Reach for the Sky

A mid-channel collision, toxic barrels washing up on beaches and millions of pounds worth of foreign currency mysterious missing. Jason Brown discovers that even in the best viz, there’s a lot more to the Aeolian Sky than meets the eye...

Feature Information

Author:

Jason Brown

Publication Date:

November 2017

Publication:

Scuba Diver UK

Feature catagory:

Shipwrecks

Photo Gallery:

Aeolian Sky wreck

This feature and all images are copyright © Jason Brown and may not be republished, reproduced or copied in any form without the express written permission of the author. This feature and all images are available to licence.

Looking back through 2017, June was a good month for UK diving. Often less than charitable at the best of times, the weather gods were extremely kind, granting us what seemed like an uncharacteristically warm spell of great weather which seemed to coincide with a spell of uncharacteristically good viz. Like many divers across the country, there was no way I was going to miss out on this freak of nature. With kit loaded into my car and my boat space booked, I headed down to Portland in Dorset for a dip on one of my favourite wrecks - the Aeolian Sky. Heading towards Weymouth, topside conditions certainly looked promising and I even managed to bag a parking spot and kit trolley on arrival at Portland Marina. Everything really was coming up Millhouse.

A South Coast favourite...

The Aeolian Sky has been one of my favourite South Coast dives for many years and with good reason. First and foremost, she’s a big wreck. And when I say big, I mean over 10,000 plus tonnes of Greek freighter big. She may not have enjoyed an illustrious military career or played a significant role in our country's rich and varied maritime history but her sheer size, state and the variety of her cargo – much of which is still in place – makes her a dive worth adding to anyone’s log book. You might expect such a big wreck to be in deep water but the Sky is relatively shallow – at a depth of around 30m, she’s accessible to most divers.

As bad luck would have it, the Aeolian Sky was just a year old when she met her unfortunate end on the 4rd November 1979. Built in the Hashihama Shipyard in Japan just the year before, she was a modern freighter with comfortable crew quarters and even her own derricks (cranes) for loading and unloading cargo. On the day before her unfortunate sinking, she was sailing from Hull, via Rotterdam, enroute to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania when she collided with the German Coaster Anna Knueppell in dense fog 20 miles off the coast of Guernsey.

"Built in the Hashihama Shipyard in Japan just the year before, she was a modern freighter with comfortable crew quarters and even her own derricks (cranes) for loading and unloading cargo."

"For divers hoping to stumble across a lost fortune, the Aeolian Sky is well served with shuttle boats running regular trips out to her from Weymouth, Portland and nearby Swanage."

Despite initial efforts to tow her to a French port and then later into the Solent, an attempt was finally made to tow her into Portland Harbour. With the weather at gale force and huge seas taking their toll, she began to take on water and sank 5 miles off St Aldhelm’s Head – 12.5 miles from the sanctuary of Portland Harbour.

Like most wrecks, the story of the Aeolian Sky’s loss has an intriguing twist. Ten weeks after she went down, a firm of loss adjusters contacted the local Dorset Police to inform them of a mysterious addition to the cargo manifest – a consignment of 600,000 Seychelles 100 rupee bank notes with a sterling value of about £4.5 million!

Despite efforts by a specialist team of divers to recover the bank notes the ship’s sick bay, the strongboxes containing the money were never recovered. All that was ever found were a very small numbers of bank notes which it was claimed had either washed up on local beaches or had been recovered by passing fishermen. Even to this day, the mystery of what happened to the missing millions remains unsolved.

Getting to the wreck...

For divers hoping to stumble across a lost fortune, the Aeolian Sky is well served with shuttle boats running regular trips out to her from Weymouth, Portland and nearby Swanage. I’d booked myself on to one of my regular South Coast dive boats – the purpose built Catamaran hard boat Skindeeper operated by Portland-based Skindeep Diving.

Skippered by Ian Taylor, she’s ideal for covering the 12.5 miles to the wreck site with plenty of space for kit and – of course – the obligatory diver’s lift fitted to her stern makes getting back on board a lot easier too. Transfer to the Sky doesn’t take long – most dive boats can make the leisurely transfer in about an hour from Portland or just 45 minutes from Swanage.

When the Sky first went down, the wreck was so big that sections of the wreck came within just 9 metres of the surface, making it a hazard to larger vessels. Explosives were later used to reduce her shallowest point to a more reasonable 18 metres. Salvage operations carried out to recover her cargo took their toll on her bow section too which now lies separate from the main section of the wreck. Despite this, the Aeolian Sky remains a surprisingly intact wreck, especially around the more interesting stern which – like most container ships – is home to the imposing bridge castle.

Dropping the shot...

Most boat skippers will drop their shot lines around the stern section, giving single cylinder divers the opportunity to explore the most interesting part of the wreck in a single dive. At just over 145 metres long, the Sky is a big wreck so it pays to plan your dive wisely. If this is your first dive on the Sky then I’d recommend you focus on the large bridge castle located at the stern. With the wreck lying on its port side on a limestone and chalk seabed, the bridge section is quite an imposing sight if you’re lucky enough to dive the wreck in good conditions. Looking up from the sea bed, the massive bridge castle section casts an imposing shadow that calls out to be explored. Even the roof area offers much to see with its large funnel and what I can only assume is the encrusted remains of a four-pronged marine radar.

Exploring the Sky...

For the more adventurous, there’s plenty of opportunities to penetrate the wreck with large windows and open companionways ushering you inwards. A word of caution, though – even in the very best viz, penetrating the Aeolian Sky is not to be undertaken lightly. Even with the correct training and proper line laying, the wreck presents a multitude of hazards including tangled cabling hanging loosely around you, unstable metalwork, the disorientating effect of the wreck’s orientation and – of course – easily-disturbed silt. If in doubt, stay out.

No visit to this part of the wreck is complete without rounding her stern. Just past the bridge castle, you’ll encounter a massive winch with cables still attached. Further on, drop over the back of the stern and you’ll find a massive anchor still in place offering photographer’s a great photo opportunity and the ship’s sizeable rudder now lies angled down toward the seabed. Don’t bother looking for the props, though – they were salvaged long ago. That said, the spare prop can still be found if you know where to look within the labyrinth-like innards of the wreck itself.

"Even in the very best viz, penetrating the Aeolian Sky is not to be undertaken lightly...."

External Links

Portland Gas Shack + Skindeeper

Skindeep Diving

Running back towards the bow section, the holds have fared far worse with much of it collapsed and tangled. Following the Sky’s twisted shell, the vessel’s various masts and loading derricks lie flat on the seabed having long collapsed from their original positions. If you’ve got the bottom time, I’d recommend swimming out to explore these massive structures – the large winches and lifting gear still attached to them is quite a sight! There’s plenty to see in the tangled debris - keep your eyes open for the scattered remains of the ship’s cargo including large steel pipes, perfume and Marmite bottles and even car parts.

South Coast Thistlegorm

For the more eagle-eyed, you may even stumble across the remains of several Land Rovers, trucks and tractors. They’re quite a surreal site and – in good viz – you almost feel like you’re diving on the Thistlegorm. All that is missing are a few aircraft parts, a few racks of Lee-Enfield rifles and a slightly different hue to the surrounding water and you’d be there.

Sadly, bottom time and gas supply is always going to limit your exploration of the Aeolian Sky. It’s one of those wrecks that no matter how many times you dive her, there’s always more to discover. All too soon, you’ll hit the limit of your bottom time before popping up a delayed surface marker buoy to start the journey back to the surface – usually just as the tide starts to run. As you bubble off below your surface marker, all that remains is to hope that the skipper’s tea isn’t too stewed when you step back onboard. For the record, the tea served up after my dive turned out to be reasonably drinkable...

Reach for the Sky

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