Alternative Names Pollux; Kirk Sound; Hoy Skerries; Bay Of Cheekland; Graemsay; Atlantic; Tarbraka
Site type STEAMSHIP (20TH CENTURY)
Canmore ID 102329
Site Number HY20NW 8006
NGR HY 2439 0513
Latitude N 58 55.6333
Longitude W 3 18.8
Council ORKNEY ISLANDS
Parish MARITIME - ORKNEY
Former Region ORKNEY ISLANDS AREA
Former District MARITIME
Former County MARITIME

Canmore Mapping
View this site on a map

---

Archaeological Notes

HY20NW 8006 2439 0513
N58 55.6333 W3 18.8

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

Formerly entered as HY20NW 8871.

For other wrecks in this group, see HY20NW 8001-5 and HY20SW 8001-2.

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

Quality of fix = PA
Horizontal Datum = OGB
General water depth = 12

Circumstances of Loss Details
-----------------------------
The TARBARKA was built in 1909, and seized at Falmouth in July 1940. She was sunk as a blockship in 1941. She was later raised and removed to Burra Sound on 27 July 1944.
Source: Ferguson 1985

Surveying Details
-----------------------------
14 March 1972. The wreck was located at 58 53 20N, 002 53 50W, or on a bearing of 301 degrees, 426 metres from Lamb Holm Trig Station (61), but the complete hull has now been lifted.
Report by Undermarine Operations, 5 March 1972.

19 August 1992. The vessel was subsequently resunk in Burra Sound in a general depth of 12 metres. It is upside down immediately south of Inverlane. The wreck is easy to enter. There is also good visibility with an abundance of marine life.
Source: Dive Scapa Flow - R Macdonald, 1990.

Note: the position is approximately 58 55 38N, 003 18 48W from the diagram in the book.

Hydrographic Office, 1995.

(Classified as steel steamship: no cargo specified, but former name cited as Pollux, and date of loss as 27 July 1944). Tabarka: this vessel was sunk as a blockship, initially in Kirk Sound, and was refloated and moved here in 1944.
Registration: Rouen. Built 1909. 2624grt. Length: 100m. Beam: 13m.
(Location of loss cited as N58 55.67 W3 18.63).
I G Whittaker 1998.

The Blockships of Burra Sound
The TABARKA lies upside down in 12m of water to the south of the INVERLANE. The only passages in and out of the inverted ship are the blast holes which caused her to sink. The two main areas of interest in the TABARKA are the quarry full of boulders (loaded into the vessel to help her sink quickly). The second is the substantial boiler room. Here, three huge boilers have dropped from their mounting points.
Source: Diver Magazine (undated), 28-9.

Material reported under RoW amnesty (2001):
A110 1 porthole deadeye (12", weight 9kg) and 1 brass valve 94kg) (from seabed).
NMRS, MS/829/33.

Length: 100m
Beam: 13m
GRT: 2624
Formerly the Pollux, this single-screw steel steamship was built at Rotterdam in 1909, and registered at Rouen. Having been seized by the Royal navy at Falmouth in 1940, the vessel was taken to Scapa Flow and sunk as a blockship, initially in Kirk Sound, the most northerly of those on the E side of the Flow. She was refloated on 27 July 1944 and moved to Burra sound, where she was resunk, in about 12m depth of water about 200m WNW of the Inverlane (HY20NW 8003), as the most westerly of the Burra Sound group,
This wreck is one of the most frequently-dived of the Scapa Flow blockships, having escaped the widespread demolition by explosives in 1962. The inverted hull has been damaged by blast holes during sinking; three boilers and a triple-expansion engine (the latter inverted and in situ) survive within the interior.
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.
Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 17 September 2003.
R and B Larn 1998; I G Whittaker 1998.
HO chart 35 (1991).

Kirk Sound is not noted as such on the 1998 edition of the OS 1:50,000 map. The name applies to the most northerly of the sounds on the E side of Scapa Flow, beteween Lamb Holm (to the S) and St Mary's village, Holm, Mainland (to the N). It is centred at HY 484 010, and is spanned by Churchill Barrier No. 1 (HY40SE 25).
Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 21 March 2007.

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

Ferguson, D M (1985) The wrecks of Scapa Flow Stromness
Page(s): 33 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) 00/00/1941 Held at RCAHMS E.5.14.LAR

Macdonald, R (1990) Dive Scapa Flow, Edinburgh
Page(s): 111-112 Held at RCAHMS E.5.14.MAC

Showing 3 from 7 ...show more