SS Meldon.
A First World War collier lying in sheltered Loch Buie on the south coast of Mull, with her stern close to the shore. The cast propeller and rudder, engine and boiler are all recognisable, and the bow rises steeply from the seabed. It is a shallow, relaxed dive, often with good visibility.
What's down there.
- Cast propeller with the rudder hard over and fouled on a blade
- Recognisable engine and boiler
- Bow section rising 5–6 m off the seabed
- Mine damage visible on the port side
- Swim-throughs
- Anchor on the seabed
- Large pollack
- Plaice
- Cuckoo wrasse
- Conger eel
- Edible crabs and shrimps
- Sea urchins
- Common starfish and common sunstars
- An otter is sometimes seen fishing on the wreck
Shallow stern (about 4–8 m; the rudder post can show at low water) and bow at about 13–20 m. Sources differ.
Little or no tidal current in Loch Buie, and sheltered from the prevailing winds, although swell can reach the site in heavy weather. Visibility is often good (Dive Oban quotes at least 10 m on average). Suitable for all levels of diver, and the stern is shallow enough to snorkel.
How it got there.
Steel cargo steamer built by Robert Stephenson & Co. and launched on 17 October 1910 for the Morpeth Steamship Co. of Newcastle, with a triple-expansion engine by North Eastern Marine Engineering, Wallsend. She measured 310.0 ft × 43.1 ft (about 94 m long) and 2,514 gross tons (1,572 net). The Dawson Steamship Co. of Newcastle bought her in 1916. On 3 March 1917, northbound with coal from Penarth in South Wales, she struck one of eight mines laid by the German submarine U-78 north of the Garvellachs on 11 February 1917. The master ran her into Loch Buie, where she grounded on the western shore and sank. The crew got safely ashore, but the ship became a total loss.
33 dives.
From the reconstructed log — the dates follow the pattern I dived, so read them as representative rather than exact.