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Lapland: East Weddell Sound, Scapa Flow, Orkney

Craft (20th Century), Obstruction (Period Unassigned), Steamship (20th Century)

Site Name Lapland: East Weddell Sound, Scapa Flow, Orkney

Classification Craft (20th Century), Obstruction (Period Unassigned), Steamship (20th Century)

Alternative Name(s) Dauntless; Ptarmigan; East Weddel Sound; Churchill Barrier No. 3; Churchill Causeway; North Sea; Lapland; Lapland (Ex. Dauntless, Ptarmigan)

Canmore ID 102357

Site Number ND49NE 8013

NGR ND 47353 98537

Datum WGS84 - Lat/Long

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/102357

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
Canmore Disclaimer. © Copyright and database right 2024.

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Administrative Areas

  • Council Orkney Islands
  • Parish Maritime - Orkney
  • Former Region Orkney Islands Area
  • Former District Maritime
  • Former County Not Applicable

Archaeology Notes

ND49NE 8013 4735 9853

N58 52.2833 W2 54.7833

NLO: Weddell Sound [name centred ND 477 988]

Stromness [name: HY 253 090]

Scapa Flow [name centred HY 36 00].

Formerly entered as ND49NE 8902.

For adjacent and successor causeway (Churchill Barrier no. 3), see ND49NE 16.

For other blockships in this group, see ND49NE 8001 and ND49NE 8010 -12.

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

Quality of fix = 0020

Horizontal Datum = OGB

Buoyage =

General water depth = 6

Circumstances of Loss Details

-----------------------------

The steel single-screw steamship LAPLAND was built 1980, and sunk as a blockship. E DAUNTLESS, PTARMIGAN. Built at Dundee, registered at Liverpool.

Source: Ferguson 1985; MacDonald 1990

Surveying Details

-----------------------------

9 July 1926. The LAPLAND was scuttled at 58 52 17N, 002 54 47W with the REGINALD and GARTSHORE in East Weddel Sound.

14 March 1972. This wreck is totally collapsed and lies directly beneath the concrete causeway. It is possible that some part of the wreck may in future collapse further thus causing distortion to the road.

Report by Undermarine Operations, 5 March 1972.

28 August 1992. The wreck is totally collapsed under the barrier. Sections can be identified sticking out from beneath the concrete blocks of the barrier on NW side.

Source: MacDonald 1990

Hydrographic Office, 1995.

(Classified as steel steamship: former names cited as Dauntless and Ptarmigan, and date of loss as 14 September 1914). Lapland: this vessel was scuttled as a blockship: No. 3 barrier [ND49NE 16] was built on top.

Registration: Liverpool. Built 1890. 1234grt. Length: 78m. Beam: 10m.

(Location of loss cited as N58 52.28 W2 54.78).

I G Whittaker 1998.

Length: 240 ft (73.2m): date of sinking 16 September 1914.

'Unballasted. Broken in two forward. Not now likely to move. Still an effective obstruction.' (Report dated 28 June 1915 and accompanying panoramic sketch dated 8 December 1915).

The accompanying panoramic drawing (of East Weddel Sound, looking W from the N point of Burray) depicts only the bow, funnel and a mast (aft of the funnel) of this vessel. The bows are to the NW. The accompanying map depicts this vessel in hatched outline as lying in two portions in the centre of the channel.

Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 30 January 2004.

PRO [Kew] ADM116/2073A: dated 17 December 1919.

Activities

Field Visit (August 1997)

Throughout the two World Wars Scapa Flow served as the base of the British Home Fleet. Access to these waters was guarded by a series of coastal batteries, booms and blockships. The blockships comprised old and damaged vessels which were deliberately sunk in position so as to form a submarine obstacle to deter enemy incursions. By 1943, the completion of the Churchill barriers, which cut off the eastern approaches to Scapa Flow, rendered the blockships obsolete. After 1945 some of the blockships were dispersed by explosive to clear the shipping lanes while many others were salvaged for parts and metal. The wrecks of several blockships remain on the sea bed and in the inter tidal zone.

(i) To the E side of Churchill Barrier #3, the wreck of the Reginald (ND 49 NE 8010) lies in shallow water. This 930 tons iron three-masted motor schooner was built in 1878 in Glasgow and was sunk in 1915. The stern section of the hull is visible above the water line.

(ii) The Lapland (ND 49 NE 8013), a 1,234 ton steel single-screw steamer was built in Dundee in 1890 and registered in Liverpool. Little of this blockship is now visible, since the barrier was constructed over it.

(iii) The Gartshore (ND 49 NE 8012), a 1,564 tons iron single-screw steamer, was built and registered in South Shields. She lies to the W side of the barrier.

(iv) The Martis (ND 49 NE 8011), a 2,483 ton steel single-screw steamer, was built in South Shields in 1894. She lies to the W side of the barrier.

(v) The Empire Seaman (ND 49 NE 8001) )was a steel single-screw steamer of 1,921 tons. Built in Lubeck in 1922, she was seized by the Royal Navy in 1940 and sunk as a blockship. She lies to the W side of the barrier.

Moore and Wilson, 1997

Coastal Zone Assessment Survey

Reference (2011)

Whittaker ID : 2549

Name : LAPLAND (EX. DAUNTLESS, PTARMIGAN)

Latitude : 585217

Longitude : 25447

Date Built : 1890

Registration : LIVERPOOL

Type : SS (STEEL)

Tonnage : 1234

Tonnage Code : G

Length : 78

Beam : 10

Draught : 5m

Position : Exact Position

Loss Day : 14

Loss Month : 9

Loss Year : 1914

Comment : Scuttled as a blockship. No.3 barrier was built on top

Reference (19 April 2012)

UKHO Identifier : 001257

Feature Class : Obstn

State : LIVE

Classification : Unclassified

Position (Lat/long) : 58.87139,-2.91306

Horizontal Datum : ORDNANCE SURVEY OF GREAT BRITAIN (1936)

WGS84 Position (Lat/long) : 58.87098,-2.91466

WGS84 Origin : 3-D Cartesian Shift (BW)

Position Quality : Unreliable

Position Accuracy : 20.0

Depth Quality : Depth unknown

Water Depth : 6

Vertical Datum : Lowest Astronomical Tide

Name : LAPLAND

Type : BLOCKSHIP

Flag : BRITISH

Length : 78.0

Tonnage : 1234

Tonnage Type : Gross

Date Sunk : 14/09/1914

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 1980, SUNK AS A BLOCKSHIP. (WKS OF SCAPA FLOW, DIVE SCAPA FLOW).

Surveying Details : **H3875/26 9.7.26 SCUTTLED IN 585217N, 025447W WITH SS REGINALD AND SS GARTSHORE IN E WEDDEL SOUND. (C 8009/4).

**H7308/56 13.5.59 COVERED BY NOTE ON 35. - NM 1924/58.

**H2496/72 14.3.72 THIS WRECK IS TOTALLY COLLAPSED AND LIES DIRECTLY BENEATH THE CONCRETE CAUSEWAY. IT IS POSSIBLE THAT SOME PART OF THE WRECK MAY IN FUTURE COLLAPSE FURTHER THUS CAUSING DISTORTION TO THE ROAD. (UNDERMARINE OPERATIONS, 5.3.72). COVERED BY LEGEND: OBSTRUCTIONS - SEE NOTE' ON NC 35.

**28.8.92 TOTALLY COLLAPSED UNDER THE BARRIER. SECTIONS CAN BE IDENTIFIED STICKING OUT FROM BENEATH THE CONCRETE BLOCKS OF THE BARRIER ON NW SIDE. (DIVE SCAPA FLOW).

Charting Comments : POSN FOR FILING ONLY

Date Last Amended : 09/02/2005

Project (2013 - 2014)

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

Side Scan Sonar Survey (2013)

58 52.283 N 2 54.784 W Historical maps documenting the location of the various blockships suggest that the remains of the SS Lapland are likely to be under Churchill Barrier 3. This was confirmed by the UO surveys in 1972. The area along the east and west of Barrier 3 was scanned during the side scan sonar surveys, where accessible, and no remains were observed suggesting that the remains reported to be protruding from the Barrier may now have been lost.

A British steel steamship built in 1890 by W. B. Thompson & Co. Ltd., Dundee for Built as SS Ptarmigan for the Cork Steamship Co., Ltd., Cork, the Lapland had a further two owners before being bought by the Admiralty in 1914. The vessel was scuttled as a blockship in East Weddell Sound on the 16th September 1915 (ADM1- 8128-216 and ADM X96-4).

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

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