Cape York

27 August 1940 57 41.360N 01 33.420W 79 in 93 metres

Built: 1926 by Lithgows Ltd, Port Glasgow, Yard no 759

Construction: steel, 5,027 grt motor-ship, length 410 ft (125m), beam 54 ft (16.45m), draught 27 ft (8.2m)

Propulsion: twin-screw, 2 x 563 NHP 12-cylinder oil engines by Hawthorn, Leslie & Co, Newcastle

Registered: Glasgow

Built for the Lyle Shipping Co Ltd (Cape York Motorship Co Ltd) of Glasgow.

Loaded with grain, wood and lead ingots, the Cape York departed Bermuda on the 11th August 1940 and joined convoy HX-65 at sea for the voyage to the UK in the company of another 50 merchant ships. On the 25th August the convoy was attacked by U-48 and U-124 resulting in the sinking of the Empire Merlin, Athelcrest, Harpalyce and the Fircrest. Having crossed the Atlantic, the convoy split into two groups, HX-65B for Liverpool and HX-65A including the Cape York and the Remuera bound for Methil and east-coast ports. Now within reach of UK based air-cover the U-boats were no longer a problem however on the evening of the 26th, the convoy was attacked by a flight of eight JU88 bombers from KG30 in Aalsburg. The Cape York was hit and disabled then taken in tow, a few hours later the Remuera was sunk by an aerial torpedo dropped by an HE115 aircraft from Stavanger. Whilst under tow, the Cape York was finally abandoned and sank eight miles off Kinnaird Head.

Report of the sinking by Captain J.R. McIntyre of the Cape York

We were bound from Bermuda to Methil with a cargo of 8,140 tons of grain, lumber and lead. We were armed with a 4” gun and a 12 pdr, and wireless was fitted on board; we were not flying an ensign at the time of the attack. The confidential books were handed over to H.M.S. EGRET. The number of crew, including myself and 1 R.N. C.P.O. Gunner, was 33, and there were no casualties.

We left Bermuda on 11th August in convoy HX 65 bound for Methil. We proceeded without incident and passed through the Pentland Firth and proceeded South down the East coast of Scotland, still in convoy. At 9.10 p.m. on 26th August, in position 045d Kinnaird Head 10 miles, we were attacked by an enemy aeroplane, which approached us beam on flying towards the east from the shore and flew straight over the convoy. We were struck by either a bomb or an aerial torpedo on the starboard side in the way of No. 1 hatch about 20ft. from the bow. There was a violent explosion; there was no flame, but a great deal of water was thrown into the air to a height of about 70 or 80 feet. The starboard dinghy was lifted and thrown against the wireless room door. The hatch did not lift as we had about 8ft. 6 in. of deck cargo. Plates were blown off from the deck right to below the water, laying No.1 hold completely open to the sea.

The aeroplane which attacked us was flying very low and was only about 100 ft. above us. I did not hear a bomb falling, and I think it must have been an aerial torpedo which struck us, because the explosion never occurred alongside my ship until the aeroplane was at least ½ mile away from us.

After the explosion the vessel took a heavy list to starboard and settled quickly by the head.

At 9.45 p.m., 28 members of the crew, including myself, left the ship in the lifeboats and were picked up by H.M.S. EGRET. The remaining 4 members of the crew went adrift on a raft and I was later informed that they were picked up by another vessel and landed at Methil.

H.M.S. EGRET with 29 members of the crew on board remained in the vicinity of the CAPE YORK and at 11 p.m. the vessel being still afloat, I went on board with several other members of the crew to investigate. The CAPE YORK had settled considerably more than when we had left her and I considered it unsafe to remain on board during the hours of darkness, so we returned to the EGRET with the intention of returning to the CAPE YORK at daylight if she was still afloat. The EGRET remained in the vicinity and at 2.40 a.m. on 27th August, we noticed that a fire had broken out amidships on board the CAPE YORK. After consultation with the Commanding Officer of the EGRET I decided that nothing could be done before daylight The Naval vessel SANSAY from Peterhead was standing by and she came alongside the EGRET at 7.30 a.m. and embarked the Master, Chief Engineer and a volunteer party to attempt to put a tow line on board the CAPE YORK. Owing to the wind and sea and the position of the CAPE YORK considerable difficulty was experienced in getting alongside her. At 9.30 a.m. we got alongside the CAPE YORK on her starboard quarter. We succeeded in attaching the tug’s towline, but unfortunately in manoeuvring to get away, the tow line fouled the tug’s propellor and had to be cut. By this time it was quite obvious that the CAPE YORK was about to sink and the SANSAY being unable to get away, we got a tow line from a trawler and this parted. Eventually the EGRET had to put a line aboard and tow the trawler clear of the ship and at 11.15 a.m. the CAPE YORK sank by the stern in a position with Rattray Head 076° 6 miles. H.M.S. EGRET towed the SANSAY to Peterhead, where members of the crew of the CAPE YORK were landed.

Paul Haynes report on our Cape York dive 3rd August 2012

Another early start to catch the morning slack and the best of the day's weather. Another one of our divers Tony Ray joined us to provide additional surface support and we headed North in much calmer conditions than the previous day, the right decision having been taken to hold off diving the Cape York until the sea settled down after Wednesday's gale. Arriving at site an hour later on a flat sea, the huge sonar image of the wreck jumped out at us. With plenty of time left before slack we re-surveyed the site to identify and choose the best position to dive, preferable the bridge area. The shot was deployed on the high point mid-ships and we waited for the slack water indicator buoy to surface. However, facing an unusually large spring tide, tidal conditions were not in our favour. As the predicted time for slack water came and went, we became increasingly concerned that there would be little or no slack window and would therefore not get onto the wreck.

Eventually the slack tide indication buoy became visible but was not surfacing due to the drag upon it from the still running tide. With the prospect of loosing the opportunity to dive that day, it was decided to kit up and get ready in the event of the tide dropping to an acceptable rate. By the time we were ready to enter the water, the tide indication buoy was just below the surface, this was as good as it was going to get today and with an imminent change in tidal direction looking increasingly likely, following final pre-breathe and equipment checks we entered the water, deployed the lazy shot and commenced the long descent, each of us staging additional bailout gas as per previous dives. Although still running, the descent was not too hard against the tide, a conscious effort being made to minimise work-rate, pausing briefly to undertake a bailout valve gas switch from an off board decompression/travel gas to my hypoxic off board supply and to check bailout valve functionality. At 80m, wreckage became apparent in our torch-light so each of us secured our individual strobes to the shot-line at various depths. Mike made bottom first and at 92m noticed the shot line sinker, a 30kg link from a large ships anchor, was hanging free off the wreck having been snagged and held only by a single piece of old rope from fishing trawl gear! The bight of rope was under significant strain and if it snapped, the shot was going to be immediately pulled off site by the tide along with our back-up deco gas staged on the lazy shot. Deploying delayed surface marker buoys from 100m was an absolute last resort so we were not going anywhere until this was sorted out. We therefore remained next to the shot whilst quick thinking Mike improvised a waster line from a near by piece of trawl gear and secured the sinker to a sturdy part of the wreck. We were now comfortable enough to leave the immediate vicinity of the shot line, confident it was not going to be dragged away taking our back-up bailout gas with it.

Following an initial assessment of the conditions I decided to reel off although this proved to be not necessary in the end, better safe than sorry though. The ship appeared to be heeled over approximately 30 degrees onto her starboard side and so to get out of the tidal stream, I dropped down along the deck into the lee to just off the seabed and then headed forwards to an area of superstructure. Remaining close together and with each others light clearly visible, we individually explored this general area trying to determine where on this huge vessel we were, mentally recording the scene around us for later recall during the debrief.

With the planned fifteen-minutes on bottom rapidly ticking away, I tied off and cut my reel line to avoid wasting time recovering it. Having now turned the dive, the location of the shot line was clearly visible in the distance thanks to the string of flashing strobes - a very comforting sight. A quick team head count and OK signal exchanged, the long ascent commenced whilst collecting our strobes on the way up. After some deep stops, at 50m we jumped across to the lazy shot and disconnected it from the main shot line. An uneventful and peaceful decompression ensued with us making surface after a run time of around 2 hours. Another fantastic dive onto a new wreck in challenging conditions. We will definitely to be re-visiting her in the future

at 92mts tying off the shotline

sonar image showing Cape York broken in two

Cape York dive video August 2012

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