A diver who decided to carry out a solo dive off Cornwall’s north coast rather than waste the day when her buddy felt unwell is delighted that she did so. That was the day this summer Rachael Edmans chanced on a shipwreck that appeared to have been forgotten since its sinking almost 130 years ago.
Edmans, a keen diver and underwater photographer, had gone diving off Portreath, only about four miles from her home near Camborne. Her dive initially revealed an anchor, and subsequent forays have revealed increasingly more of the wreck, which she was eager to identify.
She came across a photograph showing the rescue operation for a sinking ship off the beach, taken on 25 January, 1895. This indicated that the wreck was likely to be that of the steamer Escurial.
Edmans says she has dived the wreck at every opportunity since making the discovery in a bid to learn more about it.
The Escurial
The Escurial was an iron-built schooner-rigged screw steamer that had been built in 1879 by Alex Stephens of Lighthouse, Govan, for Raeburn and Verel of Glasgow. On the day it sank it had been on its way from Cardiff carrying coal bound for the Adriatic port of Fiume, now Rijeka in Croatia.
The weather was changing rapidly, bitterly cold and with gale-force winds, but it was thought to have been a leak in the engine-room that caused the vessel to founder. The photograph showed the lifeboat FH Harrison, which had been sent overland from Hayle nearly 50 miles away, still on the sands at Portreath.
Rescuers attempted to set up a breeches buoy rope system, but it failed to reach the stricken ship and eventually the crew had to swim for their lives, with the rescuers forming a human chain into the sea to pull them out. Only nine of the 20 men survived.
However, local people today seemed unaware of the existence of the shipwreck when Edmans asked whether the site was ever dived. “Lots said no, it’s gone, or didn’t know where it would be,” she told Divernet.
The wreck lies in the vicinity of Gull Rock at a depth of 8-9m at low and 15m at high tide, and can be subject to strong currents, says Edmans. It can also require a long surface swim out from the beach.
“I first came across the anchor by pure chance,” she says. “I did a solo dive because my buddy was ill and I didn’t want to miss the opportunity – Portreath changes dramatically in the space of a day.”
‘Stunned – and nervous’
Of finding the wreck, Edmans says: “I was absolutely stunned – and nervous. I always have this sense of loss, because people did die on it. I like to think the fish are the souls living on.
“The wreck covered a lot of the seabed. I took some pics and a video, then I surfaced slowly to see where I was and get my bearings. I took my buddies after that to show them, because I can locate the wreck now using natural navigation.”
Edmans, who is a PADI Divemaster, says: “I dive with anyone, and have made a great bunch of friends doing what we love together.
“I don’t dive solo often; I mostly use a buddy. I do have a solo qualification but being with someone is much better for me. It was only that day – I wasn’t missing the chance to get wet!”
Also on Divernet: GUNS IN THE GULLY, MINING A FORGOTTEN PAST IN CORNWALL, WANT TO DIVE A ‘MILLION-COIN’ WRECK?, CORNISH DIVERS LIFT UNIQUE WEIGHTS
Awesome job and great pictures! Beautiful part of the UK 🙂
It is still there then! We were diving it in the 1980’s.