Wreck Projects

Written and researched by Jamie Smith - TWSAC

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We have an abundance of wrecks off our shores. Some are unnamed and it is these we are focusing the projects on - naming of the unknown is our goal. These projects provide an extra bit of fun and interest for the club.

I have listed a few sites with a bit of information about each. All the wrecks listed are dived from Newhaven where our club boat is kept.

Unknown - listed in Dive Sussex as wreck no. 219

This is possibly Alfred, lost 18/09/1887. She was a sailing vessel (schooner) with a cargo of cut roofing slates. The area of listed loss and actual position are quite close. There doesn’t seem to be anything else lost nearby with the same cargo. See drawing ‘Alfred’.

Unknown not far from Alfred

We call this the Easter Wreck, as we first dived her during one Easter weekend. She lays upright in 27 meters of water, is approximately 20 m long and 3 m across. The stern is missing. She has a single boiler and single expansion engine and also a large steering cog. From the boiler forwards the upper decks are level with the sea bed, with just the outline showing. We have no clues as to her identity yet.

Unknown - listed in Dive Sussex as wreck no. 320

This is possibly Harold, lost 11/06/1889. This one is off to the east. Her bow is the highest point - 6 meters proud and well intact. As you move towards midships she becomes more broken. Her two boilers and engine are most prominent. Astern she is more broken still and one meter proud of the sea bed.

During one dive, I found a piece of china hand basin with part of a name on it. Another dive and a dig in the same area revealed a second piece of basin, with the missing letter. A quick look through Lloyd’s Register identified a wreck by the name of Harold lost in this area. We also found a broken plate on this wreck with a potter’s mark. The potters were C.T.MALLING from Newcastle upon Tyne. This is where she was built, registered and owned. The Maritime Coastguard Agency and Hydrographic Office have both been informed of the finds and possible name of the wreck. 

Unknown - listed as an E Boat in Dive Sussex, wreck no. 266

It doesn’t looks like an E boat at all. An E boat would have had two big engines and been lightly built for speed. What we have is a large, almost square, pile of steel joists and tubing that stands approx. 3 meters high. In light of there not being any engines, boilers, coal, or metal superstructure on the site, I am of the opinion that this was cargo within or towed by a vessel. In the scour on the west side you can find large wooden ribs protruding out of the sea bed. This I believe to be the remains of the barge, which was possibly lost while under tow. I have had a good look through Lloyd’s Register of shipping losses but have had no luck identifying her as yet. A few unspecified cargos are logged, but she may not have been registered with Lloyds.

Unknown – listed in Dive Sussex as wreck no. 268

We call this the Scallop Wreck, given that many of these bivalves can be found here. This is a long upside-down wreck with a large four bladed prop standing proud. The stern is the most intact part with a swim through. There is an aeroplane engine with alloy props on her also. This was probably trawled up then dumped on the wreck so as to avoid further snagging. We hope to start looking at this one in earnest in the near future.

Unknown – listed in Dive Sussex as wreck no. 269

This is one of our old favourites and is nicknamed ‘Assend’. We have done lots of diving on her but have found no real clues yet as to her identity. Her stern decking collapsed about six years ago making it more difficult to find clues. Her stern and bows are the highest points, some five meters off the sea bed. She has a three cylinder engine and two boilers. From the boilers to her bows, the sea bed has taken over with just a few bits of wreckage visible. See sketch ‘Assend’.

Unknown - possible wreck site of the Borneo

The Hydrographic Office lists this as the possible wreck site of the Borneo. The Borneo was a trawler built by Cook, Welton and Gemmel in 1906. She was hired by the Royal Navy in 1914 and was lost near Beachy Head on 18/06/1917, possibly after hitting a mine

Photograph of sister ship Aucuba (note the wheel house to the stern of the funnel).

Wreckage is dispersed over the site and a break forward of midships would point towards a torpedo attack either by a U boat or E boat. There is a radial aeroplane engine on the site just four meters off the starboard side of the bow section.

There have been a few clues to her identity - the most helpful was the maker’s plate, Palmers Ship Building and Iron Co, found on one dive. The maker’s plate indicates this is not the site of the wreck of the Borneo.

We have only done a limited number of dives on the site and have it in mind to make this the next major surveying project. I am waiting for some sources of information to come back and may possibly have to make a visit to Cambridge where the archives for Palmers Ship Building and Iron Co. are kept to ascertain her name.

I have laid 40 meters of 12 mm line between the two sections via the debris field. This is most helpful to get the feel of the wreck site. I am hoping to give her a firm name from archives sourced - watch this space!

Survey site

This is the site of a charted wreck. The name of the vessel is not a mystery to us but at this point in time we do not wish to disclose her identity. She is not dived much but has so much to offer and is one of the most rewording dives I have done.

We began to survey this site as divers had reported the presence of two ships props here and possibly wreckage from more than one vessel. The possibility of there being two props threw up the chance of one of the vessels being the Borneo again. This vessel has become a bit of a quest for us to find, and it would be nice to find or prove her resting place. Then the final chapter can be written for her efforts during WW1 to keep this a free country and the wreck appreciated for what it is.

To date, our dives on the marks have not revealed two props and we are running out of bits of wreckage to dive. We have found only one boiler so far and the debris points to just one vessel.

At this point in time we cannot rule out the chance of two wrecks until the survey is complete. I have managed to get hold of a photograph of what she would have looked like and the general arrangements of her (see photos of ‘wreck site survey’ and ‘ships plans of general arrangements’).This will help to piece the bits together. We are planning a final survey in the spring.

Unknown - uncharted

This one is a great dive. I had a slight embarrassing time with John Lidddiard over this one. John had dived on her from a boat out of Eastbourne and I had been trying to get him to dive on her with us, telling him we knew the name of her! It turns out that maybe we didn’t!! The story begins with a find by an old TWSAC member - a brass plate – which he found on her several years ago. This club member reportedly did some research and concluded that the wreck was the Stanhope, which sunk on 16/03/1900. Unfortunately the engine and boiler configuration of the wreck does not match that of the Stanhope, so John told me. With this in mind we decided we needed to dive her again as soon as possible! Being an area that is renowned for bad visibility, I had my fingers crossed. The gods were with us and we were blessed with 6 meters visibility and sure enough she only had one boiler and a two cylinder engine! She looks like a Second World War victim, possibly the Horstmartini or Robert Ingham, but who knows. More diving needed!

Unknown – uncharted

We call her the Deep Wreck. This is one I did several years ago as my first dive as a qualified sports diver. Probably a bit deep but with bad company and the worst possible role models, it was a hazy dive to 52 meters on air. She is broken in two just before the wheel house. The bow is quite small and without a gun, as I recall. I think she has a four bladed steel prop. It is likely that she had an eight pound gun as shell cases of this type were found, which are probably World War 2. Also reported was a piece of china with the admiralty crest on it. Was this a patrol drifter or an armed trawler? I think what is needed is helium, good company and we will be closer to finding her identity. I have spent a bit of time trawling through records but I have had no luck yet finding a lost vessel in this area with an 8 pound gun.

I hope this has been of help and interest. We want to turn rust into history and wrecks into known resting places of our unsung heroes, whom have been patiently waiting for their story to be told. All artefacts that have been removed from these sites have been for research purposes and have been declared to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.

If you are looking for more information on wrecks off the Sussex coast, the following are good sources of information:

‘Dive Sussex’ by Kendall McDonald is an excellent choice. This book is published by Underwater World Publications - ISBN 0 946020 28 0.

John Liddiard has done some wreck tours for Diver magazine.

To find them go to http://www.divernet.com/cgi-bin/articles.pl?section=1026&sn=1026+Wreck+Tours

His tours of our local wrecks include Tour 72 (City of Waterford) and Tour 65 (Ashford).

John Liddiard’s article ‘Between the Winds’ documents his trip to another of our local wrecks, the UB130.

Read his article at http://www.divernet.com/cgi-bin/articles.pl?id=4626&sc=&ac=d&an=

The March 2008 issue of DIVER magazine also features John’s latest article, ‘Mysteries Multiplied’ about unidentified and misidentified wrecks of the East Sussex coast.

‘Sussex Shipwrecks, a personal view’ by John Salsbury. This book, published by West Press Publishing, is out of print but your local library may be able to source it for you.

‘World War One Channel wrecks, vessels lost in the English channel 1914 - 1918’ by Neil Maw. Published by Underwater World Press - ISBN 0 946020 29 9.

‘Shipwreck Index of the British Isles, vol. 2’ by Richard and Bridget Larn. Published by Lloyd’s Register of Shipping - ISBN 0 900528 99 0.