Weymouth & Portland · United Kingdom · Wreck
Ethel
A 1918 torpedo loss at 36 to 38 m on clean sand
Area photo: Jacko · CC BY-SA 2.0
The Ethel was a British steamship torpedoed by the German submarine UB-104 on 16 September 1918 and was one of the last casualties of the First World War. She lies on a sandy bed with good visibility and published depths of 36 to 38 m, deep enough to make her a short and carefully planned dive. Mussel beds close by draw large shoals of fish over the wreck.
Where it is and how deep
50.4678° N, 2.2790° WApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
The Ethel sits on a sandy bed with published depths of 36 to 38 m, and the sand is part of why the site works: the visibility over her is good, so the wreck reads as a whole rather than in torch-lit sections. The depth sets the shape of the dive rather than the layout does. You go down the shot, work one part of the ship properly, and come back to it, instead of trying to swim the length of her.
There is a lot of life on the wreck. Mussel beds close by attract large shoals of fish, which hold over the structure and move off it as you come through. She was torpedoed by the German submarine UB-104 on 16 September 1918, one of the last losses of the First World War, and she has lain here since. Bottom time is the limiting factor throughout, and the ascent goes back up the shotline.
The wreck
- Vessel
- Ethel
- Type
- British steamship
- Sunk
- 1918
- Cause
- Torpedoed by the German submarine UB-104
- Lies
- On a sandy bed at 36 m, with mussel beds close by
Marine life and season
- Reef fish swarms
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fair | Fair | Fair | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Fair | Fair |
Season follows Weymouth & Portland: Sea temperature runs from about 7 °C in February to 17 °C in August; winter gales off the Atlantic rather than the cold are what stop the boats.
Sources
- Ethel (Wreck) - Scubago — Scubago
- Dive Sites — Dive Beyond
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