Six divers from Guernsey are celebrating ‘the discovery of a lifetime’ after identifying a wreck as steamship Virago that disappeared 140 years ago.
(Video: c/o Channel Island Diving)
The 282ft (86m) SS Virago left Hull, bound for the Russian port of Odessa, but never left the English Channel. She lies two miles off Alderney in the Channel Islands.
The wreck was spotted 13 years ago during a seabed survey, and later visited by two Jersey divers, but only identified after an intrepid dive last summer revealed 1,000 tonnes of metalwork including five portable steam engines, wheels, ironworks, and 4ft grind stones.
Dive veteran Richard Keen led the expedition. He said: “The wreck lies in 48m of water, in probably the most tidal area in the UK.
“Divers have got a 20-minute window on a neap tide to reach it. It’s a very tricky place to dive.” He added: “I’ve been diving commercially for 55 years. This is a once in a lifetime discovery.”
Team leader Richard Keen. Credit: @Channel Island Diving
Dive team (from left), Paul Maindonal, Mat Le Maitre, John Paul Fallaize, Phil Warry and Martyn Jehan. Credit: @Channel Island Diving
The Sylvia K Dive Club of Mat Le Maitre, John Paul Fallaize, Paul Maindonal, Phil Warry and Martyn Jehan dive weekly with Richard Keen.
Le Maitre said: “The wreck was discovered in 2009 during an underwater seabed survey along the race between Alderney and France.
“It was dived in 2012 by two Jersey divers, but due to dark water conditions, nothing was noted except broken up wreckage.
“Fast forward to the summer of 2022 and we made it our mission to video and try to identify the shipwreck. In testing conditions, we made three dives to 48m.
Video still from the dive that enabled the identification of SS Virago. Credit: @Channel Island Diving
Video still from the dive that enabled the identification of SS Virago. Credit: @Channel Island Diving
“What we found was truly amazing. Lying on the deck of the very large, broken up wreck, was nearly 2,000 tonnes of agricultural machinery from the late 1800s.
“Then it was up to our two historians, John Paul Fallaize and Richard Keen, to piece together the information and figure out a name for the wreck.
“It turned out to be the 1809 tonne SS Virago which sank after it disappeared during fog in 1882.”