Gascogny: WWI Liberty ship sunk in 1918 ( 30 mtr.): Bow almost upright; stern is keel up
and in the cargo holds you may see the carriages The Gascony was torpedoed in January 1918.
The largest high point of the wreck is just aft of the boilers. With the Gascony virtually
upside-down, then collapsed to starboard to leave the port side more exposed. The port
side is marked by intact bits of railing and other deck fittings. Heading aft, the jumble of
metal hull plates and railings is broken by the remains of a mast. Continuing aft, the next
section of upright railing marks the point where the stern is slightly more intact and rises
above the seabed. Rounding the stern, the last scrap of metal lying just behind the main
body of the wreck is the rudder. The stern is reasonably intact and almost completely
upside-down. The prop shaft protrudes from the keel, but the propeller has been salvaged
and, as already noted, the rudder lies on the seabed below. A few plates have rotted
through and fallen clear to provide some holes to look inside. Just forward of these that the
most interesting part of the wreck can be found, the remains of a cargo of gun carriages.
The heavy-duty spoked wheels are getting on for 1m across, some broken, but many intact
and some even still attached to their axles. From here to the area of the engine room
consists of a fairly featureless mass of collapsed metal, though you might spot a lobster or
conger eel hiding among the wreckage. The engine-room area is quite interesting. Tucked
back beneath the plates is the remains of the prop shaft tunnel and the crankshaft from the
engine, together with the usual scraps of grated decking. Before you get to the boilers, a
broken cylindrical tube with coiled pipes inside is the remains of a condenser. The four
boilers are clear of hull plates and two are tilted at unusual angles there are some large
shoals of fish milling about the wreck; the usual mixture of bib and poor cod and a few
pollack. A little way into the wreckage from the base of the mast lies the broken remains of
a cargo winch. Continuing forward along the port side of the wreckage, the bow has broken
clear and twisted to the starboard side of the rest of the wreck. It has also twisted almost
180¡ on the axis of the ship, because it is actually resting on its port side and you are
suddenly on the starboard side of the keel!