Porthkerris, Cornwall

Porthkerris

porthkerris

PorthKerris Divers

Situated on the coastline between Porthallow and Porthoustock, Porthkerris Divers are a leading local Dive operation with their own private beach front and gateway to diving many of the wrecks littered around the infamous Manacle rocks.


*The Manaclesthat jutt out of the Cornish Lizard like a magnet to passing ships.*

Some of the main "tourist attractions" around the Manacles include:

Mohegan wreck

The best known and most dived wreck on the Manacles. Owned by the Atlantic Transport company, the 7000 tonne liner was built in Hull in 1897. She was launched in 1898 as the Cleopatra. Just prior to launch she was purchased by the new owners on 29 July 1898 and sailed on her maiden voyage. Her completion had been rushed to avoid a late delivery penalty clause, and there were many defects, not least of which were several leaks. She had to enter dry dock at New York on her maiden voyage to have them repaired, and other work was done on the Tyne on her return. A luxurious modern ship of her day, she carried sixty first-class passengers, a crew of 97, and cattlemen to attend animals on deck in pens. Four-mastted, with a single funnel amidships, her tour boilers and triple-expansion engine gave her 5.SQOnhp and a maximum speed of 14-knots. With an overall length of 482ft (147m), a beam of 52ft (16m) and depth of 36ft (11m) she was huge. Eight watertight bulkheads and steam pumps were capable of emptying each compartment in turn. An enclosed bridge extended the full width of the ship. Reaching back over the engine room above which were a music saloon, a smoking room and staterooms decorated in the latest Victorian fashion.

She sailed from Tilbury under Captain Griffiths on 13 October, 1898, this time as the Mohegan, with 53 passengers, 97 crew and 7 cattlemen. A general cargo included spirits, beer, lead, tin, and antimony, artificial flowers, church ornaments, glass, seed and other items. Off Plymouth, the Coastguard signalled her 10 miles offshore, but from there her course and the cause of her loss remains a mystery, since the truth died with the ship - every deck officer going down with her. Four people saw the liner in her last few moments boatman Snell of the Falmouth Coastguard. Mr Fooks, Customs Officer and Receiver of Wreck at Falmouth, James Hill, coxswain of the Porthouslock lifeboat, and Charles May, boatman to the Coverack Coastguard. All saw the brilliantly lit liner as she entered Falmouth Bay, and each knew instinctively that she was going to hit the Manacles, since no vessel that size should have been so close inshore. Coxswain Hill called out his lifeboat crew and had the boat almost ready to launch before the Mohegan struck, an action that saved many lives.

When the ship hit the rocks, the passengers were sitting down to dinner, and the first minor shock and rumble almost went unnoticed, which was almost certainly the moment when she lost her rudder on Penvin Rock. Her engines were stopped, but, presumably incapable of being steered, she crashed full info the seaward face of the Voices. Several compartments and the forward hold filled with wafer, and at that moment a design fault in the construction showed up - her generators, located down on the deck plates of the engine-room. were immersed in sea water and drowned, before the level reached the boiler tires and all the lights went out.

She sank within ten minutes of stranding, listing heavily to starboard. There were many tragic stories told over the following months, and the press reported little else for weeks but the loss of the Mohegan and 106 lives. The headless corpse of Captain Griffiths was washed ashore in Caernarfon Bay three months later, still wearing his uniform jacket. A mass burial of some of the victims took place in St Keverne churchyard, the site marked today by a simple cross. The wreck is an unforgettable dive, with her bow in some in 15m and the remainder in 26m. Souvenirs abound, with china plates, portholes, brass letters from her name, toilet fittings, rod ingots of tin and lead all still being recovered.

Volnay

The SS Volnay is located just off Porthallow Bay in Cornwall. A schooner-rigged steamship of 4609 tonnes, she sank on 14 December 1917. Striking a German mine off the Manacles but not sinking, she was towed to the shelter of Porthallow bay. Here she was anchored up and thought to be in no danger of sinking (heard that one before!). Over night a storm blew up and the Volney foundered. The on shore winds blew most of the cargo of coffee, tea, butter, crisps, cigarettes, peanuts, jam and tinned meat directly into the hands of the villagers of Porthallow. A Good Christmas was had by all that year!

Lying upright on the seabed at a depth of some 20 m with the bow facing NNE. She is extensively broken up on the silty bottom. 2 large and 1 small boiler are still intact and Cordite, lead balls and shell cases, basically, the remains of 18 pounder anti-personnel shells. What's mostly left of these are clumps of lead balls and red spaghetti-like cordite. A good grovel in the sand will yield shell cases (perhaps a brass timer) including detonator caps and brass firing pins, cordite, lead shot from the shells, a hard alloy excellent for weight belts. The boilers usually have plumrose anemones on them, so it can be quite pretty.

Sitting just out from Porthoustock bay, and just down the coast is Porthkerris bay and the home of Porthkerris Divers. Steve and I were accompanied by Paul, a diver on his own who teamed up with us. Plunging onto the Volnay in October 1998 off the RIB, we plunged down the shot which is fixed to a point near the large boiler into murky 6-8m viz. The wreck is very broken up - probaby due to the pounding from the Sea. The Royal Navy has also detonated charges on the wreck in the 30's and 60's to both break up the wreck and clear the dangerous cargo.

volnay dive profile

Dive profile of our meanders round the SS Volnay wreck

We went for the look and don't touch approach and went looking for congers and sea-life rather than shell casing. Not much luck, but sure that's diving. The dive profile gives you an idea of the wreck as its scattered across the sea-bed. The viz was so bad that we went for plan b. which was to forget about any attempt to relocate the shot-line and just deployed a delayed SMB for our return to the RIB.