P & O Liner Oceana

P & O Oceana

The 6.610 ton P & O Liner Oceana was built in 1888, She was 468ft long and had a Beam of 52ft. Whilst en route from London to Bombay with 40 passenger and a complement of 210 crew she was sunk on 16th March 1912 after colliding with the Pisagna, a 2850-ton Germen 4 masted steel barque. The Pisagna herself did not sink but was towed into Dover for repairs. Nine of the Oceana’s crew were drowned when their lifeboat capsized.

This has got to be one of the most interesting wrecks on the south coast, She rests in only 24mtrs of water at low tide and in places stands 10mtrs high.

The wreck rests on an even keel with the bows being upright and mostly intact, as you work your way back towards the stern all the superstructure has collapsed down but the sides of the vessel are still ship shape. As you get towards the engine room you come across an amazing sight, there are 4 boilers sat in pairs slap bang in the middle of the wreck, these huge round lumps of metal still in perfect condition if sunk only yesterday. Around the boilers there are big troughs full of scallop shell, mostly empty now. As you pass the boilers you are met by this huge upright structure which stands some 10mtrs high, it is infact the ships 7000hp triple expansion engines.

Every diver will find something of interest on this dive, Whether it will be the sea life of crabs, lobsters, scallops or the many species of fish that have made it their home, or portholes that are still in place or maybe even one off the silver bars & gold ingots that were left over from the ships cargo of £747.110 worth of gold and silver ingots when the ship was salvaged.

The Oceana sits on a gravel seabed and usually has good visibility.

 Alaunia

 The Cunard liner Alaunia was on a return voyage from  New York to London on the 19th October 1916 when  she struck a mine laid by the german sub UC16 The  first thing that grabs you about this wreck is the sheer  size of it, at 13,405tons and over 500ft long she is the  largest wreck on the sussex coast. She lays on her  port side and stands 10mtrs high in places.

 The Alaunia has been extensively salvaged and is well  broken from middle to stern. When diving the wreck  the bow section is phenomenal, it lays over at an  angle of 45 degrees and has her port anchor hanging  from its chain, lots of portholes are still in place and  the seabed is a feast for scallops.

Further up the wreck large booms and masts lay strewn across the seabed and in the wreckage, more hatches, skylights and portholes lay in the twisted debris. There is no shortage of marine life, with Pollock, Bass, Congers, Crabs, Lobsters & million of Pout all living onboard. 

DRIFT DIVES & LEDGES,

CHATEAU MARGAUX 1884,

CORINIA SS,

CUNARD LINER ALAUNIA,

P&O LINER OCEANA,

SEAFORD FERRY,

SPARTA SS,

UC65 German Minelaying Submarine,

WATERLAND SS,

City of London / Ikeda

 City of London or the Ikeda, there is some confusion as to here name possibly the Ikeda 6.311 ton & 410 ft or City of London Built in Newcastle in 1891, she rests in a depth of 26m. If the Ikeda she was sunk on the 21 March 1918 by a torpedo from the German submarine UB 40. She was on here way to Galveston Texas from London. This is a well dived wreck, she lies upside down and quite broken open, her boilers can be seen through holes in her sides, still some portholes left. This wreck is Brill, isn’t it Gary.

City of Brisbane

 She was 451ft long and had a beam of 57ft, It was on  the 13th August 1918 whilst travelling in ballast from  London to Buenos Aires that she became the latest  and last victim of the submarine UB-57.

 This wreck has an impressive bow to her, it stands a   good 6mtrs high and is very intact, under the bow the  keel is clear of the rocky seabed by about a foot. As  you move from the bow towards the stern the wreck  breaks down and becomes a tangled mass of twisted  wreckage, this has enabled marine life to grow and it  has now got loads of dead mans fingers and  anemones living on its exterior, lots of crabs and  various fish now frequent this habitat with big bass in  the summer. As you get to the stern you can see the  remains of a large deck gun laying in the wreckage. This is a good training dive, at low water she is only 24mts to the seabed and about 18mtrs on the top. 

The Cairndhu was a British armed merchantman of  4,019 tons, she was torpedoed on 15th April 1917.The  wreck has been dispersed and is well broken up  however her engine and boilers stand high proud of  the seabed at a depth of 25mtrs.

Ariel

 The twin masted steamer Ariel was sunk in collision with the steamer Lancashire on the 10th June 1892, she was 300ft long & weighed 2.200 ton. She was carrying a cargo of wheat to Varna, Hamburg.

 The wreck sits in a depth of 28mtrs & stands 3-4mtrs   The decks have collapsed and ribs can be seen the stern is on its keel and upright while the bow is deeper but intact. The stern gear is all clearly visible  and as you swim forwards up the wreck you come across the engine and boiler room. Loads of life

 A Drift Dive, Ledges & Piers 

Brighton Pier 5-9mtrs

 Brighton pier offers divers, a tangled wreckage  with an  over head environment and lots of sea life in just   8mtrs of water. Marine life can be amazing as large   shoals of fish make this safe habitat their home.Shoals   of Bass can be seen in the summer & autumn months   and lots of eels live in the tangled wreckage.

King’s West Ledge 12-16mtrs

 This is a chalk ledge at a depth of 12mt – 16mtrs, it runs parallel with the coast & stands between 1-4mtrs high as it weaves its way from east to west along the coast. It is a good area for sea life, crabs, lobste and flatties, with wrasse & on occasions early summer you can see lump suckers.

Anchor Lump 11 – 15mtrs

This is an area of large boulders and slabs of rock, they have been spread out over the seabed so that in times gone bye ships could use this area as an anchorage. Today it has turned into a natural habitat for all kinds of marine life with many species of fish & crustaceans living in between the rocks

Looe Gate 11 – 15 mtrs

This site stretches in a northeast / southwest direction   from Brighton’s Palace Pieroutwards and continues on   out about 3 miles to form College Rocks. The best   patches to dive are Looe Gate near to Brighton Pier and  a bit further out at SouthWest Rocks. The rocks   themselves rise up to form a ledge about 2 metres high  in places and provide large crevices for fish to hide and   swim. This makes an ideal drift dive as you can shelter   from the current quite well and stay next to the ledge. Fish seen include flatfish (if you’re lucky), bib, wrasse, triggerfish in the summer, bass and crabs. Fanworms are very prevalent along the entire wall and cuttlefish spawn here in early summer.

South West Rocks 12-16mtrs

A continuation of the ledge that runs along parallel with  the coast, again the reef stands between 1-4mtrs high   and the sea life can be very colourful. It is not unusual   to come across Cod sleeping in the holes on the chalk   face.

Palace Pier Reef

 A continuation of the ledge that runs along parallel with  the coast, again the reef stands between 1-4mtrs high   and the sea life can be very colourful. This section of   reef attracts good sized Plaice in the summer months.   Just ask John.

Rottingdean Rocks & Gullies 

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To the East of Brighton Marina is a rocky and chalk   gully area near Rottingdean. This area can hold some  very colourful marine life and its quite a good area for   crustaceans. Although there are lots of lobsters here,   they are usually smaller than the ones we usually get   as it is well fished by local fisherman.

The Jenny Grounds

 This site is a patch of reef where the sea bottom   consists of large rocky areas and even some small  cave-like gaps. With a depth range from 6 – 8 meters   at low tide & 10 -12 meters at high tide, you could   spend hours looking around the reef. Due to its close  proximity to the shore (about 1 mile) fish life is prolific  as they escape trawlers! Species seen include cod in  winter, the usual huge shoals of bib, whiting, pouting,  ballan wrasse, cuckoo wrasse, Pollack and even Bass.   This area is quite heavily potted so the lobsters seen here are usually small & snared in pots, but you might be lucky to see a few hiding under the various crevices. Edible crabs are often present also hiding under crevices, and there are usually some velvet-swimming crabs around. The name Jenny Grounds originates from all the mussel beds in the area, which are everywhere. Further along towards Brighton way, there is a very old wreck of a dredger, though there is not much left now.

Brighton Bottle Reef

This area to the south of Brighton Pier is a large rocky plateau that attracts all kinds of fish. This area can hold some very colourful marine life and although there are lots of crabs & lobsters here, they are smaller than the ones we usually see as it is well fished by local fisherman.

The Quail, an excellent dive & one of my favourites.  She was built in 1870 by Palmers in Jarrow for the  Cork Steamship Co, the Quail joined their fleet of  ships which were all named after birds. She left  Antwerp in August 1886 with a general cargo that  included glassware, wool & potted foods.

It was later when she was 14miles SW of Brighton in dense fog  that she had a collision with the French steamer San  Martin, striking the Quail on the stbd bow, the ship  sank within 15minutes with the loss of 1 life.

Today the wreck sits upright and mainly intact apart  from her bow which sits there, broken off but pointing  skywards. As you swim into the holds and up onto the  superstructure, you see the remains of the cargo especially the broken glassware, pub rummers.