Sphene Again.
Several local divers wanted to have a dive off the north coast of Cornwall, some had never dived the north coast and wanted to see what it was like. Looking at the forecast the south coast was going to be a bit rough anyway, it could even affect the north coast a bit offshore. So with the divers and conditions in mind, the Sphene looked favourite for all.
We had to leave early, launching at Rock on low spring tides can be a problem but it would give us plenty of time to put a shot line down. When we arrived we had about 45 minutes before slack water would start, but it didn’t appear to be moving. The decision was made to get in and see what it was like, I volunteered to be first, so off I went.
The current seemed to have stopped already so everyone else jumped in soon after. Having dived the wreck so often, combined with the fact that it is small and shallow, you do get to know it very well, there are always things you see that you haven’t seen before. I spent ages rummaging around, swam into the bow, around the engine and boiler. There was plenty of ambient light and at 24m with vis probably only about 8m this time, you still didn’t need a torch. I tried to remember if I had ever swam up past the rudder to the top of the stern, the whole area is covered in Plumose Anemones so I did it anyway. It certainly does look impressive as the entire stern section is intact, for now, it is starting to show signs of decay. The Bow section is also decaying fast, I don’t think it’ll be long before the weight of the chain and winches on top will cause it to collapse. It’ll be a shame when it does as it does make the wreck quite defined as a ship still.
After 92 minutes underwater I re-appeared on the surface, much to everyone’s delight, they all wanted to go to the pub now!
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