Archaeology Notes

Event ID 757682

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/757682

ND49NE 8002 4797 9503

N58 50.4017 W2 54.0833

NLO: Water Sound [name centred ND 460 950]

Stromness [name: HY 253 090]

Scapa Flow [name centred HY 36 00].

Formerly entered as Site no. 8739.

For adjacent (and successor) Churchill Barrier No. 4, see ND49NE 17.

For other blockships in this group, see ND49NE 8003-9 and 8022, and ND49SE 8001.

For plan indicating the relative locations and orientations of blockships in this group, see Macdonald 1990, 125.

Quality of fix = PHOT

Horizontal Datum = OGB

General water depth = 10

Orientation of keel/wreck = 043223

Circumstances of Loss Details

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The steel single-screw SS PONTOS was built 1891 and sunk as a blockship.

Source: Wrecks of Scapa Flow.

Surveying Details

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14 March 1972. The wreck's position is given as 58 50 22N, 002 54 10W, or bearing 196.5 degrees, 792 metres from the spot height (107) on Burray. The entire hull is intact with the bows towards beach. The bow of the wreck shows about 2.4 metres at highwater, with the davit aft also showing. At low water all the ship shows. The forward superstructure is there, but the bridge has collapsed. There is a big gash amidships. The holds have a layer of concrete and rocks which makes the wreck very strong. The propeller and shaft are submerged. The stern runs into Clio. Two masts are intact.

Report by Undermarine Operations, 5 March 1972.

9 March 1976. A large portion of this hulk is visible above the level of mean low water. The stern is either below water level or has been broken off. The portion above water is about 85 metres long, and the keel is orientated 043.5/223.5 degree. The hulk's position is 58 50 24.1N, 002 54 05.0W. This wreck coincides with position of the wreck PONTOS.

Source; Ordnance survey aerial photography dated 16 May 1973.

1 September 1992. The wreck lies 12 metres off the SE end of the barrier. It is clearly visible. The forward section of hull has a distictive tall mast still standing. Two empty lifeboat davits can be seen just aft of the mast. The wreck is well corroded but substantially intact.

Source: MacDonald 1990

Hydrographic Office, 1995.

(Classified as steel steamship: former names cited as St John City and Clan MacNab, and date of loss as 1914). Pontos: this vessel was scuttled as a blockship in Water Sound.

Registration: Andross. Built 1891. 2265grtr. Length: 93m. Beam: 12m.

(Location of loss cited as N58 50.40 W2 54.08).

I G Whittaker 1998.

Length: 305 ft (93m): date of sinking 30 November 1914.

'Ballasted. Back broken amidships. Upright and in good condition. Will last a long time.' (Report dated 28 June 1915 and accompanying panoramic sketch dated 8 December 1915).

The accompanying panoramic drawing (of Water Sound, looking E from Burray Pier) depicts this vessel from the starboard beam, partly obscuring the Clio I (ND49NE 8006). The vessel appears to have been a flush-decked cargo vessel with minimal poop and fo'c'sle; the masts and funnel remain erect. The vessel lies level in the water, the water level being about that found in service.

The accompanying map depicts this vessel in hatched outline and as lying N-S against the Ronaldsay shore. The bow is to the S and this is the most southerly blockship of the group.

Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 30 January 2004.

PRO [Kew] ADM116/2073A: dated 17 December 1919.

Water Sound is the most southerly of the four sounds that pierce the Eastern side of Scapa Flow. It formerly separated the islands of Burray (to the N) and South Ronaldsay (to the S), but is now crossed by Churchill Barrier No. 4 (ND49NE 17), which blocks it near the E (North Sea) end.

Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 2 April 2007.