Diving Isle Of Skye
Salford BSAC had a club trip to the Isle of Skye in September 1983. The trip was organised by Roy Henderson. John Hall, Mark Taylor, Nigel Larner, Christine and Dudley. We towed the club inflatable up to a cottage we rented near Duntulm castle in the far north. It was isolated and windswept.
The launch was from a slipway behind the hotel and was just a rocky shore.
The nearest air fill was Portree , needless to say we had frequent trips to fill the tanks as we had no compressor.
Chris, as the only girl was the chief cook and bottle washer. Our fellow, and much loved, dive companions were so die hard Brit that only English food could be scheduled on the menu. Corned beef hash, bangers and mash, Lancashire hotpot. Any suggestion of pasta or a rogan josh or other foreign fare provoked huge consternation so we served neeps and tatties with lashings of gravy to keep the peace. Before you get all horrified, remember it was the 80's and womens lib and globalisation was slow to seep into Salford.
Our cottage from the sea. The cottage is the white speck on the cliff.
The current bridge between Skye and the mainland had not yet been built so we used ferries. This is the group waiting for the ferry
The Isle of Skye
"Speed bonny boat like a bird on the wing, over the sea to Skye."
The Isle of Skye sits off the Western Coast of Scotland and is the largest of the islands in the Inner Hebrides. Its coastline is a series of peninsulas and bays, perfect diving geography you might say. Portree is the largest town and small villages and crofts are scattered across the rest of the island. Population fluctuates but averages around 10,000 people.
Historically it is a Gaelic speaking area and the McLeods and McDonalds are the dominant clans. If you throw your memory back to school history, Flora McDonald famously aided Bonnie Prince Charles in his escape after the failed Jacobean rebellion.
The Talisker distillery produces single malt whiskey, renowned for its full body, peaty profile and unique spiciness. I include this for our Whiskey drinking friends!
The weather is considered more moderate than the mainland because frost is rare but don't let that fool you. Skye is famous for its vicious NorthWest winds, especially off the north and west sides of the island, and rainfall is plentiful, averaging 2000 mm a year.
In a pub one rainy Saturday we asked a local about the weather. He proudly informed us they had 50 dry days that year. That's dry not sunny! It also means they had 300 wet days so take your wellingtons and wetties with you. This fact probably explains why the landscape is such a vivid green and much beloved by sheep.
The gale force winds kept us pinned into the calmer bays for much of our trip but those same winds also ensured there was no lack of suitable shipwrecks to explore, generations of ships have met a sticky end on the rocks of Skye.
The Apollo
The Apollo wreck showing the granite cargo. Image courtesy of scottishshipwrecks.com
The Apollo ran aground on Bono Rock off the North of Skye in dense fog on 15th August, 1900. It drove at full speed over the rocks, leaving the stern high above water and the foredeck under water. The captain blamed the fog and vicious currents for the miscalculation. The ship was a total write off and salvage was hampered by the bad weather. That did not stop a large amount of the cargo being looted. Indeed the captains cabin was forced open and his personal belongings also taken.
The ship was carrying salt and granite.
The Bono Rock is a series of 3 rocks situated at the north entrance of the Sound of Luing and is well situated to catch unwary ships. It lies in the middle of the channel and does not break surface, even at low tide, but reaches within 1 m of it.
The 3 rocks are strewn with granite and tangled wreckage to the north. The boiler and the stern section are lying to the west, the rudder post and propeller are the most recognisable items.
So, in the interests of maintaining the culture of looting, our log book says we plundered £30 of non ferrous in 15 minutes.
Most of our club holidays were accompanied by an empty trailer which we filled with non ferrous and sold at the scrap metal merchant on the way home to fund our trip. Shades of Delboy in Only Fools and Horses! To be fair there is little aesthetic or historical worth for used maritime toilet pipes so why not.
The Port Napier
Artists view of the wreck of the Port Napier many years ago, although a large amount of it is above water, . Courtesy seaprobeatlants.com
Dudley collecting mussels off the Port Napier after a dive in September 1983
The Port Napier was built for the Port Line and requisitioned by the Royal Navy for conversion into a mine-laying vessel. The ship was clad in armour plate, and her cargo holds were adapted to carry up to 600 mines. She was also armed and joined the 1st Mine Laying Squadron.
There are two stories about how she became shipwrecked. According to the local story, given to us at the time, the chef set alight to the ship damaging the rudder cables so the ship lost steerage and ran aground
The more exciting official version is much more dramatic.
On 26 November 1940 the Port Napier was loaded with mines in preparation for an operation. Each of the 550 mines aboard were fitted with detonators ready for deployment. She also had a large number of shells in her magazine, A strong gale blew up and the propellers became fouled in the anchor chains of another boat.
The two ships were separated and the Port Napier commenced fuelling.
Modern day view of the wreck with the bridge connecting The Isle of Skye to the mainland of Scotland in the background.
A fire broke out in the engine room and while most of the crew abandoned ship, a small party remained behind to remove the detonators from the mines before leaving. Because of the risk of an explosion the ship was towed out into the loch and set adrift.
The residents of the nearest village, Kyle, were ordered to evacuate, and all shipping left the port. As the fire seemed to be dying down, another party of volunteers boarded. They found that the decks were red-hot and buckling, but managed to jettison some mines from the stern chutes, before being forced to abandon the ship again.
The ammunition exploded and metal pieces were found all over the shore line, in Kyle and adjacent farm land. The boat rolled over and sank, resting on her starboard side in seventy feet of water.
A 30 m section of the port side had been blown out. The wreck was abandoned as a total loss. In 1944 sections of steel plating from the port side were removed for use in other ships but the unexploded mines and 4-inch ammunition were not recovered until 1950.
It was not uncommon for us to find unexploded shells on British shipwrecks, many shipwrecks date back to the 2 World Wars and were carrying arms. Most BSAC divers, including us, had a collection on their mantlepieces. I doubt this would be tolerated these days as the detonators were all still live!
Anyway we had a really lovely dive on the Port Napier, the large hole in the side gave great access into the wreck which was filled with fish life. We found a beautiful little brass lantern in the companionway.
The SS Rhodesia
A diagram of the wreck SS Rhodesia from Dudley's logbook. Christine's logbook says a large conger eel was seen in the wreck
The SS Rhodesia, a steamship, sank in 1915 but information on the cause of the shipwreck is scanty. It was requisitioned as an auxiliary patrol vessel from the Hull Steam Fish and Ice company. She sank off Tulm island opposite Duntulm castle on the Duntulm peninsular, just across the Bay from our cottage.
The weather for our diving was becoming increasingly foul and the seas nasty. The wreck of the Rhodesia lies right up against the island on the leeward shore, providing some shelter from the inclement weather. We traipsed down to the shingle beach and hoisted our dive boat into the churning seas and headed for the calm of the leeward shore and the wreck
The wreck is almost complete, 32 meters long with a a 6 meter beam and 2 meter draft and lies in 14 meters of water. The anthracite coal that powered the ship was still in the hold which was easily accessible. We spent the dive time lifting and removing non ferrous and the anthracite. The coal burnt in the cottage fire place and kept us warm, even though it had been underwater for more than a 100 years. It produced a slightly strange smell but we were not fussy as the wind rattled the windowpanes and the rain sleeted down.
We dived the wreck at least 4 times as we could not get to the further sites due to the storms. A huge conger eel occupied a mast like structure. These are the less pretty version of our local moray eels but they are much, much bigger and scary looking. They can grow to 2 m.
Tulm Island And Surrounds
We did a few drift dives off Tulm island and in adjacent bays. These were mostly drift dives amongst towering rock formations, across sandy bottoms and through kelp forests. The Tulm island dive was noted for its bait fish, mackerel and whiting. Birds were diving by the island but we did not see them underwater.
The kelp forests housed lots of fish life as well as burrowing anemones and swimming sea scallops. We saw several big lobsters, one in full berry, and Dudley even got to see a seal underwater. A rare sighting for us.
Drift dives in the UK and Scotland are often very fast and furious as the tidal currents can be strong so its like being carried through a fast landscape, a glimpse here and a glimpse there, breathtaking but fleeting.
Tulm Island.
So after a cold, wet and windy week, braving the high seas by day and curled up in front of our ancient sea coal fire by night, we packed up our gear and set out for home towing our ill gotten non ferrous treasure behind us. The scrap metal merchant payed us enough to cover the costs of the trip and a bit extra for the club kitty. Sweet. We enjoyed our glimpse of the the rugged windswept beauty of Skye. Definitely worth a return trip in better weather. Its just I am not sure that better weather occurs in Skye so best don your waterproofs and Aran jumper and enjoy it anyway!