Breda: Ardmucknish Bay, Firth Of Lorn
Steamship (20th Century)
Site Name Breda: Ardmucknish Bay, Firth Of Lorn
Classification Steamship (20th Century)
Alternative Name(s) Ledaig; Ardmuckmish Bay; Breda
Canmore ID 102573
Site Number NM83NE 8001
NGR NM 89606 36743
Datum WGS84 - Lat/Long
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/102573
- Council Argyll And Bute
- Parish Maritime - Argyll And Bute
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Maritime
- Former County Not Applicable
NM83NE 8001 8960 3674
N56 28.55 W5 25
NLO: Ardmucknish Bay [name centred NM 890 375]
Firth of Lorn [name centred NM 69 19].
Formerly entered as NM83NE 9201.
BREDA, has been extensively salvaged and wire swept.
(Transits illustrated).
Source: Butland & Siedlecki, BSAC Wreck Register, Scotland 2, 1987.
Quality of fix = HSA
Evidence = Swept by Wire (Two Ship/Boat Drift/Drag Sweep)
Horizontal Datum = OGB
General water depth = 26
Orientation of keel/wreck = 080/260
Circumstances of Loss Details
-----------------------------
The BREDA was bombed and sunk by German aircraft.
Surveying Details
-----------------------------
The vessel was sunk by air attack. The site was drift swept clear at 5.1 metres but fouled the sweep at 6 metres. The least depth by echosounder was 7.9 metres. To the seabed is 27.4 metres. There is little scouring. The wreck is lying with its keel on an orientation of 080/260 degrees. The vessel is still in one piece.
Report by HMS SHACKLETON, 22 August 1959.
The site was wire swept clear at 5.4 metres but fouled sweep at 6.1 metres. The least depth by echosounder was 8.22 metres. To the seabed is 22.8 metres. There is no scour. One sweeping sinker distinctly fouled a large piece of wreckage at 6.1 metres.
Report by HMS SHACKLETON, 25 July 1960.
The site was again swept and it cleared at 8.22 metres, but fouled at 8.5 metres. The site was wire sweep to a least echosounder depth of 9.1 metres. To the seabed is 21.9 metres. The wreck twice cleared at 8.22, but three firm fouls were obtained at 8.5 metres. These were examined by divers. The highest point appears to be remains of after superstructure. A mast was sighted lying athwartships on the well deck.
Report by HMS SHACKLETON, 31 July 1961.
30 May 1967. An article in Under Water magazine (June 1967) featured a report by P Rodgers, which stated that the wreck was visited by members of Edinburgh BSAC in July 1966 and again by Perth BSAC in 1967 who found it to be lying with its stern in 30 metres of water. The bows are in 24.3 metres. The cargo at the time of loss was general, tobacco, airplanes (3 biplanes and 33 de Haviland moths), NAAFI goods, etc.
16 October 1967 An article by Richard Larn in Underwater magazine Aug/Sept 1967, states that the holds are silted up and full of the hard cement cargo which has been spread about.
2 December 1968. War Risk Insurance: details state that the vessel (the hull) was sold many years back. Also salvage has taken place on the cargo.
21 July 1970. The propellor is now missing. It was removed by D Tye in 1968/69.
10 November 1975. The wreck's position is given as 56 28 33N, 005 25 00W. The navy succeeded without explosives to raise 3 engines from the aeroplanes. The wreck stands in 27.4 metres at the stern (flooding neaps) and is heavily silted.
Report by R P Webb, 12 September 1975.
30 April 1976. The wreck is reported to be lying upright. The bows face east. The hull is intact. Three de Haviland Tiger Moths engines were recovered from number 1 and 2 holds.
Report by NAC sub aqua club from expedition in April 1976 newsletter.
9 March 1984. The site was dived on in 1979. The vessel is now very much broken up. It stands 7 metres high in a general depth of 26 metres (stern in 30 metres, bow in 24 metres).
Report by S Humphrey.
Hydrographic Office, 1995.
(Classified as steel M[otor] V[essel], with general cargo: date of loss cited as 24 December 1940). Breda: this vessel was bombed, beached, and finally sunk under tow in Ardmucknish Bay. Capt. Fooy.
Registration: Rotterdam. Built 1921. 6941grt. Length: 121m. Beam: 18m.
(Location of loss cited as N56 28.55 W5 25.08).
I G Whittaker 1998.
Material reported under RoW amnesty (2001):
A053 'various bottles': from seabed.
NMRS, MS/829/32.
Material reported under RoW amnesty (2001):
A344 2 2v lead acid batteries, part of gas mask (damaged): from seabed.
NMRS, MS/829/33.
Material reported under RoW amnesty (2001):
A536 2 glass bottles: from seabed
A583 part of navigation map [chart], 12ins by 18ins: from seabed
A926 2 glass bottles: from seabed.
NMRS, MS/829/34.
Material reported under RoW amnesty (2001):
A1049 fire hose fitment: from seabed
A1072 5 bottles, from seabed
A1149 1 toothbrush, from seabed
A1168 hinge, pipe valve, spoon, lamp bracket, bannister bracket: from seabed
A1505 5 toothbrushes, 3 handshavers: from seabed
A1662 1 bottle, 1 pot: from seabed
A1708 2 glass jars: from seabed
A1868 3 tiles: from seabed
A2187 1 top half of broken vinegar bottle: from seabed by stern [described in detail]
A2229 4 pages of an atlas: from seabed
A2282 1 crucible: from seabed
A2560 1 tile: from seabed
A2616 1 beer bottle, from seabed
A2714 'hundreds' of pages of atlas (retains colour): from seabed
A2722 telephone handset (black): from seabed, port side, midships
A2726 1 small clear bottle, 1 terracotta tile, 7 discs (bakelite or similar), 2 red plastic tops (for cosmetics): [received incomplete]
A2770 1 gas mask, 6 bottles, 1 pot, 1 part tppthpast tube: from seabed
A2911 1 toothbrush: from seabed
A2915 1 brass razor and box, 1 bakelite razor, 1 piece brass: from seabed
A2929 1 leather sandal: from seabed
A2974 4 leather diary covers: from seabed
A3192 1 govt issue respirator, 1 wooden sheave with bronze coke [sic.], 1 bronze hydrosmatic [hydrostatic] trigger, 2 brown glass beer bottles, 1 floor tile [record received incomplete]: from seabed
A3217 1 fire extinguisher from Tiger Moth aircraft: from seabed
A3351 1 test tube, 1 Y-shaped tube: from seabed
A3501 1 broken teacup, 1 electric insulator: from seabed
A3523 1 pressure gauge case, aircraft parts, including piston, cylinder heads, exhaust mainifold, identification plate, windscreen, compass, pressure gauge [report received incomplete]: from seabed
A3582 1 sauce bottle and domestic tile [detailed descriptions given but report received incomplete]: from seabed
A4081 4 plates, 2 cups, 2 saucers: from seabed
A4176 2 glass bottles: from seabed
A4183 1 altimeter, 1 deadlight, 1 air speed indicator: from seabed.
NMRS, MS/829/35.
Material reported under RoW amnesty (2001):
A4495 1 porthole, 1 wheel, 2 batteries, 3 leather soles, 4 bike tyres, 1 jar, 1 plate, 1 bottle, 2 saucers, 1 cup, 7 tiles.
NMRS, MS/829/77.
This impressive general cargo steamship of 6941 tons grt and 4387 tons nrt was built in 1921 by the New Waterway Shipbuilding Co at Schiedam (near Rotterdam). She was registered in Amsterdam to the Koninkl. Nederl. Stoomb. Maats. NV (Royal Netherlands Steamship Co). She was, unusually, turbine-powered to give a speed of 11.8 knots. Her two double-reduction turbines were built by Metropolitan Vickers of Manchester and geared to a single propeller. They drew steam from four boilers which were coal-fired but were converted to burn oil.
The published photographs record a large and full-formed ship of basically 'three island' type with a large superstructure, prominent bridge and poop accommodation block. The bridge forms a distinct structure and there is a single tall funnel. The stem is straight and the stern of 'cruiser' form, while a complex array of cargo-handling gear is based around two massive goalposts (forward and aft). There were five hatches, one of them (no. 3) situated between the bridge and the engine room. Other storerooms were situated within the hull, and a 'heavy' stern gun was mounted on the emergency steering position (aft) at the outbreak of war. Four lifeboats hung amidships and aft for the crew of 37 and up to 16 passengers; the photographs record the provision of further boats.
The ship remained in (apparently profitable) service for nearly twenty years before being bombed in the deep water of Oban Roads (presumably around NM 81 32) on 23 December 1940. The ship had come under the control of the P and O Line (presumably when Holland fell to the Germans) and was then being formed into a convoy for East Africa, India and Pakistan. Her cargo was varied and unusual, to say the least, including copper ingots, bulk goods (cement), aircraft (presumably disassembled), packaged goods (tobacco and cigarettes) and military stores (aircraft and vehicle spares, crockery and rubber-soled sandals). The most unusual items carried were stocks of banknote paper and nine dogs and ten horses (the latter said to belong to the Aga Khan).
Bombs delivered from He-111 aircraft at high altitude straddled the ship, leaving her dead in the water, creating prominent depressions in the sides amidships and starting the seams to allow a continuous inflow of water. The ship was towed into Ardmucknish Bay in an attempt to beach her, but this proved unsuccessful. The passengers were put off by boat and the horses allowed to swim ashore before the ship sank on the edge of a prominent underwater shelf in about 6m depth of water, subsequently settling back down the slope.
Attempts at immediate salvage were also unavailing although some copper ingots were recovered in 1943. Her masts remained visible at low water until the wreck was wire-swept in 1961, the goalpost masts and superstructure being levelled and removed. Her propeller was recovered (in pieces and with the use of explosives) in 1968 and various other items have since been lifted (included three aircraft engines in 1975).
Since the mid-1960's, this large, light, substantially-intact and easily accessible wreck has become what is probably the most popular recreational diving site in Scotland. It forms a northern counterpart to that of the James Egan Layne which sank in wartime under similar circumstances near Plymouth. It is usually buoyed at more than one location, and a small memorial plaque on the wreck records a fatal accident. The wreck also supports a rich and varied assemblage of marine life, anemones, tunicates and featherworms being prominent.
The wreck is upright on a seabed of soft silt, with the stern in 30m of water and the bows (to the E) in about 24m. Apart from the remains of the cargo, the identifiable features and fittings comprise the lower portions of the superstructure and accommodation blocks, and also of the cargo-handling gear. A large portion of the hull has been cut away to become almost detached at the bows while salvage operations have left a tangled mass of girders, plates and machinery in the engine room.
The wreck is charted as wire-swept to a depth of 8.2m in a general depth (below LWMOST) of between 16 and 27m (sloping towards the W and SW), The nature of the seabed is not specified near the wreck, but is evidently mixed and predominantly sandy across the bay. The extensive area of Ardmucknish Bay is open towards the SW (and deepens gradually in that direction) but is afforded some shelter by the island of Mull. The entrance to Loch Etive (at Ledaig) opens from its SE corner.
(For location plan and photographs in service, see Macdonald 1993, 18 and Macdonald 1993, 50, 51, respectively. For transits, see Moir and Crawford 1994, 124).
Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 6 November 2002 [visited on several occasions 1995 to date].
R Macdonald 1993; Moir and Crawford 1994; R and B Larn 1998; Diver 1999.
HO chart no. 2378 (1977, revised to 1992).
Reference (2011)
Whittaker ID : 353
Name : BREDA
Latitude : 562833
Longitude : 52505
Date Built : 1921
Registration : ROTTERDAM
Type : MV (STEEL)
Tonnage : 6941
Tonnage Code : G
Length : 121
Beam : 18
Draught : 11m
Loss Day : 24
Loss Month : 12
Loss Year : 1940
Comment : Bombed, beached and finally sank under tow in Ardmucknish Bay. Capt. Fooy
Cargo : GENERAL
Reference (19 April 2012)
UKHO Identifier : 002709
Feature Class : Wreck
Wreck Category : Dangerous wreck
State : LIVE
Classification : Unclassified
Position (Lat/long) : 56.47567,-5.41780
Horizontal Datum : ETRS 1989
WGS84 Position (Lat/long) : 56.47567,-5.41780
WGS84 Origin : Block Shift
Previous Position : 56.47583,-5.41667
Position Method : Horizontal sextant angle
Position Quality : Precisely known
Depth : 8.2
Depth Method : Swept by wire-drag
Depth Quality : Least depth known
Water Depth : 26
Water Level Effect : Always under water/submerged
Vertical Datum : Lowest Astronomical Tide
Name : BREDA
Type : SS
Flag : DUTCH
Length : 122.8
Beam : 17.7
Draught : 10.7
Orientation : 80.0
Tonnage : 6941
Tonnage Type : Gross
Cargo : GENERAL, AIRCRAFT AND HORSES
Date Sunk : 24/12/1940
Bottom Texture : Mud
Contact Description : Entire wreck
Original Sensor : Reported Sinking
Last Sensor : Diver Sighting
Original Detection Year : 1942
Last Detection Year : 1999
Original Source : Other
Last Source : Other