Guides
Farne Island Guide - Part IV
Snowdonia (Snowden)
This guide is number four in the series and concentrates on the dive
sites rather than cover the generalities covered in Guide I.
{mosmap lat='55.629144'|lon='-1.631295' }
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Another arty shot of the stringy like Bootlace Weed (Chorda filum) that is found in lower inter-tidal water. Apparently quite tasty too!
D - In the end the woodshop on the Duke of Northumberlands estate did the honour
The prop shaft 'sans' prop! The propellor was made from high cost non-ferrous materials, phosphor bronze etc and an easy win for whoever was salvor in possession at the time.
Only one in this shot but I ended up making two reels....
Some sort of winching arrangement, this is a large section of wreckage within a short distance of the boilers
Mid-way along the site is an area of angular boulders which go further up the wall (?) they appear new, with very little life attached' but have been there over 30 years. Look carefully and you will find crustaceans among the jumble.
Huge shaols of Coalfish (Pollachius virens), these were bigger boys and had chased awy the smaller baitfish. They were probably waiting to ambush any fish swept over the top of the wreck when the tide got going properly.
Part of the stern section of SS Mistley, there is a small area where the girder construction is still present and maybe 1m above the seabed.
A Sand Brittle Star (Ophiura ophiura), on the deeper wrecks there were odd ones on the sea-bed rather than the thick carpet of brittles seen on the shallower stuff.
Not sure what these sections are or did but there are several on the site so unless they form an integral part of a gun carriage we can say that the pipes are not cannon
The cascabel is turned and there is a 10mm hole machined in the brass blank and it's time to go!
Scenic stuff with light coming through the hull where the plates have gone and we are left with ribs and bits only
the thought is that it was something used in the rigging or sails of a vessel, there is a small area of wear which would tend to imply that it was rubbing but nothing concrete.
As the masts, spars and rigging of any wrecked vessel were the most valuable piece of salvage I am perhaps unsurprised that I haven't found other rings.
Moving down the slope it starts 'easing off' and the boulders become a bit smaller....
This is the 'gutter' in the middle of the site, with the steep side and shelving northern side meeting about 1/3 way out from south skeer.
More bits from the broken up boiler
A Plaice (Pleuronectes platessa), relatively common around Beadnell due to the mixed ground.
A rather bedraggled Sqaut Lobster (Galathea squamifera) sitting within a Dead-mans finger (Alcyonium digitatum) this one had no claws hence it had lost it's hole and was hiding away in a filter feeder, judging by it's general appearance and barnacle covered carapice I would think, not long of this world.
Somewhere in the welter of bubbles is a diver, getting into the water is easy, waddle from your car over the flat concrete and kinda 'fall in'
Arty-farty shot of a pinnacle
Believe it or not a Gravel Sea Cucumber (Neopentadadactyla mixta) under the tentacles there is a creature living in a hole!
Bizarre clowns at depth......great with a touch of narcosis!
More girders and struts, this is a good distance from the main lumps of superstructure but the shallow water and big seas does increasingly move stuff about
Towards the end of summer the kelp does get eaten away, once the critters or urchins have broken through the tough outer skin they rapidly get stuck into the softer internal flesh
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