watsac.org.uk

[Jock]

UB40 have a lot to answer for. On the 23 September 1917 the Captain of the Rosehill watched with trepidation as the red nosed torpedo headed for his ship, unable to avoid it as his ship controls responded slowly. Wellington and Taunton took the opportunity of the glorious weekend weather to dive the wreck lying in twenty nine metres of water in Whitsand bay, not far from Looe. The wreckage having been battered by winter seas for the last ninety three years is understandably flattened with only the strongest structures standing any height from the seabed. The boilers still retain their distinctive shapes and have become home to small creatures and larger shoals of fish. The 12 pounder gun lies on its side as you swim towards the stern where the steering quadrant, rudder and propeller are still to be seen. The second dive was a reef named by the club as Sainsbury’s as its shelves are stacked with all kinds of goodies. Lobsters under protective rocks, crabs in small caves and fish constantly patrolling the reef. Fan worms, opening out to feed but ever sensitive to pressure change, shooting their feeding parts back into their protective casings.