Quote:
| Originally Posted by And Hi
What kind of dives are there in the 50 mtr range from St Abbs? Is there anything worth doing?
Davey Willo and I are thinking of doing some this year if possible.
Andy |
Peter and Billy will take you out to some of the deeper wrecks.
Best to call them up to discuss and make arrangements as this will mean only one outing for the skipper taking the charter instead of the usual 3-4 they can do within the sport diver range.
See bottom of post for nice challanging wreck
However further up the East coast you can access some nice wrecks from Dunbar:-
UE-77:
Submarine U77 was a Class: UE, Type: Ocean going mine-laying submarine one of ten commissioned.
Ordered on 9th March 1915 and was launched on 9th January, 1916 from shipyard Vulcan, Hamburg (Werk 59).
She was commissioned into the German Imperial Navy on 10th march 1916 to the I Flotilla and commanded by Erich Günze from 10th March 1916 until sunk 7th July 1916.
Displacing some 832 tons, U77 had a range of 8,000 nautical miles and a surface speed of 10.6 knots (submerged 7.9).
Her armaments included - 34 UE150 type mines, one fore and one aft torpedo tubes, four 50cm torpedoes and a 8.8cm mounted gun on her deck. She had a crew compliment of 33 officers\seamen.
U77 was sunk on 7th July 1916 - 3.5 miles north of Dunbar, Scotland in position 56 04N, 02 30W.
Most likely from the explosion of one of her own mines. ... 33 dead (all hands lost). The wreck should to be treated as a war grave.
The wreck was located and identified by East Lothian Divers, James Love, Gary Paterson and Dave Smith.
She lies in 40-45m of water depending on the state of the tide, her bows raised to an angle of about 30*. Her stern is either buried in the mud or has been dispersed.
The wreck sinks into the silt just aft of her deck gun, where the rotten planking of her raised walkway can be seen, and a big conger lives. You can see the eel's entire length through the gaps in the planking, just aft of the conning tower with its two periscopes.
Covered in orange and white plumose anemones, this makes a dramatic scene backlit by the green water. Moving further towards the bow, you pass locked hatches and raised deck-planking that shelters many large fish.
The bow, with its hydroplanes each side, lies proud of the seabed, forming a recess in which a sizeable ling hides.
On the port side an anchor winch and the remains of a single torpedo tube can be seen.
The wreck is fairly small, which means she can be explored easily in one dive but also makes her hard to find.
The stern is still to be found - There is a challenge for someone... Cyclops:
This 180ft dredger sank in heavy seas in 1924 on its way to be scrapped. She is lying upside down but is fairly intact in approximately 45m. There can be strong currents and it can be very dark. The fish life includes conger, cod, ling and large numbers of bib which are black and white striped. Discovered in 1990 by Dave Smith.
AVONDALEPARK….57m
This Canadian Liberty ship was sunk the day after WW2 ended by a U-boat, which had not received notification. Lying 2miles South of The Isle of May in the Firth of Forth she lies with a list to port.
Or if you really want to do something very special:-
HMS PATHFINDER Light Cruser (1904). 2,940 tons. Guns: 9 x 4 in. Torpedoed by German Submarine U 21, off St. Abb's Head, East Coast of Scotland, 5th September, 1914
She is in about 80 meters of water and not many people have dived on her. Lats and longs available from Skippers.
Regards,
Gary.