The U90 Jinx strikes back
Off the Isle of Wight (an island off the south coast of England) lies the wreck of the U90, a First World War U-boat that is believed to have sunk whilst under tow to a salvage yard at the end of the war. Some believe that the sinking was not entirely accidental as the value of scrap was so low after the Great War that rather than tow it all the way to a suitable yard the Royal Navy sent it to the bottom.
Whatever the reason for its consignment to the sea, the rediscovery of this wreck in recent years is a veritable bonus for divers. It is in a wonderful condition of intact, and yet with sufficient holes in the hull to let light through and divers in. The conning tower is in almost immaculate condition, although, of course, the thoughtless actions of spidge-hunters degrades her state with every dive.
She lays at about 30-35m on a clean shale and sand seabed, canted over to port (I think!) by about 45 degrees. Swimming around her are large shoals of bib, whilst the jumble of her wreckage is home to hundreds of congers of all sizes. The smaller pipes and holes are claimed by the ever-inquisitive tompot blennies and the seafloor by crabs.
When we dived her as part of a huge Yorkshire Divers gig in July 2005 we had perfect conditions. The sun shone, the sea was flat calm and the vis was as good as it gets in the south of England at 10-15m. Even at 35m it was bright and beautifully green, whilst doing a 20 min stop at 6m was pure pleasure in the sunshine.
What was even sweeter about this trip was that it was about the third or fourth time many of us had tried to get out to dive her. Every time we booked for U90 over a period of 2 years it was blown out, or the boat had engine trouble! We thought that last summer had broken the jinx on her…
…..but, of course, we were wrong. I had organised a “Sub Day” for the YD crew for 18th March, last Saturday. U90 was the real goal, but we were happy to settle for UB81 or U1195 which are closer in to Portsmouth and more likely to be diveable this early in the season. For the past two months we have had lovely weather - okay, spring is about 6 weeks late here, but at least it has been calm and crisp, and very dry. Things were looking good, until last week.
At the end of last week the wind picked up, the clouds came over and by Friday the inshore waters forecast was giving Force 7, to Force 8 round the headlands, with rough seas. Predictably, as I was driving home after a particularily bad Friday at work I got the call that he diving was cancelled die to bad weather. So, just the threat of diving U90 is enough to jerk the weather gods from their slumbers and blow up a storm! The U90 jinx strikes back…
Excellent write up Lou.
Only a good dive with a good skipper and crew and excellent divers made the gig so good.
I know how you feel Lou, I know how you feel……. I blame it all that Binnie Fella……Both weekends blown out and it looked so promising on Sunday this week!
Mark