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A spotted grey seal swimming underwater in clear blue-green water, looking towards the camera — Isles of Scilly

Isles of Scilly · United Kingdom · Wreck

Italia

Deep, broken steamer wreckage below Wingletang Rocks off St Agnes

Area photo: Jerome Paillet (IFREMER, Laboratoire d'Océanographie Physique et Spatiale, Centre Bretagne - ZI de la Pointe du Diable - · CC BY 4.0

The Italia is a coal-carrying cargo steamer that wrecked on Wingletang Rocks, south of St Agnes, in 1917. The hull is well broken up and spreads from 15 m to 40 m, and the wreckage worth seeing sits deep, which makes this a dive for experienced divers.

Where it is and how deep

Depth profile of Italia: typical dive 15–40 m (50–130 ft) 18 m · Open Water30 m · Advanced40 m · Recreational limit15 m40 mtypical dive
Depths on a shared scale to 50 m (164 ft); dashed lines mark common certification limits.

49.8875° N, 6.3406° WApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.

The dive

The wreck lies between 15 m and 40 m below Wingletang Rocks. It is well broken up, and all of the interesting wreckage lies at around 30–35 m, where the framework stands proud of the seabed. Divers drop straight down to it, then work back up the slope through the shallower wreckage.

The wreck

Vessel
Italia
Type
Cargo steamer
Sunk
1917
Cause
Lost in dense fog carrying coal from Cardiff to Taranto and wrecked on Wingletang Rocks.
Lies
Well broken up between 15 m and 40 m south of St Agnes.

The Italia went down on the same day as the Lady Charlotte, a few hours later, while the islanders were busy helping the Lady Charlotte’s crew. Nobody noticed her, so there was no help for her 66 crew. The wreck lay lost until 1964, when Richard Larn found it and identified her from the ship’s patent log.

Marine life and season

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

Month-by-month season rating for Italia
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Off-seasonOff-seasonOff-seasonFairPrimePrimePrimePrimePrimeFairOff-seasonOff-season

Season follows Isles of Scilly: Weather keeps the season short: most charters run from May to September, and a summer storm can still interrupt a trip.

Know before you go

  • The interesting wreckage sits at 30–35 m, so this is not a dive for new or nervous divers.

Dive videos

Italia Wreck dive - Scillies 22.7.26 · Christine Ingram dive videos on YouTube

Sources

  1. Diving the Isles of Scilly: Wrecks, Reefs, and Seal Encounters — Divernet

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