Diver Inspection

Date 2013

Event ID 998465

Category Recording

Type Diver Inspection

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/998465

58 52.975 N 2 53.867 W The remains of each of the contact lie on a sand and cobble bottom in about 8m of water. If as interpreted the remains are from the same vessel the wreck would be oriented northeast to southwest with the bow to the southeast. The remains can be affected by storm swells but are generally sheltered from tide. The wrecks in Skerry

Sound are subject to coastal accretion with an increase in sedimentation caused by the construction of the barriers.

Descriptions are provided below:

Contact 1. The remains were noted to be a section of bow, standing approximately 2m proud of the seabed. There is a porthole aperture in the plating near the apex of the remains, and corroded steel hull plating with a light coverage of short animal turf. The wreckage is situated on the edge of a scour depression. Two pipes run along the edge of a section of plating, the larger of which forms of coupling with a gear wheel. Sections of modern lines were entangled in the remains

Contact 2: The wreckage was found at the base of a 1m deep depression. The remains of a steel propeller shaft tunnel aft of an engine room were observed. Portions of the coupling for the propeller shaft are slightly exposed. Within the tunnel there is an open door and door aperture which would have provided access to the narrower shaft tunnel is visible to the northeast of the remains. There is no evidence of boilers and engines in this area. These may still be buried or they may have been salvaged. The remains are well corroded and while the top of the section is covered with well-established short animal turf, the deeper sections are not colonised. This suggests that the majority of the remains are normally covered in

sand. It is likely they were exposed as a result of recent storms. To the northeast of the debris the aft section of the ship gets increasingly buried until no remains are visible. The wreckage has some evidence of fouling from lines and there is an abandoned creel.

Contact 3: A small piece of wreckage with steel plates and ribs was recorded. These appear to be part of the stern sections of a vessel. The remains are partly corroded with a light coverage of short animal turf. The alignment of the vessel and the distance between Contacts 2 and 3 suggest they are from the same vessel.

Directly inshore from Contact 3 there are a number of steel plates and rib sections scattered along the shore where they intermingle with the iron remains of the SS Teeswood.

Analysis

Historical documents and images suggest these are the remains of the SS Elton (ADM X96-3).

The UKHO report (1265) records that in 1926 the SS Teeswood, SS Elton, SS Almeria and SS Reinfield are all in the same location, although with the exception of the SS Cape Ortegal all these wrecks have their own unique UKHO record.

In UO survey completed in 1972 subsequently indicates that the SS Ilsenstein is in the same position as the SS Elton; however, the descriptions of the remains recorded during the 1972 surveys are not detailed enough to determine which vessel the remains are associated with.

This project has clearly shown that they are not referring to the SS Elton.

Both Ferguson (1985) and Macdonald (1993) confuse the SS Elton with the mis-identified remains of the Emerald Wings. Macdonald states that the mast of the vessel he believes is the SS Elton is visible at all times. This is incorrect. The mast that is reported is that of the SS Emerald Wings.

The 1915 sketch of the Skerry Sound blockships in in ADM X96-3 (Plate 9) clearly show the SS Elton capsized and further to the east. Furthermore, this project has demonstrated that the remains of the SS Elton are flattened and no part of the wreckage is visible above the water

A British steel steamship built in 1888 by Gray William & Co., Ltd., West Hartlepool for R. Ropner & Co., West Hartlepool the Elton was purchased by the Admiralty in 1914 and was sunk as a Blockship in Skerry Sound on 3rd October 1914.

Information from Annalisa Christie, Kevin Heath and Mark Littlewood (ORCA) March 2014