wreck

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CATHERINE ALLEN

The Catherine Allen, for us, is a proper Cornish wreck dive, deep enough to feel like an adventure without being extreme. She’s an 18-metre trawler, capsized back in ‘73 while dredging for cockles – a bit of a local legend, really. Lying at 48 metres, the visibility here can be temperamental, as is often the case in the UK, but when it’s good, the light penetrates just enough to make out her upright hull. We love finning along her deck, imagining the last moments before she went down. Keep an eye out for conger eels peering from every dark recess; they’re practically residents. Our favourite bit is the stern, where the prop is still largely intact, often covered in dead man's fingers and visited by inquisitive dogfish. This site really suits experienced divers comfortable with deeper wrecks and keen to explore a piece of local maritime history. It’s not about vibrant corals, it’s about the drama of the wreck and the surprising amount of life that now calls it home.