The Wrecks of Malin Head

Shafts of sunlight reflect back at me as I follow a descent line that seems to stretch to infinity. My computer reads 130 feet, yet there’s still no sign of the large wreck we are dropping onto — among the most powerful warships the world had ever seen when it sank.

At last, as we pass 170 feet, the colossal HMS Audacious comes into view, every bit as spectacular as I had imagined.

Audacious was a “super dreadnought,” an evolution of a design first seen in 1906 that rendered all other battleships obsolete, and fueled the arms race between Great Britain and Germany. The design principles of these mighty ships could still be seen in the last of the great battleships, such as the USS Missouri and Iowa, in action until the early 1990s.

We slowly drop in formation toward a huge cylindrical shape beneath us. Measuring 45 feet across, this was the giant barbette that protected one of the five main gun turrets with 10 inches of armor. Despite those defenses, Audacious met its end in October 1914 at the hands of a German ocean liner.

Audacious struck a mine laid by the SS Berlin; despite attempts to tow the ship to safety, a massive explosion sent it to the seabed 215 feet below. The explosion blew of the bow with such force that it now lies some distance away; also in that debris field we find a solitary 4-inch secondary gun, one of 16 designed to engage fast, maneuverable attack boats.

A helium-rich trimix ensures clear heads; navigation proves easy with more than 100 feet of visibility. We head toward one of the main turrets, where two 13.5-inch guns are still attached. This 23,400-ton ship had 10 of these main guns — within two years of Audacious’ loss, the true horror of dreadnought-to-dreadnought combat was seen as its sister ships went toe-to-toe with the German fleet at the North Sea Battle of Jutland, of Denmark. Thousands died as the battleships rained down huge explosive shells from guns such as these.
With little bottom time remaining, we head toward the main hull, which lies upside down, a common way for battleships to settle due to the weight of guns and deck armor. More than an hour of decompression stops await us as Audacious fades into the distance, but the memories of diving on this warship of revolutionary design won’t be forgotten.

Live and Let Die

The shipping lanes near Malin Head, Ireland, were strategically vital for Allied supply lines. During World War II, Hitler’s forces recognized that if they could do enough damage to the convoys, they could strangle U.S. and British forces. U-boat “wolfpacks” were deployed to destroy as much shipping as possible. On Sept. 8, 1944, as more than 100 ships in convoy HX-305 neared the Irish coast, U-482 fired a single torpedo into the SS Empire Heritage, a former whaler carrying 16,000 tons of fuel. A catastrophic explosion sank the ship so quickly that no distress signals were sent. But for the survivors, the ordeal was not over. Just over 30 minutes later, their rescue vessel Pinto was also struck. Pinto was gone in 90 seconds, and the double sinking caused huge loss of life.

As we descend onto Empire Heritage, a myriad of dark shadows reveal a scene of total chaos. Sherman tanks lie entangled with trucks like discarded toys, spread across the wreck and seabed. Empire Heritage had been carrying nearly 2,000 tons of war supplies; some sit upright and intact, while others are still racked neatly in the holds up to three deep. While visibility remains good at around 90 feet, rougher sea conditions today have reduced ambient light, casting an eerie gloom over the wreck.

Years of wave action have smashed in the superstructure of this 15,702-ton wreck — one of the largest ships sunk in WWII — which now rises very little above the gravel seabed at about 225 feet. At this depth, to see its entire 500-foot length in one dive would require diver-propulsion vehicles; without them we don’t attempt to reach the aft areas of the ship. Here we would have found the engines and six huge boilers arranged in rows of three. Instead we head forward, where the remains of the holds teem with fish. Our bottom time soon nears 30 minutes, so we look for the flashing strobe that marks our ascent line to a decompression platform.

Decompression proved uncomfortable. Worsening weather caused a swell that tossed our platform up and down like a matchstick, forcing us to position ourselves away from it — a reminder that we are fully exposed to North Atlantic weather here.

By the next day, the sea was calm, so we ventured farther — to a casualty of WWI, the wreck of the 32,234-ton SS Justicia.

Demand for trans-Atlantic passenger crossings abated after WWI commenced, so the British government took over Justicia, putting it into service in 1917 as a troopship capable of carrying 4,000 soldiers. A year later, while heading to New York, the unladen Justicia came under attack from UB-64, which sent four torpedoes into the liner before Royal navy destroyers forced the persistent U-boat to break of. The submarine radioed the location to German high command, and the following day, UB-124 took up the assault, finishing of Justicia with two more torpedoes. The huge liner was sunk 25 miles from shore on July 20, 1918, with the loss of 16 men. UB-124 was not as lucky in its escape as UB-64: Forced to surface by the destroyers, it too was sunk.

Our skipper, Al Wright, knows this wreck well — he helped discover it in the 1990s. He precisely places the shot line near the bows; as we descend, the spectacular forward deck appears. Thereafter, progress seems slow as we explore the exposed lower decks — the wreck is so large that getting anywhere takes time. We make our way to the tip of the bow, and I sit on the seabed at 235 feet with the great ship towering before me, one of the most awe-inspiring sights of my diving career. But the tide waits for no diver, and we need to return to our shot line before the current starts again after the slack-water period. On our return journey, we fin over a deck that resembles a giant pinball machine due to capstans thrust upward through the decks. Finally, the remains of the bridge appear, giving us one last glance of this once-magnificent ship, one of the largest sunk in WWI.

The Alchemists

Deteriorating weather keeps us within the sheltered waters of Lough Swilly for our last dive. The liner SS Laurentic was en route to the United States at the height of WWI when it struck two mines and sank in 130 feet of water, killing more than 350 of its crew. In its holds were 43 tons of gold ingots to pay for war supplies, valued then at more than $8 million, now equivalent to a staggering $1.8 billion.

Recovery of the gold was top priority for the Royal navy dive team, “The Tin Openers,” which was already renowned for its exploits penetrating sunken U-boats. After two weeks of extremely hazardous diving, they entered the strong room filled with stacks of gold-bullion boxes. But storms suspended diving operations — when the divers returned, the wreck had shifted. The strong-room entrance was now in much deeper water, and the gold was gone, scattered among the wreckage by wave action. The team persevered, recovering all but 25 bars; five more were recovered during private salvage operations in the 1930s. Twenty bars still remain unaccounted for, today worth nearly $10 million.

Nearly 100 years later, the atmospheric wreck of Laurentic teems with life. Inshore water here is green, rather than the deep blue of offshore, but visibility still exceeds 50 feet, allowing us to see the whole of the picturesque bow, which lies on its port side. The extensive salvage, combined with sea action, has left the wreck broken up and quite fat, with decking and hull plates lying over each other like a collapsed pack of cards, but it is still easy to appreciate the huge scale of this 550-foot liner.

As we make the swim aft, numerous compass jellyfish hover above the wreck, and we eventually reach a perfectly intact deck gun. Remembering a navigational tip from our briefing, we head in the direction the gun points, finally reaching row after row of giant Scotch boilers, which provided the huge amounts of power needed to propel this classic steamship across the Atlantic. The mammoth ships that lie on the seabed at Malin Head are testament to how vitally important the supply link between the U.S. and Great Britain was during times of war. Many of the sailors who manned these immense ships made the ultimate sacrifice to keep those routes open at all costs.

Need to Know

Operator: The best way to dive the wrecks
of Malin Head is with experienced expedition leaders, such as Jack Ingle (www.jackingle.co.uk), who knows the area well and uses live-aboard vessels such as M/V Salutay (salutay.co.uk). Helium and oxygen are available on board.

When to go: The summer months of May through August are the best times to dive, but note that these operations do not visit this area every year, so planning well ahead is advised.

Price: Typically in the region of $1,500 for six days’ diving with full-board accommodations on the boat; gas mixes not included.

Diving conditions: Water temps can climb to a max 
of 65 degrees F 
in summer, with 
it being a few degrees cooler below the thermocline, so drysuits are essential given the long run times.

What It Takes

The offshore wrecks featured 
here lie at depths down to 235 feet, therefore advanced trimix certifications are needed, and rebreathers are recommended. Using an experienced operator increases safety by ensuring that the wrecks are properly buoyed, and decompression platforms with emergency gas are properly set up.

Shooting the Wrecks of Malin Head

Go wide: These big wrecks 
lie in clear water and are simply spectacular. A fish-eye lens such as
the Nikkor 16mm or Canon 15mm is ideal for capturing their full glory.

Shoot with natural light: Strobe light has a range of only 10 feet, so wrecks are too big to illuminate fully with artificial light. Leave your strobes behind, and concentrate on the form and contrast of the wreck. You will also find yourself considerably less cluttered, especially given the amount of equipment needed to dive to these depths.

High ISO: When shooting with natural light at these depths, cameras with excellent high ISO performance are in their element. You will need to be shooting at ISO 3200 or faster in order to keep your shutter speed high enough to avoid camera shake. Even so you will still be shooting at wide apertures, so a big dome
port of 8 inches or wider will help you maintain edge-to-edge sharpness in your image. ** **

Use models: Big wrecks need a diver in the shot to give them scale. A skillful buddy with a powerful torch can also help with lighting the wreck, adding color to the scene.

Want the complete package?

I used the SEACAM housing for the Nikon D4 with SD Superdome. This aluminum housing is tough enough to withstand the rigors of deep technical diving, and the optical glass dome is among the best on the market.