'Cathedral'
By Martin Seymour, seymac@tinyworld.co.uk
It was under the sea and I had imagined we were entering a dark abyss, or a cave in which there was a lurking danger, not really knowing what lay ahead. We were swimming North West in about fifty-five feet of water off Rame Head, Cornwall. We had been put down and told that a shipwreck was somewhere in the area and we were on the first leg of our search. The way was becoming darker. Was it cloud covering the sun?, a large vessel above us?, shudder the thought, or were we entering a large subterranean cave? We continued. Bump! … Not too hard mind you but bump all the same. We had met a wall, at first I thought of rock but on closer examination discovered it was encrusted ironwork. To my right iron, to my left nothing, and up, up, up ….
The poor visibility seemed to clear the higher I looked and the sun poured its rays over the kelp covered stem of the wrecked ship James Egan Layne. What a sight!. The kelp was swaying back and forth with the slight swell. Ascending the vessels stem and over the forepeak revealed the vista from bow towards the amidships section of this magnificent wreck. Fish swam in and out of the kelp encrusted portions of iron, large Pollock and the ever inquisitive Rainbow Wrasse. Further aft a stream of intense air bubbles glittered in the suns rays from two divers already in the forward hold of the wreck. Peering down into the hold revealed their brightly painted tanks as they probed in the wreckage littering the bottom of the hold. In awe we waited patiently until ready to move on.
We both ‘sky dived’ into the hold and one can imagine sitting in a submerged cathedral whilst looking up from the depths of the James Eagan Layne. The pillars supporting the tween decks still stood in place, the hatch coamings split the rays of the sun sending shafts of light down as if through stained glass windows. Through the tween decks and into the engine spaces, it is dark here and our torches cut sharp beams through the gloom. Did the boilers hide a conger eel of enormous size? Are there Angler fish waiting to devour a foot, fin and all? We did not wait to find out, but emerged into the after holds to more wreckage and cathedral effects. Time was limited however and an inspection of the outer section of the wreck was a must before time was up.
This is another chance to ‘sky dive’ over the ships side into the gloom and to the golden sands below in which the ship gracefully sits. Jewel anemones adorn, sections of outer hull and the shafts of sunlight illuminated each one, highlighting the yellow, orange, and indigo fronds. The wreck casts a shadow over the sea bed and we were back where we started from.
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