British steamship, 335.2ft long 51ft wide, Draught 23ft and 3426 Tons
298 nhp; triple expansion engines.
Shipyard : Blyth Shipbuilding Company, Osborne S.S. Co.; 1917;
Position: latitude:50 38′ 42″N longitude:01 05′ 23″W
Depth 18-20m, Sandown Bay, Isle of Wight.

The Camswan was a steel built ship launched in 1917, weighing 3400 tons. This 105 metre long steam ship had a short life. She was lost on her maiden voyage from Blyth to Naples with a cargo of coal. On 19 October 1917 she was in collision with another vessel, the Polbrai, 8 miles SW of St Catherine’s Point. She made it to Sandown Bay, sinking 1 1/2 miles SE of Culver Cliff.

The Camswan is an excellent wreck that sits 4 metres proud of the sand and gravel seabed in 18m of water. It was ‘dispersed’ in the 1920s and is very broken up but the wreck has plenty to explore. Visibility is generally good. Making your way to the rear of the vessel, the 4m tall stern post the large rudder and the large steel propeller gives you some idea of its size. There is plenty of marine life on the wreck including conger, pollock (I think these are a.k.a. poor cod) and wrasse and some big shoals of bib.