Labrador.
The remains of a Dominion Line transatlantic steamer wrecked on Mackenzie's Rock, near the Skerryvore lighthouse, in 1899. She lies far out in the Atlantic and can only be dived in near-perfect weather. Her huge boilers and condenser sit close to the rock, and heavily salvaged wreckage spreads down a gully that is thick with colourful marine life.
What's down there.
- Large boilers and condenser within about 50 m of the rock
- Stern steering gear at the centre of the wreckage
- Wreckage gully running north-east to about 28 m
- Remote Atlantic setting near the Skerryvore lighthouse
- Carpets of orange dead men's fingers
- Plumose anemones
- Many kinds of sponge
- Large wrasse
- Pollack
Boilers and condenser at about 16 m near the rock; wreckage runs down a gully to about 28 m.
Remote and exposed, about 15 miles from Tiree, with strong tidal flows and heavy Atlantic swell. It can only be dived at slack water in near-perfect weather. For experienced divers only.
How it got there.
Steel passenger and cargo steamship built by Harland & Wolff, Belfast (Yard No. 238), and launched on 11 April 1891 for the Dominion Line of Liverpool. She measured 401 ft × 47.2 ft (about 122 m long) and 4,737 gross tons (2,998 net), with a triple-expansion engine. On her last voyage, from Saint John, New Brunswick, and Halifax to Liverpool, she carried grain, other cargo and 153 bags of mail. She had about 60 passengers and 94 crew aboard. In thick weather her master mistook the Skerryvore light for an Irish light, and on 1 March 1899 she struck Mackenzie's Rock. Everyone was saved, most by the steamer Viking and some by landing at Skerryvore. By 6 March she had broken in two and become a total wreck, and she was later salvaged for scrap.
3 dives.
From the reconstructed log — the dates follow the pattern I dived, so read them as representative rather than exact.