WRECK TOUR 179 THE ALBANIAN This slightly deeper steamer wreck, sunk off Anglesey DEPTH in the 19th century, offers divers a wide variety of 0-20m intriguing cargo to inspect. JOHN LIDDIARD conducts 20-35m 35-45m the tour, which is illustrated by MAX ELLIS 1 45m+ 3 2 DIFFICULTY RATING 4 10 GGGHH 6 5 11 12 14 15 tiller-arm (7) points upwards – another upright section of the hull stands to piece of engineering soon superseded starboard, and just forward of that are by quadrant steering on steamships of more bales of cloth (11) from the cargo. 16 this size. The wreck is now well broken, with hull- Retracing our route forwards, the plates visible to port and a 3m-high ascent of the pile of cargo (8) provides an mound of sand and debris (12) along the opportunity to examine it from another centre-line. perspective. A different point of view can Following round the starboard side of often lead to new discoveries for those this mound, the broken shaft of a cargo- who like to rummage. winch (13) is off to the side, then more 7 Back past the engine to our starting parts of the winch (14) closer to the 8 point and the break across the hull, centre-line as the mound of sand descending the bulkhead reveals a pair of descends to the bow. 18 boilers (9) secured inside. Looking in, you The first sign of the bow is the anchor- 9 can see the domed steam-dryers located winch (15), fallen back with a section of Clockwise from top left: between that of a sailing ship and the above the far end of the boilers. deck and the hawse-pipes (16) leading Broken winch; hawse pipe; straight blunt bow that later steamships 17 Rather than heading straight forwards, forwards. There is also a section of chain jars among the cargo. would adopt. here is an opportunity to divert to port, (17) draped round the starboard side of After a long dive, this may be a good 13 where another cylindrical domed the bow, suggesting that the anchors had place to release a delayed SMB for a structure stands up from the seabed been pulled on board but not yet drifting decompression. Or you could alongside the wreck (10). detached from the chain, as ships of this return to the shallower part of the wreck, HIS MONTH’S TOUR OF THE were once full and used to transport I suspect that this was a donkey boiler era would do on a long voyage. but that brings me to another reason that 1417-ton steamship Albanian is one a liquid cargo, or whether the jars CLASH OF SAIL AND STEAM originally located above the main boilers. The final point of our tour is the raked our tour has been back-to-front. Tof another North Wales pair sunk in themselves were the cargo, I do not know. THE ALBANIAN, cargo steamer. BUILT 1870, SUNK 1877 Returning to the route forwards, the last bow (18), a shape about halfway With the mound of sand drifted across a collision, the associated wreck of the Descending the slope of cargo to the AN EARLY IRON-HULLED STEAMSHIP, the wreck, finding your way back may not Bales of cloth from the cargo. lunch. Similarly, the officers and pilot Nydia being only a couple of miles away. broken stern, we first pass a section of the 1417-ton Albanian was built in 1870 on the Nydia were taking turns to go be that easy. My host and skipper Scott Waterman deck tipped on end (5) with pairs of by T Royden & Sons of Liverpool, and below deck for their own meal. dropped the shot across the intact part of least have seen the interesting piles engine, but the upright pistons are driven bollards sticking out to the starboard side used by the Liverpool-based Bibby Line The conditions were clear and the IRISH SEA the hull, close to the break to the forward of cargo. from steam entering below them rather of the wreck. for Iberian and Mediterranean trade. Nydia was sighted some two miles TOUR GUIDE holds. As a shot rarely lands in exactly the The first significant hole in the wooden than from above, hence “inverted”. Beneath this, the stub of the propeller- At 9am on 18 November, 1877, the away, on a course destined to cross that Albanian same place twice, I will begin our tour deck is the flue from the boilers (1), the As an aside, a further variation was shaft descends into the silt and debris, Albanian left Liverpool for Genoa and of the Albanian at right-angles. TIDES8Slack water is essential, and Great Ormes Head. Ordnance Survey heading aft from the break at 31m. hole below now blocked with debris. “double-acting”, in which both faces of with one long iron blade standing from then Leghorn in Italy with 1300 tons of With other steamships crossing her occurs 30 minutes before high or low 114, Anglesey. Shipwreck Index of the G This actually starts our dive with the Immediately aft of this, a longer a piston would alternately be driven the 41m-deep seabed ( ). British Isles, Volume 5, West Coast & 6 Below: Debris in a hole general cargo. course behind the Nydia, options to Amlwch water Liverpool. Richard & Bridget Larn. Board of shallower aft part of the wreck, but if you rectangular hole shows the top of the by steam. Rounding the stern to the deck side, at in the deck forward of Also departing from Liverpool was change course were limited. DIVING & AIR8Quest Diving Charters Wales, Trade Report, http://www.plimsoll.org/ don’t make it all the way round, you will at two-cylinder compound engine (2). Unfortunately for those with engineering the top of the rudder-post a single the engine. the 834-ton wooden barque Nydia, As the Albanian approached, the operates from Menai Bridge, 01248 Built in 1870, the curiosity, the space around the heads of the images/14269_tcm4-138333.pdf ALBANIAN built by P Valin of Quebec in 1853. By pilot on the Nydia ordered the ship kept 716923, www.questdiving.co.uk 8There is a huge variety of cargo Albanian comes from cylinders is very tight and the surrounding 1877 she was owned by JP Evans of close to the wind. ANGLESEY ACCOMMODATION8Anglesey PROS to inspect. an age in which deck fairly intact, so you can’t look in to see Liverpool. The Nydia left at 8.15pm on Third Officer Penny made no attempt tourist information, shipbuilders were the details of the machinery below. It’s one 17 November, in ballast for Tyree. to adjust the Albanian’s course, and the Menai Bridge GG www.visitanglesey.co.uk CONS8Spans a depth range where Bangor less-experienced and less-qualified being creative with of those rare occasions on which I could With two ships heading in roughly Nydia subsequently struck her port LAUNCHING8Slipways are available divers could be tempted beyond their “new” technologies, wish that a wreck was more broken up. the same direction, you might not side, just forward of the bridge. The at Menai Bridge, Amlwch, Conwy and qualifications. and steamship Behind the engine-room is the iron expect a serious collision. But that Albanian‘s hull was stove in and the 4 MILES WALES Colwyn Bay. engineering had not socket from the foot of a wooden mast. would ignore the difference between Nydia‘s bow smashed. QUALIFICATIONS8Ideally suited to Thanks to Scott Waterman. converged to the Then the next big rectangular opening is sail and steam. Steam ships can steer a At the subsequent Board of Trade GETTING THERE8Follow the A55 across North Wales to divers with a basic technical extent it had only the first hold aft (3). This hold is intact and straight course, while sailing ships often enquiry, Third Officer Penny was found Anglesey and across the Menai Bridge. Take the first qualification such as Advanced Nitrox Would your club or dive centre like to see a decade later. silted, so I will leave describing the cargo to steer wide tacks according to the wind. to be wholly responsible for the slip-road and turn right to the town of Menai Bridge. or Decompression Procedures. The its favourite wreck featured here? If you A notable feature the aft-most hold (4), where the hull is now About half an hour after noon, the collision, through holding course and Turn towards the waterfront by the newsagent and post wreck is within the range of a BSAC Dive would like to help John Liddiard put of the Albanian is an broken with the aft bulkhead of the hold. third officer Hugh Penny was in attempting to cross forward of the office opposite HSBC, and head for the pontoon by the Leader or PADI Deep speciality. harbour office. together the information, why not invite inverted compound Peering into the piled cargo, it is command of the Albanian, and Captain Nydia rather than taking avoiding FURTHER INFORMATION8 him to come and dive it with you? Write engine. The possible to pick out barrels, copper pipe, Thomas Lloyd and the other officers action. The ships sank within a couple HOW TO FIND IT8The GPS co-ordinates are 53 28.947N, Admiralty Chart 1977, Holyhead to to John c/o Wreck Tour at divEr. crankshaft is still at bales of cloth from the Lancashire mills were below deck, perhaps having their of miles of each other. 003 53.807W (degrees, minutes and decimals). The bow Top of the two-cylinder inverted compound engine.