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Unknown: Widewall Bay, South Ronaldsay, Scapa Flow, Orkney
Fishing Vessel (Possible), Minesweeper (First World War), Motor Fishing Vessel (Possible)
Site Name Unknown: Widewall Bay, South Ronaldsay, Scapa Flow, Orkney
Classification Fishing Vessel (Possible), Minesweeper (First World War), Motor Fishing Vessel (Possible)
Alternative Name(s) Herston; Unknown
Canmore ID 101994
Site Number ND49SW 8002
NGR ND 42323 91571
Datum WGS84 - Lat/Long
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/101994
- Council Orkney Islands
- Parish South Ronaldsay
- Former Region Orkney Islands Area
- Former District Orkney
- Former County Orkney
ND49SW 8002 4224 9169
N58 48.5567 W2 59.9917
NLO: Herston [name: ND 420 916]
Widewall Bay [name centred ND 424 924]
South Ronaldsay [name centred ND 44 87]
Scapa Flow [name centred HY 36 00].
(Charted location cited as N58 48.55 W2 58.98: ND 422 916]. A drying wreck is situated near ruined piers and slips [ND49SW 57-8]. It is about 35m long and possibly an MFV.
G Ridley 1992.
Quality of fix = PHOT
Horizontal Datum = OGB
Orientation of keel/wreck = 125/305
Surveying Details
-----------------------------
9 March 1976. A hulk, approximately 35 metres long, is lying on the highwater mark at 58 48 33.4N, 002 59 59.5W. The keel is orientated 125.5/305.5 degrees with the bows to the SE. It could possibly a fishing vessel.
Source: Ordnance Survey aerial photography dated 16 May 1973.
Hydrographic Office, 1995.
M[otor] F[ishing] V[essel] (possibly).
(Location of loss cited as N58 48.55 W2 59.98).
I G Whittaker 1998.
Field Visit (August 1997)
Located in intertidal zone
The hulk of a propeller-driven wooden vessel lies partly submerged in gravel at the HWM. The base and some of the side ribs survive, in a very decayed state; the upper part of the structure has gone. The remains of internal metal fittings, together with iron nails and rivets in the vessel's timbers survive but are very corroded. The vessel is 20m long and c.9m wide.
Coastal Zone Assessment Survey, 1997
Reference (2011)
Whittaker ID : 2513
Name : UNKNOWN
Latitude : 584833
Longitude : 25959
Type : MFV (POSSIBLY)
Length : 35
Position : Exact Position
Reference (19 April 2012)
UKHO Identifier : 001237
Feature Class : Wreck
Wreck Category : Wreck showing any portion of hull or superstructure
State : LIVE
Classification : Unclassified
Position (Lat/long) : 58.80928,-2.99986
Horizontal Datum : ORDNANCE SURVEY OF GREAT BRITAIN (1936)
WGS84 Position (Lat/long) : 58.80886,-3.00146
WGS84 Origin : 3-D Cartesian Shift (BW)
Position Method : Air photography
Position Quality : Precisely known
Depth Quality : Depth unknown
Water Depth : -1
Vertical Datum : Lowest Astronomical Tide
Name : UNKNOWN
Type : ?M FISHING
Length : 35.0
Orientation : 125.0
Contact Description : Entire wreck
Original Sensor : Video Sensor
Original Detection Year : 1976
Original Source : Other
Surveying Details : **H1270/76 9.3.76 POSN 584833.4N, 025959.5W. HULK, APPROX 35MTRS LONG, LYING ON HW LINE. ORIENTATED 125.5/305.5DEG, BOWS SE. POSSIBLY A FV. (ORDNANCE SURVEY AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY 73/137 DTD 16.5.73). INS AS ST. BR STD.
Chart Symbol : ST
Charting Comments : HULK
Date Last Amended : 18/11/2003
Reference (March 2012)
Sitename : Monarch
Note : The Monarch was not used in the herring industry though it is the same type of vessel. It is made of Oregon pine and built on Lake Superior in 1915. Therefore, it would have reached the ocean through the Great Lakes Waterway, a system of canals and locks. It was built in a hurry in anticipation of a short life as a mine sweeper. However, it was used instead to service the fleet in Scapa Flow during both world wars. Two of these ships would move around the fleet, one going clockwise and the other anti-clockwise around Scapa Flow, supplying the fleet with food. It is not known where or what the ship was doing between 1919 and 1939.
It last moved on its own in 1945/6. She lay at Duncans for a time where they took some bits off her, a gale did further damage to her keel (Herbert Mackenzie, 11/02/2009). It was then bought for fencing posts and towed by the Hoy Head to Herston costing £2 and left on the beach. In 1948 it was scrapped. John Laird towed her round to Herston with the Hoy Head. The tow cost £2. John Wylie got the chains from the boat.
The wooden wine-glass wench and chain nearby was used to beach the vessel, and carry here up the beach a little every high tide. The wench was previously used for raising the masts at each end of the Churchill barriers. From these masts steel wire was hung to carry the blocks to build up the causeway. The keel sat lies slightly seaward of the wreck on the foreshore. The curved iron attached to the keel sat is where the boiler sat.
Timbers from this vessel are scattered along the beach from Herston to the Ayre of Banks.
The wreck features in the music video for the Eurythmics' track, 'Here comes the rain again', released in 1983. At this time the hull and deck appear to have been in a poor state of repair but were apparently intact enough to walk on.
The Monarch and the surrounding area have been recorded using a Leica C10 High Definition Laser Scanner in combination with a Leica Viva Smartnet RTK Global Navigation Satellite System accurate to plus or minus a couple of centimetres as part of a training sessions for Orkney College's Department of Archaeology.
The site is centred at NGR 342323E 991671N.
Sources :
Cyril Annal (personnal communication),January 2012
Edward Pollard (personal communication),2011
H, MacKenzie,Orkney Image Library,http://www.orkneycommunities.co.uk/imagelibrary/picture/number1803.asp,8/2/2012
Approaches to the Orkney Islands in WGS1984 at 15 m resolution Bathymetry Id 20097029,http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzFnYcIqj6I,2009
