Deeper Dorset

WINCHESTER CASTLE

Union Castle Line liner grounded overnight at Blacknor point Portland. A very lucky ship she managed to float off unaided the following morning, many of her 300 passengers slept through the incident!

Liner [55M] – General Cargo. (Clarke: 50 18.47N; 02 59.73W) Torpedoed by German Submarine. Luckily all her passengers had been landed at Plymouth on 21/03/1917. The only life lost was the steward who fell overboard. Two patrol vessels picked up the crew and landed them at Weymouth. Refs. LARN South Devon 1917; MOD(N) Hyd. Wk. … Read Article

POMERANIAN

Requisitioned Liner [37M] – Captain A. Maxwell. General Cargo. (Dive Dorset: 64, p59 – 50 33.57N; 02 41.33W with an excellent write up) & (LARN) – Sunk (Torpedoed) by German Submarine UB-77. Two of the Royal Doulton smelting crucibles can be seen in the Portland Museum. The sole survivor was the second engineer who had … Read Article

PALALA

Cargo/Passenger Liner bound for Natal – (Good detail in Dive Dorset: 205, p152) GPS; 50 35.23N; 02 05.61W. Captain Paynter. General Cargo. Some detail in LARN, but also check the Bournemouth Guardian & Dictionary of Disaster at Sea: Vol. 2 p537. The vessel was stranded for some time on the Kimmeridge Ledge. The 35 crew … Read Article

MEKNES

French liner MEKNES moving wounded troops [60M] – (Clarke: GPS: 50 11.40N: 02 13.80W) & (Detail in LARN) Sunk by German E-Boats. Off Portland Bill. See also Weymouth Library L940.53159.HO.1. & Dictionary of Disaster at Sea: Vol. 2, p464. A quick look at the “eu wreck register” describes the wreck as follows: “The wreck is … Read Article

LE ATLANTIQUE

French Liner burning off Portland Times: Friday, January 6, 1933, Issue 46335 – Le Atlantique, French Liner, seen burning from Weymouth & Portland. Interesting Article. Ship Incident & Misc News MI.

BULOW

DCC: 25/06/1914; Transcribed by K. V. Saunders GERMAN LINER BULOW ASHORE NEAR THE BILL Another Victim to Fog. After the terrible disaster to the EMPRESS OF IRELAND which involved the loss of so many valuable lives, the predicament of a vessel in a fog now appeals to the imagination of everyone. So it was that … Read Article

AENEAS

REPORT OF AN NTERVIEW WITH CAPTATN DAVID L EVANS MASTER OF THE S.S. AENEAS We were bound from London to Glasgow with a general cargo of 5000 tons. The colour of our hull. was black superstructure and funnel grey. We were armed with a 4.7″, 12 pdr. and a Lewis gun. We had wireless on … Read Article