The tragedy of SS Greenawn
29 August 2010
The SS Greenawn left London on her fateful final voyage in March 1941 bound for the Scottish port of Invergordon with a cargo of cement in bags. She was last seen passing Montrose and then simply disappeared. There was no distress call, no survivors or wreckage ever found. At a subsequent Admiralty Board of Enquiry she was listed as "Missing - presumed bombed". And that is how she remains listed to this day.
In 2006 we went to dive an uncharted target we suspected was a rumoured U-boat from WW II and found instead a perfectly intact Steamship sitting on her keel with no damage except a single bomb blast hole in her side. Her cargo of cement led us to an identification of the vessel as the Greenawn.
We motored out the 5 miles from Gourdon yesterday evening to her final resting place and Greg Booth, Paul Haynes and myself dived down to her remains - which lie in 60 metres. With the sun low on the horizon, little light filtered down to the wreck. Although it was clear in the shallows as we got deeper and neared the wreck the pitch black visibility took on a very grainy particulate appearance and visibility in our torches closed down to about 4 metres.
The wreck has a large trawl net wrapped around its bows - still suspended on its bouys and rising up for some 15 metres - so we took great pains to shot the wreck right at the opposite end, the stern. In total darkness we motored the length of the wreck on our underwater scooters stopping quickly as the nets appeared through the gloom. I traced my torch up the nets from where they were snagged on the wreck and a shiver went down my spine when I saw that in the gentle current the nets were actually billowing above me.
We surfaced after a 70 minute dive run time as it started to get dusky. The seasons are changing and I suspect that will be our last evening dive.
2 comments
Written by richard colliar on 30 August 2010 at 21:51:00
oh I like it no mention for the poor boat handler stuck on the surface in the wild rain and wind.......!
Written by Rod Macdonald on 02 September 2010 at 09:55:00
Hi Rich. I was concentrating on the wreck as ever and forgot to mention our trustworthy Stonehaven Snorkeller boathandler Richard Colliar - who sat topside alone in dusky, windy and wet conditions whilst we dived. Couldn't have done it without you, Rich!