wreck

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ISLAND MAGEE

Island Magee, off the Scottish East Coast, is one of those wrecks we keep coming back to. She went down in 1953, a steamship built in 1900, carrying cargo between Dundee and Leith. She’s small, about 35 metres long, but what she lacks in size, she makes up for in atmosphere. We love diving her when the conditions are flat calm, which, admittedly, isn't every day in Scotland. Drop down and you'll find her sitting upright at 35 metres. The visibility can be a bit hit or miss, but on a good day, the dark water just adds to the drama. The stern is our favourite part; the triple expansion engine is still mostly intact, a real testament to early 20th-century engineering. You can poke around the single boiler, too, which is usually draped in dead man's fingers and anemones. Schools of coalfish often hang in the deeper sections, darting in and out of the superstructure. It's a proper wreck dive, best for those comfortable with deeper, darker water and a bit of a current. Don't expect tropical colours, but the sheer volume of life, adapting to this artificial reef, is genuinely impressive.