Unknown: Jock's Hole, Kilburns, Inner Tay Estuary

NO32NE 8001 3764 2574

N56 25.196 W3 0.657

Formerly entered as NO32NE 8164 at cited location NO 3778 2577 [N56 25.2083 W3 .5167], and classified as Unassigned.

For (associated) wreck of HMS Argyll (off Bell Rock), see NO72NE 8002.

Quality of fix = 0020

Horizontal Datum = OGB

General water depth = 2

Hydrographic Office 1995.

Intact wreck of salvage barge partially buried and covered at HW. Visible at low water.

Site recorded by Maritime Fife during the Coastal Assessment Survey for Historic Scotland, Fife Ness to Newburgh 1996

(Location established by GPS as N56 25.196 W3 0.657 [NO 3764 2574]). The 'Kilburn Wreck' (The 'Dunoon Boat'): this near-intact wreck is situated in intertidal mudflats at Jock's Hole, on the S bank of the River Tay and close to Kilburn [Kilburns] Farm (NO32NE 235.00). High-sided banks and glutinous mud preclude access from the bank, the wreck being reached safely only by boat. The vessel lies within a strongly tidal area, represents a danger to the navigation of small craft, and is currently marked by a buoy.

Before survey, the vessel was believed to a former US Navy torpedo recovery vessel built in the 1940's and used latterly as a salvage vessel. This supposition was rapidly discounted, torpedo boats having a square [transom] stern rather than the round stern of this vessel, and also being larger. Instead, it was found by documentary enquiry to be one of 46 'L-type distribution boats' constructed in the USA between 1940 and 1942 and intended for the maintenance of cables and distribution boxes associated with shore-controlled mines. Such vessels were also used for general duties, which might include torpedo recovery, and their robust construction frequently justified their continuing use after the end of the war. This example may have served as a ferry before being damaged by cause unknown, her engine being damaged and her propeller shafts bent. There is no available evidence for her specific identity, but she may have originally borne a pennant number within the sequences L64-101 or L105-12 may be suggested.

The vessel was stored ashore at the boatyard of Morris and Lorimer, Sandbank, Holy Loch (in the Clyde estuary) until 1980, when she was purchased for £2500 by Alexander Crawford by Kilburn Salvage Ltd. She transited the Caledonian Canal before being refitted at Dundee. The superstructure and cabin (described as 'large enough to hold 15 men') were cut down to add a winch and crane for the recovery of armour plate from the wreck of HMS Argyll (NO72NE 8002) at the Bell Rock. The engine and propeller shafts could not be repaired in time, and the vessel was converted to a floating crane/barge by welding a 'buoy' onto the starboard side to serve as an outrigger, increasing both buoyancy and stability. Some 18 months later, the end of the contract for recovery from HMS Argyll saw the vessel being considered surplus and moored at Jock's Hole, where she was subsequently damaged by ice, and sank.

The vessel was dived under slack water conditions on 4th September, 1st October and 19th October 2006. She was found to sit upright on the seabed, the bows lying three degrees to the S of E, and lying about 0.45m higher, consistent with the heavier stern sinking further into the mud. There is no indication of continuing settlement into the mud. The depth of the vessel (to the mud) and the height of the vessel were recorded as 5.2m and 4.8m respectively.

The vessel is of steel construction, and exhibits both a moderate degree of both corrosion and kelp cover; the deck plating is perforated aft. The metal-strapped wooden rudder is intact and remains in place; it was found to measure 1.2m by 1.5m, and to be 0.15m thick. The propellers and much of the superstructure are missing, but the forward hold remains open, and is filled with sand. The 'outrigger' remains in place on the starboard side, and measures 6.15m fore-and-aft by 2.74m in diameter. A circular hollow metal buoy, it has been attached to the hull by welding rolled steel girders between the buoy and the hull.

(The wreck has been reported to UKHO, and is listed as their serial number 68923: a Wreck Site Designation Application has been submitted).

MS/5018.

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

Jock's Hole is not noted as such on the 1991 edition of the OS 1:10,000 map.

Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 13 August 2007.