WRECKTOUR:157 The Londonier

AS IS SO OFTEN THE CASE, our tour of the 1870-ton Belgian steamship Londonier begins at the boilers (1).
This time, however, the starting-point bears more significance than usual, because this is where the line of the wreck is broken, with the bow part twisted about 20° to starboard relative to the stern.
The Londonier was torpedoed amidships and sank rapidly, so it is likely that the explosion broke the ship’s back.
The direction forward is easy to tell. The big triple-expansion engine stands high aft of the boilers, while forward of that the donkey boiler (2) rests tipped up against the boilers, slightly to port of the centre-line.
The top of the donkey boiler is nicely domed, which could suggest that it was originally upright. However, it also has a scalloped section halfway along one side, which suggests that it could have been saddled above and across the front of the two main boilers. With the lower end now buried in debris, it’s hard to come to a conclusion on this.
Most of the dive from here on is at a level 39m or 40m, depending on the size of the tide. Wight Spirit’s skipper Dave Wendes prefers to dive wrecks in the area off St Catherine’s Point on a high-water slack, so as to run with the tide most of the way to the wreck, then home with the tide after slack water.
As well as being twisted to starboard, the general collapse of the immediately forward area of the wreck was also mostly to starboard.
Two hatch-coamings (3) from the Londonier’s bunkers are located just to the starboard side of the boilers.
Also offset to starboard is the hatch-coaming (4) from the number 2 hold, the first hold forward from amidships. The Londonier was in ballast, so there is no cargo to look for.
Continuing forward, we see a change in the pattern of the collapse, with a pair of bollards (5) from the port side of the deck almost on the centre-line of the keel.
Between the holds, the cargo-winches (6) and (7) have fallen in line with the keel, but perhaps displaced slightly forward from where they would have been on the undamaged ship. From between these winches, the forward mast stretches to starboard.
From the forward of these two cargo-winches (7), a steam-pipe (8) leads out and round the area of the number 1 hold, then beneath two pairs of bollards (9) to the anchor-winch (10).
The bow appears to have fallen in from an upright orientation, or perhaps it has collapsed slightly to port, because the four sets of bollards from the bow are also displaced slightly to port, and a pile of chain (11) from the chain-locker is located just to starboard of the anchor-winch.
Chain also leads forward from the anchor-winch, through a pair of hawse-pipes to the anchors (12). The surrounding seabed is hard chalk and shingle, so although the visibility off St Catherine’s Point is never brilliant, the wreck is swept clean of silt, and the visibility is never too bad.
Retracing our route aft, behind the boilers the Londonier’s triple-expansion engine (13) stands 5-6m from the seabed. The crankshaft leads into an intact thrust-bearing (14).
The propeller-shaft (15) then leads aft, supported by its bearing blocks, arched with the remains of the propeller-shaft tunnel (16).
About level with the first arch over the propshaft, and offset to starboard, is a cargo-winch (17) that has fallen upside-down. Next to it, the stub of the aft mast has fallen out to starboard. Its upper part would have been made of wood.
The Hampshire & Wight Trust for Maritime Archaeology (HWTMA) has an ongoing project to survey the Londonier, and reports that lifejackets can be found trapped under frames to the port side of the propshaft. However, these could well have been washed in and trapped at a later date, because it is unlikely that cork and canvas lifejackets from almost 100 years ago would have survived.
Continuing aft, the propshaft soon disappears below debris from the stern. Another cargo-winch, this time upright, has fallen just to starboard (18), with a detached winch-spindle further out.
Round to the starboard side of the stern, the Londonier’s gun (19) is a fine example of the 12-pounder so often fitted to the stern of WW1 merchant ships.
The term “12-pounder” refers to the weight of the shell fired, with the actual calibre of the gun being 3in. Different sizes of gun firing the same weight of shell were differentiated by appending the weight of the barrel and breech.
The Londonier carried the 12-pounder-12-cwt (hundredweight) model, one of the lighter naval varieties of this gun. Shell-cases are scattered on the seabed near it.
At the stern, the propeller remains attached to the tail of the propeller-shaft. Behind this, the rudder (20) has been displaced from the rudder-post to rest tilted against the stern.
The top of the rudder-post would make a good point from which to release a delayed SMB and ascend.

Thanks to Dave Wendes, Derek Bridle, Jay, Dave Robbins, HWTMA.

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