Dive Dunoon

Dive and Dunoon sit well together, not sure which way round but I will leave it there. A recent dive on the wreck of the paddle tug Champion got me thinking about some of the other vessels that have come to grief off this bustling west coast town. In the late 19th century Dunoon was a busy holiday resort jam packed with holiday makers in the summer season from the big smoke further east on the River Clyde, and serviced by fleets of steamers, it was a very busy stretch of water. 

Not all ships in trouble end up on the seabed.  For many it meant a few days ashore before being patched up and towed off for survey, repair and return to service. Below are a few of the more fortunate vessels that have ‘bitten the beach’ and lived to tell the tale along the Dunoon shore.

What happened to the Champion that lead to her sinking a few hundred metres south of the Gantock Rocks off Dunoon. Briefly the Champion sank following a collision with another paddle steamer the Caledonia in thick fog on 12 December 1896. Fortunately there was no loss of life but the tug sank 5 minutes later in deep water. 

When did divers first visit the wreck of the Champion?  In the early 1980’s there was a healthy sea angling trade around the Upper Clyde, charter boat skippers were beginning to fish the many wrecks for species such as cod, ling, pollock and conger eel. As divers, we occasionally met these skippers while diving the wrecks and swopped information, some were more forthcoming than others. One such skipper was John Crowther who owned the Kirsty II out of Gourock who spent a lot of time searching for new wrecks. John had fished a wreck south of Dunoon and suggested we join him on a trip when he had a space in his diary. 

It was with much anticipation we ventured out with John in late June 1984 to dive his unknown wreck. In these days diving over 30 metres in the Clyde was pretty rare and we stuck rigidly to the RNPL dive tables, generally working to the no stop times. I note from my log that the weather was calm and sunny and visibility underwater around 6 metres. I think the euphoria of the dive must have clouded my mind as I filled out my dive log, as visibility underwater is usually a bit murky in this part of the Clyde.   My gear was a single tank, Typhoon drysuit, Fenzy ABLJ and Sportsways single stage DV……and no bailout except my two buddies with octo rigs.

So what did we find?  The wreck was a small paddle steamer lying in 36-38 metres, damage visible forward of engine room area, stern section intact but bow broken and collapsing into the seabed. The paddle box frames were still partially in place as well as the hub and spokes for the paddles, but most of the internal spaces in the open hull were filled with deep mud that caused a smoke screen when disturbed. Back ashore and with further work in the Mitchell Library we finally tracked down a likely candidate for the wreck, the paddle tug Champion. 

Fast forward to late October 2022. Well the Champion is still there, maybe not as intact as it was in 1984 but it’s still possible to see the main engine room area, the paddle hubs, although the stern has collapsed and fallen to port exposing the steering quadrant on top of the rudder post. Here are a few pictures from our dive. The visibility was perhaps 3 metres, reduced by a blanket of fresh water on the surface from local lochs, and a haze at depth from recent stormy weather.

If you would like to read a more detailed story about the loss of the Champion please follow this link – Champion.

Another famous Dunoon wreck lies further offshore on the Dunoon Bank, the mighty Akka, details on this large wreck can be found here – Akka.