Cape Ortegal: Skerry Sound, Scapa Flow, Orkney

(Classified as steel steamship: no cargo specified, but date of loss cited as 8 September 1939). Cape Ortegal: this vessel was sunk as a blockship in Skerry Sound, but rolled over and broke up in a gale.

Registration: Glasgow. Built 1911. 4896grt. Length: 123m. Beam: 16m.

(Location of loss cited as N58 52.83 W2 53.83).

I G Whittaker 1998.

CAPE ORTEGAL, sunk 1939, steel single-screw steamer, built 1911 at Glasgow. Registered at Glasgow. Rolled over and broke up during a gale.

Source: D M Ferguson 1984

Hydrographic Office 1995.

NLO: Stromness [name: HY 253 090]

Glimps Holm [name: ND 472 991]

Glimpsholm Skerry [name: ND 482 995]

Scapa Flow [name centred HY 36 00].

For adjacent and successor causeway (Churchill Barrier no. 2), see ND49NE 15.

For successor blockship (Elton), see ND49NE 8019.

For other blockships in this group, see HY40SE 8002, ND49NE 8014-21 and ND49NE 8024.

For plan indicating the relative locations and orientations of blockships in this group, see Macdonald 1990, 125.

Skerry Sound is not noted as such on the 1998 edition of the OS 1:50,000 map. The name apparently applies to the ill-defined sound leading E from St Mary's Bay {name centred ND 473 002] into Holm Sound [name centred ND 500 992] between Lamb Holm [name: HY 485 003] to the N and Glimps Holm [name: ND 473 992] to the S. It is now closed by Churchill Barrier No. 2 (ND49NE 15: ND 4822 9999 to ND 4785 9952).

Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 18 August 2005.

Skerry Sound is not noted as such on the 1998 edition of the OS 1:50,000 map, but the current edition of the OS (GIS) notes the name around ND 4814 9995, between Glimps Holm and Glimpsholm Skerry.

Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 28 March 2007.

Whittaker ID : 11001

Name : CAPE ORTEGAL

Latitude : 585250

Longitude : 25350

Date Built : 1911

Registration : GLASGOW

Type : SS (STEEL)

Tonnage : 4896

Tonnage Code : G

Length : 123

Beam : 16

Draught : 8m

Loss Day : 8

Loss Month : 9

Loss Year : 1939

Comment : Scuttled as a blockship in Skerry Sound but rolled over and broke-up in a gale

UKHO Identifier : 001265

Feature Class : Wreck

State : LIVE

Classification : Unclassified

Position (Lat/long) : 58.88292,-2.89778

Horizontal Datum : ORDNANCE SURVEY OF GREAT BRITAIN (1936)

WGS84 Position (Lat/long) : 58.88250,-2.89940

WGS84 Origin : 3-D Cartesian Shift (BW)

Position Quality : Unreliable

Depth Quality : Depth unknown

Water Depth : 8

Vertical Datum : Lowest Astronomical Tide

Name : ELTON

Type : BLOCKSHIP

Flag : BRITISH

Tonnage : 2461

Tonnage Type : Gross

Date Sunk : 03/10/1914

Contact Description : Notable debris

Original Sensor : Reported Sinking

Last Sensor : None reported

Original Detection Year : 1914

Last Detection Year : 1992

Original Source : Other

Last Source : Other

Circumstances of Loss : **STEEL SINGLE-SCREW SS, BUILT 1880, WAS SUNK AS A BLOCKSHIP. (WKS OF SCAPA FLOW, DIVE SCAPA FLOW).

Surveying Details : **H3875/26 9.6.26 POSN 585257N, 025351W. (TEESWOOD, ALMERIA, & REINFIELD IN SAME POSN). INS AS DWP. BR STD.

**H7308/56 13.5.59 INS CAUTION NOTE ON 35.

- NM 1924/58.

**H2496/72 14.3.72 POSN 585258.52N, 025352W (ILSENSTEIN IN SAME POSN), OR 219DEGS, 1950FT FROM LAMB HOLM TRIG STN (61). ONLY HALF HULL ABOUT ENGINE ROOM REMAINS, ENGINES & FITTINGS IN PLACE. EITHER END FLATTENED BY SEA ETC. SPREAD OVER LARGE AREA. (UNDERMARINE OPERATIONS, 5.3.72). INS AS DWP. BR STD.

**3.7.80 NOT SHOWN ON NC 35 (AREA BLUED OUT).

**11.12.81 COVERED BY LEGEND WKS ON NC 2250.

**20.8.92 MIDSHIPS SECTION REMAINS IN FAIRLY GOOD CONDITION & IS VISIBLE AT LOW WATER, MAST VISIBLE AT ALL TIMES. STERN SECTION CUT OFF & REMOVED JUST AFT OF ENGINE ROOM. LARGE BOILER STILL REMAINS IN SITU. FUNNEL LIES ON THE SEABED HARD UP AGAINST THE HULL ON STARBOARD SIDE. PROP SHAFT GEARING MECHANISM LYING AMID DEBRIS WHERE STERN CUT AWAY. SECOND SECTION OF HULL LIES 12MTRS IN FRONT OF FIRST. A CONSIDERABLE AMOUNT OF RIBBED PLATING PERHAPS THE REMNANTS OF 'CAPE ORTEGAL' OR 'RHEINFIELD' LIE AROUND STERN SECTION. (DIVE SCAPA FLOW).

Charting Comments : POSN FOR FILING ONLY

Date Last Amended : 09/02/2005

The Scapa Flow 2013 Marine Archaeology Survey Project, commissioned by Historic Scotland, undertook remote sensing surveys and archaeological diving evaluations at some of the sites within Scapa Flow, Orkney and at the Churchill Barriers.

The project aimed to establish or confirm the identification, extent of survival, character and condition of around 28 known but mostly poorly recorded First and Second World War wreck sites, 8 salvage sites, several sites thought to be associated with Second World War Boom Defences, and a limited sample of geophysical features identified in previous studies (Project Adair).

The work built on that of previous surveys including those completed as part of the ScapaMap Project (2001 and 2006) and by Wessex Archaeology Scapa Flow Wrecks Survey (2012), amongst others.

The project was completed by ORCA Marine and SULA Diving

58.52.95 N 2.53.964 W Ferguson (1985) and Macdonald (1993) reported that the remains of the SS Cape Ortegal lie abutting the remains of the SS Elton. This has been contradicted by the surveys completed during this project. The remains recorded in the location considered to be that of the SS Cape Ortegal by Ferguson (1985) and Macdonald (1993) did not have the correct number of boilers. The Lloyds list indicates the SS Cape Ortegal had three boilers, while the remains on the seabed only had two. It is unlikely the third boiler had been covered up or removed as the engine room area of the wreck in that position is almost intact. The

remains in that position are known to be that of the Almeria (discussed below) as supported by archival photographs).

The remains of the SS Cape Ortegal were not located during these surveys, and it is suspected that they are actually under the barrier.

Several contacts protruding from the east side of Churchill Barrier 2 were noted during side scan surveys completed during this project. It was not possible to assess these within the scope of the project, but they should be considered as high potential for future work.

The SS Cape Ortegal has incorrectly been assigned the same UKHO number as that of the SS Elton, something that should be amended.

A British steel steamship the SS Cape Ortegal was built for Lyle Shipping Co., Ltd., Glasgow by Russell & Co., Port Glasgow in 1911.The SS Cape Ortegal had a complex purchase history between 1936 and 1939 when the vessel was requisitioned by the Admiralty and sunk as a blockship in Skerry Sound on the 8th September 1939. The vessels’ success as a blockship was limited and it is reported that it rolled over and broke up in the first of the winter storms. Cabinet papers for

February 1940 (CAB/65/56 in the Public Records Office (PRO)) indicate that the wreck ‘’rolled off into deep water’’.

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