Tapti.
A large post-war British cargo motor ship that was driven onto the rocks of Soa Island, off southern Coll, in a gale in January 1951. She later rolled off into deeper water. Her collapsed hull is scattered over rock and sand, and her separate bow section rears up almost to the surface. Boilers, winches, masts, anchors and engine-room machinery are all still there.
What's down there.
- Detached bow section rising nearly 15 m
- Boilers and engine-room machinery, including the crankshaft
- Cargo winches and masts
- Anchors and anchor chains
- Boat davits and steering gear (propeller salvaged)
- Yellow dead men's fingers
- Dense colonies of plumose anemones
- Small anemones
Wreckage spreads from about 10 m to 25 m; the detached bow rises nearly 15 m off the seabed.
Very little current, so it can be dived at any state of tide, but it is exposed to swell from the south. Visibility is typical of the Scottish west coast. Open Water divers can do it, but it is best suited to more experienced divers.
How it got there.
Steel motor vessel launched in 1945 at the Scotstoun yard of Charles Connell & Co., Glasgow (Yard No. 448), for James Nourse Ltd of London, with a Doxford diesel engine built by Barclay Curle. She measured 415.6 ft × 55.2 ft (about 125–127 m long) and 6,618 gross tons. On 17 January 1951, sailing in ballast from the Mersey to the Tyne to load a cargo for India, she struck rocks on the east shore of Soa Island during a violent south-westerly gale with hail and poor visibility. All 60 crew were taken off and landed at Tobermory. Four days later, on 21 January, another southerly gale rolled her off the rocks, and she sank in deeper water.
3 dives.
From the reconstructed log — the dates follow the pattern I dived, so read them as representative rather than exact.