Epsilon

Epsilon

The story of the loss of this 331ft, 3050 ton Dutch steamer is one of bad luck for her skipper and good luck for Oberleutnant Wilhelm Fürbringer, commanding the minelayer UC17.
He laid a small field of mines off the entrance to Falmouth Harbour at the end of January, 1917. Epsilon was taken out of Falmouth on 31 January and left by the pilot just off Black Rock. Captain Klaas Lieuwen ordered full steam for Amsterdam, where he aimed to deliver 4760 tons of maize from Buenos Aires.
He had been moving for only a few minutes when a mine blew holes in Nos 1 and 2 holds and she started to fill. He and his crew took to the boats.
When they looked back, their ship was sitting in shallow water near the entrance with part of her poop, funnel and masts standing clear. Later, some dispersal salvage was carried out.

There is little of it left although the boilers are quite distinctive. It still makes a good dive, as there is plenty of life around making their homes on and around the pieces that are strewn across the seabed.

nationality: dutch

type of wreck: cargo

propulsion: steamer

weight (tons): 3211

dimensions (m) 101x15x-- 331.7x48.2x22.2;

cause lost: mine laid by UC17

date lost: 31^st January 1917

date built:

builder: Rotterdam Droogdok Maats;

owner: B.J. Hengel; 1913;

depth (m):24m

latitude: 51°22.8XX' N longitude: 004°12.8XX' W

Orientation:

274 nhp; triple expansion engines. The Dutch steamship Epsilon was on her way from Buenos Aires to Amsterdam, when she struck a mine and sank in the English Channel on January 31st, 1917. The mine was from the german minelaying submarine UC-17. The Epsilon was one of the three ships of the ''Vrachtvaart Maatschappij Bothnia'' that were lost during WWI. Because of the loss, the company was in financial difficulties and was taken over in 1919 by ''Rotterdamse rederij C. Goudriaan.''

Descending down the shotline, I was pleased to see the viz was about 10m. There were some big boilers at the foot of the shot and plenty of scattered wreckage. I also encountered a very curious female cuckoo wrasse, which after watching me for a couple of minutes decided to try and bite me. I physically pushed it away but it still only backed off a short distance. There were also some shoals of pouting, a cuttlefish hiding on the seabed and a large conger under some plates. On the seabed around the wreck there were loads of brittle stars on the seabed.

I've dived this wreck three times now, the first time the vis. was quite poor and we stuck close to the boilers as the rest of the wreck is quite diffuse and difficult to follow. I enjoyed the first dive but it was nothing special, another broken wreck with boilers and resident conger.

The second time I dived it the underwater visibility, 6-8m, almost exceeded that on the surface (fog). For obvious reasons I wanted to return to the buoy and so reeled off the shot. We had a quick rummage around the boilers with their resident conger then headed off to the bow. The hull plating was nowhere to be seen, presumably fallen off and buried in the sand but the ribs were there sticking out of the sea bed like the rib cage of some long extinct dinosaur. At the bow we found the anchor tube, large clumps of dead men's fingers, pollack, wrasse, and masses of brittle stars.

We then returned to the shot and continued aft. Passing more ribs, and a few plates, until we came to the stern section, which consisted of some more substantial plates sheltering a small shoal of bib and a beautiful male cuckoo wrasse.

The third time we dived her we had great vis. and the marine life was incredible.