Longwy

The Longwy was a French cargo steamship owned by the Compagnie Anonyme des Chargeurs de L’Ouest and registered in Nantes. Constructed in Nantes and launched in 1903 by the Chantiers Nantais de Constructions Maritime, she measured 282.6′ x 40.6′ x 19.6′ and her tonnage was 2315 gross tons, 1323 net tons.  She was powered by a triple expansion steam engine by Schneider and Co, Cruesot delivering 228 nominal horse power.

The Longwy left her home port of Nantes on 17^thOctober 1917, bound for Bilbao to load a cargo of iron ore, after which she was to proceed to Glasgow. In the late evening, or early hours of the 4^th/ 5^th November she was a few miles off Corsewall Point when she was hit by torpedo, fired by UC-75  and sank with the loss of her captain and twenty eight crew. The body of her captain, Joseph Huet was washed ashore at Girvan a few days later.

In the days before the attack, the UC-75, under the command of Oberleutnant Johannes Lohs had been working in the Irish Sea laying mines.  Following an unsuccessful attack on the British steamer Atlantan the previous day, the submarine made a surface attack on the Longwy north of Corsewall Point.  

A temporary Notice to Mariners was issued the following day, and the Northern Lighthouse Board placed a light buoy on the seaward side of the wreck as her masts broke surface and was considered a hazard to navigation, the buoy was eventually removed in October 1919.

The wreck lies in a general seabed depth of 26.5 metres with least depth of 18.5 metres midships in position 55° 03.303’N, 005° 10.615’W. Although the Longwy is fairly well broken in parts, the wreck retains much of the size, shape and features of the ship. The most prominent features are the engine and twin boilers amidships and the stern section. The wreck is oriented 145°/325° with the bow pointing north.

The wreck lies two or three miles from the shore and is exposed to winds from all directions, making access to the site very weather dependent. The site is subject to strong tidal currents at certain states of the tide. Launch sites are in Loch Ryan or Ballantrae Harbour, the latter requires a 4×4 at most states of the tide.

We’d like to thank Jay Lawson for his permission to use his underwater photographs of the wreck