SS Fernside
23 May 2010
What a scorcher of a weekend it has been - the diveboats have been out on force from Stonehaven.
Topside, launching our dive boats cocooned in our dry suits and thinsulate undersuits the heat was almost too much. But once in the water we found it to be a cool 8C - still slowly warming up from the winter. By the end of our 70 minute dive runtime I was distinctly cold - not least from a soaking from a nick in my suit.
We flashed out 5 miles from Stonehaven in shimmery calm conditions to dive the wreck of the SS Fernside, a small 117 feet long collier which had set out on 26 February 1942 from Hartlepool bound for Wick with a cargo of coal. She was never seen again and was presumed to have been sunk off Banff by German aircraft. Her whereabouts remained unknown for almost 60 years until she was stumbled upon by divers from Aberdeen in 2007 who were looking to dive another wreck closeby. The bell was recovered and the mystery of her loss finally resolved.
Down on the wreck at 58msw we were again blessed with 15m ambiant visibility - able to take in large sections of the wreck at any one time. Lots of lobsters and a crayfish, very rarely seen on our east coast. An awesome dive season continues.
1 comment
Written by John McKenzie on 05 September 2011 at 18:46:00
My Grandfather was engineer on the Fernside (William McKenzie) We always thought she was lost in the Moray firth. I have copies of the announcement of her loss from the Press and Journal.