Hms Port Napier: Sron An Tairbh, Loch Alsh

NG72NE 8006 7774 2549

N57 15.9667 W5 41.1833

NLO: Sron an Tairbh [name: NG 780 253]

Loch Alsh [name centred NG 80 25]

Kyle Akin [name centred NG 758 268]

Skye [name centred NG 45 35].

Formerly entered as NG72NE 8447, and classified as Mine Transport Vessel.

HMS PORT NAPIER. The wreck lies in 21 metres of water but parts uncover at low water. A vertical spar with triangular topmark marks the position. Visibility averages 9 metres. Some mines are thought to be still in the wreck. The bow and stern are largely intact but amidships is jumbled. She lies on her starboard side.

Source: Butland & Siedlecki, BSAC Wreck Register 1987.

Quality of fix = CR

Horizontal Datum = OGB

General water depth = 20

Orientation of keel/wreck = NW/SE

Circumstances of Loss Details

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The auxilliary minelayer HMS PORT NAPIER sank following a fire and running aground in Loch Alsh.

Surveying Details

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7 October 1954. A beacon has been established at a position bearing 109 degrees, 580 metres from Rudha Ard Tresnish trig mark, or bearing 111.5 degrees and 2186 metres from the Kyle Akin light.

Report by Flag Officer, Scotland.

7 November 1968. A Royal Naval bomb and mine disposal team have salvaged 600 mines and 4000 rounds of ammunition from the wreck. The vessel is lying on her side and there is still a possibility of mines remaining underneath.

Report by War Risk Insurance Department, Board of Trade.

13 January 1969. The Department of Contracts (Navy) will not sell the vessel due to the possible danger from mines/explosives. Some doubt remains as to exact number of mines onboard when the vessel sank.

8 December 1969. The wreck was dived upon. Several parts of the superstructure were found to be lying south of the wreck. The deck of the wreck is littered with loose cables.

Report by Nottingham Mines Research and Exploration Group, 1 December 1969.

8 July 1971. The wreck is now reported at 57 15 58N, 005 41 11W - the bow is on a bearing of 210 degrees and 1871 metres from the Donald Murchinson Memorial. The stern is on a bearing of 206 degrees and 1877 metres from Donald Murchinson's Monument. The position of the navigation beacon is 109.5 degrees and 1554 metres from Rudha Ard Tresnish triangulation mark.

Report by HMS HECLA, 18 February 1970.

10 November 1975. The position of 57 15 58N, 005 41 11W is confirmed. The wreck lies in a general depth of 18.3 metres and dries to 2.4 to 3 metres. The wreck is in one piece, lying on its side, and still has ammunition onboard.

Report by R R Webb, 12 October 1975.

5 April 1982. The wreck is largely intact, lying on its starboard side. Some port side plating has been blown off, otherwise it is structurally safe.

Source: BSAC Wreck Register, vol 2.

22 November 1983. The beacon marking the wreck is missing.

Report by HMS LONDONDERRY.

30 September 1985. An enquiry has been received from J S Stoddart, Contract Services, Hartlepool, about the possible purchase and salvage of wreck.

12 October 1990. The vessel lies in 20 metres on her side. The propellers have been removed by an unauthorised salvor. The naval salvage team of HMS BARGLOW removed 526 mines in 1955/6 and detonated the remaining 16 in situ. The wreck is popular with sport divers. Application have been made for permission to remove the propellor shafts, wire cable from the deck and other fittings.

Report by Disposal Sales (Contracts 3) enclosing a letter from North East Divers, dated 1 May 1990.

Hydrographic Office, 1995.

(Classified as minelayer, with cargo of mines: date of loss cited as 27 November 1940). HMS Port Napier: this vessel foundered [sic.] in Loch Alsh. Registration: London.

(Location of loss cited as N57 15.97 W5 41.18).

I G Whittaker 1998.

Material reported under RoW amnesty (2001):

A251 43 brass fittings (including brass log, name/identification plates, gauges and light fittngs) and 2 beer bottles (found on seabed, possibly from wreck)

A299 1 ring bolt (found on seabed).

NMRS, MS/829/33.

Material reported under RoW amnesty (2001):

A1078 1 brass plaque: from seabed

A1170 2 shellcases, 2 'mechanisms from shellheads': from seabed

A1687 1 'bit deck planking': from seabed

A1954 1 porthole: from seabed

A3062 1 brass tap

A3227 2 'cones' (1 brass, 1 ?zinc), 1 button: from seabed

A3347 1 fragment of mug: from seabed

A3376 1 plug, 1 beer bottle and contents: from seabed

A3646 1 switch housing, 2 bearings, 2 switches, 5 rail locking bolts (or parts): from seabed

A3709 1 piece broken crockery: from seabed

A3957 1 tile: from seabed.

NMRS, MS/829/35.

This ship was under construction for the Port Line when she was requisitioned (apparently under her own intended name) for naval service, and converted for defensive minelaying. Her building yard is not cited in any of the available accounts but ships of the Port Line were characteristically designed for above-average speeds. The ship was of 9600 tons gross and measured 498 ft (152m) in length by 68 ft (20.7m) in beam and 41ft 6ins (12.7m) depth to the upper or main deck. Conversion for minelaying comprised the fitting of mine rails along the main deck, further mines being stored beneath planks in the holds.

While loading mines at Kyle of Lochalsh (presumably at the Railway Pier, NG72NE 9) the ship caught fire, and was towed out into the loch before exploding: some debris was thrown ashore. The ship was reported to be carrying 550 mines and 6000 shells for her ten anti-aircraft guns at the time of sinking. The mines themselves did not catch fire, and were recovered in 1955, most of the port side plating being removed to allow their removal. 4000 unexploded shells are also said to have been recovered.

Apart from the lost plating, the wreck (including the wooden decking) is substantially intact and lies on her starboard side, the port side being visible above water at most states of the tide. The rich assemblage of marine life includes sugar kelp (along the sunlit port side), anemones and tunicates. The fittings recognisable forward include anchor cables, a pair of 4-inch guns (on the foredeck), mast and hatches. Most of the superstructure remains intact but the funnel has collapsed forward. A capstan and possible further gun mounting survive aft, while a pile of mine sinkers survives off the starboard side.

The HO chart indicates the wreck about 1.2 nm (2.2 km) SE of Kyle of Lochalsh, and in a charted depth of about 12m immediately S of the projecting underwater point of Bo Stron an Tairbh, near the mouth of Loch na Beiste. The seabed around is evidently variable.

[Location map: Macdonald 1993, 66].

Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 4 November 2002.

R Macdonald 1993; R and B Larn 1998; Diver 2000b.

HO chart no. 2540 (1976, updated to 1992).

Plans (but not photographs) of this vessel are held in the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.

Information from Ms G Fabri (NMM), 7 November 2003.