The Henry Caddell was built for the Royal Army Service Corps by Cochrane & Sons of Selby (Yard No 1101), launched in March 1930 and completed on 1st May that year. The vessel was built as a general purpose motor lighter measuring 88.5′ x 19.0′ x 6.6′ and was powered by twin 2 cylinder oil engines supplied by Plenty & Sons Ltd of Newbury delivering 160 brake horse power. Sometime in the 1930’s she was sold to the Williams Shipping Company of Southampton who registered her as Wilmere. They retained ownership until 1976 when she was acquired by owners in Troon, as a salvage barge under the command of Captain Peter McShannon.
In August 1976 the Wilmere was anchored over the wreck of the liberty ship Byron Darnton at Sanda Island, off Southend assisting with ongoing salvage work. In the early hours of Friday 13th August, a force 6 gale swept over Kintyre tearing the Wilmere from its mooring and stranding her on the adjacent reef. The crew were able to leave the vessel which later sank in deeper water 50-75 metres west of the wreck of the Byron Darnton. The Wilmere was written off as a constructive total loss and its registry at Troon was closed soon after.
The wreck of the Wilmere lies in position 55°16.367’N, 005°35.189’W (GPS), parallel to the main reef which runs east west. Lying in general seabed depths of 17-18 metres she remains substantially intact, although since we first dived the wreck the wheel house has fallen away, as has the hull plating to both sides of the bow hold and her main mast. The wreck rises approximately 3 metres above the rock seabed with the bow section broken but recognisable at the west end of the wreck. The layout of the vessel appears to have been a rear-engined lighter with wheel house and accommodation at the stern, a single large hold forward with foc’sle storage or more accommodation.
Tidal streams run along the south side of the reef between 2-3 knots at spring tides and even faster where the reef shallows. In short, this is a slack water dive unless you are willing to drift along the outside of the reef where you never know what you may find.
The photographs below were taken in August 2021 in near perfect conditions with 12-15 metre visibility and a good slack window that gave the divers around 60 minutes tide free. It is not always like this, I have dived this wreck on one of our many Easter trips where it was very dark with a lot of suspension in the water.
