Diver Inspection
Date 2014 - 2015
Event ID 1037403
Category Recording
Type Diver Inspection
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1037403
The SAMPHIRE team visited the site briefly during fieldwork in 2014 in order to attempt photogrammetric recording of the bow area. This test was not successful, although some photographs of good quality were captured, and no entry was included in the 2014 report. However these images later proved valuable. During fieldwork for the diving phase of 2015 in the same area, the SAMPHIRE team were informed by local dive centre operators Mark and Annabel Lawrence that they had received reports from recreational divers in the winter of 2014 that large sections of this well-loved wreck had been destroyed over the winter, and as with the Short Sunderland (see 2015 entry for S90) it was speculated that dredging may have been the cause.
At the request of the dive centre the SAMPHIRE team carried out a short dive in the afternoon and this proved sufficient to establish that there has been a major collapse of the decking around the bow. However the fact that the external hull around the bow is still intact and the fragile and highly corroded nature of the surviving elements of the bow structure suggest that the collapse has more likely been due to the natural degradation of the hull rather than dredging impacts. Bob Mackintosh, student volunteer with the SAMPHIRE project, searched around the bows of the wreck. Hydrographic data for this site predating the collapse of the bow was also provided to the SAMPHIRE team by John Howe of the Scottish Association of Marine Science including a H525 report and multibeam data.
SAMPHIRE ID: 144
Classification: STEAMSHIP (19TH CENTURY)
Site Name: Thesis: Rubha An Ridire, Sound Of Mull
Coordinates: 172900 740358
Accuracy: 2m
