Archaeology Notes
Event ID 762176
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Archaeology Notes
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/762176
NR14SE 8001 1503 4048
N55 34.4667 W6 31.3
Formerly entered as NR14SE 1.
See also NR23SE 8001.
Quality of fix = SYL
Evidence = Echo sounder
Horizontal Datum = OGB
General water depth = 86
Orientation of keel/wreck = 175/355
Circumstances of Loss Details
-----------------------------
The TUSCANIA was an Anchor Line vessel, built 1914, which was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U77. The vessel had been taken over as a war transport and was carrying 2030 American troops from Halifax to Liverpool. 166 lives were lost.
Source; Dictionary of Disasters at Sea.
Surveying Details
-----------------------------
1918. The TUSCANIA sank at 55 36 00N, 006 29 00W approximately. Or 7 miles north of Rathlin Island light.
5 July 1957. The site was not found.
Report by HMS COOK, 1956.
11 February 1986. The wreck was examined on 17/18 Cotober 1985 at 55 34 28N, 006 31 18W or decca [hebrides] red g 2.12, purple c 70.11. The least echosounder depth was 80 in a general depth of 86 metres. No scouring was observed. The side scan sonar indicated a height of 5 metres, and a length of 70 - 80 metres (229 -262 feet). The wreck is lying with its keel orientated 175/355 degrees, but is not well defined. Two other contacts nearby could be possibly be wreckage, but these are considered to be probably natural features. These two features lie approximately 450 metres to the west.
Report by Bue Subsea.
Hydrographic Office, 1995.
(Classified as steel steamship, with cargo of wax, oil and steel: date of loss cited as 5 February 1918). Tuscania: this vessel was torpedoed 7 miles North of Rathlin [Island], or at N55 26.50 W6 26.50. Capt. McLean.
Registration: Glasgow. Built 1914. 14348grt. Length: 165m. Beam: 20m.
(Location of loss cited as N55 36.50 W6 26.40).
I G Whittaker 1998.
