WRECKTOUR:136 The William Mannell

WE'RE OFF ACROSS the Irish Sea to Ireland for another wreck off Malin Head, the Fleetwood trawler William Mannell. Though the wreck lies off the Donegal coast, the most convenient diving access is from Portstewart in Northern Ireland.
When I dived the William Mannell, the shot was by the bow, so that is where our tour begins (1).
The bow lists slightly to port, with the port anchor missing and the starboard still in place. Some hull-plates above the waterline have rotted away, and the hull is covered in a mixture of yellow and white dead men's fingers, anemones and hydroids; not an unusual covering for a wreck, but very pretty in the typically good visibility.
In the centre of the deck is a small anchor-winch (2). Behind this, the wooden decking has rotted away to leave only ribs preventing access inside.
To either side are pairs of mooring bollards, then, spanning the deck, the raised V of a spray-deflector (3).
The William Mannell was built as an Admiralty Castle-class trawler, serving as an escort trawler in World War One, then as a minesweeper through WW2. Perhaps it was this service history that led to local rumours that the vessel was a mine victim from one or other of the two wars.
The Castle class was a prolific design, and the WW1 mine victim Benton Castle off Dartmouth featured in Wreck Tour 117 (October 2008). However, unlike the Benton Castle, the William Mannell survived both wars, and was with the Fleetwood fishing fleet when holed on the rocks near Glengad Head.
Refloating on the next tide, the Mannell sank slowly while under tow by the accompanying trawler Gava, so damage to the wreck is limited to that from the deep surge of Atlantic storms, and the hull is reasonably intact. The wreck lies with bow pointing towards the shore.
Behind the bow, the deck has dropped so that its port side is almost level with the seabed. Trawl gallows can be seen to either side of the deck (4), with the port gallows upright and the starboard collapsed across the deck.
Briefly turning back towards the bow, gaps between the upright supports for the deck provide a view inside, illuminated by light trickling in through numerous holes in the hull and deck.
An enormous lobster is rumoured to live in here, but I didn't find it.
Turning aft again, a coil of cable on the deck is wrapped about the hatch-coaming to the hold (5). I suspect that this was the gear-hold, the fish-hold being further aft.
Next are a pair of cams along the centre of the deck (6), part of the net-handling gear, and a feature often found on trawler wrecks. These are followed by another hatch-coaming that could have been above the fish-hold.
The line of the deck is then interrupted by a step upwards and a bigger step downwards, where a section with a smaller hatch stands above the main level.
When the William Mannell was afloat, this would have been part of the main deck. However, most of the main deck has collapsed, leaving this section to stand above it. The trawl-winch (7) is tipped up further relative to the main deck, though not anywhere near far enough to be vertical. All the cables are wound, as the William Mannell was not fishing when she got into trouble.
Behind the trawl-winch is where the wheelhouse would have stood on a Castle-class trawler, raised slightly and partly back over the boiler. All that remains on the deck are a few upright sections of rib.
Just off the port side of the wreck, a flat section of crossed ribs (8) may have been part of the wheelhouse floor.
The single boiler (9) is intact except for a few holes in the outer casing, and fills the width of the hull.
The triple-expansion steam engine (10) is immediately behind the boiler and fallen further to port, mostly buried in debris.
A trawl-net (11) is tangled over the starboard side of the hull. This is a more recent nylon net, obviously fouled and lost on the wreck since the William Mannell sank, and not part of the original trawler's fishing gear.
The aft trawl gallows have both fallen. The starboard gallows is on the seabed off the port side, while the port gallows (12) has simply fallen outward from its position at the edge of the deck.
Aft of the engine-room, another short section of deck supports an upright section of mast (13), with the upper part of the mast lying off the port side of the wreck.
As at the bow, this section of deck has dropped so that the stern stands slightly higher, with a stronger list to port.
The deck and some of the hull-plating has rotted away to leave a largely open framework. Like the bow, this is covered in dead men's fingers, anemones and hydroids.
The steering quadrant (14), the source of the William Mannell's woe, is aligned straight ahead. Off the stern of the wreck, the last item of wreckage is the curved stern rail (15), fallen to the seabed.
At only 29m down and just short of 38m long, most divers will have time to do a lazy couple of lengths of the Mannell without getting into too much decompression.
In typically clear visibility, relocating the shotline to ascend will be straightforward.
However, hanging on at decompression depth in the groundswell could be both uncomfortable and risky, so a delayed SMB is recommended if longer stops are planned.

Thanks to Richard Lafferty.

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