The Wreck of The Betsey Ann on Beowulf!

by Kathy Moore

It's my first local dive this year and it's a wreck I have not dived before. Everyone in the dive club reacts with amazement when I say this but for the last 7 years I've been diving in Poole and every time the wreck is scheduled I either cannot dive or it is cancelled due to bad weather. So at last I am going to dive the Betsy Ann. Built in 1892 and 880 tons the ship ran aground in August 1926 in dense fog in Devon. She was towed to Salcombe for temporary repairs and then was towed eastwards. During this tow the weather deteriorated and in gales and high seas the tow rope broke and the temporary repairs began to leak. Eventually After being blown by southwesterly gales she sank in the middle of Poole bay in 24 metres of water.

Today's dive is a Tuesday evening dive with one of my local dive clubs Poole Dam Divers (BSAC 1924). We dive off the dive boat Beowulf. Beowulf is a Bullet 36, which is owned and skippered by Pete Gough. An experienced diver and dive skipper Pete has 13 years experience working the waters around Poole. Over the winter Pete has been making some additions to his boat and I am particularly keen to try out the lift, which will make exiting the water much easier than the climb up the old ladder.

A lovely sunny evening with blue skies, calm seas and very little wind made the journey out to the dive site very pleasant. Out of Poole harbour past Brownsea Island we passed the chain ferry, which crosses from Sandbanks to Studland. Then after passing Old Harry it was only about 20 minutes to the dive site. There were only 6 divers on the boat as it is still early in the season and with Pete's extended kitting up platform there was enough room for all to comfortably kit up together which was good as we needed to be kitted up and ready to jump in when the boat reached the dive site in order to get the full slack.

Once in the water we descended down the shot line to the boilers. We found the shot and I watched my buddy attach the lifting bag and send it to the surface while a shoal of bib swam past. The visibility was better than expected at 5-6m and the water temperature now 11degrees. The twin boilers have a swim through between them and stand 3 metres proud of the seabed. The heating pipes that run through the boilers are now homes to all sorts of marine life and if you keep still and quiet the tom pot blennies, prawns and squat lobsters stick their heads out to say hello. We swam around the boilers and found the first of many congers living in the boiler stoke hole, we then followed the prop shaft to the stern, which is a bit broken up but still recognisable. The whole wreck is covered in dead mans fingers, tube and fan worms, crabs, congers anemones starfish and prawns. We made our way our way back down the wreck towards the bow passing the boilers and the hold area to the bow which is still quite intact standing 4 metres proud of the seabed and pointing towards the surface this provides a great shelter for an array of fish including bib, wrasse and Pollack and with ambient light shining through the hole would have made a fantastic photograph but we had no cameras on this dive.

After an exploration of the bow area we swam back to the boilers an ideal place (as was the bow) to launch a delayed SMB ready for the return to the surface. Once on the surface it is comforting knowing that Pete the skipper is waiting to lower the dive lift into the water so we can step in, hold on and be gently lifted to the boat. His helpful hand gets us safely to the platform to dekit and with a hot water boiler always on very quickly we are able to have a warming cup of tea or coffee and a chocolate biscuit. A great way to end the dive. Once all the divers are safely on board and kit is safely stowed we gently motored back to the Custom House steps of Poole Quay ready to unload the kit and have a customary drink in the local pub and a review of the evenings dive.


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