NORTHERN LIGHTS

There are a group of islands where the visibility averages between 20 and 30 metres, where dozens of virgin wrecks lie waiting to be explored, where the marine life is abundant and spectacular. and best of all, you won't need injections, a passport or a flight to get there. The Shetland and Orkney Isles may be as far north as you can go in the United Kingdom yet every year large numbers of divers head north to do the same dive sites. However as the following articles show, Scapa Flow is just the tip of the iceberg.

LERWICK HARBOUR

Sixty degrees North and capital of the Shetland Isles, Britain's most Northerly group of islands, Lerwick is closer to Norway than to mainland Britain. The waters are among the clearest in the country with visibility of up to 30m not uncommon, particularly during the winter months. Water temperatures vary from an acceptable 5 or 6 degrees in February to 12 degrees at the height of summer.
The Islands are reached by a 14 hour overnight ferry from Aberdeen, or a twice weekly 8 hour crossing from Stromness in the summer season (once a week in the winter). There are also several flights a day to Sumburgh from Aberdeen. Lerwick has been a shipping and fishing centre for several centuries. It was on the main trade route between Russia, Scandinavia and the rest of Europe. In the First World War it was a rendezvous point for convoys travelling to Norway.
The weather is unpredictable, with violent gales and storms having resulted in countless shipping casualties over the years, continuing right up to the present. Lerwick makes an ideal base for diving with a day boat. The Aluvion, based in the town, with plenty of wrecks within half an hour of the harbour at depths ranging from 0 to 62m. The main wrecks are all to the South of Lerwick. A South Easterly will necessitate abandoning diving in favour of the pub - or even several pubs.
The Glenisla, a Dundee registered 1423 GRT steamer, built in 1878 for James Mitchell by W.B. Thomson of Dundee lies in the middle of Bressay Sound. She had led a somewhat colourful and chequered career. Within months of leaving the slip, the Glenisla was involved in a collision with the Albania in the Thames, whilst racing another vessel. She was scuttled twice, once in 1902 and again in 1908 after her cargo of aspartogras caught fire. After the second scuttling she lay for almost a month before being raised, although the damage was comparatively minor and she headed back to the Tyne for repairs under her own steam. In 1914, just before the outbreak of the war, she sliced a French trawler in two, drowning 4 of the crew. She then became a decoy vessel (a Q Ship), for the Admiralty until 1916. On the 24th November 1917, the Glenisla was awaiting a convoy with a cargo of coal to Slimstadt when she was involved in yet another collision, this time with the Glen Elg.
The Glen Elg was under tow at the time having been torpedoed, the subsequent enquiry blaming the Glenisla. She now lies in 45m of water, upright and largely intact with her bows facing North towards Lerwick. As she lies within the harbour limits, permission to dive her must be obtained from Lerwick Port Control. Geordie (one of the three partners who own the Aluvion) will invariably shot the wreck onto its highest point around the engines and boilers. The wooden decking has largely rotted away together with all the upperworks, leaving the wreck open and easy to explore. With a length over all of 250ft, a beam of 32ft and a draft of 20ft, it is best to explore either the bow or stern sections more fully in one given dive, as there is so much left to see.
Moving forward from the large square engine, a winch is precariously balanced on what remains of the decking. There are three boilers lying together, two low down in the ship, with the third, much larger one, up-ended in the middle. The engine room is open, accessible and worth a dive in its own right. The wreck drops a couple of metres in depth at this point to 40-42m. Moving further forward it is more collapsed, perhaps due to vessels dropping their anchors into the wreck. The spare prop, perhaps originally lashed to the forward end of the accommodation, lies in amongst a tangle of girders. Continuing slowly towards the bow, there is a large steel mast on the port side lying on the seabed. On a clear day the mast is clearly visible from the deck 5m above. The bow, just below a tangle of anchors (not all of which belonged to the Glenisla) is starting to open on the starboard side.
In good visibility, which can be as much as 30m, it is worth swimming away from the wreck to get a better view of both the stern and the bow. Aft of the engines is a tiled area, perhaps a wash room or galley. The stern is again reasonably intact, although the prop has been salvaged. The gun lies on the sand on the port side, 5m off the wreck. Pieces of phosphorus lie around the stern of the wreck, looking like underwater wedges of brie, standing out brightly against the steel hull and the sand. The Glenisla is not subject to tides, so relatively long bottom times can be attained without any of the usual problems - a deco-station is unlikely to drift anywhere.
A short distance away, on the Southern side of Breiwick are the remains of the Gwladmena. Built in 1878 at West Hartlepool by Irvine and Co. for a Liverpool company. An iron screw steamer, she had a GRT of 890T, a length of 220 ft a beam of 30ft and draft of 16ft. The Gwladmena was clench built, with two woodenmasts. She was owned at the time of sinking, by R. Stone and Co. (another Liverpool Co.) and was loaded with coal for Lerwick. The Gwladmena sank a matter of weeks after the Glenisla, following a collision with the Flora on 2nd January 1918, her crew of 22 were all saved.
Now lying almost intact and upright in 39m, with her bows pointing toward the coastguard station on the Knab, she is a very pleasant dive, with visibility rarely dropping below 10m. A more or less permanent shot is attached to the bow. Dropping down the shot, the whole bow section comes into view at around 25m, with the top of the wreck at around 34m. The foc'sle store is open and still contains the remains of hoses, coiled hawsers and paint tins. The bulkhead between the store and the forward hold has corroded away allowing in plenty of natural light. Between the foc'sle store and the hold are the remnants of a mast stump, with the hole in the decking above still clearly identifiable. Lying on the bottom, on the starboard side are a winch and hawser, the port anchor is also on the sand.
Finning aft, the engine block has been dragged over the two boilers and is now in front of them. The engine, built by Blair and Co. from Stockton on Tees, and capable of 120hp, lies on its side in a fairly mangled heap. The prop shaft is exposed, still covered in lignum vitae, and visible most of the way to the stern. In February 1998, a klondyker's anchor ripped off the decking at the stern, opening up the area for the first time. The prop has been salvaged, but the gun lies on the seabed on the starboard side. A few shells lie on the seabed, periodically covered and uncovered by the sand. The Gwladmena is another wreck with almost no tide, but a surface current sometimes runs here. With an average depth of around 36m, it is ideally suited to a 30% mix, and can be explored in about 30 minutes with minimal decompression requirements.
The Valkyrie, an Inverness registered fishing boat, was heading out of Lerwick as the inner of a pair of trawlers when she inadvertently steamed straight into a cliff face at the South end of Bressay and sank. A salvage attempt was made, but although the vessel was raised and floated just under the surface for a while, she subsequently sank again, this time jammed in a gully at 49m. The first time I dived the Valkyrie was on a perfect (for diving) September afternoon with Kevin Pickering. We weren't sure of the exact position of the wreck, and it's difficult to pick up on a sounder because it's leaning against a rock face. The shot missed, but only by about 30m or so, and we approached the wreck from below, in gin clear water. The Valkyrie is upright and almost completely intact, with just a slight list to starboard, and looks for all the world as if she is sailing out from behind the rock face. The split in her bow is only about 1m in length and perhaps 30cm wide. Some of the lifting bags used in the salvage attempt are still strapped in place.
The winches on deck still have ropes wound onto them, and the buoys are semi-inflated in place on their hooks ready for deployment. The nets are still on board and float over much of the stern, giving the impression of a rather worn set of net curtains.
After a leisurely 25 minute look around the wreck, it was time to head back up the shot, and spend the deco time wishing that Pickering had spent rather less time talking about the killer whales sighted in the bay a week earlier. Never mind - he's now got a rebreather - so as an old-fashioned open circuit diver I'll look much tougher than he will with all my bubbles!!
In November 1993 the 2581 GRT Latvian registered klondyker, the Lunohods, broke her anchor whilst manoeuvring in a Force 10 southerly storm. She was high in the water, having little fuel and no cargo and was driven ashore against Kirkabister Ness. All the crew escaped in what still holds the record as the biggest helicopter rescue in Britain. The ship's cat was rescued from the vessel a few days later.
The ship was driven stern first into a geo, and remains tightly wedged there today. The stern section is in about 15m of water, with areas open to daylight and silt free. The engines, a workshop and switch rooms are all accessible with care. The prop is still attached, but under the wreckage and at the very back of the geo, likely to remain there for the forseeable future. The stern section makes a good night dive in the winter months.
The bow sheared off the wreck about 30m from the end, and slid down the slope to 45m where it now lies on its port side. It is, at least theoretically, possible to shot the bow and gradually work back up the slope and work off the deco on the stern. The wreck is well sheltered from the North and East, but any wind from the south and it quickly becomes undiveable. Less than a week after the Lunohods disaster, the Borodynskye Polye, a 103m long klondyker raised her anchor to steam north, but was caught by the wind and grounded on Unicorn rock. Today she is well broken up and in summer covered in kelp, with general depths of 20m.
On October 30th 1994, a third Latvian ship ran aground, this time on Trebister Ness. A much larger vessel, the Pionersk was built in 1963 and was 165m long with a beam of 21m. She was driven ashore in yet another southerly gale, and broke her back the same night. Her crew of 137 men all escaped. For several months the ship lay on the rocks, before the winter gales broke her up further, just the tip of the bow showing above the water today.
The Pionersk is an excellent dive, full of colour and life, with depths varying from the surface to a maximum of 22m in the stern area. Several dives are needed due to the sheer size of the ship and the area of wreckage. The bow section is very shallow, mainly less than 10m, although there can be more surge here. The wreckage lies generally in an east-west line with the bow to the east. Amidships, there are large sections which are still recognisable, with engines, pumps and winches all jumbled up with sections of an accommodation block. The derricks and masts lie across the wreck in depths of between 10-15m. Towards the stern area, the ship is a bit more intact, with railings and two or three deck levels lying at an angle of about 45 degrees and floor tiles spilling out. The canning room opened up over last winter and now hundreds of gold coloured tin lids litter the area. The stern chute is intact and open, making it very photogenic in the blue coloured water, and depths of around 20m. More winches and gear lie around the wreck at this point.
The most recent casualty was in November 1997, with the loss of the Green Lily. The vessel broke down in appalling conditions early in the morning near Levenwick. By mid afternoon she had drifted toward the east coast of Bressay, where she grounded and broke up almost immediately. Within hours nothing of the 3000 tonne ship remained above water. Within a month of stranding, the only recognisable part of the ship was the very tip of the bow in about 24m. The rest of the wreck, lying in 10-15m, looked very much as if it had been through an industrial shredder.
There are plenty of things to do in Shetland on non-diving days, with superb cliff walks and scenery and many isolated coves and beaches. The wild life is very varied with some of the largest sea bird colonies in Britain at Noss and Sumburgh head. A seal colony at Green Holm, just north of Lerwick, provides an interesting and interactive snorkel. In the summer months pods of killer whales are regularly sighted around the coast, as are dolphins and harbour porpoise. There are several important archaeological sites on the island including the unique Jarlshof site which was inhabited for over 3000 years and the nearby Scatness broch which is still under excavation. In mid-summer it never gets properly dark and it is possible to play golf at midnight in June. It is possible to combine a trip to Shetland with one to Orkney, thereby getting the best out of both different sets of islands.
The Shetland Isles are isolated and beautiful, but the variety of wrecks, abundant sea life and clarity of the water make it worth the trouble and expense to get here.

By Fiona Watson. Full article appears in 990 Vol 1 No 4

OUT OF THE FLOW

Mention Orkney to a diver and it conjures up images of Stromness, Scapa Flow, German Battleships and maybe the James Barrie. All good old favorites, but more and more divers are discovering that Orkney has even more to offer - if that were possible!
Some of the dive charter boats are off every summer to the Northern Isles, only last year two new wrecks were added to the list of available dive sites and there are more yet to find. All diving in the Northern Isles takes place off liveaboards with the boats pulling in to one of the isles in the evening, allowing the divers to sample the local pubs, some of which have real character to say the least!!
The trip will start on Sunday morning with a first dive in the Flow, the boat then heading north out through Hoy Sound, passing the high cliffs of Black Craig and on to Birsay. Here you will see the Kitchener's memorial on Marwick Head - a mile off here is where HMS Hampshire was lost in 1916. Tony Harris wrote an interesting article in issue 1 of 9>90 about the northern gas team's dive on her. Further up the coast we come to Costa Head, with the remains of the Steam trawler Hessonite lost in 1924, all the crew being saved by the Stromness lifeboat. The photo of the wreck shows her sitting under the high cliffs to the south of Costa Head where she sat for six weeks before slipping into deeper water, as yet I believe un-dived.
Just around the point is Eynhallow Sound, it was here that John Thornton, skipper on the 'Karin' and myself checked out a mark I had been given by a fisherman. After a ten-minute search a rewarding mark on the sounder was seen. The wreck of the steam trawler Freesia (GY 633), built 1911 by Cook, Welton & Gemmell had been found. The Freesia had spent Christmas fishing off the Faroes and was heading home to Grimsby when she struck on Costa Head on 1 January 1922. After a short while the trawler drifted off and, with a broken prop shaft, was at the mercy of wind and tide. She drifted north to Eynhallow Sound. The Crew dropped anchor in the hope of keeping out of the tide race, which is very strong between the Isle of Eynhallow and Mainland. The boat was leaking badly so the crew made a raft from cod liver barrels and planks. Two of the crew jumped overboard with life jackets on, the other nine took up their places on the Raft. As the Freesia sank she took the raft under and all nine crew on the makeshift liferaft were drowned. The raft then floated free and the two men who had jumped earlier took hold of it and were rescued by the Stromness lifeboat.
The wreck sits broken in 40m, with the boiler, engine block, still with brass oil boxes inside. The tip of the bows, with the two hawser pipes and the trawl winch nearby are the main points of interest. Just off to the side of the engine sits her steel prop. The bow is a bit of a swim away to the south across a sand and rock bottom. She is a very interesting dive and the vis is often excellent.
Further north we come to the Westray Firth, this is the site of the SS Tosto, a Norwegian cargo ship of 1234 tons gross, built in Newcastle in 1904 as the Heimdal. The Tosto was lost on the 17 June 1917 after hitting a mine laid by UC-49 (Uberleutnant zur see. H. Kukenthal), all the crew were saved by an escort vessel. The wreck sits in a general depth of 55m, broken up, with the bows and boiler being the most prominent pieces of wreckage. A deep air or trimix dive, she sits in an area of very strong tides. Slack water is a must for this one, and again an area with excellent visibility.
Overlooking the Tosto site is Noup Head, Westray, with its prominent lighthouse. It is here that the converted mfv Tommeline, carrying small salmon to Norway, was lost in 1988. The cause remains a bit of a mystery as the skipper claimed he lost steering two miles from the Noup, while the other 3 crew members first became aware of the problem only when they were thrown out of their bunks as the boat struck. All were saved by helicopter. The Tommeline, after several attempts to raise her, now sits intact, upright, in a gully no more then a metre wider than the ship itself. The depth is about 26m to the seabed and 20m to the deck. It is possible to enter the cabins and engine room of this wreck, there is even a stove sitting in the galley. In the bow section are two large plastic tubs used as an oxygenation plant to keep the fishy cargo healthy. This is a scenic as well as a wreck dive.
During WW1 all ships going to and from Europe had to call into a British port to have the cargo checked as part of our blockade of Germany. One of these ships was the SS Llama, a 3189 gross tonnage oil tanker. Built in 1890 by Armstrong, Mitchell & Co. of Newcastle as the SS Brilliant, sold and renamed by the Standard Oil Co, of New York. She stranded on a reef in the Westray Firth on 31 October 1915, while attempting to enter Kirkwall to clear contraband control en route to Copenhagen. The wreck sits in 14 meters of water. The bows and triple expansion engine are the highest parts, the rest of the ship is well broken, but lots of brass valves and pipes can be seen among the wreckage - evidence of her oil carrying past. While doing a drift search for the Llama in 1997 off the dive boat Jean Elaine, I was passed by a pod of Orcas. I was blissfully unaware of the fact but it did give the divers on the boat a chance to see some of the more interesting wildlife around these shores.
Not far from the SS Llama sits the SS Scandinavic, 3072 ton, built in 1904 by Furness, Withy & Co Ltd. The wreck sits in 13 metres but to my knowledge no sport diver has dived it so far.
After diving one or more of these wrecks the most likely port of call for the night will be Pierwall, Westray where you will find some shops and the Pierwall Hotel famous for its fish & chips, said to be the best in Orkney - Good beer too! It is most likely that any trip north will include a night or two in Orkney's capital Kirkwall, which boasts more than a handful of pubs and restaurants, all well worth a visit.
Just outside Kirkwall harbour there are two wrecks of interest. The Endeavour (A 493), a trawler built in 1894, was used by the Royal Navy as a boom boat. She was lost after a collision on 10 March 1918 and found only a few years ago by clam diver Keith Bichan. The wreck sits upright and intact in 24m, there is access to the holds and engine room and a small bridge is still in place. The local dive club from Kirkwall were looking for this wreck one evening, saw the mark on the sounder, dropped the shot and found acompletely different wreck! This turned out to be the wreck of the 313-ton salvage vessel Disperser, which foundered in a gale on 14 April 1940. The wreck sits upright in 23m, the bow is fairly intact with its two large lifting horns. Just aft of this the wreck breaks up and her boiler and engine can be clearly seen. The steel prop can also be seen under the stern.
Further to the east we find the remains of the SS Swiftsure, 823 tons, built in 1894 in Sunderland. The Swiftsure had left Kirkwall at 8.00pm on 9 September 1917. An hour and twenty minutes later, two and a half miles east of Hackness, Shapinsay, there was an explosion on her port side. She had hit a mine laid by UC-40. The Swiftsure sank in 29m of water taking one crewman with her, the rest of the crew were picked up by trawler and taken to Kirkwall.
One month after the sinking of the Tosto the UC-49 was once more active off Orkney, laying a minefield off Kirkwall and claiming the 4020-ton steamship Cotovia along with her cargo of flax. The Cotovia, built at West Hartlepool in 1911, ended her days on 22 July 1917, sinking in 40m of water. And here she lay forgotten until four years ago when she was found accidentally by Mark Halsted, skipper of the dive boat 'Sunrise' while on route to the Northern Isles - even the local fisherman didn't seem to know of the Cotovia. I first dived the wreck three years ago from the 'Jean Elaine' and the visibility was amazing, from 15m down I could see the top of her engine block covered in dead men's fingers. The wreck is flat with her three boilers and engine block standing proud, shell cases were strewn about the stern where the prop shaft ends. This is a big wreck and it will take two or more dives to see it all - a good nitrox dive!
In May of this year, after a chat with a local fisherman, John Thornton found another wreck further east of the Cotovia. This is probably the Svinta, a 1267 ton Norwegian steamship, abandoned by her crew after an attack by aircraft left her badly damaged on 21 March 1940. The Svinta didn't sink and was taken in tow, but en route to Orkney fell prey to the U-57 (Korth), who sent her to the bottom with a single torpedo. She sits in 60m+ and is one of many trimix dives to the east of the Orkney Isles.
These are only a few of the available wreck sites outside Scapa Flow and, as said before, each season more are found. Only last year Andy Cuthbertson, skipper of the Jean Elaine, found the steam trawler Redcap off the isle of Eday and John on the Karin has two new trimix projects underway for next year so watch this space!!!!
Diving in the Northern Isles is weather dependent but unlike the south coast there is always a sheltered bay somewhere. Even if the worst comes to the worst it is only a few hours steam back to the Flow where it would have to be very bad for you not to get wet. It may be an Idea to bring a selection of spares with you, as you may be a long way from a dive shop if things go pear-shaped. All the live aboards have air on board and all supply cylinders, 1 per diver, normally a 12lt although some now have 15lt. If you dive twins best bring them with you, air is free and all the boats pump nitrox at an extra cost. So those divers who think they have done Orkney and have the T-shirt, have another look!

By Kevin Heath.