Divers identify torpedoed maritime wreck after 110 years

Photo: scottishshipwrecks.com

A diving team said it has identified the wreck of a Royal Navy patrol ship which was sunk off the coast of Galloway in World War I.
A German U-boat torpedoed HMS Bayano which sank with the loss of nearly 200 lives on 11 March 1915.

Following a series of dives off Stranraer, the divers from the community-led ProjectXplore initiative have published their report on its whereabouts. It came after months of archival research and an offshore sonar survey and dive operation off the Dumfries and Galloway coast earlier this year.

"We are confident that we have conclusively identified the wreck of HMS Bayano," said dive co-organiser Leo Fielding. "She is the only British Armed Merchant Cruiser sunk in the First World War armed with two six-inch (152 mm) guns, and the wreck shows both of them in the expected positions."

The wreck lies in the North Channel between Scotland and Northern Ireland with a seabed depth of 106 metres (350ft).

Dr Steffen Scholz, technical diver and underwater photographer, said the identification had not been based on just one image. He said they had used gun size, location, dimensions, the single-funnel merchant layout, the refrigeration plant, the railing pattern and other indicators to prove it was the Bayano.

Built as a refrigerated fruit carrier for Elders & Fyffes, the HMS Bayano was later requisitioned in 1914 for the war effort.

The team said the wreck illustrated the "vulnerability of hastily converted merchant ships employed on blockade and patrol duties in the North Channel". "Every detail such as the guns, railings and engineering speaks of a working warship and of the men who served aboard her," said ProjectXplore diver and co-organiser Daniel McMullen.  "This was a moment of discovery and of remembrance."

Fellow diver Alexandra Pischyna said the site was "remarkably intact" making it "an exceptional piece of underwater heritage." "To stand witness to HMS Bayano again after 110 years is an immense privilege," added Joe-Colls Burnett, another of the divers. "We hope this work honours her crew and preserves their story for future generations."

The HMS Bayano sinking is a little known, little talked about event of the early months of World War I. The attack took place at 05:15 when many on board were asleep and the vessel sank within minutes.

Reports vary on the total number killed but it was almost 200, with just 26 survivors. One of them gave a newspaper account of what happened in which he described the ship's captain, Captain Carr, standing on the bridge, cool and smiling.
He had looked down at men who made it to the lifeboats and waved goodbye shouting: "Good luck to you boys."

Source: bbc.com.  photo: scottishshipwrecks.com