Cornwall · United Kingdom · Wreck
Mohegan
A Victorian liner broken up on the rocks that sank her in 1898
Photo: HannahHawke · CC BY-SA 2.0
The broken remains of the Victorian steamship Mohegan are probably the best-known and most intensively dived wreck on the Manacles reef off the Lizard. The liner hit the rocks in 1898, and divers now follow her flattened hull, engine and three huge boilers on a ten-minute boat trip from Porthkerris.
Also known as SS Mohegan, The Mohegan.
Where it is and how deep
50.0457° N, 5.0428° WApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
The dive is timed for slack water, which falls between 2 hours and 1 hour before low and high water at Coverack. Divers reach the wreck about halfway between the boilers and the stern at 22 m, a little more at high water, and most of it lies between 22 and 26 m. The hull is well broken and heavily salvaged, but its girders give a rough grid to follow, the engine stands above the wreckage and the three huge boilers lie forward of it.
A dive can also start at the outer pinnacle of Maen Voes, following a wall crusted with anemones and hydroids down to the rocky seabed at 14 m, then swimming north-east for a few minutes to the hull. The way back climbs the reef past gullies plastered with anemones, with nudibranchs and most of the UK's wrasse on the rocks.
The wreck
- Vessel
- SS Mohegan
- Type
- Four-masted, single-funnel luxury liner
- Length
- 147 m (482 ft)
- Sunk
- 1898
- Cause
- Hit the Manacles reef and sank in mysterious circumstances
- Lies
- Broken up on the Manacles reef, mostly between 22 and 26 m
The Mohegan was a 482 ft (147 m) luxury liner of 6,889 gross tons, with four masts and a single funnel. On 14 October 1898 she struck the Manacles off the Lizard and sank in mysterious circumstances, with 106 lives lost.
Marine life and season
- Nudibranchs
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fair | Fair | Fair | Fair | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Fair |
Season follows Cornwall: Wrecks and reefs are dived all year when the weather allows; mid-May to September brings the sharks.
Know before you go
- Tides can be a problem away from slack water; on a good neap the wreck can be dived through the flood tide.
Dive videos
Mohegan Wreck Dive, Manacles, Falmouth. · Atlantic Scuba on YouTube
Sources
- Wreck Tour 8: the Mohegan — Divernet
- The SS Mohegan (Wreck) — ScubaGo
- The Manacles — Wikipedia
Photo credits
More dive sites in Cornwall
Reef
Two rocks at the mouth of Port Quin, diveable at any tide
A rock just off Porthkerris beach, reached without a boat
Wreck
A wartime wreck at 40 m with boxes of anti-aircraft heads at the bows
Reef
Remains of two First World War U-boats a short swim from the steps
Wreck
A coal steamer lost with all hands in a storm off Towan Head
Church stones in Cornish: rocks that have wrecked over a hundred ships
Similar dives elsewhere
The island's only intact wreck, on her side in 25 metres
A 1939 mine casualty broken across a 30 m seabed
A cannon still on its wooden carriage aboard a frigate lost in 1678
Tiger Moth biplanes were in her holds when she went down