WRECKTOUR:133 The Veritas

THIS MONTH'S TOUR IS A NICE little wreck a mile or so south of the Manacles. At 672 tons, the Veritas is considerably smaller and, at 38m, a little bit deeper than the usual slackwater dive that is the Mohegan, but it's well worth a look.
On an echo-sounder, the parts that show best are the boiler and the stern. To decide which to shot from the boat, the boiler is a little further north, and that's where our tour begins (1), at a depth of 35m.
The Veritas sank well over on its starboard side. The hull then collapsed and the deck fell outwards. Over the aft part of the wreck, the port side of the hull (2) is held up by the boiler, with a nice little overhang beneath it.
Most of the overhang is full of debris, including the remains of the triple-expansion engine, but this is pretty much buried. As you get closer to the stern, a section of propeller-shaft (3) is visible right down in the keel.
The stern (4) has fallen completely upside-down, with the keel and four-bladed propeller standing some 4m clear of the seabed. This is actually only a short distance from the boiler because, at 72m long, the Veritas was quite a small ship.
Beneath the stern, the rudder (5) has fallen and lies across the wreck, with the remains of the steering mechanism at the top of the post.
Our route forwards now follows the deck off the starboard side along the seabed at 38m. About halfway back to the boiler is a section of hold-coaming, and immediately next to this is a cargo-winch tipped up on one end (6). The corresponding mast (7) lies perpendicular to the line of the wreck out onto the sand.
Now back at the boiler, a smaller donkey boiler (8) runs across the wreck just forward of the main one.
The forward half of the wreck is much closer to the seabed, quite understandable as the bow of the Veritas was dug in for two days while the vessel stood on end. It swayed with the tide before finally sinking, the stern kept afloat by trapped air and the cargo of wooden pit-props.
Or perhaps a lot of the collapse was caused by a failed salvage attempt.
Soon after the sinking, the salvage company that had been working on the battleship Montague off Lundy Island tried to move the Veritas into shallow water using strops and lighters, but ended up not moving it at all.
Just forward from the donkey boiler, a large braced section of hull and deck lies out from the wreck.
Tucked in behind this, beneath a couple of deck ribs, is the helm (9).
Continuing forward towards the edge of the wreck, the two cargo-winches serving the forward holds are together beneath their deck-plate (10), the corresponding mast pointing out towards a small reef just away from the wreck (11).
The wreck further forwards is more compact, with the two sides of the hull lying pretty much on top of each other (12). The clean plates of the port side are home to a respectable forest of pink seafans, as is the nearby reef.
"Pink" is the official name, but to me they have always seemed more of a biscuit colour. I admire the way they are all perfectly lined up east-west across the current. If a diver should become disoriented in low visibility, this could be of help with navigation.
The forest of fans continues all the way to the bow (13). This is completely collapsed, with the iron ring from an anchor hawse pipe lying separated on the seabed alongside a reel of mooring cable (14). The spindles of the anchor-winch (15) lie broken a little further out.
Back on the wreckage, our tour concludes by following the stem of the bow round to the keel, where a mass of anchor-chain has burst through the hull from the chain-box (16).
On such a small wreck in good visibility, it shouldn't be that hard to find the way back to the shotline to ascend, but only if there is not too much decompression accumulated.
With longer stops to complete, an ascent on a delayed SMB will be much more comfortable as the tide picks up.

Thanks to Andy Howell, Mike Anselmi and Kevin Heath.

DEPTH -20m 20m-35m 35m-45m 45m+ DIFFICULTY RATING