WRECKTOUR:132 The Elena R

TO SEE ALL OF THIS MONTH'S WRECK in one dive, you have to move fast, even on a neap tide. Located on the edge of the Shambles Bank, to the east of Portland Bill, slack water arrives and departs in a rush on the Elena R.
The wreck lies with its bow to the south-east so, as the tide slacks off, descending the shotline the stern will be to the left and the starboard side of the wreck will be slightly sheltered from the current.
The wreck is fairly well broken, and mostly covered in a bank of broken mussel shells. The boilers (1) are big enough to show on an echo-sounder, and are a good target for the shot at 24m, but are more than half-buried in the bank. There are plenty of breaks in the boilers, and in the nooks and crannies lurk several conger eels.
Across the wreck and just off the starboard side, the frame from the engine-room skylight and ventilator (2) lies upside-down and filled with mussel shells.
Aft of the two boilers, the engine is broken and buried beneath a debris of deck-grating, plates, ribs and pipes with resident congers. Just some odds and ends of the engine poke out towards the aft edge of the debris, including the top of the thrust-bearing (3).
Crossing an area of shell that fills the area of the first hold aft, a tubular section of mast (4) lies across the wreck and slightly to port. Next to the mast are the upright remains of the bulkhead from between the holds, and towards the starboard side you'll see a pair of beams from the cargo derricks (5) associated with the mast.
The aftmost hold is slightly more intact, with three sides of the hold coaming (6) floating on the bank of shells, and a section of the port side of the hull alongside. The wreck is then crossed by another bulkhead (7) that stands just clear of the shells.
Our route now concentrates on the port side of the wreck, because this is the way the stern has fallen. A long cargo-winch (8) has bent spindles, but is upright on its mounting-plate and would have spanned the beam of the ship before falling slightly to port.
Slightly inside the stern, the tail-end of the propeller-shaft disappears into a box-section of tunnel (9).
Staying on the port side, above the deck of the stern, a pair of bollards floats on the seabed. A little further out, a screw-threaded part of the steering mechanism (10) lies flat, and brass collars have been polished by the shifting seabed.
Below the stern, the seabed has been scoured slightly to 27m. The rudder (11) is still roughly in place, though detached from its hinge. The propeller must have been salvaged. The last notable items of wreckage are more bollards (12) a couple of metres off the stern.
By now the tide will be starting to turn. For the other half of the dive, on the forward half of the wreck, the quickest way back to the boilers is to follow the port side, which will now offer some shelter.
Level with the boilers, the side of the hull (13) stands perhaps a metre off the seabed. The longitudinal bulkhead inside would have contained a coal-bunker.
Continuing forward on the port side, conical lobster-pots (14) are heaped in the corner where the stoke-hold bulkhead meets the first hold forward.
Between the forward holds, the foot of a mast (15) still stands upright with three winches arranged about it, the beam from a cargo-derrick lying across the top.
The forward hold again has a relatively intact coaming (16). The next item of note is a heavy deck-plate supporting a pair of hollow conical structures (17). This would originally have been the other way up, and have guided the anchor-chains from the anchor-winch into the chain-box.
The bow has fallen to starboard, and the anchor-winch (18) rests propped against the deck beams. Just out from this, an isolated pair of bollards lie alone on the seabed. Then, forward, another pair of bollards are still attached to an upside-down deck-plate (19).
Inside the bow, both anchor hawse-pipes are in place (20). The section of hull with the starboard hawse-hole has fallen to the seabed. Beneath the bow, the seabed is deeply scoured down to rock at 30m.
Following the stem and then the keel round below the bow, the last item on our tour is a pile of anchor-chain among the derelict remains of the chain-box (21).
With the tide now building, this is definitely not a dive on which to attempt to ascend on the shotline. A delayed SMB is essential with a drifting decompression.

Thanks to Smudge.

DEPTH
-20m
20m-35m
35m-45m
45m+
DIFFICULTY RATING