wreck

Log This Dive

HOLME FORCE (POSSIBLY)

The Holme Force is a proper dive, a deep one, and we wouldn’t recommend it for anyone without solid wreck experience and the right gas. Dropping onto her at 53 metres, you’re hitting the seabed, so bottom time management is crucial. She’s a steamship, torpedoed in 1940 by a German E-boat, and lies broken but still recognisable. Our favourite part has to be the stern, often upright, where you can still imagine the torpedo striking. The bow is usually more collapsed, but the hold sections are worth a peek for the congereels and spider crabs. Visibility here can be a bit of a lottery, sometimes twenty metres, sometimes five, but even in murkier conditions, the sheer scale of the wreck is impressive. We usually see schools of pollack circling the superstructure, and the encrusting life, particularly dead man’s fingers coral, adds colour to the dark steel. It’s a site for serious divers who appreciate history and don’t mind a bit of a challenge.