| SS Kintyre |
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Type:
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Wreck Information: The Kintyre was a small passenger steamer that carried the odd piece of cargo. She was built By Robertson & Co. of Greenock, owned by Campbeltown & Glasgow team Packet Joint Stock Company, and launched in 1868. In September 1907, the Kintyre was in a collision with the steamer Maori, some distance from Wemyss Point. The Maori was undergoing speed trials on the measured mile at Skelmorlie. She had recently been completed by builders Denny of Dunbarton. The collision happened at 11.45 am on september 18, 1907 and within four minutes the stern was submerged and the rest of the ship quickly began to follow. With water pouring into the vessel, the Kintyre rapidly started to go down.
Travel
directions: Leaving
Parking directions: Park beside the red house (see picture below)
Distance from
Site entry/exit: Enter the water at the bottom of the steps cut into the rock (see the dive map) exit into the bay.
After exiting in the bay climb up the gap in the cliff (steps cut in rock) walk along the top of the red rocks. PS watch out for the sharks
Underwater directions: Enter the water and head out to 8-10m and turn right. Fin until u see the old sewage pipe (800mm Dia). It is usually covered in plumrose anemonys and sea urchins. Video
Head down the right side of the pipe until you come to a rope tied to the pipe heading to the right. The depth here is 31m. (high tide)
The rope has a lot of life
growing on it and in places seams to be 100mm Dia, fin
along the rope until you reach the top of the bow of the Kintyre. The depth here
is 29m, The Kintyre sits on an even keel pointing bow to the shore, the top of the bow where the rope is tied is 3-4m from the
seabed. Keep to the top of the wreck and head down to your planned depth. At midships on the port side the remains of three toilets
are still visible. The stern of the wreck is on 50m. Care should be taken when
the current is flowing. It is advisable to use the thirds rule for gas
consumption (
Site Hazards: Occasional down currents, Difficult entry/exit with waves. Tide Tables
Dive boat: West coast divers
Suggested experience: Experienced Master diver
Nearest Public phone: Wemyss bay Hotel
Mobile Network
service:
Other comments: If when you enter the water and the current is going down abort the dive. I have personally experienced very strong down currents here. Some divers just dive the pipe because of the life growing on and around it.
Air & Nitrox fills: C+C Largs marina.
Pub: The Wemyss bay Hotel (see map)
Created by: John Nicolson
Date: 23.8.06
Land photos:
Step over this fence and walk towards the sea Cars parked here
(not easy for the vertically challenged)
Underwater
photos: Pictures taken
Underwater map/ Sketch:
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Dive report : Dave1701, Nov 07,
Had a FANTASTIC dive on the Kintyre from the shore yesterday. Vis was a decent 6 - 8 mts. I was diving with a buddy that isn't a big wreck fan so we decided to keep it simple. It was mid-tide when we dived so entry/exit was very straight forward once we got to the waters edge. There was a seal swimming around while we were kitting up but unfortunately was no where to be seen once we splashed.
We dropped in at the "steps" and just swam out to a point where the reef meets the sandy bottom and descended here ... keeping the reef to our right we soon came upon the the old outfall pipe. As per our dive plan we didn't spend any time admiring the Anemones or life on and around the pipe on our descent. Plenty of time to do this while we worked of our deco. We hit the rope that is attachted from the pipe to the wreck at just under 27 mts and followed it to the bow of the Kintyre. Our plan was to stay along the starboard side of the wreck as my buddy had gotten spooked the last time we dived here when we cut across midships ( it was so dark he was convinced that somehow we had ended up inside).
There was plenty of life. Large pollack, wrasse, edible and velvet swimming crabs, long clawed squat lobsters not to mention all the plumrose anemones and dead man's fingers that cover most of the hull. We had a very enjoyable dive to our agreed depth of 46 mts and had just turned back when both our computers hit deco. A nice slow swim back up the starboard side and just under the decking that remains on the bow section we came across some pretty damn big pollack sheltering some whatever ( the current I assume not that there was much of one).Also saw the largest Scorpion fish I have ever seen lying on the deck here. All too soon it was time to leave the wreck so we followed the rope back to the pipe and worked of most of our deco along the way. At about 20 -27 mts the was a shoal of what We guessed to be herring .... must of been a couple of hundred fish. Do you get herring here at this time of year?
After deco stops were complete we followed the reef back to our exit point. This in itself was a nice wee dive with lobster, wrasse and crabs aplenty. Just as we were about to get out I saw a large very sleek looking fish that I estimated to be about 3-4 feet in length in maybe 1.5 mts of water. It swam off (very fast) when it saw us. Anyone any idea what this might be? It wasn't a Pollack or A wrasse.
Dive report :Big Jim on the clam July 08
The dive plan was set, twin 12's, 7 litre stages with a 60% mix and a total run time of 46 minutes. Stuart led, and chased down the starboard gunwales like a man possessed, I thought 'feck me the wee mans going to the stern'. At 45m the the boat was dissapearing into the silt and we turned the dive. The vis was around
3-4m on the wreck, but back at the bow, ambient light still managed to get through the plankton, catching out the odd fish in the gloom. We had a good look for the brass memorial that once was fixed to the port side but couldn't find it in the silt. A fun filled deco stop ensued with the delights of Jelly fish and safety drills being the order of the day. Tommy dropped in after us on his RB, but coulnt find the plaque either.