The steel steamship Nyland was launched from the yard of Nylands Verksted, Oslo (Yard No 347) on 24th October 1939. She measured 250.9′ x 41.3′ x 14.8′ and her tonnage was 1374 gross tons, 757 net tons. She was powered by a compound steam engine by Nylands Verksted delivering 54 nominal horse power with twin boilers. She was built for Skibs A/S Vilhelm Torkildsens Rederi of Bergen.
The Nyland was part of a group of six ships completed in 1938-39 by Nylands Verksted, all to the same hull design and specification, five with steam propulsion and one a motor vessel. We have been unable to trace any photographs of the Nyland, but there are a few of her sister ships and these were Nyco (38), Octavian (38), Ravnefjell (38), Fana (39), Nyland (39) and Signeborg (39).
Like many other Norwegian ships, the Nyland was requisitioned for convoy duties early in the Second World War. When the Germans invaded Norway on 9th April 1940 she was en route to St John’s, Newfoundland arriving there on April 17th. She successfully completed a number of voyages to North Africa and North America before her final, fatal voyage in December 1940. She had departed Methil in ballast on 2nd December in convoy EN35 bound for the convoy mustering station at Oban where she was to join convoy OB255 heading across the Atlantic bound for MacKenzie River, Canada. The convoy consisted of twenty three merchant ships and three escort vessels. The Nyland was under the command of her captain, Otto Kampevold and had a crew of 19 men. As the convoy rounded the southern tip of Mull to enter the Firth of Lorne, Nyland strayed off course and ran aground – their distress calls reported they were stranded on West Reef, Torran Rocks, an outlying shallow string of rocks off the Ross of Mull. These calls were picked up clearly and a tug was dispatched to attempt to pull her off but when the tug arrived at the scene the Nyland could not be located. All of her crew were lost, with only debris being washed ashore some weeks after the disaster.
Due to it’s remote position the wreck of the Nyland has not been heavily dived, visited mainly by live aboards, although we took RIBS over to Mull and launched from Bendoran Boatyard near Bunnessan. The wreck lies in the position 56° 14.195’N, 006° 22.032’W off the eastern side of Torran Rocks. Given her position today, it would appear that, in the panic of the situation, the crew miscalculated their Mayday position indicating they were aground on West Reef which lies some 6 kilometres to the west of the wreck site. It seems impossible for a vessel the size of the Nyland to drift before a storm through the Torran Rocks without striking and grounding somewhere in-between. A miscalculation would also explain why the wreck had apparently disappeared when the rescue tug arrived at the Torran Rocks.
The wreck is fairly in tact lying upside down in general seabed depths of 47-48 metres rising some 3-4 metres from the seabed. Oriented around WNW/ESE or 290/110 degrees with bow to ESE and inverted stern WNW where the four bladed propeller is still in place and rudder hard over for a turn to port, although this could have altered during her loss. Although the wreck is generally inverted, there are sections of the stern where hull plating corrosion provides access inside the hull and again midships where the twin boilers and engine can be seen. The site is extremely exposed to westerly Atlantic wind and swell, and careful study of the local tidal atlas a must.