The Comprehensive Guide to Shipwrecks of the East Coast

The book is much like a dictionary of lost ships but deals only with shipwrecks that can still be seen and found on the seabed. Hundreds of vessels have been wrecked or foundered along this part of the East Coast, many the result of attack by U-boat during the two World Wars.

Many were classed as navigational hazards and removed by authorities, others have been reduced to mere remnants by the forces of nature, but a large number of these wrecks are partially or even completely intact.

To help differentiate the condition of these wrecks, the author has devised a star rating system, assigning one star to a wreck where little remains up to five stars for a wreck completely intact. In some cases the surrounding scenery has also been given a rating, with one star for boring seabed where there is nothing to see and up to five star scenery for an area which may contain interesting reefs, with soft corals or fish and crustaceans.

Water depth is also given, either registered by a diver or ship’s echosounder or, in the majority of cases, the lowest astronomical depth as shown on the Admiralty Chart.

For each vessel covered, build details and dimensions are given, followed by a description of the circumstances of the final voyage and then details of the wreck site.

The latter information includes not only information about how the vessel lies but also diving conditions such as tidal streams and visibility.

The diver friendliness of this volume is no surprise in that author Ron Smith has been a sport diver for over 30 years, during which time he has completed over 3,000 dives in the North Sea, becoming an expert on the area. The author of numerous articles about shipwrecks for diving magazines, he has also written ‘The Comprehensive Guide to Shipwrecks of the North East Coast’, Volumes 1 and 2.

The Comprehensive Guide to Shipwrecks of the East Coast
By Ron Young.
Published by Tempus Publishing
ISBN 0 7524 2798 9.
Paperback, 288 pages.Price £17.99