This 9,600 ton minelayer sunk on 27 November 1940 in Loch Alsh after catching fire during loading operations at Kyle of Lochalsh. The hull on the port side was partly cut away and the mines removed in the 1950’s, but the wreck today is otherwise largely intact.

She lies on her starboard side in a depth of around 21m, and being such a big wreck parts of her are visible above water most of the time.

I was lucky to dive her three times over the space of a weekend with the Caithness and Bo’ness dive clubs in the spring of 2015. The wreck is very atmospheric, much of the interior is accessible with plenty of light streaming in from above. Many mine laying trolleys line up along the interior, still attached to the rails that run out to the four hatches at the stern. Each trolley would have dropped out of a hatch to the seabed, from where the mine (still tethered to the trolley) would have released and floated up to a predetermined depth, ready for some unsuspecting ship to strike. Huge cable drums are dotted about inside the wreck, and there is quite a lot of porcelain sanitary ware to see as well. A couple of guns are still mounted on the deck towards the bow, although the port side gun is hard to spot among all the kelp!