Somali

[Colin Marriott]

Originally Posted by ray

Ryan who used to work in Divers Warehouse in Bradford once told me how he had dived a reef somewhere between Beadnell and Newton, but he couldn't remember where as it was just a throwaway dive, when he came across a pile of what he said looked like black lead ingots, well silver goes black in salt water!.

They're copper, and I've seen them first hand, so has Gram43, he was with me on the dive when the other divers found them.

I think they thought they were gold ingots, the way they were waving them at us underwater


ColinM

[ray]

Originally Posted by Colin Marriott

They're copper, and I've seen them first hand, so has Gram43, he was with me on the dive when the other divers found them.

I think they thought they were gold ingots, the way they were waving them at us underwater


ColinM

OK fancy a dive to get them?.

[Ron Young]

I've seen the lead soldiers, some of which were collected by Selby Brown 'donkeys' years ago. Her cargo consisted of 9,000-tons of general mixed cargo, including cosmetics, ointments, medical supplies, canisters of celluloid films, shaving-kits, salt cellars, bicycles, heavy lorry tyres, several 4 by 4s, shoes, large amounts of hay & straw, batteries, gas-masks, fire-extinguishers, coin for Hong Kong banks, paint, drums of copper cable, mercury, hundreds of-tons of white metal bearing ingots and one hundred-tons of toy lead soldiers. It was also rumoured that part of the cargo of white metal ingots, which were a slightly different shape to the main bulk, contained radioactivity and were destined for India (I've also seen some of those).
The SOMALI left London in convoy FN 442 during March 1941, acting as the Commodore ship for a convoy of colliers that had assembled in the Pool of London. She was on the first part of a voyage to Hong Kong, carrying two DEMS gunners, a crew of 77.
On the afternoon of 25th March, she was just north of Blyth in Northumberland, when suddenly out of the low heavy cloud laden sky, a squadron of German Heinkel III bombers came in for the attack, strafing the ship and scoring three direct bomb hits. At least one exploded in the hay-filled No.3 hold, causing a raging inferno and leaving the ship very badly damaged. The two naval DEMS gunners put up a good effort with the old deck gun, but the Heinkels slipped back into the cloud cover, presumably untouched. A large sea-going tug SEA GIANT was called to accompany the SOMALI on her voyage northwards, while the crew fought desperately to get the fire under control, however by 2200hrs on the following evening of the 26th, when the vessels were seven-miles SE of North Sunderland Point, the fire gained ground. With a worsening weather, most of the crew were taken on board the escorting armed trawler HMT PELICAN. In the early hours of 27 March, the flame and smoke from the fire had been observed from the shore and lifeboats from Holy Island, North Sunderland and Boulmer were launched and went to her aid, with the W.R.A. from North Sunderland being launched at 0155hrs. On arrival however, they discovered that the crew and passengers had already been taken on board the PELICAN. The coxswains of the three lifeboats were each asked if they would put two crew members on board the steamer to help connect a tow line and this they did; the men then returned to their respective lifeboats, once the job had been carried out. The tow got under way with the SEA GIANT at 0930hrs and the two ships headed for the shelter of the Farne Islands, where they waited, while the Holy Island lifeboat returned to her station.
The salvage vessel IRON AXE arrived on the scene and the salvage officer and two seamen from the IRON AXE were put on board the still burning steamer, by the Boulmer lifeboat CLARISSA LANGDON (a Liverpool Class motorised lifeboat). The tug began to tow the damaged ship south with the intention of trying to save her by beaching, then at mid-day the CLARISSA LANGDON took off the salvage vessel’s officer and returned him to the IRON AXE, to which it was proposed to transfer the tow, while the two lifeboats remained on stand-by in case any assistance was required. They were at this stage, some one and a half-miles off Beadnell village when the CLARISSA LANGDON began to approach the SOMALI and begin the transfer, then when she was about 60m away from the steamer, an almighty explosion, which was alleged to be the magazine going off, occurred in the bow section of the SOMALI. The force of the blast was so tremendous it blew the bow section completely off and columns of smoke and pieces of debris were sent thousands of feet into the sky. The shock waves even caused structural damage in local houses and premises around the Beadnell area and many windows were even shattered in Seahouses, nearly five-miles to the NW. The explosion lifted the lifeboat clear out of the water, knocking the boat's crew flat on the bottom, their caps that were blown off were never seen again and it was reported that the blast even emptied some of their jacket pockets. Pieces of metal up to half a metre long, then began to rain down on the two lifeboats and both were damaged in the fall out. Several of the lifeboat-men were injured, with the Bowman of the CLARISSA LANDON receiving a severe gash to his head. The SOMALI’s stern end and centre section remained afloat with the two salvage men on board, but the bows went down to the bottom. Fearing for the men’s safety, Coxswain Campbell on the CLARISSA LANGDON took his boat in through the mass of black smoke and fumes and rescued the two men, who slid down a rope into the sea, then the lifeboat was brought clear at full speed, but the lifeboat’s propeller was fouled by some floating wreckage and the North Sunderland lifeboat W.R.A. had to come in and tow her out of the danger area. When the propeller was cleared, the two lifeboats made for Seahouses, where the two seamen were landed at North Sunderland harbour at 1320hrs.

The ship had a secret cargo compartment near to the bows and it was widely rumoured that she was also carrying explosives, which may have been the answer as to why the explosion was so great and the reason why she was ripped in two at the bow section.

One person died on the SOMALI, possibly when the vessel was bombed.
For his excellent service, Coxswain James Campbell was awarded the RNLI’s bronze medal on 17 April 1941, while his crew and Coxswain Dawson of the W.B.A. each received additional monetary awards.

Cheers Ron

[neilh]

Originally Posted by Ron Young

canisters of celluloid films

Some of these had been disturbed by the recent salvage the last time I dived her and there were film reels and film strewn around. I also seem to remember there being bales of paper in some areas?

It's quite a nice dive, lots to rummage around and see - but it is pretty broken up. Don't expect a wreck with plenty of penetration opportunities!

[Colin Marriott]

Originally Posted by ray

OK fancy a dive to get them?.

I was diving Somali one day, and came across a box, unopened, wedged under some wreckage. No amount of tugging was going to free it. Eventually, I let it go, as I was chugging my air like mad . . .

Who knows what secrets it might have contained

That was a couple of years ago though, before the latest 'flattening' of the wreck.

ColinM

[Snash]

The Somali is a great wreck - well okay; it is a great dive, if not a great wreck per se. It is a great rummage dive - you never know what you were going to come across.

Ron refers to ointments - there are some lovely little ringworm ointment pots down there and some great little blue bottles .

A very pleasant bimble. Best dived with a little bit of a tide running as this will carry away the muck you kick up when nose down fossicking away

Snash

[GaryRE]

There,s also talk of the ships safe being on the bow & never found

[Colin Marriott]

Originally Posted by GaryRE

There,s also talk of the ships safe being on the bow & never found

Yup . . . it's right next to that Lancaster bomber, and all the Nazi gold they were trying to smuggle out through Norway . . .


ColinM

[GaryRE]

I know where Shergar is

[Gram43]

Originally Posted by GaryRE

I know where Shergar is

And Lord Lucan lives down there.

I can definitely vouch for Colins gold, erm copper. We had a laugh with the other guys on the boat who thought it was gold.
Colin even found a perfume bottle down there with Eau De Somali in it.