Name: Baygitano (Ex Cayo Gitano)
Built: 1905 by J Readhead & Sons, South Sheilds
Tonnage 3073 Grt
Machinery: 3cyl Triple Expansion (318 nhp) fired by 2 Boilers
Dim: 101 x 14 x 5 (330 feet long and 45 feet wide)
Description: British Steamship.
Flag: UK
Owner: Bay Steamship Co Ltd
Manager: Sale & Co, London
Master: A Murrison
Armament: Stern Mounted 14pdr
Crew: 37
Cargo: In ballast
Sunk: Torpedoed by UC77 at 11:45 on the 18th March 1918 whilst on voyage from Le Havre to Cardiff in ballast. 2 lost – 4th Engineer and Chief Engineer.

This armed collier torpedoed in 16-22m off Lyme Regis during World War One makes for a great afternoon dive, says John Liddiard. Illustration by Max Ellis.

ONE OF THE DISADVANTAGES OF WRECK-DIVING from the South Coast is that, following slack water on an offshore wreck, the choice of second dive can be limited to that popular site often logged as “scabby drift”.
Not so at Lyme Regis. Just out of the harbour, nice and shallow, and diveable at all states of the tide, is the World War One wreck of the 3073-ton steamship Baygitano.
The Baygitano is mostly level with the seabed, but pay attention and work systematically round it and you will find plenty to see. As usual with such wrecks, the best echo is from the boilers, so that is where our tour begins.
The Baygitano has two main boilers that run along the wreck (1), then a third slightly smaller donkey boiler that runs across the wreck behind them.
Aft of the boilers, the Baygitano’s triple-expansion steam engine is partly broken up (2). The high-pressure cylinder has fallen to starboard.
The medium- and low-pressure cylinders are both upright, but some of the supports are broken and it looks as if one or both of these cylinders could also soon fall over.
A section of crankshaft can be found just aft and to port of the engine (3).
I suspect that this was pulled out to get at the bearings when the Baygitano was salvaged. Perhaps that was when the damage to the engine occurred.
Its state seems precarious, though it has been stable for years.
Continuing aft, the visibility of wreckage varies as sand and gravel bank across this part of the wreck. Useful waypoints are a couple of water tanks (4). If the wreck is obscured, taking a line from the engine and trusting to fate for a few metres will take you past the water tanks, then the wreck will appear again with a section of hold hatch-coaming (5). If you stray too far to port, a small area of reef runs just off the port side of the wreck (6).
Behind the hold-coaming is a section of deck with a pair of winches followed by the spare propeller (7). The wreck has mostly collapsed to starboard in this area, leaving a section of the propeller-shaft tunnel just to port (8).
Aft of the spare propeller is a longer winch spindle that crosses the deck (9). Some divers have trouble finding the spare propeller; a simple guide is that it is within the “box” formed by the two sets of winches and the propeller-shaft tunnel.
The wreckage loses structure for a short while, then resumes with the aft-most hold hatch (10), which is surrounded on three sides by pairs of bollards and reels of mooring cable.
From here, I suggest circling the stern anti-clockwise by heading to port and following the hull back between the port railing and the keel (11).  Any divers who have strayed from the wreck and stopped at the reef described earlier (6) should be able to find the wreck again somewhere about here by following the edge of the reef.
At the stern the propeller has been salvaged, leaving the rudder (12) lying flat on the seabed on a bent rudder-post, with the remains of a steering quadrant at the top (starboard) side.
Continuing our circuit of the stern, now on the starboard side of the wreck, we find the base and pillar from the gun-mount (13). The Baygitano originally carried a 14-pounder gun, which was presumably salvaged at some stage, as only the mount remains.
Forward from the gun-mount, our route stays on the starboard side of the wreckage (14), back past the bollards and hatch-coaming where the edge of the deck meets the hull-plates that have fallen outwards.
This side of the wreck is usually less likely to be covered by shifting sand, and so is easier to follow than our route aft.
Level with the winches and spare propeller, the aft mast has fallen out to starboard (15).
Just clear of the wreck, the mast breaks again and the upper part lies forward, almost parallel to the wreck.
Staying to the starboard side, level with the engine is a section of intact deck with the hatch-coaming from the starboard coal-bunker (16). The coal-bunkers would have been in a “saddle” configuration, one to either side of the engine-room.
Forward of the boilers, the collapsed plates have piled up slightly (17). For now, our route continues forward along the starboard side of the wreck to an upright section (18).
I suspect that this was once a section of deck, but with the hull collapsing to starboard it now points to the surface.
The Baygitano is always covered in a big shoal of pouting, though for some reason the shoal is usually densest off this part of the wreck.  Following the line of the deck section forward again, our route is guided by a section of hatch-coamings and past a pair of bollards (19) to a single winch and mast that would have served the forward hold (20).
At what remains of the bow the orientation of the wreck changes, as the bow has fallen to starboard before collapsing further. Somehow, a small section of railing remains standing upright across the wreck (21).
The bow (22) stands 3m or so above the seabed, the highest point being the port side. The level of the original deck can be judged from an anchor hawse-pipe close to the tip of the bow (23), which also suggests that there may be a metre or two of wreck buried beneath the seabed.
A diver wearing light kit can get inside through the deck beams and swim through. Any diver with heavier kit, perhaps using up the dregs from a deeper offshore dive, can still get inside the bow though a larger hole at the back (24), but will need to turn round to get back out again.
Heading back to the boilers along where the port side would roughly be, a spindle from a second cargo winch is level with the forward hold (25). Then, further back, another hatch-coaming (26) marks the summit of the mound of wreckage we bypassed earlier.  If the shot is across the boilers, as most skippers seem to drop it, it shouldn’t be that hard to relocate for the ascent.

Thanks to Doug Lanfear.

This is a wreck of a well-flattened steamer, lying approx 1.5 miles due South of the Cobb at Lyme Regis. The only parts of the wreck which stand up are the boilers, engine and the bow section.

From the bows, a large part of the structure lies to the West of the main wreckage – standing up 5 or 6 meters off the seabed. It is possible to enter this section through a hatch coming with plenty room inside for two divers to explore and turn around. The only exit is back through the entry hole so don’t attempt this in poor vis.

Swimming aft of the bow, the diver covers an area of flattened decking and the collapsed port hull. There are numerous deck fittings and holes to drop into and rummage around. Continuing on, you will come across the front of the two main boilers, which have rolled slightly to the East. Behind these lies a single auxiliary boiler, which is broken up allowing a diver to swim inside and still turn round.

Immediately behind the Auxiliary boiler lies the upright engine. This is leaning to starboard, with the final LP cylinder broken away revealing the LP piston. The engine is covered in life and is usually plagued by shoals of Bib.

To the casual observer, the wreck appears to stop at this point, but if you line-up the crankshaft of the engine and swim directly astern over a sandy seabed, you’ll pass within sight of two large water tanks and then pick up the prop-shaft tunnel. Continuing aft from here, one of the stern masts lies across the tunnel stretching out East over the seabed. The wreckage here gets more substantial with deck fittings and hull features again getting more recognisable.

All too soon, the stern looms up and the wreckage appears to end. The stern is now well flattened, with little obvious features to see apart from the rudder, which the diver can swim under and get underneath the starboard hull. If you stop in the stern area and look carefully at the wreckage, you’ll start to see shapes of the 14pdr shells, which served the ships gun. The gun may be in here somewhere, buried under the wreckage.

If you swim off to the starboard side seabed, you’ll come across bits and pieces from the rigging, and eventually pick up the end of the stern mast. One of the features out here is an area of gunwale with handrails sticking vertically out of the seabed, allowing the diver to rest here awhile!

The vis on this wreck is generally extremely good with 10m the norm in the summer months. The wreck can be dived at ALL states of the tide and is sheltered from Northerly winds up to a force 5. The depth on the wreck is a uniform 21m at High Water, as it lies on a fairly flat seabed.

The Baygitano – Dive report

Location 50 41.08N 02 55.99W Depth: 15 – 20m

Diving: Sitting upright on a gravel and sand seabed, parts are up to 5 m high. Masses of sea life live on this wreck, it is home to some large congers. This is a superb dive. Makes an excellent novice training wreck dive. She has been stripped of most of her fittings, the main features are the huge boiler and pistonblock.

Easy to find as there are always boats on it. Probably the most dived wreck in the area.

Launch: Slack: Lyme Regis. 2 km north of site.

Diveable at anytime but  HW Lyme is best for visibility.

Pros: Big wreck with plenty to see. Cons: Great care should be taken if vis’ is low. Qualifications: Club Diver up.

The Baygitano is a 3000ton British steam-driven collier which lies in 18m. She was sunk on 18th March 1918 by a torpedo from UC-77. She was in ballast travelling from Le Havre to Cardiff. 2 crew were killed in the explosion. She is 330ft long with a beam of 45ft.

We started at the 3 boilers and had a look around the engine which is very prominent on this wreck although most of the rest of it is pretty flat. There were hundreds of fish around again including Ling and the usual Bib. From the engine we headed forwards as I’d always been towards the stern in the past where there is a spare prop. This time we headed out over lots of flat plates with small holes to look in – keep an eye out for the Conger! I managed to snap off a few shots but with the current flowing it was not easy. I think I need more practise.

Finally we found ourselves at the intact bow section and, after checking with Brian, we swam inside for a quick look round. It’s not a large section of wreckage and there’s not a lot to see. Dotted around are all the usual bow fittments including hawser pipe, anchor chains, railings and some rather large winch gear.

After checking out the bows, we returned via the port side of the wreckage to the boilers for a final look round the engine before heading back up the shot. Half way up I decided to send up the DSMB as there was a bit of a current running and it would be easier to drift with the current than hang on the shot. Unfortunately, the reel jammed and we had to jettison it and remain on the line. We only stopped for about 3mins and it was not too hard after all. After returning to the boat and recovering the other divers, we picked up my DSMB which was drifting a short distance away.