Alternative Names Worsworth; Hoy Skerries; Bay Of Cheekland; Graemsay; Atlantic
Site type STEAMSHIP (20TH CENTURY)
Canmore ID 102319
Site Number HY20SW 8002
NGR HY 2459 0471
Latitude N 58 55.4083
Longitude W 3 18.5833
Council ORKNEY ISLANDS
Parish MARITIME - ORKNEY
Former Region ORKNEY ISLANDS AREA
Former District MARITIME
Former County MARITIME

Canmore Mapping
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Archaeological Notes

HY20SW 8002 2459 0471
N58 55.4083 W3 18.5833

NLO: Graemsay [name centred HY 25 05]
Stromness [name: HY 253 090]
Scapa Flow [name centred HY 36 00].

For plan indicating the relative locations and orientations of blockships in this group, see Macdonald 1990, 108.

Formerly entered as HY20SW 8860.

For other wrecks in this group, see HY20NW 8001-6 and HY20SW 8001.

Horizontal Datum = OGB
General water depth = 10
Orientation of keel/wreck = NS

Circumstances of Loss Details
-----------------------------
The steamship GOBERNADOR BORIES was sunk as a blockship.

Surveying Details
-----------------------------
1926. A dangerous wreck is reported at 58 55 25N, 003 18 33W. It is completely submerged with a least depth of 5.4 metres over it. The davits show at low water.

21 July 1988. The hull is broken up, but the stern is intact.
Source; Ferguson 1985

The site is charted as a dangerous wreck with a least depth of 3 metres. It is 87 metres long, and the keel is orientated 000/180 degrees. The wreck is centred on 58 55 24.5N, 003 18 35W.
(authority not stated)

Hydrographic Office, 1995.

(Classifed as iron steamship: no cargo specified, but former name cited as Wordsworth, and date of loss as 12 October 1914). Gobernador Bories: this vessel was sunk as a blockship in Burra Sound.
Registration: Punta Arenas. Built 1882. 2332grt. Length: 87m. Beam: 12m.
(Location of loss cited as N58 55.42 W3 18.55).
I G Whittaker 1998.

The Blockships of Burra Sound. The GOBERNADOR BORIES sits on her keel at a depth of 17.3m in a setting of rocks and pure white sand. She has a list to starbaord. With visibility at 15m you can see large sections of the wreck. her bow and starboard side are virtually intact, and inside the water is calm. Amidst the vessel's boilers lies a mass of tangled decking and struts a blaze of colour from marine life. The stern retains its original shape.
Source: Diver Magazine [unstated year] 28.

Material reported under RoW amnesty (2001):
A3723 1 oil box lid (20 x 10cm): from seabed.
NMRS, MS/829/35.

Length: 87m
Beam: 11m
GRT: 2332
This ship (formerly the Wordsworth) was built in 1882 by W Gray and Co., West Hartlepool and served for some years as a whaling ship [presumably a factory vessel] based at Punta Arenas, near Cape Horn. A two-cylinder compound engine of 224hp and a two boilers powered a single screw. The ship had two decks and five bulkheads. The poop, boat deck and forecastle measured 26ft (7.9m), 56ft (17.1m) and 30ft (9.1m) in length respectively.
She was sunk as a blockship in 1915, being one of the first blockships to be set in place; neither a published photograph nor any other details of the service or commercial history of the ship are apparently available. The wreck has not been dispersed by explosives, remains substantially intact (although lacking her superstructure), and is regularly visited by sport divers. Both bow and stern apparently remain well-defined, and many fittings remain in place.
The major identifiable features comprise the boilers, engine and related fittings. The steering mechanism is also to be seen.
Burra Sound forms a narrow gap between Hoy Skerries (to the SW) and the island of Graemsay. Several wrecks are charted in a general depth of between 5 and 12m; the sound is subject to pronounced tidal flows.
(The Diver article cited contains a comprehensive description of the remains).
Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 4 October 2002.
R and B Larn 1998; I G Whittaker 1998; Diver 2000.
HO chart 35 (1991).

Length: 286 ft (87.2m): date of sinking 12 October 1914.
'Unballasted. Completely submerged. Three fathoms over her at L.W. Davits visible.' (Report dated 28 June 1915).
The accompanying map depicts the vessel in outline as lying well to the S of the main group, in the centre of the sound, and with bows towards the N. The accompanying panoramic sketch (dated 8 December 1915) omits this ship.
Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 30 January 2004.
PRO [Kew] ADM116/2073A: dated 17 December 1919.

Notes and Activities

August 1997

DESK BASED ASSESSMENT

Project Coastal Assessment Survey of Burray, Flotta, Graemsay, Hoy and South Ronaldsay

Notes Throughout the two World Wars Scapa Flow served as the base of the British Home Fleet. Access to these waters was guarded by a series of coastal batteries, booms and blockships. The blockships comprised old and damaged vessels which were deliberately sunk in position so as to form a submarine obstacle to deter enemy incursions. After 1945 some of the blockships were dispersed by explosives to clear the shipping lanes while many others were salvaged for parts and metal. The wrecks of several blockships remain on the sea bed and in the intertidal zone.
(i) [HY20SW 8002] The Gobernador Bories, a 2,332 ton iron steamer, was built in 1882 at West Hartlepool. She was sunk in Burra Sound in 1915. She lies S of Hoy Skerries and is relatively intact.
(ii) [HY20SW 8001] The Ronda was built in 1889 in Sunderland and was sunk in 1914. She was a steel single-screw 1,941 ton steamer. She was dispersed with explosives in 1962.
(iii) [HY20NW 8005] Built in Glasgow in 1882, the 2,252 steel single-screw steamer, Budrie, was sunk in 1915. She was dispersed with explosives in 1962.
(iv) [HY20NW 8003] The Rotherfield was a 2,831 ton steel single-screw steamer. Built in West Hartlepool in 1889, she was sunk in Burra Sound in 1914. She was dispersed with explosives in 1962.
(v) [HY20NW 8004] A 3,423 ton steel single-screw steamer, the Urmstone Grange, was built in Belfast in 1894 and was sunk in 1914. She was dispersed with explosives in 1962.
(vi) [HY20NW 8003] Built in 1938 in Germany, the 8,900 ton tanker Inverlane was holed by a mine off South Shields in 1939. She was patched up, towed to Burra Sound and, there, sunk as a blockship in 1944. She remains relatively intact and her bows are clearly visible, rising from the waters to the S of Hoy Skerries.
(vii) [HY20NW 8006] The Tarbraka was a single-screw steamer of 2,624 tons. Built in Rotterdam in 1909, she was captured by the Royal Navy in 1940 and was sunk as a blockship, initially in Kirk Sound. At the completion of Churchill Barrier 1, the Tarbraka was re-floated and sunk in Burra Sound in 1944. She now lies, upside down, in 12m of water to the S of Hoy Skerries.
(viii) [HY20SW 8001] The 1,761 ton single-screw steamer the Doyle, built in Troon in 1907, was sunk in 1940. She lies relatively intact beneath 15m of water.

Further details

Books and References

Diver (2000a) 'Wreck tour 22: the Gobernador Bories', Diver
Held at RCAHMS E.5.14.DIV.P

Ferguson, D M (1985) The wrecks of Scapa Flow Stromness
Page(s): 36 Held at RCAHMS E.5.14.FER

Larn and Larn, R and B (1998) Shipwreck index of the British Isles: volume 4, Scotland, London
Page(s): DD (R) 00/00/1915 Held at RCAHMS E.5.14.LAR

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