Weymouth & Portland dive-sites

Weymouth & Portland dive-sites

weymouth

HMS Hood wreck

There have been a number of Hoods (possibly five) which include the infamous Hood that was sunk in the Atlantic by the Bismark in WWII.

HMS Hood at Portland is one of the less glamorous Hood wrecks. A 14,000 ton battleship, she was sunk as a blockship across the southern entrance to Portland harbour on November 4, 1914.

Here she still sits, vertical on the seabed but completely upside down. Her broad, kelp- covered bottom is a mere two meters from the surface at low water and prevents the entrance or exit of any craft much larger than an inflatable.

The Hood is literally swarming with fish and makes an exciting and convenient dive. The wreck is completely sheltered from most winds including south-westerly gates. But because she ties across the harbour entrance she is often subjected to a very fierce current - especially on the ebb when the water from the harbour and The Fleet rushes over, around, under and, in places, through her. These times should be carefully avoided.

The best times to dive are between 5 hours after High Water Portland to 4 hours before HW Portland, and for a briefer period around 1 hour after HW Portland.

The depth around the wreck is 18 metres.

In places she is starting to rust badly. Offical advice is to not be tempted to enter any part of this wreck. Remember that her heavy fitments and machinery are fixed on the 'ceiling' and if dislodged may fall on you. Do not attempt to take any souvenirs from the wreck. The military police who regularly patrol the area are liable to take into custody any person caught removing objects from her.

The HMS Hood is an interesting wreck and a very useful second dive of the day (18m depth), or as an alternative if the weather is poor and your skipper isn't keen on venturing out of Portland Harbour. But be warned, the postition of the wreck across a harbour entrance means fierce currents run across the wreck and slack tide is pretty essential. Read on for one of my tales!

We dived her as a three, we descended down the fixed shot against the outer seawall which leads you to a guide rope to the wreck. We moved along the outer side of wreck and penetrated (a little) of the wreck. There are ample exit points as you move down the length of the wreck.

As we passed each exit point in the wreck you could see the fishlife frantically finning against the current outside the wreck. When we exited after about a 20m swimthru, a quick aircheck and we started to proceed along the outside of the wreck in single file close to the wreck for shelter from the current.

I was in the middle and after no more that 15sec's, I turned to check the last in the line was okay....but she was gone!

Returning the 5-10m to where we had exited the wreck, we waited the standard one minute, plus a bit more (lets face it - noone waits only one minute!) guessing she'd either re-entered the wreck or been lifted over it. I sent up the DSMB whilst my buddy torched the entry point back into the wreck.

Guessing she had lost buoyancy in the 12m's and been swept over the top of the wreck, we fired up the DSMB and the true current whizzing over the wreck became very apparent as the DSMB shot over the top of the wreck. As we ascended and I wound up the reel, we had to grab the top of the wreck at 5m as we fluttered like washing on a line in a windy day.

We'd only been down to 14m for some 20min's, we lost one of our team, so we decided to skip the safety stop, my buddy grabbed hold of my BCD, I counted to down from three and let go.... I've never travelled so fast in all my life....a ride at Alton Towers funfare has nothing on this. We were spat into the harbour some 30m's until the current died off.

As I wound in the SMB and we surfaced, our diveboat was bearing down on us. As the boat neared, our lost companion was standing on the boat with a mug in her hand and a grin on her face.

Yes, she'd been whisked over the top of the wreck in the current and had landed the other side, realising we'd never find her she had surfaced and been picked up okay.

Consulting the book after the dive, its best dived 5 hours before HW (IIRC), I think we'd dived it about TWO hours before HW and hence the strong current through the harbour entrance at the time.

Moral of the story... I don't know, its just a yarn.

No, seriously though, our lost companion was the one without an DSMB, if she'd gotten into bother when she was tossed over the wreck it might have been a very different ending. We'd (mistakenly) relied on the local skipper to dump us in on slack (or at least warn us of the current) and we'd been a bit loose in our three-some.

All good for a slagging over a pint that evening, but a few lessons were learnt that day. But what were the possible consequences if the current had been running out of the harbour!!!

There is a good feature on the Divernet website on the Hood

Some of the dives my cronnies and I plunged into off Weymouth (Portland)

M2 Submarine wreck

See Divernet feature on the M2

This 296ft vessel sits complete and upright on a sandy seabed; were it not for the brightly-coloured sponges that cover her upper superstructure you would almost think you were diving on an operational submarine. The M2 was built by Vickers in 1918, and sank on 26 January 1932, with the loss of her full crew of 60 officers and men. She originally had a 12-inch gun on her forward deck, but this was removed in 1927 when she was adapted to carry a small sea-plane. It is thought that the hangar doors were open when she submerged and this caused her to founder Still plainly visible is the jib of the winch over the hangar door which was used to lift the aircraft back on to the launching ramp after launching on the sea. An abortive attempt to salvage the M2 was made soon after the disaster but the weight of the vessel combined with bad weather beat the lifting vessels just as the M2 was about to break to the surface. This wreck makes a splendid dive at a depth of around 30 metres, the height of submarine off the seabed is 9 metres.

HMS Hood wreck

See Divernet feature on the Hood

There have been a number (five?) of Hoods which include the infamous Hood that was sunk in the Atlantic by the Bismark in WWII. HMS Hood at Portland is a 14,000 ton battleship, sunk as a blockship across the southern entrance to Portland harbour on November 4, 1914. Here she still sits, vertical on the seabed but completely upside down. Her broad, kelp- covered bottom is a mere two meters from the surface at low water and prevents the entrance or exit of any craft much larger than an inflatable. The Hood is literally swarming with fish and makes an exciting and convenient dive. The wreck is completely sheltered from most winds including south-westerly gates. But because she ties across the harbour entrance she is often subjected to a very fierce current - especially on the ebb when the water from the harbour and The Fleet rushes over, around, under and, in places, through her. These times should be carefully avoided. The best times to dive are between 5 hours after High Water Portland to 4 hours before HW Portland, and for a briefer period around 1 hour after HW Portland. The depth around the wreck is 18 metres. In places she is starting to rust badly. Offical advice is to not be tempted to enter any part of this wreck. Remember that alt her heavy fitments and machinery are fixed on the 'ceiling' and if dislodged may fall on you. Do not attempt to take any souvenirs from the wreck. The military police who regularly patrol the area are liable to take into custody any person caught removing objects from her.

The HMS Hood is an interesting wreck and a very useful second dive of the day (18m depth), or as an alternative if the weather is poor and your skipper isn't keen on venturing out of Portland Harbour. But be warned, the postition of the wreck across a harbour entrance means fierce currents run across the wreck and slack tide is pretty essential. Read my tale!

We dived her as a three, we descended down the fixed shot against the outer seawall which leads you to guide rope to the wreck. We moved along the outer side of wreck and penetrated (a little) of the wreck. There are ample exit points as you move down the length of the wreck. As we passed each exit point in the wreck you could see the fishlife frantically finning against the current outside the wreck. When we exited after about a 20m swimthru, a quick aircheck and we started to proceed along the outside of the wreck in single file close to the wreck for shelter from the current. I was in the middle and after no more that 15sec's, I turned to check the last in the line was okay....but she was gone! Returning the 5-10m to where we had exited the wreck, we waited the standard one minute, plus a bit more (lets face it - noone waits only one minute!) guessing she'd either re-entered the wreck or been lifted over it. I sent up the DSMB whilst my buddy torched the entry point back into the wreck.

Guessing she had lost buoyancy in the 12m's and been swept over the top of the wreck, we fired up the DSMB and the true current whizzing over the wreck became very apparent as the DSMB shot over the top of the wreck. As we ascended and I wound up the reel, we had to grab the top of the wreck at 5m as we fluttered like washing on a line in a windy day. We'd only been down to 14m for some 20min's, we lost one of our team, so we decided to skip the safety stop, my buddy grabbed hold of my BCD, I counted to down from three and let go.... I've never travelled so fast in all my life....a ride at Alton Towers funfare has nothing on this. We were spat into the harbour some 30m's until the current died off. As I wound in the SMB and we surfaced, our diveboat was bearing down on us. As the boat neared, our lost companion was standing on the boat with a mug in her hand and a grin on her face. Yes, she'd been whisked over the top of the wreck in the current and had landed the other side, realising we'd never find her she had surfaced and been picked up okay.

Consulting the book after the dive, its best dived 5 hours before HW (IIRC), I think we'd dived it about TWO hours before HW and hence the strong current through the harbour entrance at the time. Moral of the story... I don't know, its just a yarn. No, seriously though, our lost companion was the one without an DSMB, if she'd gotten into bother when she was tossed over the wreck it might have been a very different ending. We'd relied on the local skipper to dump us in slack (or at least warn us) and we'd been a bit loose in our three-some. All good for a slagging over a pint that evening, but a few lessons were learnt that day - what were the consequences if the current had been running out of the harbour!!!

Countess of Erne wreck

An old paddle steamer, this 830 ton, 241feet iron vessel was used as a coal hulk in Portland Harbour. In September 1935 she broke loose from her moorings, drifted across the harbour, and badly holed herself on the inner wall of the north-eastern arm of the breakwater. She still lies exactly as she sank, upright and mainly intact, but, like all the harbour wrecks, very silty. The Countess of Erne lies at the foot of the breakwater wall and parallel to it with her bows facing the nearby East Ship Channel entrance. There is no superstructure left and the iron decks are flat. There are tour holds, which are easily entered. The wreck stands some seven metres high. Depth to deck is six metres. There are usually many small fish around this wreck. It makes a good beginners' wreck dive, and an ideal site when conditions are rough outside the harbour. It is sheltered from the east, but can be affected by choppy waves during a blow from the west. The vis in calm periods even in winter can be up to eight metres until the first diver fins around in the silt, reducing it to nil. Currents are virtually non-existent. My advice - give it a miss. But if you want to get wet and thats all thats available due to the weather, think about diving just off the wreck - you never know what you might find!