The 278-ton coaster Turquoise was originally built in Antwerp in 1932 and operated under a Belgian flag. At the start of the Second World War the ship was captured by the advancing Germans and passed into German naval service as an armed coaster. Although off the Normandy coast and in the same area as many of the D-Day wrecks, the Turquoise went down following action against a Free French gunboat in 1942, well before the Normandy landings.
As with most ships, the bows and stern are significantly stronger than the sides of the holds and consequently more intact. The skeleton remains of the focsle bulkhead soon rise above the wreckage. Looking inside the focsle there are some scraps of uniform cloth and rifle bullets amongst the debris.
Although sunk in combat, it is unlikely there were ever any human remains in the focsle. The scraps of uniform were most likely unworn and left behind when the ship went down.
With the current debate over war graves, it is interesting to note that the French government has no problem with divers exploring military wrecks in French waters. Perhaps this is testament to the sensible "look but don't take anything" policy towards amateur divers that is rigidly enforced by the French authorities. A model that I hope our government settles for in the end.
The bows have twisted over to lie on the port side, the main feature being a small anchor winch in the middle of the bow deck.
Huge shoals of pouting and poor cod swarm over the bows in the almost slack current, but none seem to get caught in the trawl net and boom that are tangled across the very tip of the bows. There is a shallow scour here leading to a maximum depth of 44 metres.
Now turning back towards the stern of the ship, a large tube section lies angled back to the seabed. This is most likely the remains of a mast. Although the Turquoise was operated as an armed coaster, there are no signs of the deck gun that would no doubt have been fitted above the focsle, or indeed of any other heavy armament. Maybe it was all salvaged many years ago.
The floor of the forward hold is covered by a thin layer of debris from the sides of the ship and deck. Further back into the amidships area, remains include a porcelain sink and an assortment of leather shoes and boots.
Amidships the deck ribs have caved in towards the centre of the ship above the engines, though the debris is too dense to actually see the engines from here.
The stern hold has collapsed to port, with the starboard side falling into the hold and the port side falling out across the seabed. The one thing that is obviously missing from the wreck is any sign of a propshaft or propshaft tunnel. Even when a propshaft has been salvaged there are normally strengthened patches on the keel where the bearings would have been mounted.
The reason is one of the interesting engineering features of the Turquoise. It had a diesel electric drive. Peering inside the mostly intact stern it is possible to see what could be the remains of the electric motor that would have driven the propeller. Outside there are no signs of the propeller, which has obviously been salvaged.
Above the stern deck, the remains of the steering mechanism are still in place above the rudder shaft. Like the bows, the stern lies on its port side, with the bollards at the side of the stern partly buried in the sand and gravel seabed. Unlike the bows there is no scour here and the depth is a level 40 metres.
Heading back to amidships, the whole of the port side had collapsed out and lies flat against the seabed. The bulkhead at the rear of the engine room has decayed to an open framework, making it possible to see the engines inside. These would have been coupled to the electric motor at the stern by heavy copper cable, but being non-ferrous this is no doubt one of the first things that was commercially salvaged after the war.