Unknown: Blackness, Firth Of Forth

NT07NE 8003 0678 7944

N55 59.935 W3 29.69

NLO: Blackness [name: NT 051 799].

Not to be confused with NT18SW 8002.

[No NGR or accurate location cited]. Wreck of Admiralty target barge lying East of Blackness Castle. Locals tell me this barge was beached in the 1950s. Much of the riveted plating has rusted away leaving the internal reinforcement, a massive lattice of wooden cross beams and girder longitudinals. The forecastle head and part of the main deck remain. The main deck is wooden, a foot thick. The forecastle head decking is also wood up to three feet thick. This is reinforced with plating to take strong points. I would guess the timber is oak and the metal is iron. By comparison the approximate dimensions of the vessel are 100ft (30.5m) long by 10ft 93.05m) beam. Nine feet (2.7m) of the vessel shows above the mud. Stud link chain hangs from the forecastle head and the towing point on the stem. She lies listing to the West where most of the debris has fallen. On deck there are various cleats, eye bolts, bits and a tabernacle with timber sticking out of it. Sixteen links of stud link chain hang vertically from the forecastle head to the mud, this serves as a depth gauge.

This derelict is accessible at low water using mud boards and I have explored it. I have taken photographs. The mud board look-see was a recce prior to taking my own boat alongside. The necessity was to find an area clear of debris where one could dry out without taking damage. I pointed two scaffolding boards and set them vertically in the mud lashed to the wreck once alongside so I could remain without damage. The derelict provides shelter from the west, it is an attractive place to lie with wildlife as well as nautical interest. The barge must be nineteenth [20th] century. I can imagine that a target barge was once so common place nobody would give it a second glance.

Information from Mr P Shave, 24 August 2004.

NMRS, SC924587-8, SC924674-8, SC924684-8 and SC924694

Blackness Castle (NT08SE 6.00) is at NT 055 802, and there are extensive sands within a shallow bay to the E of this.

The loss of this vessel is not cited by I G Whittaker (1998).

Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 25 August 2004.

(Formerly entered at cited location NT c. 06 79). Location cited as NT c. 069 794.

Information from Mr P Shave, 23 September 2004.

The location of the forecastle head of the barge was established by a single hand held GPS (Magellan) as 55 59.93 N 0030 29.69 W. Being around 30metres long the latitude of the stern will differ in the final place of decimals, probably 55N 59.94 N, longitude remaining the same. I have checked the position on the chart and it looks OK.

I would think there will be something of the vessel visible above themud for another 50 years, perhaps much longer.

Information from Mr P Shave, 25 October 2004.

Location entered as N55 59.935 W3 29.69 [NT 0678 7944] as estimated central point.

Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 25 October 2004.

This barge is not apparent on CPE/SCOT/UK 216 4021-2, flown at mid-tide on 22 June 1947. What is probably this barge is visible (although apparently lengthened by halation) on vertical air photographs 58/RAF/3344 0382-3 (flown 16 May 1960, apparently at low water). No details can be discerned. It is also indistinctly apparent on OS imagery (78/027.021-2) flown 9 May 1978, and on FCC 7343/24/139-40 flown 26 September 1974; all these photographs were taken at mid-tide.

Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 28 October 2004.

The bow of this vessel has collapsed into the mud, probably during the gales of last winter. The remaining section of main deck has also settled. As with the rest of the structure, the bow and section of main deck list to the west.

The scaffolding boards placed alongside the wreck in 2004 are no longer to be seen, and a piece of iron plating is hanging off the port side of the bow section (to the E) ahead of where small craft berth.

Information from Mr P Shave, 24 July 2007.

This August I went to have a look at the target barge, thinking it was due a visit as I could no longer see the scaffolding boards I had placed vertically on the east side to berth against. Sure enough, the boards had gone. The cause was a collapse of the bow section and remaining portion of main deck. This has fallen to the west and reduced the vertical height of the structure.

Following the collapse the barge covers on a spring tide. Berthing alongside is not possible until some form of skeleton jetty is erected. The chain hanging from the bow section now leads astern so the number of links visible does not serve as a depth gauge as it once did. There is a large piece of plating hanging from the bow, ahead of the former yacht berth on the east side, to be avoided. The towing strong point on the stem is now buried in the mud.

There is a debris field around the barge and a large Admiralty pattern anchor to the NE.

Information from Mr P Shave, 30 October 2007.