The waters of the United Kingdom’s Dover Straits are home to an array of historic wrecks. Wreck explorer and underwater photographer Stefan Panis gives us insights into some of the wrecks you can dive here.
SS Carmen wreck, Dover Straits, United Kingdom
Contributed by
Over a decade ago, I started diving the Dover Straits in the United Kingdom and fell in love with it, as it offers such a variety of shipwrecks scattered in a very small area. Despite its relatively shallow depth, conditions are often quite challenging in terms of sea conditions, visibility and strong currents.
Usually, I join a local Dover or Folkestone group for my diving. However, once or twice a year, I organise a trip on a charter boat, so friends from all over the world can join and discover the beauty of the wrecks of the Dover Straits.
Last July was no different, with a mixed team of divers from Belgium, the United Kingdom and Italy. We were blessed with good dives, which were planned a year in advance. Getting six days out of the seven planned was just amazing! I must admit that this would not have been possible without our super skipper, Tom Packman of Renegade Charters Dover. All credits go to him!
Unidentified sailing ship
A few years ago, one of my buddies, David Knight, located a wooden sailing ship with a rich and mixed colonial cargo. Despite some intensive diving campaigns, the wreck had not yet been identified and just threw us more confusion. So, with a group of international wreck divers, this trip could be the opportunity to finally give a name to the wreck.
As usual, I was diving with Eddie Huzzey. When we arrived on the bottom, the visibility was really good, so we decided to take a tour around the site. We landed near the bow, where there was a beautiful, massive wooden winch. Besides the winch, we spotted an anchor. I guessed that it was a spare one, as it was small in size compared to the rest of the wreck.
As we worked our way to the stern, we came across interesting areas where we found glassware, trading beads and a box with brass oil lamps, which reminded me of Aladdin’s lamp. Right at the stern, we found a massive, copper-plated rudder, completely intact, even with the connection pole to the steering.
We headed back, and a tiny object caught my eye. I could not believe it, but it was a pair of dice! As we were in the stern of the ship, it was very likely that the dice belonged to the captain of the ship. As we surfaced, some interesting objects were found (all declared to the Receiver of Wrecks), but unfortunately, nothing revealed the ship’s identity, so the search continues…
SS Toward: Victim of a minefield
Built in 1899 in Glasgow, the Toward was a 1,218 GRT steel steamship with a single propeller. While sailing general cargo from London to Belfast on 31 October 1915, it struck a mine laid by UC-6, a very successful WWI German submarine under the command of Matthias Graf Von Schmettow, which had sunk a total of 54 ships.
The mine that hit the Toward exploded under the No. 2 hatch, just forward of the bridge of the ship, which rapidly caught fire and started to settle in the water. The crew abandoned ship, and all were rescued, including five men who had jumped into the sea off South Foreland, at The Downs. Four ships had sunk within a few hours of each other in that minefield. [Ed. – See the author’s previous article, “SS Toward: New ‘Treasures’ Unveiled”, in issue #132.]
The Toward is always a very cool dive. As the wreck is slowly collapsing, there are always new things to see if you take the time to look closely.
The plan for the day was for Eddie and me to check out the old Ford car in the stern hold of the wreck. We dived three decks down into the hold, only to find that the car was quickly deteriorating. I took a few shots, and we moved on into the hold, where one can penetrate quite far.
The hold was filled with barrels of mixed cargo, and, to my surprise, I spotted the remains of some wooden chairs. The first-class dining room must have been just above and collapsed into the hold. As the silt had washed out, the chairs had been uncovered. I was well aware that these chairs might not be here next year, as they were now exposed to the elements. So, I took some photos to immortalise them. We found more items that proved the dining room had been here, including silver cutlery and beautifully decorated Wedgewood dinner plates.
We crawled out of the hold and enjoyed a drift towards the bow. On the way, we passed the accommodations and a row of toilets, as well as another interesting area where we found parts of a coloured mosaic floor. The very end of the bow, with railings still intact, was broken off and was now pointing towards the surface, providing loads of spaces to penetrate and rummage around in.
SS Carmen: An Italian vintage
When the conditions were perfect, we ventured further offshore into deeper waters. The target of the day was SS Carmen, a Panamanian cargo ship built in 1930, which sank in 1963 due to a collision in foggy weather.
The ship sits upright in around 50 metres of water and makes a very nice dive, as the visibility is usually quite good offshore. My dive buddy, Eddie, was diving on open circuit, so our bottom time was limited. We landed on the foredeck next to a winch covered in marine growth. The skylights of the ship allowed us to dive into the areas a few decks down, reaching more depth than we would have on the outside of the wreck.
At the very end of a corridor, scattered bottles and a wooden box caught my eye. Inside were some funny-shaped bottles with long necks. A closer look revealed the name, Chianti – Vino d’Italia. What a coincidence that we were diving here today with the Italians; it made me laugh into my loop.
On the deck, the wheelhouse was partially collapsed, and some large portholes were scattered below it. As Eddie surfaced, I continued my dive alongside the deck, which was very enjoyable, as the wreck was in very ship-shape condition, with all its features still in place. Nothing but happy faces as we surfaced!
SS Sabac: Dishes in the kitchen
On an ice-cold morning in January 1962, the Dover coastguard got a call that there had been a collision between the steamship SS Sabac and the Dorington Castle in the Dover Straits. The Sabac was en route from Ploce to Rotterdam with a cargo of bauxite at the time of the collision. When the coastguard arrived on the scene, there were already a few other ships assisting with taking survivors on board, some of them in really bad shape.
The search for survivors was very difficult because of the very dense fog. In an attempt to get a better view, rescuers even fired flares. Together with the Walmer rescue boat, which had joined the search, 28 bodies were recovered, a high and sad toll.
A bit of background on the ship: Originally named SS Marie Leonhardt, the ship was built in 1922 by the German L&B company in Hamburg. The company had the ship in service until 1946, when it was sold to the Norwegian government, which had it in service for only one year under the name SS Skottnes, before the ship’s name changed a third and last time to SS Sabac under a Yugoslavian flag.
Diving the Sabac
At 53m, we touched the deck. The visibility was perfect but dark. The Sabac is one of those wrecks that is covered in mystery. A look over the side of the wreck, into the pitch-dark waters, gives one the shivers.
The wheelhouse was still intact. Sitting under it, looking up at the portholes, was simply stunning. An open door beckoned us inside. I gave Eddie a few metres of distance ahead to carefully place the guideline, since we would find ourselves in a silt-out on the way back.
After penetrating two corridors, Eddie signalled me to look into a tiny room that fit just one. It was the ship’s kitchen. Plates, cups and cutlery were scattered about, and some of them were still sitting in a double sink. A stamp with the Jugolinija logo on a plate confirmed the ship’s identity. Mission accomplished!
The Mindoro: Uncovering its secrets
The good thing about Dover is that, depending on the direction of strong winds, there might be a spot where you can shelter and dive behind the white cliffs. The last day of our dive trip was no different. Skipper Tom promised we could dive the Mindoro, a 19th-century wooden sailing ship. It was Tom who had proved positive identification of the wreck with the finding of the ship’s bell.
Currents keep shifting at this wreck site, covering and uncovering different bits each year. The wreck is also called “the bottle wreck”, as there are bottles scattered everywhere around the site.
This dive was no different. As we made our way around the wreck, a wooden box with bottles, which were lead-sealed, drew my attention. With a quick swipe across the top cover, I was shocked to see “Guinness Extra Stout, London”. (How cool is that?) We decided to salvage one of the bottles in order to locate and contact the existing company and perhaps find out a bit more about its history.
On our way back to the shot line, lucky Eddie did it again! Among all the debris, he had managed to find a small, decorated brass anchor pendant, which seemed to have come from somebody’s necklace. After preservation, we had to investigate whether it had any writing on it in order to perhaps connect the pendant with a passenger or crew member. And this is just what I love so much about researching finds like this and wreck diving in general: piecing together parts of a puzzle that will never be complete! ■
Read more in Shipwrecks of the Dover Straits by Stefan Panis.
