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Long line of white chalk cliffs topped with green scrub and a white lighthouse, seen from the teal sea under broken cloud — SS Toward, Dover & Folkestone Wrecks

Dover & Folkestone Wrecks · United Kingdom · Wreck

SS Toward

A mined WW1 cargo steamer still sitting upright and ship-shaped

Photo: Markus Trienke · CC BY-SA 2.0

SS Toward is a general cargo steamer that struck a mine in the First World War and now sits upright in 25 m off Dover. She is a very ship-shaped wreck with her upper structure at about 20 m, so divers come for a hull whose outline is still easy to follow.

Also known as Toward.

Where it is and how deep

Depth profile of SS Toward: typical dive 20–25 m (66–82 ft), deepest point 27 m (90 ft) 18 m · Open Water30 m · Advanced40 m · Recreational limit20 m25 m27 m maxtypical dive
Depths on a shared scale to 40 m (130 ft); dashed lines mark common certification limits.

51.1278° N, 1.4108° EPublished position for this site.

The dive

The Toward lies north to south on a seabed of 24 to 27 m, with the hull standing about 5 m proud and the upper structure near 20 m. A scour along the wreck takes the bottom to about 27 m. The wreck is slowly collapsing, which keeps uncovering new things to see, and an old Ford car, now deteriorating fast, sits in her stern hold.

The wreck

Vessel
Toward
Type
Steel general cargo steamship
Built
1899
Sunk
1915
Cause
Struck a mine laid by the German submarine UC-6
Lies
Upright in 25 m, lying north to south, upper structure at about 20 m

Built in Glasgow in 1899, the Toward was a 1,218 GRT steel steamship with a single propeller. On 31 October 1915, sailing with general cargo from London to Belfast, she struck a mine laid by UC-6, a German submarine under Matthias Graf von Schmettow that sank a total of 54 ships. The mine exploded under the No. 2 hatch, just forward of the bridge, and the ship caught fire and settled; the whole crew was rescued.

Marine life and season

The sources we used don't single out particular species here.

Month-by-month season rating for SS Toward
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
FairFairFairFairPrimePrimePrimePrimePrimePrimeFairFair

Season follows Dover & Folkestone Wrecks: The dive season runs May to October; some charters sail all year, but the sea feels very cold in March.

Dive videos

11 September 2022 "Toward" · Brian Robinson on YouTube

Sources

  1. Dover, Wrecks and Sites — Dive125
  2. Maritime record - Toward — Kent Historic Environment Record
  3. Shipwrecks of the Dover Strait — X-Ray Mag

Photo credits

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