WRECKTOUR:128 The River Garry

HAVING BEEN ALL THE WAY SOUTH to Guernsey last month, this month we are heading a fair way north, to Scotland's Firth of Forth.
The wreck of the 1339-ton steamship River Garry is located just over a mile from the bleak grey façade of the Torness nuclear power station, though this is obviously not something the crew would have appreciated as the ship foundered in hurricane force winds in 1893, with the loss of all hands.
Our tour begins on the boiler, which remains intact (1), having rolled across the flattened hull to be almost off the starboard side of the wreck. The River Garry was unusual in having two boilers in a tandem configuration, as shown by the wedge-shaped mounts for a pair of boilers lined up along the keel (2).
The second boiler has not survived so well. All that remains are sections of the round end plates and some boiler tubes (3) scattered just forward and to starboard of the forward boiler-mounts.
Continuing towards the bow, forward of the boiler-mounts the hull is more broken, with ribbed plates scattered on the seabed and the wreckage biased slightly to starboard.
This may have been from the original wrecking, or possibly a sign that the forward part of the wreck fell to starboard as it split from the rest of the hull.
Following the trail of hull-plates, the next recognisable item of wreckage is the anchor-winch (4), still intact on its mounting-plate but tipped forward.
This is not surprising, as while deck machinery would have been mounted on steel plates, these in turn would have been fitted to a mostly wooden deck that has rotted away long ago.
Forward of the anchor-winch, a pair of anchor hawse-pipes lie flat on the seabed (5). Then, slightly to starboard, you'll see a large Admiralty-pattern anchor (6).
A little further to starboard are three more anchors, stacked neatly on top of one another (7). These would have been stowed like this on the River Garry's bow deck, then fallen to the seabed as a group as the wreck decayed.
Back in line with the hawse-pipes and anchor-winch, a section of the stem of the bow lies tipped on one side (8). But the wreckage does not end here. Just forward of the bow is the cargo-winch (9), which would have served the forward hold. It's intact and upright on its mounting-plate.
As to how it ended up here, I can only speculate. Perhaps it was moved during salvage operations. Iain Easingwood's grandfather worked as a hardhat salvage diver on this wreck, among others, and his photograph in full hardhat gear hangs in the Harbourside in Eyemouth.
Heading aft again, off the port side of the wreck and level with the boiler-mounts is the helm and steering-engine (10). Also fallen to the port side of the keel is the River Garry's two-cylinder compound engine (11), its top pointing away from the wreck.

The base of the engine is only a short distance from the mounting-plate still fixed to the keel (12), and in line with the boiler-mounts (2). Features to look out for on the engine mounting-plate are a pair of cut-outs that match up with the crankshaft beneath the engine, to provide room for the downward strokes of the pistons.
The propeller-shaft leads the way aft (13), then the hull soon breaks up, and the propshaft with it.
Wreckage is now mostly to port. Continuing my earlier speculation, this could have been damage from the sinking, or a sign that the stern rolled to port as it broke from the central part of the wreck and collapsed. This theory is supported by the winches (14) that would have served the aft holds having fallen to port, intact on their mounting-plate.
Wreckage is now sparse on the seabed. Perhaps significant sections of hull-plates were salvaged for scrap. Taking a line from the winches, next we come to a curved section of the stern (15), facing completely the wrong way into the wreck.
A small section of keel with the tail-end of the propeller shaft (16) and the stern gland lies in line with the section of propeller-shaft we followed earlier. The remains of the propeller are there, with broken blades still attached.
A little further out and over to port, the last items of wreckage are a section of hull, with the remains of the rudder (17) protruding from underneath.
Visibility is typically quite good, so on a favourable slack it should not be difficult to return to the shotline and ascend, especially as the dive is unlikely to lead to long deco stops. On the other hand, you could be lazy and pop a delayed SMB.

Thanks to Iain Easingwood and Jim Easingwood.