Aurania.
The heavily broken remains of a large Cunard liner that was torpedoed off Ireland in 1918 and came ashore at Caliach Point on north-west Mull. Huge boilers stand 6–7 m proud of the seabed among winches, bollards and plating, and one area is known to divers as the 'Silver Pit'.
What's down there.
- Massive boilers standing 6–7 m off the seabed
- Bow section rising about 7 m in 26 m
- Large winches and mooring bollards
- The 'Silver Pit', the remains of the ship's silver store
- Extensive steel plating
Much broken: stern wreckage from about 9–12 m, bow section standing about 7 m proud in 26 m.
Exposed site under cliffs; beware back-swell off the rocks. Launch from Calgary Bay or Tobermory. Needs settled weather, and suits divers with some experience of exposed sites.
How it got there.
Cunard steamship built by Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson at Wallsend-on-Tyne and launched in July 1916, powered by four Parsons steam turbines. About 520 ft (roughly 158 m) long and 13,936 gross tons, she was completed in 1917 and taken up straight away as a troopship, sailing her maiden voyage from the Tyne to New York on 28 March 1917. On 4 February 1918, sailing from Liverpool to New York, she was torpedoed by UB-67 about 15 miles north-west of Inishtrahull, off County Donegal. The torpedo hit near the engine room and killed eight crew. She was taken in tow, but in the following gale she was driven ashore at Caliach Point on Mull and broke up.
4 dives.
From the reconstructed log — the dates follow the pattern I dived, so read them as representative rather than exact.