Kanteong Dredging Arm at Fowey

By Jane Wilkinson on 13 September 2008

Jumping starfish? maybe not, but ones that just let go and float to their next resting place. I was diving the Kanteong Dredger and felt something on my head. As the little sea star floated down past my mask I assumed I had accidentally dislodged it from the ceiling as I was swimming through parts of the structure. However, later I was to spot one or two other small common sea stars do exactly the same thing. So I came to the conclusion that this is obviously how some of them move around at times a sort of drop and float method.

Just an arm

Reputedly the largest tin-dredger in the world The Kanteong had arrived in English waters undertow from Holland. However she capsized in a storm off the Eddystone and thinking she had sunk was abandoned. However this was not the case and drifting she eventually grounded in 93ft of water off Fowey about a mile from the harbour entrance. Holes were then made in the flat-bottomed hull and she was finally scuttled close to the harbour mouth. All that is left of this wreck however is the huge bucket arm and some of the buckets as the huge pontoon broke free eventually being towed to Par and beached.

Head in the sand

At about 17m she makes a wonderful shallowish dive with a myriad of marine life both plant and animal. The size of it means that there are various swim throughs with shoals of bib and Pollock lurking in the gloom only to shoot outside in alarm as you swam through. A sprinkling of Deadmens Fingers grows on parts of the structure inside and the dark sausage shapes of sea cucumbers cling to the walls. Elsewhere the struts and pieces of wreckage are covered in cup corals and different sorts of anemones. A large number of iridescent Rock Cooks were busy trying to eat something that was growing in one particular area on a cross section of metal and were very quick to dart away when I tried to photograph them. They are such pretty fish and their lovely purply blue sheen often shows up in the poorest of viz. I was surprised to see so many in one area but they were obviously attracted by whatever was growing on the metal. Whilst finning round the outside I came across a large Ballan Wrasse which I decided to try and follow to see if I could photograph as the light on this dive was good. In the end I renamed him an ostrich wrasse as he decided to stick his head under some kelp but left his about six inches of tail clearly sticking out!! Gently moving the water behind him I thought I would try and get a picture of his face, as it appeared the other side. Working my way back to the shot line a beautiful large male cuckoo wrasse lazily swam past me, oddly enough I hadn’t seen any females at all on this dive.

A dive for everyone

This really was a lovely dive with plenty of life to look at and watch. The wreck itself is so attractive covered as it is with kelp and various weeds wafting around in the currents. The abandoned structure has great places you can swim through with plenty of room and wide entries/exits. While this can be done by open water students because it is relatively shallow, old hands will also enjoy the variety and amount of marine life that is present on this wreck.

Contact

Author: Jane Wilkinson
Email: info@travel-dive.com

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