S.S. Elastoplast!
Today saw the first of two dives out of Penzance on Fred Buckingham’s ‘Pamela P’. A large catamaran based in Penzance that is very comfortable and well suited to divers. We left at a sensible time of 11:30 and decided the dive on route. Our remit was a maximum depth of 60m and after a bit of discussion we ended up heading for a wreck which had not been identified. The first time anyone dived the wreck they cut themselves on it and required a plaster, an Elastoplast, so that was what the wreck is called for now.
As we arrived the water wasn’t moving so we kitted up and jumped in. The shotline was right next to the boilers, as we descended towards the bottom there was a lot of monofilament netting close to us, it was still doing its job, crabs and lobsters had got tangled up in it over a period of time. I swam around the boilers looking for what was described as a porthole, I found it, it was iron so it was staying put. I then headed along the port side towards the bow looking out off to the side for a brass box that had been spotted previously, I didn’t see it. The wreck is broken portside all the way to the bow with the bow ridge beam (must be an official name for one of them) standing about 2.5m above the remains of the bow which stood about 1.5m above the bottom. As the starboard side was more intact I swam along the inside of the wreck over it’s the cargo of coal, some winches and a huge anchor until I reached the net again. I then went back to the port side for another look for the brass box, still couldn’t find it. I then carried along the port side to the stern which stands over 4m high. The rudder and propellor are still inplace, behind the stern was a debris field which was a mixture of beams and plates, how they got there, no-one knows. Possibly from a trawl net, there were loads of pieces of different types of net all over the wreck. I then continued up the rudder to the top of the stern section, over another large amount of beams and a couple of winches back to the engine and the boilers. My planned runtime of 30 minutes was now up and I made my way back to the shotline to complete my decompression schedule. Whilst on the shallower stops I was escorted by eight small fish, then during my 6m stop I was surrounded by a very large shoal of Mackerel in a feeding frenzy.
The wreck lies upright with the stern section reasonably intact. The propellor and rudder still in place behind the twin boilers and triple expansion engine. I would estimate a length of approximately 70m and a tonnage of around 1500-2000 tons, this was confirmed by other divers on the boat. Without any hard evidence of a name it would be hard to guess which wreck it could be, this is a very common size and layout with a very common cargo. The distance between the engine and the sterm would suggest a large rear cargo hold too, which isn’t so common.
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