The Volnay Wreck Tour: 24

nationality: british

type of wreck: armed merchantship

propulsion: steamer

weight (tons): 4609

dimensions (m) 117mx16m, 385ftx52ft.

cause lost: striking a mine 2 miles south-east of the Manacles

date lost: 14/12/1917  

date built: 1910.

builder:

owner: Gow, Harrison & Co., Glasgow

depth (m): 18 - 21 metres (60 - 70 feet)

Orientation

Location: 50°04.25N, 05°04.03W, Porthallow, the Lizard, Cornwall

TIDES: It is slack enough to dive here at all states of the tide.

PROS: Sheltered from westerly bad weather. Shallow enough for newly qualified divers.
CONS: Particularly crowded on Easter weekend.

For clubs which frequent the Lizard, one wreck to dive is nearly always the Volnay. About the only part of the Volnay that sticks up far enough to show well on an echo-sounder are the boilers. The rest of the wreck is pretty much flat against the seabed, and with shallow rocky ledges towards the bow, it is difficult to get a reliable echo anywhere else. With hardly any current to worry about, even on a spring tide, once you have an echo it's easy enough to drop a shot right on top of the boilers (1). These stick up to about 5m from a seabed depth of between 18 and 22m, depending on the state of the tide. The bow lies to the south, but all that metal makes a compass useless.

To sort out the orientation, a quick circuit of the boilers reveals the fire holes at the front and a smaller donkey boiler forward and to the port side of the wreck (2). Continuing forward, the area of debris from the holds is fairly flat and bare (3). Fortunately, the wreck has not twisted significantly, so the exposed metal ribs can be used as a navigation aid. There are still traces of the Volnay's cargo of munitions scattered about the hold areas: rusting steel warheads, balls of lead shot and sticks of cordite looking like wholemeal spaghetti.

Heading towards the starboard side and following the wreckage forward, the halfway point to the bow is marked by a mast foot just off the side of the main area of wreckage (4). The bow has collapsed to port. The first sign of this is a broken section of hull slightly to starboard of the main part of the wreckage (5). From here, a 1m rocky ledge can be seen off to the west of the wreck. A substantial section of bow is lying on its side (6). It would be easy simply to swim past it as blank metal plate, but there is actually a way in to the rear of it, with a swim-through to the top of the bow (7). I wouldn't recommend this to anyone without plenty of experience inside wrecks. It is tight and there are lots of metal projections on which to get caught. Having said that anyone can poke their head inside and watch the swirling mass of bib and poor cod that inhabit the sheltered area.

Above the bow, to the port side of the wreck, debris from the deck includes a pair of mooring bollards (8) and a small crane that would have been used to service the anchors. The anchor winch itself lies upside-down and a little further to port (9). This is the shallowest area of the wreck and is a metre or two shallower than the seabed at the boilers. Now heading back towards the boilers, just behind the anchor winch is a sizeable section of railing lying flat against the seabed (10). Just behind this is a drum with cable wound round it. If you imagine the hull of the ship as a rectangular trough shape, with the sides collapsed outwards, the easiest line to follow is the break where the port side has collapsed away from the keel. Approximately halfway back to the boilers, a winch lies almost on this line (11), just about opposite the mast foot mentioned earlier (4). Further back, a solitary girder stands upright about 2m above the general level of the wreck. Continuing along this line, the donkey boiler (12) will soon become visible on your left. For many divers, just half of the wreck will be almost enough for one dive, so using up spare time by ferreting around the boilers before ascending the shot is probably the best way to finish. However, for a longer or second dive, staying to the port side of the wreck (13) is a convenient way to navigate towards the stern. Behind the boilers there is little sign of the engine; it must have been salvaged or substantially dispersed.

The aft part of the wreck appears to have twisted to starboard slightly about halfway back (14). Here the way in which the wreck has collapsed changes, from hull plates fallen outwards with ribs exposed, to plates fallen inwards with flat steel upwards. Again, little clusters of lead shot and tufts of cordite mark the area of the holds.
Navigation can be particularly difficult on the aft part of the wreck. Winter storms often drift sand and silt across the wreck, covering familiar landmarks and uncovering new bits of wreckage. There is a peculiar twisted girder with a cleated edge leading back in towards the main body of the wreck (15). With nothing but flat plates ahead, navigation to the stern from here is pretty much a matter of judging the right direction and being able to swim straight. The edges and seams between plates provide some reference, and there is wreckage all the way.

As you near the stern, a large iron cleat or fairlead lies diagonally across the wreck (16), followed by a pair of bollards slightly to the port side (17). Just behind the bollards lies the base of the rudder shaft (18). This slopes upward and towards the starboard side of the wreck, confirming that the stern had fallen to starboard before breaking up completely. The top of the shaft is a few metres above the seabed, and even in the negligible current you'll find a cluster of plumose anemones growing on it.

Behind the rudder shaft, an upright curved section of railing from the stern marks the end of the wreck (19). Just forward of the rudder shaft is a large pile of chain and another pair of bollards (20). If the visibility is not good, finding the way back to the boilers from here can be difficult. It's easy to end up going in circles or continuing past the boilers on either side of the wreckage without noticing them. Taking a general direction from the ribs of collapsed hull sections (21), there are occasional sections with ribs exposed that can be used to confirm the lay of the wreck. A hull plate that has bent into a large curve (22) marks the halfway-back point on the starboard side of the wreck.

It is worth moving towards the centre line of the wreck from here, but not turning so far as to go round in circles.
All being well, you will bump into the boilers and be set for an ascent up the shotline.
During the summer months and even at times throughout the rest of the year, the visibility on the Volnay is often very good and navigation is not difficult.

1-Anti-personnel warheads from the 18lb shells - these rotting steel tubes are filled with a mixture of explosive and lead shot.

2-Steel rings and shackles from the masts 3-The anchor winch lies upside-down above the bow. 4-By the boilers .

CHRISTMAS CAME EARLY

When the convoy from Montreal broke up at Barry in early December, 1917, Captain Henry Plough followed his orders and took the 4609 ton Volnay and her lethal load of 18-pounder shrapnel shells round Land's End, heading for Plymouth. The shells were much needed ammunition for the troops fighting the Great War in France. The shells had explosive heads, and were each packed with hundreds of lead balls designed for air-burst over the trenches of France. There are thousands of these lead balls on site. There was also a more cheerful cargo of tinned meats, butter, jam, coffee, tea, cigarettes, peanuts, potato crisps (after two years of war these had become almost unobtainable) and timber

He zigzagged as the Admiralty had ordered, though he was well inside the mineswept channel. Even so, when two miles east by south of the Manacles at 12.45 am on Friday 14, there was an explosion by her bows. The 385ft Volnay hit a mine laid by a German U-boat.

Captain Plough and his crew were lucky. Though the mine had blown a hole into No 1 hold on the starboard side, the shells stacked in there did not explode. In the dark it was difficult to see how bad the damage was, but the engines were still running, so the captain set course for Falmouth. He soon realised he would not make it.

The bow was dipping further and further down. He headed for the nearest land attempting to beach in Porthallow Bay. but was less than half a mile away when the Volnay lurched to port, came upright again and then started going down by the bow. All aboard abandoned ship safely.

Later in the day a strong onshore wind blew up and soon tons of the Volnays cargo - cases of coffee and tea, tins of meat, butter and jam and cartons of cigarettes were piled 2m high on Porthallow beach. In fact so much came ashore that it was almost impossible to see the beach, and in places the boxes and sacks were piled nearly five feet high. For days afterwards no boats could be launched to get out to the wreck. Not because of the bad weather, but simply because there was just no room to pull the boats down to the sea. That Christmas of 1917 must have been the best in living memory as the residents of the Lizard had a wonderful unrationed Christmas!

Most of the ammunition from the Volnay was salvaged, but as the wreck broke up over the years more came to light. Nearly all the ammunition is 18 pdr Shrapnel. All of it is fused, live, and very badly corroded, so force yourself to leave it well alone. Incidentally, the shrapnel container is made of light steel, and often this has completely disintegrated causing the brass nose fuse to drop off. Many of these lie scattered in the sand and obviously some must have been taken for souvenirs, because they are very attractive and look harmless.

Unfortunately these nosecones contain two detonators, so if you have one on your mantelpiece, take care. Because of the Volnay’s fairly shallow depth, you can have a nice long dive on her. This is just as well because she is a very picturesque wreck, ideal for photographers and there is a lot of her to explore. All of us who dived on the Volnay that day were very impressed, and I for one will be making a return visit.

Even when dived on springs there is hardly any current on this wreck, making it a straightforward dive. A lot of the wreck has been flattened, although not as much as some of the other wrecks in the area and it is still possible to locate the boilers and distinguish the keel. The silty seabed prevents you from doing much in the way of rummaging amongst the wreckage, as clouds of silt will immerse you in seconds. However, it is still possible to find the lead pellet shells on the wreck if they have been uncovered by the tide. There is quite a bit of fish life on it including bib and wrasse and a lot of sea fans. The Volnay is two minutes north from Porthkerris Cove.

Her bow section can be identified by the anchor winches and chain, but the stern section has been torn away from the main wreckage during extensive salvage. It now lies about 20m away across a mud field to the north.

All around the boilers are scattered large amounts of wreckage, including bollards, winches, chain, and a lot of wooden ammunition boxes. Further out from the boilers lie large areas of broken deck plates and rib sections all jumbled one on top of the other. It is extremely difficult to match up bits of the wreck with their relative positions, but with visibility averaging 25 feet you can have a lot of fun trying. Heading southwards you can follow the decking until you come to the bow sticking up off the bottom, nestling against a reef.

Additional information about the ‘shells’

There are boxes of some waxy substance in the bow area. Don't touch - this may be phosphorus.

Brass shells have been recovered by divers over the years, there are still some down there. Detonators are mechanical timers and are not dangerous, they look very nice polished up. The lead shot has been recovered by local dive operators to make dive weights. The boilers stand 3-4m the rest of the wreckage is very flat.

Divers should take care as the timing of the burst was set by brass nose cones still containing live detonators, which are easy to find.

The shellcases are marked on the base with a broad arrow surrounded by a big "C" for Canadian War Department. They are dated 1917. Beware also the percussion caps in the shellcases. They, too, are live.