblivious to the essence and the metaphysical nature of wreck diving. I consider the opportunity to dive on wrecks such as Carnatic a privilege above all others, a very real and tangible connection to those of her time and, when researching the wrecks for this blog, I occasionally get the opportunity to look those people in the eye

One of those lost on Carnatic, mentioned by Major Champain in his account of the sinking, was Captain Robert Pope of the Royal Artillery, born in the parish of Loth, Southerland (03 August 1831), in Scotland, to Major Peter Pope (Madras Army) and Mary Bailie Pope (Nee MacKay) and, at 30 years old, already a veteran of the India Mutiny. (a violent and bloody uprising against the British East India Company and its colonial rule in the country with massacres at Kanpur and Satichaura Ghat). Captain Pope “saw active service in the field with the Saugor Field Division during the Indian Mutiny and was present at the affair at Kubraee, the Battle of Banda, the surrender of Kurwee and the affair at Larcherra. He received a mention in despatches from General Whitlock and was entitled to the Indian Mutiny Medal with one clasp “Central India”” (On-line resource: soldiersofthequeen.com/India-CaptRobertPopeRoyalArtillery.html Accessed: 25/07/2021) only to drown as Carnatic sank. Reading of the circumstances of Captain Pope and those of the Carnatic, for me, removes all abstraction and makes the wreck a memorial to those lost, and a reminder of history, empire, and the ultimate futility of life itself  

Ned describes the tragedy of those aboard, and the impact of the decision by Captain Jones to keep his passengers safe, a decision which ultimately would cause the loss of life to 31 of those passengers: “At 2am on the morning of the 14th, the level of water within the ship finally engulfed the boilers and suddenly they were without power and light. Now even more passengers wanted to leave – but still Jones placed his faith in the timely arrival of the Sumatra. By daybreak, however, the sea state had begun to increase and water was rapidly filling the ship. Finally realizing his ship was lost, Jones ordered the lifeboats be made ready. It was not until 11am that he allowed the first passengers to begin to disembark. Tragically, at that very moment it became too late for some. In the time-honoured tradition of women and children first, the three ladies and one child on board had just taken their seats in one of the lifeboats when the Carnatic suddenly and without warning broke in half.”

The Board of Trade enquiry (Wikipedia: “SS Carnatic” Para 3: “Grounding””: On-line resource Accessed 25/07/2021) into the loss of the Carnatic described her as a “fully equipped and well found ship” and noted Captain Jones was “a skillful and experienced officer” it went on to say “it appears there was every condition as regards ship, weather and light to ensure a safe voyage and there was needed only proper care. This was not done, and hence the disaster.” The enquiry concluded that the stranding and eventual loss of the Carnatic was “due to a grave default of the Master“. Despite that finding, in respect of the actions taken by Captain Jones to protect the Carnatic’s passengers and crew following the stranding, the Board of Trade panel stated “that when it was determined to leave the ship the Master and his officers in their exertions to secure the safety of the passengers, did all that experienced and brave men could do”. A veneration of Captain Jones’ decisions to keep the passengers on Carnatic for as long as he felt it safer than the crossing to Shadwan itself

Could hubris have played a part, the mistrust of his own officers to guide Carnatic safely, Jones’ insistence on doing so himself until perhaps beyond tired, failing to take a bearing off the Lighthouse at Ashrafi, a mistake inconsistent with the experience of Captain Jones to say the least, and Jones’ own claim that strong currents had taken Carnatic off course eventually dooming Carnatic to her fate? Or, could Carnatic have been the very first of the ships said to be lost on Abu Nuhas, purposefully, in order to claim substantial insurance payments for a ship and its valuable cargo? I personally doubt that Carnatic was deliberately sunk (P&O generally underwrote their own ships rather than paying Lloyd’s to insure them, but not perhaps the cargo’s), it is a teasing idea though, Captain Jones certainly knew the Sumatra would pass by very soon, it is at least “plausible” that Jones had been tasked to reduce the number of sail-steam vessels the company owned, perhaps less profitably than they considered they could run a larger, steam only, ship through the soon to be opened Suez Canal……? Was Captain Jones so tired he omitted taking a sextant bearing on the Light at Ashrafi, or was it zeitgeist that Suez would make ships like Carnatic obsolete almost overnight? At this distance we will never truly know, but it is always at the back of the mind when mooring over Abu Nuhas…….. was only one of the wrecks deliberate, were some……. or is Abu Nuhas, truly, the mother of all fraudulent insurance claims?

Captain Philip B. Jones was born in Liverpool in 1830 and gained his Masters Certificate in London in 1858 – at the relatively early age of 28 years. His previous Commands included Columbian, Mongolia, Surat and Syria, during which time he secured a reputation as a first class Master Mariner. The Board of Trade suspended Captain Jones’ Masters Certificate for 9 months after the loss of the Carnatic, however that was of little matter, Captain Jones never went to sea again

I next dived Carnatic in August of 2011 off the live-aboard M/Y Contessa Mia, another of Derek Aughton’s dive trips, my log book records “Red Sea “Carnatic” A great dive dropping onto the stern & back for a look from the sand back at classic “Onedin Line” stern window set & magnificent spade style prop into the stern section & up along the hull in and out of the lower deck. Very broken at midsection where we exited onto the mast & along it then back into the hull to go forward through the mid deck in & out of the tight runs passing a giant puffer fish of “bin” like proportions up to the bows & a look down the bow-sprit hole through the whole ship for’ard under the bow at port side then back in & out of the hull to the stern awesome dive buddy Craig Viz 30m water Temp 28’ fantastic!! Eanx 24% Air In 210 Out 100 Deco 9 Mins @ 4.5m”

It would not be for another two years until I got back to Carnatic on another live-aboard, this time on a Blue 0 Two trip again in July, on the 31^st, only one day off being exactly two years after my last dive on her. The Green Navy log records “31/07/13 CARNATIC – ABU NUHAS – RED SEA dropping mid ships on the hull which lies 90@ to port we swam the stern & through the prop & rudder & then entered the hull which is very skeletal but makes a wonderful reef full of glass fish & anemones wended our way to the bow through swim through’s & rib structures to exit and swim under the prow then pass along the whole hull to the stern to do deco! Air In 200 Out 150 Buddy Craig” There is something about swimming through the rudder and prop on a shipwreck; it’s one of those things you just “need” to do….. whenever there is sufficient gap!

So it’s now 2015 and I am lucky enough to be back in the Red Sea and with Blue 0 Two again, this time its August and the hottest dive trip or holiday I’ve ever taken, 120’ in the shade in the evening, brutal on land but with the cooling effect of the sea it’s pleasant on deck and wonderful underwater….my last dive on Carnatic to date, (hopefully not my last ever dive on her, after all there “could” be £8000 of gold still to find….about £1m in today’s value…) and my log tells us: “03/08/15 CARNATIC Abu Nuhas Red Sea Rib out to the reef front then onto the wreck for a wonderful dive wandering from the stern & prop up through the decks which are all skeleton where the deck teak has rotted away. We did everywhere on the wreck right through which was scenic gentle & a great dive. Bow – Sprit looking back through the wreck is still iconic! Air In 220 Out 100 Buddy Craig”……. Why not take the dive with me……..

I am deeply indebted to Ned Middleton and John Bevan (via Ann John’s wife) who’s excellent research has informed and underpinned this piece. I highly recommend the books of both authors for their research, detail and thoroughly enriching accounts of a rapidly disappearing subject matter very dear to my heart

I am also deeply indebted to Derek Aughton who’s excellent photo’s of Carnatic perfectly illustrate the dives I have taken on her

For those of you who like to see research into historical wrecks Janelle Harrison wrote a dissertation on her which you can view through SCRIBD here: 47343483-SS-Carnatic-An-Archaeological-and-Historical-Analysis-of-a-19th-Century-Shipwreck.pdf

The Sail-Steamship SS Dunraven was built in Newcastle upon Tyne at the Charles Mitchell and Co. Iron Ship Builders yard and was launched in 1872. The ship was commissioned by a Mr W. Milburn on behalf of the Mears Watts Milburn & Company of Newcastle Upon Tyne. Powered by both sail and steam, she was planned for the route from Britain to Bombay

Charles Mitchell & Co:

Charles Mitchell, born 20th May 1820 in Aberdeen, founded the Low Walker shipyard in 1853. Mitchell had served an apprenticeship with iron founders Simpson & Company, of Aberdeen, and following that, moved to Newcastle Upon Tyne in September of 1842. Mitchell found employment with John HS Coutts, a ship-yard owner, also from Aberdeen. Mitchell worked for Coutts until 1844 then moving to work in London, and undertaking extensive travel in Europe, France, Germany and as far as Italy. Mitchell returned to Newcastle in 1852 to set-up the Low Walker yard next to the Coutts yard, although it is not known what John Coutts thought of that at the time……

The Low Walker yard built over 90 vessels of various types, from dredgers to Nile steamers, Mitchell, and his business partner Henry Frederick Swan, even set up a shipbuilding yard at St Petersburg, in Russia, for the Tsar, Nicolas the First (Nicolay Pavlovich) and several warships were built there under Mitchell’s direction. Tsar Alexander II (Russia’s Tsar from 1855, when Nicolas 1 died) made Charles a Cavalier of the Order of St Stanislaus in recognition of his service, a rare honour for a British shipbuilder. Mitchell & Co also built many warship hulls for William Armstrong, Armstrong had established a company at Elswick in 1847 and had become one of the world’s leading armament manufacturers. Armstrong’s own yard was too far up river to build the hull sizes necessary for warship armaments of the day. This close working relationship resulted in a merger between the two companies in 1882, resulting in a new company called Armstrong, Mitchell & Co Ltd

In January 1876 Dunraven set sail from Liverpool with a cargo of steel and timber bound for Bombay, India. The cargo was sold successfully and Dunraven took on a second cargo of spices, cotton and muslin, (a thin cotton cloth used in cheaper clothing and for wrapping cheeses, often known colloquially as “Cheesecloth”) for the return journey. The outbound journey was for a time uneventful until Dunraven reached the Red Sea approaches to the Suez Canal on 25 April. At that time, navigation was far more rudimentary than it is now, relying on Sextant bearings and compass headings, errors of navigation were frequent and on this occasion, thinking they were further up the Gulf of Suez than they actually were, Captain Care and the 25-man crew sailed the ship straight into a reef

The Dunraven had gone into Sha’ab Mahmoud reef hard, and was stuck fast south of Beacon Rock, at the southern end of what is now the Ras Muhammad National Park. The “Shields Daily News”, a paper local to Newcastle on Tyne at that time, reported that “All available means were used to get the steamer off the reef and to keep the water under, but unsuccessfully, and during the day the ship was abandoned”. Indeed after some 14 hours she slid off Sha’ab Mahmoud, it is not reported if the cargo shifted or if other influences were involved but Dunraven capsized as she came away from the reef, and sunk in 25 metres of water. Dunraven’s crew, having worked hard to save her, must have been devastated, but the Red sea was an often travelled trade route and a passing Arab Dhow took the marooned sailors aboard (Shields Daily News 26/05/1876: “Loss of the screw-steamer Dunraven of Newcastle”), and, despite being declined passage on the British ship City of Manchester (the captain did, however,  provide water and some provisions) the ship reported their stranding on arrival at Suez and an Italian ship, the mail steamer “Arabia” took them aboard and ensured they were well looked after until arrival at Suez and transfer for their return to England. On the return to England, at the subsequent enquiry into the loss of the Dunraven, the British Board of Trade found Captain Care to have been at fault

The vessel was discovered in the 1970’s, and was made the subject of a BBC TV documentary investigating  the possibility the wreck was a lost ship, carrying gold to Lawrence of Arabia to fund the Arab armies fighting the Turkish occupation. It was very unlikely the Dunraven had a cargo of anything like Gold, a paragraph in the book “Under the Flag and Somali Coast Stories” the lifetime adventures of Langton Prendergast Walsh, C.I.E (29/02/1856 to 17/03/1927) is fairly clear the cargo was wool: (Walsh L.P: “Under the Flag and Somali Coast Stories, UNAUTHORISED ADVENTURES”, P143. Published by A. Melrose London) “On another occasion Charlie Moyle and I chartered a dhow to take us to Shab Mahmud, a coral reef near the Port of Tor in the Gulf of Suez. There the S.S. Dunraven was piled up, with her bow high and dry and her stern partly immersed in the sea. On getting alongside of her, it seemed that she might at any moment slip off and go down stern first into deep water. As the cargo was chiefly wool, it was of no use to us. Still, in order to pay expenses we took down the standard binnacle, collected several sextants, telescopes, binoculars, and a set of new sails, and realized by sale at Suez a little more than was adequate to pay expenses”

The description accompanying the auction of Langton Prendergast’s C.I.E medal at Sink’s auction house read:

“Langton Prendergast Walsh was born in February 1856 at Baroda, Gujarat, India, the son of Colonel T. Prendergast. Entering the Marine Postal Service in 1873, he transferred to the Bombay Political Service in 1879, before seeing active service in the Egypt and Sudan campaign whilst attached to the Indian Staff (Medal & clasp; Khedive’s Star). Soon after, Walsh found himself posted to Somaliland, in Consular charge of Berbera and Zeila, in which position he raised the Somali Coast Protectorate Police. Engaged in the operations of 1886, he was also on the Esa Expedition of 1890 and was present at Hussein Zareeba. Having been awarded the C.I.E. whilst Assistant Resident at Zeila, he was afterward Political Agent at Sawant Wadi. Retired in 1903, he soon put pen to paper and for many years contributed to the Indian and international press, publishing Under the Flag and Somali Coast Stories. A big-game hunter and member of the Conservative and Carlton Clubs, he died at home, Plas Idwal, Gunnersbury, W5, on 17 March 1927” 

A further quote from Langdon Prendergast’s memorial has it that: “……In 1884 the British government signed a treaty with the Somali Sultans, allowing them to establish a protectorate known as British Somaliland. With his soldiers, Langton was sent to the newly established capital, Berbera, and became the first Administrator, a post he retained until 1893. British Somaliland often came under attack from the Sultan Nur and the Dervishes, who once looted all the camels and cattle of the British. Langton ordered his soldiers to kidnap the Sultan’s wife and infant child – holding them until the animals were returned”    Walsh not only met General Gordon of Khartoum, (writing French language letters from Cairo on General Gordon’s behalf), but was probably the first on the wreck of the Dunraven following her abandonment by her crew and, likely, the rescuer of some of those crew noted as being “saved by the crew of an Arab Dhow” if the account in the book is genuine, of which I have no doubt whatsoever, bearing in mind Langton Prendergast’s other documented escapades, that it absolutely is accurate 

The BBC did a documentary in 1979 which featured an interview with geologist Ayre Keller (whilst in a zodiac inflatable, similar to those I used in the Falkland Islands back in my Army days off New Island), Keller told BBC reporter, Jack Pizzey, that, while working for an oil company sounding pipeline routing, they echo located what seemed to be a wreck. Keller was friends with a local dive operation owner Howard Rosenstein, (Then owner of Red Sea Divers, Sharm el Sheikh) and mentioned the possibility of a wreck to him, there was clearly some contention over this, Howard Rosenstein seems (in some publications) to have claimed the find for himself, whatever the truth of the matter, both Keller and Rosenstein were involved in the discovery and identification of the SS Dunraven

Howard Rosenstein’s divers found bottles marked with the name “Webb’s Double Soda and Other Waters”, that company traded from 1836 to 1880 proving any treasure tales surrounding Lawrence of Arabia could not be correct, Lawrence did not arrive in Arabia until 1916. Rosenstein also found plates with the initials G.F.B manufactured by George F. Barnes, exhibition in London in 1873. The wreck could therefore be dated between 1873 and 1880, those dates, coupled with finding the ships name in raised lettering, ‘SS DUNRAVEN’ on the transom, completed research in the Maritime Museum, Newcastle showing the wreck could only be the SS Dunraven built in 1873 by C. Mitchell and Company

My first dive on the Dunraven was 04^th August of 1997 part of my Red Sea excursion with Fenton Sub Aqua Club written up elsewhere in this blog, we were diving from the Princess Dalal and my little Red Book describes her thus: “04/08/97 Sha’b Mahmud “Beacon Rock” DUNRAVEN an English steam/sail ship that ran onto Beacon Rock in March 1876 and sank very quickly (portholes still open when found). She turned turtle & is largely empty her cargo having fallen & settled into the coral sand. We dropped to her stern & prop at 30m then entered her Starbord side (Left from stern) then made our way through twisted broken metal along her propeller shaft to her boilers encountering Lion Fish & large shoals of glassfish. Looked round the base of the boilers on the ceiling then went for’ard to the second section to impact area where it’s obvious why she foundered”

It would be 12 years until my next dive on the Dunraven, this time with a trip in 2010 on the live-aboard MY Hurricane, part of the Red Sea “Tornado” fleet, a step up from the Princess Dalal but a more “Western” boat if that is the right picture, something which loses a little in translation, where Princess Dalal had a distinct “fine wood and faded opulence” feel about her, Hurricane had a more “modern” and sanitised feel, both were perfectly good boats and I enjoyed both equally, they just represented a difference in diving in the area, less “camel trains into the desert”, more “welcome tourist divers”…… if you understand? Anyhow, my log recalls: “01/05/10 “DUNRAVEN” it’s 12 years since I last dived Dunraven and she now has a noticeable sag in her keel, there is more decay evident everywhere but she is still a fine dive – down to the stern & in on the Starbord side as she is upside down the prop-shaft is above you throughout. We wound up to the broken section passing the boiler overhead and then turned round to do the reverse course out the stern & along to the bow which is fairly trashed now but still can be discerned! After the bow we did a nice 15 min on the reef to finish off near the boat mooring. Plenty of life everywhere, very pretty. Viz 20m Buddy Craig Air In 200 Out 120”

It would be another 3 years until my next, and, to date last dive on Dunraven, this time with Blue O2, another step forward in the live-aboard boats, slightly larger if I recall than Hurricane and done out in the same fashion, a Western modern style with space for everything and a good deal of technical support, Nitrox and charging points for lights and camera’s etc, on all the Liveaboards I have been privileged to dive from the food has been excellent, plenty of choice, enough to go round and then some, I have been lucky enough to have had wonderful boats and great catering over many years now, I count myself very fortunate in that! My navy log book records: “29/03/13 DUNRAVEN – Red – Sea Down to the stern of the inverted hull through into the hull itself at the taff rail – then a bimble up through the collapsed stern interior and along hull plates in and out of the ribs to the mid-section – clear exits all the way – in and out under superstructure & alongside the boiler up to exit at the bows and then re-enter & do the whole wreck again in reverse. Fantastic and very atmospheric! Out at the stern & onto the reef to deco @ drift Air In 200 Out 140 Buddy Craig”

A British Board of Trade Inquiry, found the Dunraven’s Captain, Edward Richards Care, guilty of navigational negligence. Captain Care and the Dunraven’s second mate admitted they had difficulty identifying a light they thought was a lighthouse, whilst approaching the Gulf of Suez, on a return trip from India in what they described as calm conditions during the night. The light mysteriously went out, the second mate was left in charge and some time later, 24 April 1876, the ship grounded on Sha’ab Mahmoud. The Dunraven’s 25 crew were rescued by Egyptian boats and then transferred to vessels bound for the UK. The Board of Trade found Captain Care guilty of navigational error and Care was given a 12-month suspension of his Master’s rating but allowed to continue as a first officer