Irish Wrecks On-Line - Karanan MV (No. 544a)

*Vessel Type:*	Dutch Motor Coaster	*Location:*	Co. Antrim
*Date of Loss:*	20th January 1942	*Place:*	Belfast Lough
*Cause of Loss:*	Collision at sea	*Boat Dive from:*	Whitehead or Bangor
*Charted Depth:*	43m	*Irish O.S. Map:*	Discovery Series No. 15
*Height of Wreck:*	9m	*Admiralty Chart No:*	1753
*Hull Material:*	Steel	*Latitude (GPS):*	54° 42' 42.48" North
*Type of Seabed:*	Sand and silt	*Longitude (GPS):*	05° 31' 48.66" West
*Average Visibility:*	5 - 10m	*Convert Lat. & Long.* to -	Decimal - CLICK HERE
*Image available?*	Yes - see below	*Diving Experience:*	Very Experienced

Diving Information:

Lies in a West-East direction on her port side.
Extensive damage to starboard side forward of the bridge.
34m to highest part, 43m to seabed.
Launch from Whitehead up to 2 hours either side of Low Water or Bangor at any time.
Dive 30 mins before High Water Belfast as it is subject to strong tides at other times.

Historical Information:

Built 1939 by De Haan & Oerlemans Scheeps-Bwf, Heusden, Netherlands, she grossed 395 Tons and measured 53.82 x 8.43 x 2.33m.
Powered by an 8 cylinder oil engine generationg 94 h.p.
Bound Liverpool for Belfast with general cargo of foodstuffs, batteries, copper piping and anti-aircraft gun parts.
Collided with steam tanker "British Engineer".
Suffered extensive damage to starboard side and sank very quickly.
Two crew were lost.
The propellor, ship's bell and steering gear have been recovered.

Source Publications:

"Irish Wrecks Database"

by
Roy Stokes & Liam Dowling

"Shipwreck Index of Ireland"

by
Richard & Bridget Larn

Lloyd's Register - Fairplay Ltd 2002 - ISBN: 1900839970

"Underwater Ireland Guide to Irish Dive Sites"

by
Irish Underwater Council

CFT 1999 - ISBN: 0948283025

Other Sources:

Bryan Lawther

-
via Email (2012)

www.arendnet.com

-
Willem Vanvoorst

Peter Steel

-
North Irish Lodge, Islandmagee (1998)

Vic Foster

-
Castlereagh SAC (1996)

Last update - 16-Jun-2012