Tristan : Sunken Vessel Discovered at Tristan
Submitted by Tristan Times (Sarah Glass) 18.11.2011 (Article Archived on 02.12.2011)

On the 15th November the Fisheries Patrol boat went out again to
Inaccessible Island,

Sunken Vessel Discovered at Inaccessable Island

by Sarah Glass

On Sunday the 13th November 2011, the Fisheries Patrol boat and
Fisheries Rib went to Nightingale to do dredging and Lobster juvenile
counting. Several counts were made by Eugene Repetto, Rodney Green
and Norman Glass around Petrel Bay, including Spinners Point where the
vessel Oliva went aground as well as at Stoltenhoff, whilst Andrew
Green looked after the boat.
 
On the return trip back to Tristan a stop was made at the Cave Point
to try and get a sample there, Norman and Rodney did a count just
inside of the Cave Point, outside of the Pond and to their surprise,
came across a wreck, which was thought to be that of a sunken yacht.
It was late in the evening and the light was poor, plus they did not
have any bottles with them, so their depth was limited.
 
On the 15th November the Fisheries Patrol boat went out again to
Inaccessible Island, to do some more lobster juvenile counting at
South Hill. The weather was good so they made another stop at the
Caves, here Rodney and Norman took another looked at the wreck, whilst
Andrew tended the boat. They were able to confirm the structure seen
on the previous visit on the 13th was too big to be that of a yacht
and confirmed that it was rather a small vessel with a length of 30 +
meters.
 
Some of the steel structure is very visible and it looked like the bow
of the vessel was pointing out to sea while the stern faced the shore.
This would be also the most likeable case if the vessel was trying
not to run aground, and was put in that position due to a dragging
anchor.
 
Hopefully in the next few weeks, further dives will allow us to more
information on the sunken vessel, as well as providing clues of her
origin.
 
The question is what vessel is it? Is it a yacht, or a small ship,
islanders cannot recall a vessel being wreck there!
 
 
Photos © Norman Glass