Archaeology Notes

Event ID 865218

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/865218

NS27NE 8001 2850 7788

N55 57.8 W4 44.8667

NLO: Greenock [name: NS 280 765].

Horizontal Datum = UND

Circumstances of Loss Details

-----------------------------

Whilst the torpedo tubes of the MAILLE BREZE were trained fore and aft, they were accidentally fired hitting the bridge which set the fuel on fire. Attempts to put out the fire failed and the vessel blew up and sank with the loss of 28 ratings.

Source: Dictionary of Disasters at Sea.

Hydrographic Office 1995.

(Classified as destroyer: date of loss cited as 30 April 1940). Maille Breze: explosion whilst loading torpedoes, sank at quay. All gone 1954, and broken up.

Registration: French. Built 1931. 2441nrt. Length: 128m. Beam,: 12m.

(Location of loss cited as N55 57.80 W4 44.87).

I G Whittaker 1998.

(The loss of this vessel is illustrated, but not described. The published photograph shows the vessel as having sunk upright in relatively ashallow water away from any quay, her upperworks remaining visible).

R Larn and B Larn 1998.

The location assigned to this record remains unverified and the significance of the statement by Whittaker that the incident occurred while the vessel was alongside remains unclear. The location cited may record the final disposal of the wreck remains.

The UKHO chart (no. 1994, published 1974, revised 1994) does not indicate this wreck at the cited location, which falls about 0.58nm NE of the Clydeport Ocean Terminal (NS27NE 56), Greenock, in a charted depth of about 11m, and to the N of Tail of the Bank. The seabed slopes gradually towards the W; no seabed type is recorded nearby. The cited location lies close to moooring buoy D41, which indicates that there is no protruding obstruction.

The UKHO chart (no. 1994, published 1974, revised 1994) notes Tail of the Bank to the E of the outer end of the defined channel of the River Clyde. The name is centred at N55 57.4 W4 45.1 [NS 282 771].

Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 6 December 2004.