Plymouth Sound & HMS Scylla · United Kingdom · Wreck
James Eagan Layne
A Liberty ship that went down in the Second World War, beside the Scylla
Photo: HannahHawke · CC BY-SA 2.0
The James Eagan Layne is a Liberty ship that was torpedoed off Plymouth in March 1945, taken in tow and beached in Whitsand Bay, where she settled on the bottom. She has been a popular dive site for many years and lies 540 m east of HMS Scylla, so the two wrecks can be dived on the same day.
Also known as James Egan Layne, JEL.
Where it is and how deep
50.3267° N, 4.2452° WPublished position for this site.
The dive
The Liberty ship rests in 22 m of water, 540 m east of the Scylla. Much of her has collapsed, but some of the superstructure still stands and divers can swim through it, over a floor scattered with davits, cables and bits of engine. The wreck carries a lot of life: large spiny spider crabs, anemones, and dogfish resting on the deck.
The wreck
- Vessel
- SS James Eagan Layne
- Type
- Liberty ship
- Built
- 1944
- Sunk
- 1945
- Cause
- Torpedoed by U-399, taken in tow and beached in Whitsand Bay, where she settled on the bottom
- Lies
- In 22 m of water in Whitsand Bay, 540 m east of HMS Scylla
Built in New Orleans in 1944, the James Eagan Layne was carrying US Army engineers' equipment from Barry to Ghent in convoy when U-399 torpedoed her 12 miles off Plymouth on 21 March 1945. Tugs took her in tow and beached her in Whitsand Bay, but she settled on the bottom and was declared a total loss; all 69 of her crew survived.
Marine life and season
The sources we used don't single out particular species here.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Good |
Season follows Plymouth Sound & HMS Scylla: Diving runs all year when the wind allows; July to September brings the warmest water and the blue shark snorkel trips.
Photos from James Eagan Layne
Tim Sheerman-Chase · CC BY 2.0
Dive videos
James Egan Layne · BSAC - British Sub-Aqua Club on YouTube
Sources
- SS James Eagan Layne — Wikipedia
- Plymouth Sound Divers — Plymouth Sound Divers
- Plymouth Wrecks with InDeep — BSAC Tyneside 114
Photo credits
- Broken, weed-covered steel plates of a wreck lying on the seabed, with a dark hole in the hull by HannahHawke, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- A diver in a black drysuit and a mask, lit by a torch, swims through deep blue water by Tim Sheerman-Chase, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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A whole frigate laid down on sand as Europe's first artificial diving reef
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