Atland

25 March 1943     57 28.777N  01 38.244W     54 in 64 metres

Built:  1910 by W Doxford & Sons Ltd, Sunderland

Construction:  steel, turret-decked, 5,203 grt, length 388.9 ft (118.5m), beam 52.4 ft (15.9m), draught 26.1 ft (7.9m)

Propulsion:  320 NHP triple expansion, 4 boilers, machinery by W Doxford & Sons Ltd, Sunderland

Registered:  Gothenburg, Sweden

The Atland was built for Angfartygs A/B Tirfing (Axel Brostrom & Son) of Gothenburg.  She was the last turret-decked steamer to be built and also one  of the largest.  Axel Brostrom had operated a number of turret-decked ships since purchasing the Malmland in 1904, a ship which coincidently was also lost off the Buchan coast in 1917.

The turret-decked ship was designed, and almost exclusively built, by W Doxford & Sons from 1893 to 1910.  The concept was that the cargo holds would be 'self-trimming', the bulk cargo in the turret section acting as a reservoir to replace that in the main hold below when it settled, thus preventing the cargo from shifting and causing stability problems.  An added benefit was that the design gave the ship a much lower net registered tonnage for a given cargo capacity, and as port dues were based on net tonnage, savings could be made.  In 1910 the Board of Trade rules were changed which led to the decline of turret-decked ships.

The story of the Atland's final 84-day voyage is somewhat ironic - she crossed the Atlantic twice, steamed over 8,600 miles and survived the largest convoy battle of WWII only to sink off Peterhead following a collision with the ship which had accompanied her from New York.

Under command of Captain Wilhelm Lothman, the Atland loaded a cargo of iron ore at Pepel in Sierra Leone, West Africa and travelled the 20 miles to join convoy FTT6  which departed Freetown on the 31st December 1942. The convoy crossed the Atlantic east-to-west arriving at Port of Spain, Trinidad on the 15th January 1943. On the 20th January in convoy TAGSP she travelled to Key West, USA, arriving on the 25th then departed 5th February in convoy KN220 to arrive in New York on the 10th.  After a 23-day wait in New York, the Atland joined what was to become the ill-fated convoy SC122 and departed for the UK on the 5th of March.

SC122 was a slow eastbound convoy of 60 ships.  Sailing the following day from Halifax, Nova Scotia was convoy HX229 with 40 ships.  In mid-Atlantic from the 16th to the 19th March, 22 merchant ships from the two convoys were torpedoed and sunk during a running battle with a combined force of 37 U-boats from three wolfpacks: Raubsgraff, Sturmer and Dranger.  Only one U-boat, U-384, was lost during the battle.

Nevertheless, the Atland survived unscathed, she arrived at Loch Ewe on the 23rd March and departed the following day with coastal convoy WN407 bound for Methil in Fife.  During the night of the 25th, when rounding the Buchan coast in darkness, the Atland was rammed by another Swedish ship from same convoy, the 6149 grt Carso.  The Carso survived and was towed to Leith, but the Atland sank rapidly with the loss of 19 crew including her captain.

The Atland was another of those ships we just could not find for years, only four miles off Peterhead and over 5,000 grt, it should have been easy. .   However we got a break in 2007 when a former inshore fisherman joined us on our wreck hunts - he had Decca marks for the 'Out-Bay' wreck.  In March we found the wreck by echo-sounder and dived it on the 14th of April - there was no mistaking the identity of the wreck, the conspicuous turret-decked construction made it obvious that we had finally found the Atland.

The Atland lies five miles east of Peterhead in a depth of 64 meters at 57 28.777N 01 38.244W, she is orientated 060/240 degrees with the bow to the south-west at 57 28.761N 01 38.293W, the stern is at 57 28.792N 01 38 193W.  The highest part of the wreck is the midships superstructure which rises to a height of 10 meters from the seabed, the bow is relatively intact but the stern has collapsed.

The SS Atland is a beautiful wreck, sadly she is highly degraded but she maintains her overall shape and the unique attributes of her turret steamer build.  The superstructure is largely collapsed, resembling a mixed up underwater scrap heap of pipes, frames and plates.  The only recognisable component being a large white enamel bath half buried in the rusting metals.  No discernible stern remains, just a huge rusting frame half buried in the sand.  Forward of the superstructure, two large boilers sitting side by side then beyond that her deck is flattened and dropped to almost the level of the seabed.  Her hull has collapsed inwards, port side has fallen into the ship, starboard side has fallen onto the seabed.  On the port side her distinctive protruding keel points upward at an angle of 45 degrees to the seabed,  this creates a long steel 'corridor' which is great to speed along on our Aquazepp scooters.  Large patches of her iron ore cargo remain in this area and twinkle in the light of our torches.  There are masts and booms lying inboard and a heavy cargo winch.  The collapse of her deck and hull structure has pulled her bow back and driven it up so it sits vertical, about 5m high and pointing to the surface.  It’s a fantastic sight, like a huge arch with chains, bollards, and anchor lifting winches all scattered around.  One of her anchors still sits in place.  We have dived her in fantastic visibility and the sight of this massive bow is really something to behold. Overall, a great wreck to dive, and to see such a unique piece of ship engineering history.