SS Kintyre Part 1
Intro
Rumored to be in 50m of water some 200m from the beach in the River Clyde at Wemyss Bay Nr Glasgow; The 94nt Iron Steamship Kintyre sounded like the perfect Tech 1 level dive to tackle one evening after work….from the shore!
History
Built by Robertson & Co of Greenock, owned by Cambeltown & Glasgow Steam Packet Joint Stock Company and launched in 1868 the SS Kintyre was said to be one of the most graceful steamers of her type and nick-named “The Cambletown Yacht” due to her raked lines and clipper like bow.
On 18th September 1907 the Kintyre was lost in collision with the 3500gt steamer “Maori” four hundred yards south west of Inverkip. The Maori was undergoing speed trials on the Clyde and although both vessels exchanged signals a mis-understanding on the Kintyre resulted in the collision and loss of the steamship.
With the exception of the Captain and the engineer all the crew managed to scramble onboard the Maori to their rescue. The remaining pair tried to beach the badly damaged Kintyre, however 4 minutes after the collistion her stern began to submerge and twenty seconds further she slipped beneath the surface.
Captain MacKenzie had a miraculous escape after being dragged down by a piece of wreckage tangled around his legs, he managed to free himself and make it back to the surface. William Lennox the engineer was less fortunate having been thrown into the sea and could not be found after an extensive search of the area.
Team
My buddy for this dive was Andrew Bryson who had dived this wreck previously from a day boat and knew the whereabouts and background on this dive.
He is also the only other Tech 1 diver in Scotland!
Mission
Dive 1 Plan
To familiarize ourselves with the site and layout of the wreck we decided to do a 32% min deco recce dive to find the following information:-
Suitable exit/entry points
The whereabouts of the dis-used sewage pipe
Gauge visability and current
To check the line integrity and replace if need be
General familiarisation
The Dive
Having finished work on Friday 4th Aug 06 we made our way to Wemyss bay and began to kit up. There are some make shift stairs which appear to have been carved by the sea over the years. We utilised these and dropped our scooters into the water.
We dropped down to 3m initially for bubble and flow checks then picked up the sandy slope which had a fair amount of kelp on it down to 12m in a Northerly direction with a view to pick up the pipe.
After a few minutes on the trigger we hit the pipe which was full of fish-life and orange and white plumose anemones. We followed the pipe gradually down the slope until we arrived at the end after a minute or so at approx 32m.
Andy shone his light on a piece of rope which was flapping in the current. By this time, the light (ambient) had well and truly left us, visability was down to 1.5m and the current was fairly ripping through.
After a minute of briefly looking around the end of the pipe, Andy signalled to return the way we came, back up the pipe. Personally I thought this was the end of the dive but after a few seconds I noticed a second line running North West and signaled this to my buddy.
After another minute on the trigger we both saw the bow of the wreck come into view quite quickly. The bow was at approx 34m and a lot of the plates had fallen off leaving the skeletal ribs showing which again were full of anemones.
After a brief look around and keeping an eye on our MOD we thumbed the dive and headed back along the line towards the pipe and completed min deco.
De-Brief
We eventually surfaced about 5m south of our entry point having completed min deco to find quite a swell. The tide had also risen a fair bit meaning that our exit would be interesting. We got out without any problem but having read that quite a few people have been bent by exiting in rough conditions at this point. We have decided to lay line in order to assist our exit for the gas dive.
Dive 2 Plan
Lay line as a marker to aid our chosen exit point from shore to 12m due West. Once onto deco we will drop our scooters here and complete our stops resting for 5-10mins at the surface before dropping our stages.
These will be pulled in once we have de-kitted at a slow pace.
Explore the stern and depths, accommodation and engine room with 21/35 backgas & 50% deco bottle.
The Dive
Scheduled for Thursday 10th August….To be continued with pics!
