Shadow-Marine Charters

SS Avondale Park

56mtrs to Bottom - 48mtrs to top

The last merchant ship to be sunk at the end of WWII. Canadian Liberty ship 315 feet 5 inches (96.14 m) long, with a beam of 46 feet 5 inches (14.15 m) and a depth of 22 feet 9 inches (6.93 m). She had a GRT of 2,878 tonnes

Avondale Park was a member of Convoy EN 491, which departed Hull on 6 May 1945 bound for Belfast via Methil. On 7 May 1945, the convoy was attacked by U2336 and two ships were sunk, Sneland I and Avondale Park, which became the last British merchant ship to be sunk during the Second World War. The sinking, at just after 23:00, was in the last hour of the Second World War in Europe, with the official surrender taking place at midnight. Two of the 38 crew were lost. A signal was sent to the U-boats on 4 May 1945 ordering them to surrender but U-2336 did not receive the signal. This is a large wreck and will take a few dives to explore fully. Large anti-aircraft gun on stern. Machine guns on flybridge.

SS Snelland I

56mtrs to Bottom - 52 mtrs to top

SS Sneland I was a Norwegian Cargo Steamer of 1,791 tons built in 1922. On the 7th May 1945 when on route from BLYTH for BELFAST she was torpedoed by German submarine U-2336 and sunk. 7 crew lost from a total of 29. The second last merchant vessel to be sun at the end of WWII

K4 & K17 British Steam driven Submarines

HMS K4 left harbour bound for a North Sea exercise. In what became known as the Battle of May Island a number of submarines were lost. Several collisions occurred, including K6 colliding with K4. So great was the collision that K4 was cut almost in two and sank immediately with the loss of all onboard.

K17 was astern of HMS Courageous when the latter tried to avoid 2 trawlers ahead. K17 turned but K22 and K14 were involved in a collision. HMS Fearless steaming towards the area was oblivious of the accident. Fearless appeared over the horizon and ploughed into K17. Within 8 minutes K17 had disappeared. Most of the crew escaped from the submarine. Unfortunately the 5th Battle Squadron of 3 battleships and their destroyers were unaware of the location of the accident and ploughed through the survivors. Only 9 were picked up out of a crew of 56, and one of these died later. A total of 270 were lost either that night or from their injuries later. These are war graves and designated as a 'Protected Place' under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986. This permits diving but on a 'Look but don't touch basis'

U12 German WWI submarine

Sunk by ramming by HMS Ariel in 1915. Infamous as the first submarine to launch a plane, but its use was limited as can be seen from the photo to the left, as it could only be carried and launched in good conditions.

The wreck today sits on a light sandy bottom (46mtrs) with the conning tower around 42mtrs. As she is a fair way offshore visibility is usually very good.

Twin Stern torpedo tubes are a unique feature of this wreck and there is usually a resident lobster to be found in one of them! Powered by a single two stroke engine running on paraffin and driving twin screws, this is a good example of a first world war U-boat.