Lat / Long : 50 ° 44 ‘ 38 ” North – 0 ° 42′ 19” West

One of the many remains of the Mulberry Harbours which were constructed in this area. After more than 60 years under the water this is now a wonderful reef approximately 60ms longs by 17ms wide. The North end is the best preserved and is covered in white and orange dead men’s fingers, various anemones and two patches of jewel anemones. As you tour round the reef you can expect to see schools of pouting, pollack, bass, wrasse, poor cod and bid. There is normally a large school of fish at the bottom of the shot waiting to greet you. You can also find conger eels, tompot blennies, gobies, crabs and lobsters in addition to seasonal visitors like the cuttlefish and lumpsuckers. Only 2.5 miles from East Beach with an average depth 10m. As the Mulberry is made of reinforced concrete which is decaying watch out for sharp spikes.

The Mulberrys were built to use as temporary harbour walls during the D-Day landings but never made it as far as France. They are located about three miles from Pagham, near Bognor Regis and lie in an east-west direction covering a distance of about 45 metres (140 feet). They are made out of reinforced concrete that has gradually degraded over time, leaving sharp metal spikes protruding from them in places that would easily puncture a stab or drysuit so make sure your buoyancy is under control.

The structure of the Mulberrys is home to a vast amount of marine life. There is a shoal of hundreds of bib that make the area its home as well as large numbers of pollack, pouting and wrasse. If you look more carefully you can find sea scorpions perched on the wreckage, camouflaged against the background. There are also cuttlefish that tend to swim off hurriedly with tentacles in the air if disturbed by a diver, but if you take it slowly and try not to look like too much of a threat they will gradually calm down and allow you to get close to them. We also saw a lobster that was spending time away from its lair, scuttling out to collect food before heading back to safety and in the sand close by there were a few spider crabs. Apparently there are a couple of conger eels that live among the Mullberrys, but they are diver-shy, so are not often spotted.

Dive Sussex lists the Far Mulberry as “without doubt one of the best dives along the whole Sussex coast for those who want to see fish”, but it was only last summer that I got to dive it.
Constructed of various concrete caissons and pontoons, the Mulberrys were the innovation that made the Normandy campaign following the D-Day landings possible.
The idea was that Allied forces could be re-supplied through pre-fabricated harbours towed into place on the invasion beaches. This enabled the momentum of the attack to be maintained until major ports could be captured and cleared.
The various Mulberry structures were built in the UK and towed in strings across the Channel to build harbours at Arromanches for the British and Omaha beach for the Americans. The enclosed area of each was equivalent to the harbour at Dover.
The Pagham Mulberry is a Phoenix unit, a 60m, 6044 ton reinforced concrete caisson barge, designed to be sunk to form a pier from which ships could be unloaded.
It was one of many stored in the area by the simple method of flooding until it rested on the seabed.
Later the ballast tanks were pumped out to re-float it for the invasion, but thanks to a SNAFU (military term for Situation Normal, All F*?*!* Up), the tugs were not ready and it had to be resunk. In the process it swung in the tide and broke its back as it settled across its own previous scour in the seabed.
At only 10m to the seabed and rising to within a metre or two of the surface, it provides an ideal depth to potter about following a first dive on one of the deeper Channel wrecks.
The usual strong tides run past at all times except slack water. Nevertheless, a diver can shelter behind the wreckage at any state of the tide.
During my dive the current was coming from the east, so we entered the water on the sheltered west side of the Mulberry. I descended into one of the biggest shoals of pouting I have ever seen, thousands of them swirling in the current.
Wearing a Dräger rebreather with hardly any bubbles to alarm them, I just hung out with the fish.
The reinforced concrete structure is now very broken up, with rusty sharp ends of reinforcing rods projecting at all angles, so take care to avoid impalement. The concrete walls and piles of rubble on an otherwise flat gravel seabed form an oasis for marine life. Apart from the pouting, there were slightly less-numerous pollack beneath the overhanging bow at the north end of the wreck, while cracks and holes provided homes for conger eels, lobsters, crabs and squat lobsters.
Further round, the more broken southern end and upper surfaces of the wreckage formed kelp-shaded glades through which sea bass and ballan wrasse meandered while pecking at the general carpet of smaller weeds and animals. Anemones and dead men’s fingers filtered the current from beneath overhangs, especially under the flat overhanging slab of the bow.
On a warm July day with bright sunshine, shallow water and 10m visibility, the effect was positively tropical. I’ll certainly dive this site again.
Other shallow wrecks in the area accessible at slack water include a variety of smaller Mulberry components and an infantry landing craft.

Littlehampton – The Mulberry Harbours

The “Far Mulberry” as we know it, was classified as an “A1 Caisson”, eighty were manufactured, they were 60 ft high, 204 ft in length, 50 ft 3 in wide and had a displacement of 6044 tons. Draft 20 ft 3 in. The internal walls were 9 in thick with an external wall size of 15 in.

The A1 units also had Bofars anti-aircraft guns mounted on steel towers located almost mid-ships and carried a gun crew and 12 tons of ammunition from the time they were towed away from the construction berth. When in position the harbours were at all stages protected by a formidable array of guns at approximately 200 ft spacing all around the outer perimeter, barrage balloons were also flown from the caissons for added protection.

The caissons when fabricated and completed were then towed by tugs to special “waiting parks”. Each unit was designed to enable it to be gently sunk in shallow water and then when ready for the tow across the Channel, to be re-floated by simply blowing the internal tanks by means of valves.

Our one, the “Far Mulberry” had been in rather deeper water than originally intended, so It was decided to re-float it and move it into a shallower position ready for a quick salvage for D-Day, but owing to a misunderstanding, the necessary tugs were not on hand to take charge when it came afloat and the flooding valves were re-opened to allow it to settle on the sea bed again. Unfortunately the caisson had swung round whilst afloat and it was forced to settle down again diagonally over a deep depression it had made on the sea bed. It immediately twisted and cracked beyond repair.

The unit remained here until early 1945 when it was finished off by the Royal Air Force in practise bombing runs and that is the position it now lies in some two nautical miles off Pagham Beach in 12m of water.

When you next dive the “Far Mulberry” you will know a little more of this fascinating wreck and how it came to be there and when those inevitable questions start from the new divers who explore these old remains, at least you can give them a brief history of Caisson Type A1.

The outer Mulberry wreck is in fact one of the Phoenix portable harbour constructions that was to be towed to France for the D-Day landings. It was to act as support and supplies for the allied troops as they pushed into German occupied France. The idea was to sink them in key locations and resurrect for forthcoming action. The A1 Phoenix design was 204 feet in length, 62 feet wide and 60 feet high. Although unclear as to the cause, the Mulberry was left behind because she broke her back. It was then used as a bombing target by the RAF in 1945, so although she is very broken up, she can still be a threat to large boats.

The Mulberry is one of the best shallow dives in Sussex for fish life. Big shoals of Pouting and Pollack surround it and bass, cuckoo, cod and wrasse hunt around the wreckage. The top is heavily weeded and the broken internal walls and hull provide hiding places for crabs, lobsters and conger eels. We also see cuttlefish and rays around her on many occasions. The northern end or stern is the best preserved, with a huge wall of white and orange dead men s fingers and starfish eating mussels on the seabed. Bib and Pouting congregate here. At the southern end, much of the concrete wall has completely collapsed and large schools of Pollack are frequently found here. The western wall allows access to some of the broken compartments (be careful of the tangle of steel rods which penetrate wet and dry suits!).

The Mulberry is in a depth of 10-15 metres, depending on tide state, and sits on flat sand and shingle. She is buoyed and this can be used as a descent/ascent line. At the bottom of this line are two ropes. One going to the Landing Craft and the other to the Cuckoo, which are approx 8-10 minute swim from the Mulberry.

Nature Trial

Once you have explored the Far Mulberry you can follow the Nature trial out over the sandy bottom (look out for rays, lobsters, cuttlefish, dogfish and various anemones) to a World War II Landing Craft, then onto a Cuckoo (WWII Air/Sea Rescue Float) before returning to the Mulberry. Both the Landing Craft and the Cuckoo are home to a number of tompot blennies, gobies, lobsters and crabs. Occassionally you can find baby cuttlefish.

The mulberry is linked by rope to a landing craft (approx 100m) and a cuckoo rescue craft (approx 200m) – this nature trail takes about 35-40 mins for a complete circuit.

you will locate the Landing Craft 50 34.37N; 02 24.90W. You can successfully visit both wrecks as part of one dive following a guide line which joins both wrecks. The Landing Craft is in good condition with its deck complete, and both diesel engines can be seen.

The Landing Craft – This is an intact LCM Mark 1 and is 100 foot x 10 foot beam. The engines and propellers are missing, but the landing ramp at the bow is in position and the hinges are still clear.