TIC No.8

29 October 1911     57 46.040N  01 24.770W     76 in 83 metres

Built: 1911 by Fleming & Ferguson Ltd., Paisley

Construction: steel, 357 grt, dumb bucket dredger, length 160 ft (48.8m), beam 30 ft (9.1m), draught 11.25 ft (3.4m)

Propulsion: none

Registered: not registered at time of loss

Built for the Tyne Improvements Commissioners (TIC) whose responsibility it was to maintain and expand the ports and channels along the River Tyne.  TIC No.8 was a newly launched bucket dredger on her delivery voyage from the Clyde to North Shields.

With a crew of five she had been towed by the steam-tug Warrior through the Caledonian canal and along the Moray coast . On the 29th October 1911 she was five miles off Rattray Head  in a dreadful southerly storm when she capsized with the loss of all five crew.  The towing warp had parted and steering chain of the Warrior snapped, by the time this was repaired and the tug had found the dredger, it was floating upside-down 10 miles east of Fraserburgh.  Over the next week many local trawlers and drifters assisted in the search for the vessel but nothing could be found and it was assumed that she had foundered somewhere 'off Rattray Head'.

When we first found and dived the dredger back in 2012 we assumed it to be the Subworker, another almost identical dredger which had sunk 'off Fraserburgh' in 1913.  However recent research of the detailed movements of both vessels and their construction has shown that the dredger we found is in fact the TIC No.8.

In particular, it can be seen that the TIC No.8 has distinctive stanchions fitted alongside her decks, which we found on the wreck, whereas the Subworker does not.

The TIC No.8 lies 16 miles north-east of Rattray Head, on its side, at a depth of 83 metres orientated 045/225 degrees.

So where is the Subworker?  Maybe she is the wreck 10.5 miles north of Fraserburgh in 88 metres at 57 52.090N 01 56.280W - it's the right size and area...

Paul Haynes report on our dive on the dredger 31 July 2012

At 6am we departed aboard Buchan Elle, having a large choice of new marks to dive as a result of a recent hydrographic survey of the area, with a number of missing U-boats from both world wars still to be accounted for, we opted to run 20 odd miles out to what the survey described as a U-boat like sonar image suggesting a submarine lying on its side (narrow hull with midsection structure). We quickly made it to site and picked up a large return from the sonar.  After assessing that the tidal rate was sufficiently reduced, the shot was deployed. With glorious early morning weather, flat calm seas, blue sky and a large pod of dolphins providing our very own Sea World show, it promised to be a good day. We briefed the dive plan as we waited for slack water and then kitted up. Besides our personal open circuit bailout and decompression gas cylinders, we each carried an additional 12lt cylinder to secure to the lazy shot on the descent (80% at 9m, 50% at 15m and a normoxic trimix at 50m). In addition Jim and Mike took the lazy shot in, secured it to the main shot line and deployed it prior to descent.

We descended as a group down a near vertical shot-line in zero tide, which took us directly to the seabed mid-ships next to the wreck. Initial impression was smooth hull in good condition with little or no superstructure apparent. Was this a U-boat? Turning left we followed the smooth hull along to the end where upon it became apparent this was no submarine, but what was she? A very unusual hull shape offered no clue until we swam forward on the opposite side where in 15m visibility, a large chain of buckets still secured to a midship support leg/gear mechanism indicated she was a dredger. But what was a dredger doing all this way offshore in 86m? Remaining close together we swam aft past an engine/power plant room to the bow before turning to the shot. Head count and life support checks conducted we began the ascent breaking surface some 100mins later. Water 11C so the decompression was comfortable and another great dive.