Last week I spent 5 days diving around the beautiful peninsula of Kintyre with the Dunoon based dive operator Wreckspeditions and the BSAC Dive Club – Barzero from Hertfordshire.
Our plan was to dive some of the many shipwrecks that have come to grief around the Mull of Kintyre and Sanda Island. Below are some of the photographs from these dives along with links, where possible, to pages within this website that describe their loss and location in more detail. Visibility on the wrecks was very variable as can be seen from the quality/clarity of the photographs. Thanks to all who participated, it was an excellent week.
MV WILMERE
Really special post guys. The images are so clear and colourful. The links give excellent history tales and add so much to your great week.
Well done??
Hello Peter
The pictures of The Wilmere & The Byron Darnton are superb, I have always been interested in the shipwreck’s around the Kintyre peninsula and enjoy reading your book Argyll Shipwrecks, Myself and My family have a caravan at Southend, We visited Sanda frequently many years ago when the Byron Darnton Tavern was open, would like to ask if the wreck of the Hereford Express completely broken up? In the book it mentions that the wreck was heavily salvaged and very little remains at the site, often wondered as the Hereford Express sank only six years before the Wilmere.
Hi Shaun we may not have found the full wreckage of the Hereford Express when we dived and searched the site, we certainly found scattered hull and frames but nothing recognisable….perhaps there are more remains to be discovered.We did a sonar search many years ago and did not find anything obvious sitting up on the seabed. With modern sonars providing hi-power sidescan it maybe worthwhile to revisit the site, to see if other sections can be seen. I think the Tavern is now closed, shame it was a nice stop off point between dives and a sheltered anchorage. Dont know if there are plans to re-open.