Hi all, I don’t post much here but I might read quite a lot! Anyway, I went on a diving trip to the Shetland Isles last August and thought some of the pics of E49 might be interesting.
She was a WW1 sub with 31 crew on board. They had moored in Baltasound harbour on Unst while transiting back south to Scapa Flow in March 1917. There are two channels leading out from Baltasound and these had been mined by UC-76 which may have seen E49 entering harbour. While travelling south on the surface in 30m of water E49 struck one of two mines in her path and her bow was blown off. She sank with the loss of all hands. Records say that the explosion was only witnessed by two people walking on the cliffs otherwise her fate might have been a mystery.
One of the E class subs
Original UC-76 minefield map.
Dropping onto the wreck
Brass conning tower with periscope - Brass because steel would interfere with the compasses
Deckside valves - fuel filling?
Clearing sand from a hatch. Note the big bevel gears in the background.
Rear torpedo tube door - You can make out the worm and wheel drive that opens it.
Exhaust pipe
Base of a periscope
Ladder rungs inside the conning tower.
Broken bow section with gearing for dive planes
Base of the conning tower with hatchway
Post dive photo op. I’m in the centre. Yes, we’re all old farts.
Our dive support vessel, Valhalla, ex-RN.
One last one of me messing about with a camera (Olympus TG7 in an underwater case and video light). I’m using a drysuit in 12C temperatures and twin 12L cylinders for redundancy with a long hose setup ‘cos it’s cool (there might be other reasons too!).
As you can see, the E49 sits pretty much upright but deep in the sand. It’s one of the standout dives among some fantastic wrecks on that trip which included a couple of WW1 freighters in 45m. It’s a war grave so there’s always the reminder that this is the last resting place of a brave crew, something to be aware of while I’m enjoying myself.
