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The Admiralty Harbour Launch Firewater sank at her mooring in the Cattewater.

Type

Admiralty Harbour Launch

History

Solsitce MAS sonar image of Firewater on the seabed in the Cattewater in 2025, click the image for a larger version

Four ex-Admiralty 60ft harbour launches were bought by the diver training company POP Fort Bovisand around 1977. Three of the vessels are named HL441827, HL441828 and HL441830, one was the D22 or Canute and operated out of HMS Vernon. The only one we have records for is HL441827, she was ordered in 1944, completed in 1947, sent to Chatham Naval Dockyard for use in 'basin duties', transferred to Deptford in 1958 and had her engine replaced. In 1961 she was sent to Devonport Naval Dockyard and was sold out of service in December 1977.

One of the four vessels was named Deepwater and was used for commercial diver training and occasionally as a tug. The vessel named HL441830 was named Firewater, she was used for navigation training and for taking sports divers to dive sites in the area. Firewater was used as a dive platform during the investigations of the Cattewater wreck in the 1980s.

Firewater was moored alongside a pontoon in the Cattewater along with Deepwater and the BSAC dive vessel British Diver.  Firewater sank during a storm at her mooring off Turnchapel Point.  She later had her funnel removed by divers to reduce her height; she was stripped of useful parts and was abandoned where she lay. Deepwater was sold to John Boston of Oreston who sold her on, and her new owner kept her on the Thames. The two other harbour launches were moored in Hooe Lake and were stripped for parts..

• See Harbour Launches in Foreshore Hulks

Location and Access

Plymouth Sound, Cattewater, off Turnchapel Wharf

Diving in the Cattewater is prohibited by the Cattewater Harbour Master.

Nearby wrecks include the Kingston Alalite , the FS Poulmic , the Fylrix and Vectis

Last updated 15 July 2025

Position GPS: 50° 21.639N  004° 06.938 W
Depth: 5m

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