Inverclyde

This wreck sits in a hole, she is well broken up with plates scattered around, her highest point is her boiler which stands 3mtrs high. She makes a good novice training dive with the option to drift off and search the surrounding area.

 

Jaffa

The 1,383 ton British steamship Jaffa was sunk by torpedoed from the German submarine UB30 in the early hours of February 2nd 1918 whilst en route from Boulogne to Southampton

Today the Jaffa lies on her port side in a depth of 25mtrs, she has 4 boilers which stand 5mtr proud,

The wreck is 260ft long and lays NE/SW, shell cases lay in the wreckage but there is no sign of a gun as yet, it is probably buried in the seabed.

Lancer 2

The Lancer 11 was an Admiralty trawler and sank after a collision on July 18th 1918. The wreck rests in 27mtrs of water and is upright with the bows very intact & breaks down as you get to the stern, she is a small wreck of 275 tons. 

Pentrych

This 3.382 ton British Steamer with a cargo of coal was sunk on 18 April 1918 by a torpedoed from the German submarine UB 40, she sunk to a depth of 22mtrs. She is a good dive for novices with parts of the wreck standing some stands 7m high from the sea bed, Although she is a well dived wreck, keep an eye out for the odd souvenir and have you seen the big gun on the stern, I have. The stern lays on its starboard side with the gun laying level with the seabed and pointing backwards towards the prop.

Ramsgarth

The Ramsgarth was a small British merchantman of 1,553tons, she was captured by UB-39 on 28th November1916. She now rests on her starboard side in a depth of 25mtrs, her bow is upright and stands 5mts proud. The stern is also intact, but the mid-section has collapsed and is wide open exposing the boiler and engine room. Marine life is excellent on this wreck and scallops are found close by. visibility in this area is often very good, 8-10mtrs

 VALE OF LEVEN (also called The Steam Drifter)

This one lies about 10 miles off Worthing and is well  worth visiting. No history is available. Lying on her  starboard side, the exposed port side has rusted  through leaving large uniform holes, allowing divers to  see inside the holds. Fish life is abundant with some     very large bass hiding in the holds of the wreck. Also  present are bib, poor cod, whiting, lobsters, spider     crabs, edible crabs, common mussels & scallops.

 The wreck is covered in Dead Mans Fingers. At the  stern section there are some old nets caught on the wreckage so take care to avoid snaring. Her propellor is clearly visible with one of the blades missing, and her rudder is also visible. Up on the bow you can enter the wreck with care, though she is slowly sinking in to the sand. In good visibility and with the sun shining, some divers have likened entering her to being inside a cathedral with the sun shining through the holes on the port side. Maximum depths are 24-28 metres.

Wrecks 30 – 50mtrs

 

Accame

 The Accame was a possible replacement for the Guisepena Accame, A four-masted steel barque built  in 1891 by the Continental Lead & Iron Company  Ltd., Pertusola, Italy, for Fratelli Accame fu E, Genoa.  Her dimensions were 82,92×12,34×7,62 meters  [289’0″×40’5″×25’3″] and tonnage 2142 GRT, 1843  NRT and 3000 DWT. Both are similar.

 The Accame was en route from Rotterdam with a  cargo of grain when she started to sink, another ship  nearby came to her assistance but 1 crew member  drowned and the remaining survivors were landed in  Weymouth.

Today the wreck of the Accame is 34miles offshore and rests in depth of 48mtrs at low water and stands only 2-3mts above seabed, with parts very sunk into the seabed but you can see the outline of the ships gunwales. Crockery found shows part of a shipping line in Italian, loads of life especially lots of lobsters.

 Ashford

 The Ashford, a British steamer of 1,211 tons collided  with the German barque , Pirat of Hamburg on the  25th June 1906.

 The Ashford was en route from Seaham to St Nazaire  with a cargo of coal. After the collision she was taken  in tow by the tug Dominion but sank shortly  afterwards. Today the remains of the Ashford,  contrary to other dive reports is upright and intact, she  stands some 8mtrs high from 42mtrs up to her decks  at around 34mtrs.

Her super structure has collapsed down and her decking rotted away exposing her holds and cargo below. This makes for an excellent dive, giving good access areas to penetration & explore.

                                            Big Crab Wreck

 This unknown collier sits upright and pretty well intact

Donegal

 Originally owned by the Midland Railway Company, the  Donegal was requisitioned by the Admiralty in 1915 for  conversion to a hospital ship. On 17 April 1917 she  was being used to carry 639 wounded soldiers from Le  Harve to Southampton when she was torpedoed and  sunk by UC-21.

Today the wreck of the Donegal sits in 48mts of water and is upright and very intact, although some of her plating is beginning to collapse down. The Donegal is 36miles to the SW from Brighton, she is close to a busy shipping area and in a particular area for strong tides, visibility can be challenging at times, so go on a good neap.

HMS Kerryado

 Built in 1920, this Admiralty requisitioned trawler was  sunk when she struck a mine on 6th March 1941,  originally a French minesweeper before joining the  Navy on 5th July 1940. The 252ton trawler now rests  10miles south of Brighton in a depth of 38mtrs and is  very broken up but still a good rummage dive.

HMS MINON

 HMS Minion was a M-class destroyer launched in  September 1915 .She was 1,025 tons and had a  length of 276ft with a beam of 26ft. The M Class were  armed with three 4-inch guns, one 2-pounder pom- pom and four 21inch torpedo tubes in pairs. She had a maximum speed of 34 knots. HMS Minion was lost whilst under tow to the ship breakers.

Today she rests on an even keel in 46mtrs 12 miles south of Brighton, Bows point to the east with the stern disappearing into sand dunes. The decks are pretty open with big holes and  areas to explore, large round holes on the deck where the gun turrets used to be giving access to the engine room. This is an excellent dive.

 

Mira

 This is the wreck of a British oil tanker that was built in  1901, She struck a mine on 11th October 1917, laid by  the German sub UC50, the Mira was full of oil.

 The Mira lays North – South and is laying on her stbd  side. Sand dunes around this wreck are building up  around her hull which is 345ft long & 47ft wide. The  ship rests in 30mtrs & is good for Bass fishing.

Nyon 40-44mtrs

 The Swiss motor ship of 5,364 tons. Now she lies  north-south, with her bows to the north on a sea bed  of soft sand. She lays on her side and has started to  collapse down, but her bridge is still her highest point.  There are good access areas along the length of her  hull and she is covered in fish.

Quail 40-44mtrs

 The Quail, an excellent dive & one of my favourites.  She was built in 1870 by Palmers in Jarrow for the  Cork Steamship Co, the Quail joined their fleet of  ships which were all named after birds. She left  Antwerp in August 1886 with a general cargo that  included glassware, wool & potted foods. It was later  when she was 14miles SW of Brighton in dense fog  that she had a collision with the French steamer San  Martin, striking the Quail on the stbd bow, the ship  sank within 15minutes with the loss of 1 life.

 Today the wreck sits upright and mainly intact apart  from her bow which sits there, broken off but pointing  skywards. As you swim into the holds and up onto the  superstructure, you see the remains of the cargo  especially the broken glassware, pub rummers.

Seaford 46-50mtrs

 This beautiful little steamer used to run from  Newhaven to Dieppe on the cross channel run, she  was sunk in collision in dense fog with the French  steamer the SS Lyon en route to Newhaven from  Dieppe on 21st August 1895. She was only 250 ft long  and had a beam of 35ft, a little beauty.

The wreck of the Seaford is 30miles from Brighton, she sits upright on a gravel seabed at 46mtrs with the mid section being the most intact with large portholes running down both sides of her, from above you see large pipe work running the length and the deck has a pattern of ceramic tiles on it, the bow & stern have collapsed down but are still recognisable. Known by the local fisherman as the Kingfisher due to the amount of big fish to be found on her, the congers are huge.

uC 65

 This the wreck of a German mine laying sub, thought  to be UC65. She is broken into 2 sections just behind  the engine room, the deck gun is still in place and  shell cases lay under the gun in their sealed  aluminium cases. These are in mint condition so leave  them well alone, isn’t that right Innes. This sub rests  in 44mtrs of water and is an excellent example of a  submarine, tremendous fish life on her.

Wrecks 50 – 75mtrs

Alaska

 The French steamship the Alaska was sunk in collision  with the Dotterel on 15th November 1939, there were  no survivors. Today this wreck lays in deep water,  65mtrs to the seabed, the ship itself has been broken  open by salvors who recovered much of the ships  copper ingots, but their grab did missed a few.

THE ALBERNI 66mts

 The Canadian Corvette Alberni was 193ft long and had  a beam of 32ft, she had a top speed of 17knots, She    struck a mine and sank on 21st August 1944 with the  loss of 59 of her crew. Today she rests in 66mtrs and  is on her side, again due to the depth she is very  intact and stands some 12mtrs proud of the seabed.

 The ‘Alberni’ is in the same area of the Channel as the  Osprey and usually has excellent visibility, again it’s a  long way from Brighton, some 42miles and as the  osprey is best done on one of our cross channel runs  Cherbourgh.

Why not try one of our 3 or 4 day trips to Cherbourgh, wrecks can include the belgian liner Leopoldville, the Empire Javlin and the Osprey.

 

Aracataca

 The Aracataca built in 1911 for Elders & Fyffes, she  weighed in at 4,154 tons was 376ft in length and had  a beam of 48ft. The meat refrigeration ship Aracataca  was enroute from Liverpool to Dunkirk with a cargo of   frozen meat when she was is a collision south west of  Beachy Head and sank on 18th April 1917.

Clan McMillan

 The Clan McMillan of Glasgow was built in 1901 by A  MacMillan & Son Ltd. She worked the routes  between the UK & Australia, Africa & India. On 23rd     March 1917 she left London bound for Glasgow, were    not quite sure how she ended up in her final resting    place but its not where everyone else says she is,   reports give her only a few miles to the south west of   Newhaven and in 24mtrs of water, but infact she is nearly 18miles south of Brighton and sitting upright in 65mtrs. She is a big wreck and stands almost 10mtrs high of the seabed and is in very good condition, she was identified by her name on the stern in big brass letters. 

Glen Arm Head

 This wreck is thought to be the wreck of the Glen Arm  Head due to the amount of shell cases laying around.  The Glenarm Head was a British armed steamer of  3,908 tons, she was torpedoed on the 4th January  1918 by UB-30 SW of the Brighton light vessel.

 Today she rests in 65mtrs of water 16miles south of  Brighton Marina, she is upright but broken. 

HMCS Osprey 73-77mtrs

 HMCS Osprey was built in 1940 at the US Navy Yard in  Vancouver Canada. She is 220ft long and with a beam  of 32ft and a displacement of 810tons.On the 4th June  1944 the Canadian built minesweeper was attached to  the 7th U.S. minesweeping squadron and was  engaged in sweeping a path for the D-Day landings  and Operation Overlord. It was whilst she was  engaged in these duties that she struck a mine at  18.15pm and went to the bottom of the channel.This is  a must do dive for any serious UK wrecks diver.

This is an intact minesweeper lying on her port side with the bronze wheelhouse still intact. Look in the wheelhouse and see the bridge gear still in place.This wreck is 46 miles from Brighton and is usually dived on one of my cross channel trips to Cherbourg, Can be done on a day trip but works out expensive