Port Napier, Kyle of Lochalsh
This was the dive that started off our weeks diving up in Skye and what a way to start the week, a photographer’s heaven……….stuff everywhere………and a fascinating wreck to boot!
The weeks diving on Skye was another Yorkshire Divers gig and about half of the group had arranged to meet up and dive the Port Napier on the way. As everybody gradually arrived it was nice to see some familiar faces that I had dived with up in Scapa only a week before.
The wreck sits very high in the water and is visible from the shore at low tide. She is generally dived from Kyle of Lochalsh being only a five minute trip from the pontoon in front of the hotel there. Having a shot attached to the mast means you are unlikely to miss the wreck even in poor conditions. This is especially useful for people like me who have little sense of direction once underwater!
The ship was requisitioned and converted for mine-laying at the outbreak of WW2 and was loading mines at Kyle when a fire started on board. An explosion sank her but not before Navy tugs managed to tow her out into the Loch and away from the harbour, amazingly none of the mines on board blew up. She lies on her starboard side in about 16m of water. As it was a bright day with visibility around 15m the deck of the wreck soon came into view as we followed the mast. Hundreds of milky white sea squirts and delicate feather stars covered the surface of the deck with the odd decorated crab trying to conceal itself with bits and pieces attached to its back and so blending into the background. Dropping down to the sea bed it was littered with the empty shells of scallops, and mussels and despite being a little silty I was able to lie down and take some pictures of a long clawed squat lobster, as long as I was careful not to wriggle around too much! Moving along to the bow it rose up and away from me, its surface covered in plumose anemones standing out at all angles on their exceptionally tall columns. Of particular note was the chain or cable that curves round under the bow; this is festooned with anemones giving it the appearance of a garland. Ascending a few metres I decided to work my way back along the deck further up.
The starboard gun was quite easy to identify (even by me!) and was very complete with all the tracking and even cabling hanging inside the back and a leopard spotted goby that quickly disappeared. Continuing back towards the stern huge openings appeared where plates had been taken off to remove all the unexploded mines. Sunlight poured in from above and with the skeletal structure that was left stretching upwards gave it an almost cathedral like atmosphere. With my air beginning to run a little low I realised I was not going to be able to complete a whole circuit of this ship and felt I had barely ‘tickled the surface’, there is just so much to see. I hadn’t got as far as the mine laying hatches near the stern where you can see the railway lines. Should you wish to follow these along inside the wreck there are convenient holes that have been cut in the hull which provide some convenient exits.
I was very loath to leave such an interesting and spectacular wreck and reluctantly began to work my way back up the mast and the shot line. Just as I was doing so I noticed the lovely peacock worms that I had missed on my way down. I had been hoping to see some of these so was delighted to capture a few pictures before returning back up the shot.
Despite this being a fantastic wreck there were only three of us who wanted to do a second dive on it, the others being keen to get to the cottages that we would be staying in for our week on Skye. So instead of a second dive we started heading north up the length of Skye towards Duntulm that sits right on the end of the Trotternish peninsular.
