SS Gowrie
01 July 2010
In beautiful conditions yesterday evening we flashed out the 4 miles offshore in Stonehaven Diver to dive the WW II wreck SS Gowrie. She was attacked by German planes from Norway - the bombs missed but one exploded in the water close enough to her to stove in some hull plating and she slowly sank. The crew reported that the German planes passed so low over her on their bomb runs that they could clearly see the pilots laughing as they attacked.
Once out on site above the wreck the sea was as flat as a millpond and with weak neap tides we had a long 2 hours of slack water. The shallows from 5-15 metres down were murky, thick with a plankton boom but once through that layer a clarity retruned to the water allowing 7-8 metres of lateral visibility on th ebottom at 60msw.
The Gowrie is the most beautiful wreck on the north east coast of Scotland - completely intact and lying on her port side with every porthole still in place. There is an opening in the hull at the stern which allows divers to enter the cavernous Engine Room which still has its triple expansion engine held in mid water surrounded by catwalks. Passing by the engine divers can exit through the funnell opening. At 185 feet long she is small enough that despite lying in 60 metres, divers can swim her whole length in one dive.
On the ascent we moved into and through a thick pulsating layer of jellyfish feasting on the plankton from 15 metres up to 5 metres. As divers waited on the surface to be picked up we had bottlenose dolphins feeding around them.
Back at the harbour, after recovering the RIB, we enjoyed a fine pint of Guinness sitting on the harbour wall as the sun went down. Somethings just don't get any better.
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