The Port Napier

By Jane Wilkinson on 27 September 2008

Enroute for a weeks diving off the northern end of Skye, half of us had arranged to dive the Port Napier. Meeting up at Kyle of Lochalsh for the dive it was nice to see some familiar faces that I had dived with up in Scapa only a week before. The skipper was Dave from Lochaline Charter Boats and having left at two in the morning to bring the boat up from Lochaline he was already there with The Brenden when we arrived.

The wreck sits very high in the water and is visible from the shore at low tide. She is generally dived from Kyle of Lochalsh being only a five-minute trip from the pontoon, which is in front of the hotel by the harbour.

h2.Mines

Originally built as a cargo steamer for the Port line the Napier was requisitioned and converted for mine laying at the outbreak of WW2. Destined for laying mines north of Shetland to help prevent U-boats and large surface raiders from passing between Shetland and Iceland she was being loaded up with around 500 mines when fire broke out. Although preparing for mine laying was a complicated process the mines themselves were quite simple and effective for their purpose. They consisted of two main parts, the sphere with horns and the cable and anchor that was fitted with wheels. This then could be moved along the railway lines that were inside the ship. When the mines were primed and ready to be deployed they would be pushed out of the water level hatch near the stern, whereupon the trolley would sink anchoring the mine. The cable would then unwind leaving the mine floating at the correct depth, in this case about 25ft below the surface. This would enable light draught ships to pass safely over unlike those with a deep draughts and u-boats who would hit and therefore detonate it.

An explosion

The newly converted Napier was loading its first lot of mines at Kyleakin on Skye, (the small village opposite Kyle of Lochalsh), when a small fire broke out on board. With 550 mines and 600 rounds of ammunition already loaded there was a threat that Kyleakin would be totally obliterated should the ship blow up. Both Kyle and Kyleakin were evacuated and the Navy tugs managed to tow the Napier out into the loch, casting her adrift where she then blew up. Such was the blast that parts of the superstructure landed on the shore but amazingly none of the mines on board blew up.
Later, a massive salvage operation took place in the 50’s when the Navy took a large amount of plating off her port side in order to remove the mines. Should you choose to follow the railway tracks along inside the wreck these missing plates now provide many easy exits.

Laying on her starboard side in about 16m of water and having a shot attached to the mast means that you are unlikely to miss the wreck even in poor conditions. The day we dived it was a bright day with visibility around 15m and following the mast down the deck soon came into view. All along the mast grew chubby pink sea squirts and clumps of translucent ascidians interspersed by the snaking tendrils of anemones.

Internal railway

Hundreds of milky white sea squirts and delicate feather stars covered the surface of the deck with the odd decorated crab trying to conceal itself with bits and pieces attached to its back hoping to blend into the background. Dropping down to the sea bed it was littered with the empty shells of scallops and mussels and despite being a little silty I was able to lie down and take some pictures of a long clawed squat lobster; as long as I was careful not to wriggle around too much! Moving along to the bow it rose up and away from me, its surface covered in plumose anemones standing out at all angles on their exceptionally tall columns. Of particular note was the cable that curves round under the bow. This is thickly covered with anemones giving it the appearance of a garland. Ascending a few metres I decided to work my way back along the deck further up.
The starboard gun was quite easy to identify, with all the tracking clearly to be seen on the deck and even cabling still hanging inside, while underneath a leopard spotted goby quickly disappeared. Continuing back towards the stern huge openings appeared where plates had been taken off to remove all the unexploded mines. Sunlight poured in from above, with the skeletal structure that was left stretching upwards giving it an almost cathedral like atmosphere. The mine laying hatches are near the stern where you can see the railway lines that run inside. Should you wish to follow these there are convenient holes that have been cut in the hull which provide some convenient exits.

Sad to leave

I was very loath to leave such an interesting and spectacular wreck and reluctantly began to work my way back up the mast and the shot line. Just as I was doing so I noticed some lovely peacock worms that I had missed on my way down. I had been hoping to see some of these so was delighted to capture a few pictures before returning back up the shot.
Despite this being a fantastic wreck there were only three of us who wanted to do a second dive on it, the others being keen to get to the cottages that we would be staying in for our week on Skye. So instead of a second dive we started heading north up the length of Skye towards Duntulm that sits right on the end of the Trotternish peninsular.

Contact

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

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