LEARNINGCURVE
SS Serano
BOW POSITION : 50 ° 39,619 ’ N 001 ° 36,166 ’ W STERN POSITION : 50 ° 39,877 ’ N 01 ° 35,816 ’ W
These are two separate and distinct dives . The stern lies 600m NE in 18m of water from the bows , which lie in the overfalls in 9m , just off the Needles . The SS Serano was torpedoed on the 22nd January 1918 , sinking originally on the bridge of the Needles with the loss of five lives . She was reported broken in two in January 1922 with the stern floating off and sinking in deeper water . Although broken and dispersed , she was a big ship and both sections offer good dives with large , recognisable features .
The seabed is swept clean by the tide in both locations ; for best visibility it ’ s best to aim for HW slack before the murkier waters of the Solent pour back out over her . Both are slack water dives with the need for alert boat cover , lying close as they do in the passage plans of many leisure vessels . The bows are also in an area of overfalls , so good boat cover and timing of slack water are key to a safe dive and for the comfort of the boat crew .
SS Castle Crag 50 ° 38,009 ’ N 01 ° 27,120 ’ W
We tend to dive this wreck when running the RIB as a shuttle out of Freshwater . Two of the team take the boat around from Yarmouth lightly loaded to conserve fuel and then we pick up / drop off divers from in-front of the lifeboat slipway on Freshwater Bay . There is a convenient car park just on the opposite side of the road from the lifeboat station , although this does get busy at the height of summer .
She is an old wreck dating back to 1883 in about 10-12m depending on the tide off Sudmore Point some 3Nm from Freshwater . She is so smashed now it is hard to distinguish her from the seabed on the echosounder , so you need to trust the numbers and place the shot accurately . This wreck is best dived on slack , and if diving off-slack you will need to hold on ! You never quite know what you might find on these dives – artefacts are being covered and uncovered as wrecks decay and the seabed shifts around them . On my dive we found a scuttle backing ring lying on the seabed pre-polished ! That ’ s where we left it .
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