Port Gaverne

In September 2007 we spent a weekend diving from Port Gaverne in North Cornwall. Although this locality is barely an hour away from Plymouth this was virgin territory for us so we were keen to see what the diving was like. We weren't disappointed. Nick Booth - our weekend's dive manager - had assembled a good 2 day's offering.

Port Gaverne is a small cove just the other side of Port Isaac. In years past it was the main harbour for the output from the Delabole slate quarries. The local pub has photos of quite substantial boats beached on the sands while awaiting loading. Quite frequently women and children would hand load the slates until the holds were full! Those days have now gone - today Port Gaverne has a pub, holiday accommodation, limited car parking and a launch site.

We arrived earlyish on Saturday morning. Just as well! Car parking is limited although you can park boat trailers on the beach. Launching the rib is fairly straightforward from the beach.

Click here to download Nick's full dive plan

To say that we had a successful weekend would be a little modest - we had an excellent weekend thanks to the help of all those who took part and a great venue.

Due to circumstances beyond our control only one RIB was available so we collected Humber 2 bright and early on the Saturday morning and had a very easy run up to Port Gaverne about 90 minutes including a fuel stop. Ifracombe Divers where already there but we had enough space for all. With 11 divers and 1 boat waves where required so preparations where made for trip out to the Sphene for the first wave. Launching is straight forward with a very gentle slope on the beach once below shingle beach. Sand is very firm and there is a mooring line laid down the middle of the bay. Launch fee is £15 for the year and the trailer can be left on the beach. Vehicles must be removed. Car parking is limited but there is a large car park a couple of minutes up the hill.

Weather conditions where very good and a slight swell running offshore. Using the coordinates from the Hydrographer cross check against D I S N C we failed to find the site, more of that later. So we moved to the backup reef dive off the Mouls, a small island just off Rumps point. The first 3 pairs reported having a good dive with a little swell coming around the island and vis at about 5m in 15 to 20 metres. On returning to the beach I was told that Steve Hutchinson from Harlyn Dive School with a colleague from Fowey Divers would like to join us for a dive on the Milly. As Steve was sorting out our air for us and prepared to share his marks it seemed only polite.

One of the dives we had hoped to do was the Empire Otter Steve was able to tell us that the marks we had where in fact some 12 miles out as it had been miss identified. However as soon as the 6 divers for the Milly where ready we set out leaving the first wave to have their surface interval. Only 4 of us where doing the Milly so our first stop was the Sphene with Steve’s excellent transits we found her straight away, some distance from the charted position. Richard K and Johnny rolled in and completed a 50 minute dive at the end of which Sphene was declared “a fantastic dive if it wasn’t for all the fish!”

Steve’s marks where spot on and we found the Milly in 47m within a couple of minutes of arriving on site. Once shotted and after confirming we where at slack, Steve and Andy rolled in followed by Richard Wood and I. The shot was just on the bow of the wreck with both anchors still in the hawses and the chain in the chain locker behind. Having had a good brief from Steve and Andy we made our way along the wreck which lies upright on a white sandy bottom, with vis at about 15m it was superb. Her foremast lies off to starboard and much of the wreck is buried in the sand however the 3 boilers make a prominent feature. We met Andy and Steve returning at this point and decided we should leave the rest for next time. A gentle swim back to the shot, a little air in the bag and we had done 20 minutes of bottom time so began a long ascent.

Once back on the beach the 3rd wave where ready to get going, so a quick change round and cylinders to Steve and off we went again. This time to a cliff edge site west of Port Isaac, mainly for the reefs but also for the Castor I in about 15m. Having dropped the divers in on a beautiful late summer evening, I was tidying the boat when I heard a whoosh between me and the shore, some 50m away, looking up I saw a whale (probably a Minke) rise up, take a breath and slip back under the water. It must have passed right over my divers so when the surfaced I asked excitedly what it had been like. No-one had seen it! Nor did they believe me until we got back to the shore and Ilfracombe divers said they had seen a whale in the bay during their dives.

During a great meal at the Port Gaverne Hotel Steve arrived back with all our cylinders filled and returned for the princely sum of £3 per fill. Fabulous service. Following dinner we separated for our various accommodations, with the RIB heading to the Lanarth Hotel at St Kew Highway a slightly complicated drive but not out of the way, where a warm welcome awaited. Lanarth Hotel makes a good base, it’s not expensive at £25pppn and has a 60 pitch campsite so caterers for all tastes, with no shortage of space to park the boat. After a good nights rest and a fortifying breakfast, we embarked on day 2. The weather had turned somewhat and a fresh southerly was blowing in lots of drizzle and low cloud so with fewer divers for the day we settled for 1 dive on the Sphene, which again thanks to Steve’s marks we found with ease despite surface visibility almost obscuring the marks. Although we had low light due to the cloud the dive was really enjoyable due to the huge numbers of fish shoaling around the wreck, the Sphene is fairly broken up having been wire swept but still rounded off an excellent weekend.

Port Gaverne proved to be a great place to run dives from and there are many more sites to be explored, I know we will visit again. However always check the weather!!

Nick Booth

The Sphene - 50:36:152N 04:53:176W. This wreck is covered with fish and lies upright on white sand in around 28m. She is a superb dive satisfying both wreck ferrets and fish lovers. The rudder and propellor are still extant and the boilers and remains of the triple expansion engine are easily found. The bows contain a great deal of chain on the open deck. It is possible to swim around the wreck without incurring any great deco although it is also all too possible to linger and admire the sight of the stern rails and watch the scooting shoals of fish that shoot by underneath. The Sphene was wrecked in February 1946 and was a 800 ton steamship.

The wreck of the collier Milly was torpedoed in 1918. The Milly (50:40:579N 04:51:478W) lies on a very clean sand and shell seabed at a depth of 46msw. She is collapsed and lying over on her starboard side. Much of the wreckage must be buried in the sand, but there is still plenty to see. Both anchors can be found in the collapsed bow section. Astern of this, the foremast can be seen out to starboard, and the mid-hold winch is above sand level. Three boilers can be seen, one is distinctly smaller and almost certainly a donkey boiler. The three cylinder VTE engine is astern of the boilers, lying on its starboard side.

Milly was torpedoed in the port side of number 3 hold (that is the one behind the engine) at 1:55pm on  6th September 1918, by UB-87 (Petri). She sank in five minutes with the loss of two men. Survivors were picked up by the SS Madame Brooke after 25 minutes, and they were landed in Swansea. Milly was on route from Brest to Barry, and was in service as an Admiralty collier. The gun has been salvaged. (Source: Larn - Shipwreck Index of the British Isles).

The last dive on Saturday was a reef just west of the entrance to Port Isaac. Perfect for a late afternoon dive this site sported lots of fish but also a number of crabs that were hiding behind snakelocks anenomes. As the crabs got bigger then they accumulated more anenomes. A couple of the rocks are very regular in shape and it took some of us sometime to realise that this was the remains of the 500 ton Castor 1 that was wrecked here in 1980.

For advice and local know-how contact Steve Hutchinson - Harlyn Dive School - 07890 671225