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Rheinfield: Skerry Sound, Scapa Flow, Orkney
Craft (20th Century), Steamship (20th Century)
Site Name Rheinfield: Skerry Sound, Scapa Flow, Orkney
Classification Craft (20th Century), Steamship (20th Century)
Alternative Name(s) Reinfield; Ramses; Churchill Causeway; Churchill Barrier No. 2; North Sea; Rheinfield (Reinfield ?) (Ex. Ramses)
Canmore ID 102361
Site Number ND49NE 8017
NGR ND 48280 99761
Datum WGS84 - Lat/Long
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/102361
- Council Orkney Islands
- Parish Maritime - Orkney
- Former Region Orkney Islands Area
- Former District Maritime
- Former County Not Applicable
ND49NE 8017 4818 9976
N58 52.95 W2 53.9333
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].
Formerly entered as Site no. 8906.
For adjacent (and successor) Churchill Barrier No. 2, see ND49NE 15.
For other blockships in this group, see HY40SE 8002, and ND49NE 8014-16, 8018-21 and ND49NE 8023-4.
For plan indicating the relative locations and orientations of blockships in this group, see Macdonald 1990, 125.
Horizontal Datum = OGB
Circumstances of Loss Details
-----------------------------
The steel single-screw steamship RHEINFIELD was built in 1893, and sunk as a blockship beside the ELTON.
Sources: Ferguson 1985; MacDonald 1990
Surveying Details
-----------------------------
9 July 1926. 58 52 57N, 002 53 51W is given as the wreck's position TEESWOOD, ALMERIA and ELTON are in the same position.
14 March 1972. A position of 58 52 57.01N, 002 53 56W, or bearing 221.5 degrees and 670 metres from Lamb Holm trig station (61) is given. This is a fairly small ship resting on a reef which mostly dries. It is smashed and spread, but the mast is still standing.
Report by Undermarine Operations 5 March 1972.
27 August 1992. The wreck's name is given as RHEINFIELD. It lies beside the ELTON and is well broken up.
Sources: Ferguson 1985; MacDonald 1990
Hydrographic Office, 1995.
(Classified as steamship: former name cited as Rheinfield or Reinfield, and date of loss cited as 2 October 1914). Rheinfield (Reinfield?): this vessel was scuttled as a blockship.
Registration: British. 3634 tons [unspecified].
(Location of loss cited as N58 52.95 W2 53.93).
I G Whittaker 1998.
Skerry Sound is not noted as such on the 1998 edition of the OS 1:50,000 map, but it lies between Lamb Holm [name: HY 485 005] and Glimps Holm [name: HY 473 993].
Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 8 October 2002.
(Name cited as Reinfeld).
Length: 340 ft (103.7m): date of sinking 2 October 1914.
'Unballasted. Condition good. Standing well and likely to last. Forecastle awash at H.W.' (Report dated 28 June 1915 and accompanying panoramic sketch dated 8 December 1915).
The accompanying panoramic drawing (of Skerry Sound, looking E from close to the location of the Rosewood) depicts a flush-decked cargo ship with a minimal superstructure amidships. The vessel is depicted from aft of the port beam and is obscured by the Almeria; the masts and funnel remain erect. The vessel is erect in the water, the level of the water being approximately that in service.
The accompanying map depicts this vessel in hatched outline, and as lying NE-SW in the centre of the channel, and to the E of the Almeria (ND49NE 8024). It is the most easterly blockship in the group.
Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 30 January 2004.
PRO [Kew] ADM116/2073A: dated 17 December 1919.
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.
Reference (2011)
Whittaker ID : 2555
Name : RHEINFIELD (REINFIELD ?) (EX. RAMSES)
Latitude : 585257
Longitude : 25356
Registration : BRITISH
Type : SS
Tonnage : 3634
Position : Exact Position
Loss Day : 2
Loss Month : 10
Loss Year : 1914
Comment : Scuttled as a blockship
Reference (19 April 2012)
UKHO Identifier : 001263
Feature Class : Wreck
State : LIVE
Classification : Unclassified
Position (Lat/long) : 58.88250,-2.89889
Horizontal Datum : ORDNANCE SURVEY OF GREAT BRITAIN (1936)
WGS84 Position (Lat/long) : 58.88208,-2.90051
WGS84 Origin : 3-D Cartesian Shift (BW)
Position Quality : Precisely known
Depth Quality : Depth unknown
Water Depth : 5
Vertical Datum : Lowest Astronomical Tide
Name : REINFIELD
Type : BLOCKSHIP
Flag : BRITISH
Tonnage : 3634
Tonnage Type : Gross
Date Sunk : 02/10/1914
Contact Description : Notable debris
Original Sensor : Reported Sinking
Last Sensor : None reported
Original Detection Year : 1914
Last Detection Year : 1972
Original Source : Other
Last Source : Other
Circumstances of Loss : **STEEL SINGLE-SCREW SS, BUILT 1893, SUNK AS A BLOCKSHIP BESIDE THE ELTON. (WKS OF SCAPA FLOW, DIVE SCAPA FLOW).
Surveying Details : **H3875/26 9.7.26 POSN 585257N, 025351W. (TEESWOOD, ALMERIA & ELTON 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 585257.01N, 025356W, OR 221.5DEG, 2200FT FROM LAMB HOLM TRIG STN (61). FAIRLY SMALL SHIP ON REEF MOSTLY DRIES. SMASHED AND SPREAD, BUT MAST STILL STANDING. (UNDERMARINE OPERATIONS 5.3.72). AMEND DWP. BR STD.
**3.7.80 NOT SHOWN ON NC 35 (AREA BLUED OUT).
**27.8.92 NAME GIVEN AS RHEINFELD. LIES BESIDE ELTON, WELL BROKEN UP. (WKS OF SCAPA FLOW, DIVE SCAPA FLOW).
**11.12.81 COVERED BY LEGEND WKS ON NC 2250.
**1.4.98 AMENDED TO LEGEND: 'WRECKS'. BR STD.
Chart Symbol : WK
Charting Comments : LEGEND: 'WRECKS', WK NOT CHARTED
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
Diver Inspection (2013)
58 52.950 N 2 53.933 W The remains of three part-buried Scotch boilers lie on a sandy bottom in about 5m–8m of water and are well covered with short animal turf. Sand is encroaching on the site and it is possible these boilers may soon be completely buried. The remains can be affected by storm swells but are generally sheltered from tide.
One of the boilers had been fouled by lines.
Analysis
Historical documents and images confirm that these are the remains of the SS Reinfield.
Only two of the blockships on Churchill Barrier 2 had three boilers – the SS
Reinfield and the SS Cape Ortegal. As the SS Cape Ortegal has yet to be found (rolled over in deep water and is likely under the Barrier) this project argues that these are the remains of the SS Reinfield. This is further supported by the 1915 sketch of the Skerry Sound blockships (ADM X96-3) which show the SS Reinfield further to the east of the Almeria, where the three boilers discussed above were found.
The UKHO report for the Reinfield (1263) records that the SS Teeswood, SS Elton, SS Almeria and SS Reinfield are all in the same location, although (with the exception of the SS Cape Ortegal) all these wrecks have their own unique UKHO record.
The 1972 UO surveys indicate that Reinfield is a “fairly small ship on reef mostly dries, smashed and spread, but mast still standing”. In the 1938 aerial photograph of the blockships (Plate 10) only show the visible remains of two WW1 vessels – The SS Almeria which had an upstanding forward mast and which was comparatively well intact, and the stern of the SS Teeswood. The Almeria breaks down very quickly after the installation of the WWII blockships, likely due to the altered tidal regime, and by 1940s the mast of the SS Almeria is no longer visible.
On this basis, the mast described by the UO survey cannot be from the SS Reinfield as we know that these remains were already fully subsurface in 1938. The mast described in the UO report is that of the SS Emerald Wings (discussed below). Thus the remains described in their report cannot be from the SS Reinfield. Recorded as abutting the SS Elton by both Ferguson (1985: 34) and Macdonald (1993:118-119) indicate that the wreck was well broken up. While the remains are broken up, the SS Reinfield is further to the east and is not in contact with the remains of the SS Elton.
A German steel steamship built by Wigham Richardson & Co Newcastle in 1893, as the SS Ramses for Deutsche Dampfs. Ges."Kosmos", Hamburg, the vessel was sold to Continentale Rhederei A.G., Hamburg and renamed SS Reinfield. On the18th April 1914, the Reinfield struck the Almirante Rocks, and beached 2 miles east of Malabat Point, in the Gibraltar Strait. The ship was refloated, taken to Gibraltar and was bought by salver. It was then re-sold to be scrapped in the UK. Purchased by the Admiralty the SS Reinfield was scuttled as a blockship in Skerry Sound on 2nd October 1914. In March 1920 the vessel was at the center of some controversy relating to the blockships when the wreckage was struck by a small sailing boat piloted by three Orcadians travelling from Burray to Holm (reported in The Orcadian, April 1st 1920 and May 13th 1920). In the middle of Glims Holm and Lamb Holm the wind suddenly dropped, leaving the sailors at the mercy of the fast tide. When their boat struck the
SS Reinfield, the passengers were thrown into the water and all three drowned. The resulting public outcry demanded that the blockships be removed for safety and navigation (Hewison, 2005), resulting in the removal /relocation of some of the blockships such as the SS Aorangi.
Information from Annalisa Christie, Kevin Heath and Mark Littlewood (ORCA) March 2014
Side Scan Sonar Survey (2013)
58 52.950 N 2 53.933 W This site was assessed by side scan sonar surveys using a winch-towed towfish.
The side scan image shows 3 strong circular contacts that appear to be partially buried. These are aligned north to south. The features stand 1m – 2m proud of the seabed, and are associated with several strong contacts to the southwest including a linear feature that would appear to be a propeller shaft. The linear contact and other features were not ground-truthed as the side scan surveys were completed after the dives and the remains were not encountered during the search of the area. If the linear feature is a propeller shaft it would suggest the vessel was oriented
southwest to northeast with the bow to the northeast.
Information from Annalisa Christie, Kevin Heath and Mark Littlewood (ORCA) March 2014
