With the Stanegarth being scuttled on the evening of the 6 June and it being declared safe for diving on the morning of the 7 June, it was only 11 hours from the Stanegarth disappearing beneath the surface of Stoney Cove to my diving it.With the Stanegarth being scuttled on the evening of the 6 June and it being declared safe for diving on the morning of the 7 June, it was only 11 hours from the Stanegarth disappearing beneath the surface of Stoney Cove to my diving it.
I wasn't quite the first on the wreck. Stoney Cove staff dived first to check it had settled safely. The wreck was declared safe and I got to go in next with other members of the team from Diver Magazine.
The buoy line is attached amidships to the towing hooks, a pair of heavy black steel hooks firmly mounted above the engine room. Towing cables would be attached to these hooks and pass along the back of the tug over a curved beam, to prevent the cables fouling other equipment on deck. This beam is now freshly painted black, but I suspect that in the Stanegarth's working life it would have been rubbed bare and smeared with grease. Pillars either side of the tug would prevent the cables pulling further forward than amidships.
The wheelhouse is easily accessible through the open windows or through doorways to the chartroom just behind it and turning forward. Inside the wheelhouse a bubble of air was trapped beneath the ceiling from the sinking and will no doubt be replenished from diver's exhaust bubbles.
The wheel has been removed and will eventually be on display in the Stoney Cove pub. At the front of the wheelhouse a loop of chain disappears into two tubes set in the floor. This would originally have been looped over a gear at the back of the ship's wheel. If you don't want to go inside you can easily see this looking in through the wheelhouse windows.
This chain is routed along either side of the tug to the steering mechanism at the stern. It loops round a large cam attached to the top of the rudder post, protected by a latticed shelf above the main deck.
The rudder post pierces the deck and hull to the rudder below. In action the chain would be pulled by the ship's wheel as it was turned. The chain would in turn pull the cam at the rear of the tug and consequently turn the rudder.
In front of the rudder the propeller is also still in place. Returning above deck and entering the wreck through an open hatch to the aft cabin or hole in the engine room roof enables you to follow the route of the prop-shaft through to the engine room. There are no obstructions inside, the engine has been removed to make plenty of room for divers to swim through safely.
At the front of the engine room ladders reach up to an open doorway on the port side leading to the chart room just behind the wheelhouse. On the starboard side of the engine room a doorway leads forwards to the storeroom below the wheelhouse and extending below the bow deck.
Hung above this doorway, something to look out for is a painting of the Stanegarth during its working days.
The forward storeroom can be exited through an open hatchway upward to the bow deck. On the deck here is the anchor winch with the Stanegarth's small anchor attached to the deck alongside it.
If you look carefully at the bow and wheelhouse you can see marks where the wheelhouse and tip of the bow have been cut off and subsequently reattached. This was necessary to reduce the height of the Stanegarth to 16'3" on the road trailer used to transport it to Stoney Cove so it would fit under motorway bridges.
In years to come many new divers will no doubt remember the Stanegarth fondly as their first wreck dive at the end of a their entry level diving course.