SS Ringwall.
The Ringwall was a small British coastal cargo steamer that struck a German mine off the Isle of Man in January 1941, with the loss of all eight crew. She sits upright with her bow to the south-east and her stern, the highest point, to the north. It is a deep decompression dive for experienced divers, with an accessible steam engine and boiler.
Another classic.
What's down there.
- Intact anchor winch and mooring bollards at the bow
- Cargo winch
- Accessible compound steam engine and single boiler
- Portholes covered in anemones
- Ladder on the aft cabin
- Trawl nets snagged on the structure
- Large shoal of pouting
- Saithe
- Anemones on portholes
Bow deck at 36 m; seabed scoured to 38 m at the stern and 42 m at the bow
Slack water is essential; it falls about one hour before high and low water Liverpool. Best suited to experienced divers prepared to do some decompression.
How it got there.
Built in 1921 by Day, Summers & Co of Southampton and launched as Mary Summerfield. She was 44 m long with an 8 m beam and 407 tons, and had an old-fashioned 60 hp two-cylinder compound engine with a single boiler. She was renamed Ringwall in 1930 after Wallace Brothers of Liverpool bought her. On 27 January 1941 she was sailing in ballast from Dublin to Silloth. As she turned south of the Isle of Man towards the Solway Firth, she struck a German mine laid by a U-boat and sank. All eight crew were lost.
9 dives.
From the reconstructed log — the dates follow the pattern I dived, so read them as representative rather than exact.