Baltimore, Eire

I have now dived this wreck 7 times over 3 trips and it continues to amaze me. 169,000 tons of carrier that was sunk with a cargo of pig iron. If you compare this to the battleships at Scapa flow (26,000 tons with armour) you can start to appreciate how big this is. My very first dive on the bow section of this ship was in flat calm conditions in crystal clear water and when we hit the deck at 8m it was like hitting the sea bed. After a bit of orientation we went over the front of the bow section descending nearly 30m until we hit the sea floor where the bulbous section of the bow has sunk into it. From this perspective in 20m visability we could really appreciate the size of this monster. The sides of the hull here covered with dead mens fingers which added to the fantastic feeling we got at the front of this boat.

Towards the rear of the bow section on the starboard side there is a split in the side of hull that allows easy access to the chain locker. This area is fully enclosed and of cathederal like proportions, honeycombed with supporting structures and a few ladders. you can sink and sink through the layers and it would be a very big swim to cover the whole of this massive room. Because this ship is so large, I mistook the chain locker for forward hold no 1. It is definately comparible to holds in other ships. This room is appears to be empty though I have not made it to the bottom and this is because the anchor lost during the sinking. As there is no anchor here there is the opportunity for a good swim through the anchor hole on the starboard side back to the top of the bow section

The remaining anchor is still attached to the port side of the bow and if the swell is ok to allow you to stay on the top of the bow section it is possible to make out the associated winches and chains etc. Swimming back from the bow section holds 1 & 2 appear to be open with masses of the pig iron in the holds and on the sea bed. These holds provide good shelter from the strong swell found around the bows.

The stern section appears to have been swept so that the superstructure is a bit of a mess. The main thing I remember from this dive was going beneath this superstructure from the rearmost hold and getting to a great deal of piping. It was difficult to tell whether this was in the engine room as the metal is twisted at this end.

The Kowloon Bridge is the sister ship to the Derbyshire that sunk off the coast of Japan in 1980. In November 1986 it had to shelter in Bantry Bay to repair cracks that had appeared in the hull just in front of the bridge following a heavy Atlantic crossing. Whilst these were being repaired it got carried off after its starboard anchor was broken in a heavy swell. It lost steerage in the heavy seas and the crew abandoned ship which was finally driven aground on Stag Rocks near Baltimore.

This is an excellent wreck to dive as the shear scale of it is staggering. Obviously it is not possible to cover the whole wreck in one dive, and probably a dive on the bows is the best dive to appreciate the enormity of the wreck. How can such enormous anchors break? Baltimore also provides other excellent diving including the U260 a lovely in-tact sub at 42m and fastnet rock smothered with marine wildlife.

I have been to Baltimore 3 times and it has provided some of the most excellent dive memories ever. I have dived with both Aquaventures and Baltimore Diving Centre and found them both to be very good. Thanks to Steve Henry for organising 2 trips and Robin from LUSAC for organising the other one.