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| Vessel Type: |
Troop Transport Ship |
Location: | Co. Antrim |
| Date of Loss: | 21st January 1942 | Place: | Rathlin Island |
| Cause of Loss: | Foundered | Boat Dive from: | Ballycastle |
| Charted Depth: | 34m | Irish O.S. Map: | Discovery Series No. 5 |
| Height of Wreck: | 7m | Admiralty Chart No: | 2798 |
| Hull Material: | Steel | Latitude (GPS): | 55 15.971 North |
| Type of Seabed: | Stones and shale | Longitude (GPS): | 06 10.406 West |
| Average Visibility: | 10 - 15m | Diving Experience: | Experienced |
| Picture available? | Yes - click here |
Diving Information:
- Lies approx. 0.5 mile off Doon Bay on the East side of the island and is sitting upright but is starting to collapse.
- China with McBraynes monogram have been found in and around the wreck.
- Hold filled with chain by Navy as she was carrying rifles.
- The wreck is usually buoyed.
- Plenty of fish around.
- Best dived at slack water. Tide times are the same as Belfast.
- There is a fee to pay for using the slip at Ballycastle Harbour.
- There is "live"ammunition lying around.
Historical Information:
- Built 1898 by A & J. Inglis, Glasgow, as the "Vulture" for Burns & Laird's Ardrossan to Belfast run.
- Propelled by triple expansion machinery, 3 single ended oil fired boilers, installed by D & W Henderson in 1924. Length - 265.0ft x 33.5ft x draft 15.5ft; 1,670 gross tons; 367 net HP.
- In 1929 she was re-named as "Lairdstock". In 1937 she was finally re-named "Lochgarry" after purchase by David McBrayne Ltd.
- She was converted to a Government Transport ship and had previously been involved in Dunkirk evacuation.
- While on a trip from Glasgow to Oban to collect a group of soldiers bound for the Faroes she struck rocks off the Mull of Kintyre.
- Drifting and crippled, she finally went down off the East coast of Rathlin Island.
- Twenty-three men drowned when their life-boat was dashed against the rocks north of Doon Bay.
- Thirty-two survived.
- Screw removed by Karl Bialowas.
Source Publications:
|
"Shipwreck
Index of Ireland"
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by
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Richard & Bridget Larn |
| Lloyd's Register - Fairplay Ltd 2002 - ISBN: 1900839970 | ||
|
"Shipwrecks
of the Irish Coast 932 - 1997"
|
by
|
Edward J. Bourke |
| Edward J. Bourke 1998 - ISBN: 0952302713 | ||
|
"Shipwrecks
of the Ulster Coast"
|
by
|
Ian Wilson |
| Impact Printing 1997 - ISBN: 0948154993 | ||
|
"The
Harsh Winds of Rathlin"
|
by
|
Tommy Cecil |
| Impact Printing 1990 - ISBN: 0948154659 | ||
|
"West
Highland Steamers"
|
by
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Duckworth & Langmuir |
| Richard Tilling 1950 |
Other Sources:
|
Alan
Wright
|
-
|
Castlereagh SAC (1985) |
|
Joe Breen
|
-
|
IRTU (2002) |
|
Randal
Armstrong
|
-
|
Castlereagh SAC (1985) |
|
Vic
Foster
|
-
|
Castlereagh SAC (1996) |
|
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Last update - 04-Apr-2003
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