A 96 ton drifter on H.M. Service. She capsized and sank while on mine sweeping duties on 31st January 1942. N 55 06 50 W001 29 10 (Collings). A 96T vessel, described on the Spokes and NMR database as both a trawer and a Royal Navy armed drifter in two separate entries. The Unicity sank as the result of a mine 31st January 1942. She may have been raised and scrapped in October 1943.

A Danish steam ship of 1080 tons, which struck a mine on 28th December 1939. 230 feet long. An attempt was made to beach her but she sank in shallow water, 200 metres south east of Blyth pier (Collings). Steel, 1,080-ton, 70.13m long, 10.69m beam, 4.39m draught steamship registered in Denmark. She was built in 1905 by Fredrikstad MV and owned at the time of loss by D/S af 1937 A/S. Her single screw was powered by a three-cylinder, triple-expansion steam engine using one boiler. On 28 December 1939, the Hanne was in ballast on passage from Copenhagen for Blyth and she was approaching the Blyth harbour entrance when she detonated a German-laid mine. The explosion caused the vessel to break in two, close inshore, where she foundered and was lost with her crew of fifteen.

The wreck of the Hanne lies on a seabed of soft sand a little further south the wreck of the Muristan, in a general depth of 4m. She is very broken up and scattered, with two main sections lying 10m apart, one being the boiler and the other being her engine. Seaweed and kelp cling to the wreckage and floats to the surface in low tide.

Grid reference conversion made 18.01.2011 with http://gps.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/etrs89geo_natgrid.asp with Lat/Long referenced as N 55 06 19 W 01 29 15

A 1270 ton steamship carrying a cargo of timber, which struck a mine on 2nd September 1914. She lies in 15 metres of water. N 55 06 30 W 001 27 24.

A British steamship of 578 tons, 156 feet long and 26 feet beam. She was torpedoed on 28th August 1918. N 55 06 30 W 001 27 24

A steam trawler of 239 tons, which struck a mine on 22nd September 1918. N 55 06 30 W 001 26 00 (Collings). Steel, 239-ton, 38.53m long, 6.7m beam, 3.5m draught steam fishing trawler, registered at Fleetwood. She was built by J. Duthie, Torry Ship Building Co. in Aberdeen in 1907 and owned by J.Marr & Sons Ltd. Her single steel screw propeller was powered by a three-cylinder, triple-expansion engine using one boiler. Her machine was built by W.V.Lidgerwood of Glasgow. She had one deck and three watertight bulkheads. In 1915 she was requisitioned by the Royal Navy and converted to an armed patrol vessel, equipped with a bow-mounted deck gun that fired 2.72 kg (6lb) shells. On 22 September 1918, under the command of Captain J.W. Walsh, the Elise was on patrol duties two miles south-east of Blyth when she detonated a German submarine laid mine and sank almost immediately.

The wreck lies in a south-east to north-west direction on a seabed of hard sand and stone in a general depth of 24m and is surrounded by lots of small rocks scattered about on the seabed. This is a small wreck and not too easy to find because of its size. The engines and boiler are lying together amid a pile of steel frames, plates and pipes where the vessel collapsed in on itself. The bow section, which is connected to the wreck, still has its shape, but the top structure and deck part have collapsed inside. There is a considerable amount of non-ferrous metal lying around under the jumbled heap of steel, however the six pounder gun has been removed and only the base plate remains. The large winches lie about 50m to the east of the main wreck-site, with bits of scattered wreckage in between.
The Ian Spokes database lists this as an armed trawler resting at a depth of 15m.

Grid reference conversion made 18.01.2011 with http://gps.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/etrs89geo_natgrid.asp with Lat/Long referenced as N 55 05 45 W 01 26 18

A 597 ton yacht on H.M. Service which was attacked and sunk by German aircraft on 17 March 1941. Lies in 24 metres of water. Many brass fittings have been removed. N 55 06 15 W 001 26 06 (Collings). Steel, 627-ton (597T also recorded in the Spokes database), luxury yacht with two masts a bow like a schooner and a step tapering stern-end, built for the Guinness family in 1906 as one of the most luxurious vessels afloat! Every fitting on her was made of high quality bronze, copper or brass and most of it shone ‘like a new penny’. The vessel had a figurehead at the bows and around twenty-two portholes along each side. She had one deck and a three-tiered superstructure, with the smoke-stack positioned just aft of the bridge wheelhouse amidships. Her single bronze propeller was powered by a three-cylinder, triple-expansion steam engine that used one boiler. On 12 January 1915, the Guinness yacht was hired by the Admiralty as an auxiliary patrol vessel, then later used as an anti-submarine yacht. On 22 March 1919 she was renamed HM Yacht Medusa, then the HM Yatch Mollusc, in November 1939. On 17 March 1941, she was on active duties some two and a half miles off the British submarine base of Blyth, Nothumberland, when she was attacked by German aircraft. Two of the plane’s bombs exploded so close to the Mollusc that they split her hull plates, sending thousands of gallons of water into the vessel, she foundered soon after.

The wreck likes orientated in a south-south-east to north-north-west direction on a seabed of sand and stone in a general depth of 28m (a depth of 24m also suggested in the Spokes/NMR database) one and a half miles east-south-east of Blyth. More than twenty years ago this wreck was completely in tact, but a huge amount of salvage work has been carried out on it over the past few years, which has left the remains well smashed and broken up. The highest section, at 4.7m, is around the engine and boiler, which stand amid a jumble of twisted plates and pipes, under which the glint of a considerable amount of copper and brass can be seen.

Spokes records the wreck as salvaged by Pock.

Grid reference conversion made 18.01.2011 with http://gps.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/etrs89geo_natgrid.asp with Lat/Long referenced as N 55 06 16 W 01 26 10

A submarine depot ship of 4580 tons and 330 feet long. She was being towed to Blyth when she foundered in heavy seas on 23rd December 1939. She was sold to Sub Sea Services in 1974 and has been extensively salvaged. N 55 06 05 W 001 27 09 (Collings). Steel, 4,530-ton, 104.2m long, 13.1m beam, 8.2m draught, British submarine depot repair and supply steamship. She was originally built to order by Sir Raylton Dixon & Co. at Cleveland Dockyard, Middlesbrough for James Moss & Co. of Liverpool and launched as the Seti by Miss Hilda Moss 5 July 1902 for their company’s Egyptian trade. She was moulded and built to the British Corporation’s highest class spar rule, had a dead-weight capacity of 3,700 tones, with a main deck of steel and the upper poop-deck, bridge and forecastle-decks of steel, but sheathed with wood. The accommodation for first class passengers was handsomely fitted at the forepart of the bridge, while second class was situated under the aft end of the poop. The saloon framing was of satinwood, with Hungarian ash panels, relived by Maltese crosses with a house-flag in the centre of each panel. Her iron stanchions were covered in satinwood with elaborately carved capitals and Tynecastle panelling on the ceiling, all lighted by a fine-combed skylight. The smoke-room, which was separately designed by Messers Waring & Son of Liverpool, was framed in oak, with carved pilaster parquet flooring, carved grotesque beams and Tynecastle panels on the ceiling in rich relief. The whole vessel had electric lights, electric bells and steam heating throughout. She also had a freshwater condenser, five watertight bulkheads, water ballast all fore and aft and after peaks, direct steam windlasses, five powerful steam-winches and all the very latest improvements for rapid loading & reloading of her cargo.
The vessel’s single fine-steel screw was powered by a three-cylinder, triple-expansion steam engine that used three, large, single-ended boilers. On 9 November 1914 she was purchase by the Admiralty and renamed HMS Pandora. Then between 1920 and 1921 she was converted at HM Dockyard at Devonport to a submarine depot repair and supply ship and renamed HMS Dolphine on 3 October 1924. She carried a compliment of 255 crew and a fuel load of 590-tons of coal. Being a rather elderly ship she was decommission and selected as a block ship for the River Clyde to where she was being towed. However she detonated a German-laid mine, foundered and was lost, one and a half miles south-south-east of Blyth on 23 November 1939 (Spokes database records the data as 23rd December).

The wreck-site is known to local divers as the Pandora, some still believe that the Dolphin is a separate wreck, but they are infact one and the same! It lies almost north-south on a seabed of sand and stone at a general depth of 18m. She is well broken up and dispersed over a wide area as she was professionally at least twice in the recent past. Except for the engines and boilers, much of the wreck is partially buried with the hull sides going into the seabed, but the bow section is still intact and stands some 6.7m high – A very impressive sight.

Grid reference conversion made 18.01.2011 with http://gps.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/etrs89geo_natgrid.asp with Lat/Long referenced as N 55 06 5 W 01 27 17

A steamer of 1086 tons, which struck a mine on 1st January 1940. She lies 2200 metres off Seaton Sluice at N 55 06 00 W 001 27 00. She was 221 feet long with a beam of 33 feet. Built by Hall Russell and Co. in 1919 and owned by the Aberdeen Coal Company (Collings). Steel, 1,086-ton 67.38m long, 10.16m beam and 4.26m draught, British steamship, registered in Aberdeen. She was built in 1919 by Hall, Russell & Co. at Aberdeen for the Aberdeen Coal & Shipping Co. Ltd. Her single steel propeller was powered bya three-cylinder, triple-expansion steam engine using two boilers. She had one deck, four watertight bulkheads and a superstructure consisting of a 39.8m quarter-deck, a 4.8m bridge-deck and a 8.2m forecastle. On 21 January 1940 (Spokes and NMR database records the date as 1st January 1940), the Ferryhill was carrying a 1,200-ton cargo of coal, on passage from Blyth for Aberdeen when she detonated a mine laid by a German submarine. The vessel keeled over and foundered in minutes, taking her crew of eleven down to the bottom with her. The wreck, which lies approximately 1.5 miles north-north-east of St. Mary’s Lighthouse, was dispersed with explosives by the Ministry of War Transport in 1955.

The Ferryhill lies orientated in a north to south direction, on a hard, flat seabed of sand and stone in a general depth of 20m. The remains are totally collapsed and well broken up, with her boilers, condenser and engine standing upright, surrounded by a mass of broken machinery, steel framework, iron pipes and bent hull plates, spread out over the seabed.

Ian Spokes database gives an alternative size as 221 x 33 x 14 (possibly in feet).

Grid reference conversion made 18.01.2011 with http://gps.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/etrs89geo_natgrid.asp with Lat/Long referenced as N 55 05 40 W 01 26 56

400 yards east of the Ferryhill (HER 12997) is an unidentified wreck standing 2 metres off the seabed. It is well broken up.

Steel, 1,519-ton, 79m long, 10.5m beam, 5.80m draught. Swedish-registered steamship built in 1881. Her single steel propeller was powered by a three-cylinder, triple-expansion steam engine that used one boiler.
On 13 August 1918 she was on passage from Gothenburg for Hull, with a cargo of rough wood pulp, when she was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine UB-104.

The wreck, possibly that of the Jonkoping I, lies in 0.5m scour on a seabed of fine sand, in a general depth of 52m (the NMR has two entries for this ship with two depths stated- 30m and 50m). She is very substantial and fairly intact, but with the upper structures partially collapsed and covered in soft corals. The wreck, which is orientated in an east to west direction, with bows to the east, stands almost 6m high for a considerable distance along her length, but is collapsed around her cargo hold. It is likely that the vessels wheelhouse equipment is still present. She lies 6.5 miles E of R.Tyne, N.Pier Lighthouse.

Grid reference conversion made with http://gps.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/etrs89geo_natgrid.asp with Lat/Long referenced as N 55 03 11 W 01 14 11 did not provide a valid grid ref.