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The port side of the wreck aft has separated from the keel, allowing a glimpse of the 7.5- inch shell room. (Author’s collection)

In the astonishing visibility, I continued to fin forward at a depth of just over 60 metres. Just forward of the aftmost Y turret, the two-storey port 6-inch gun casemate came into view, its curved armoured side projecting from the hull. With the ship upside down, the 6.8-metre- long barrel of the uppermost casemate now lay flat on the seabed, pointing aft. The lower (now uppermost) of the two 6-inch casemate guns had been demounted from the casemate in 1916 and moved to the upper deck in place of one of the original 3-pounder guns. The resulting vacant gun port had been plated over to keep the sea out – and the plate was still very evident on the wreck, its centre now corroded through.

As I looked at the 6.8-metre-long barrel on the seabed, I noticed the end of the barrel of a 3-pounder sticking up through the sand at its end. Tracing back towards the hull, this led me to the base of its pedestal, which was sticking up from under the sand just under the bulwark. Forward of the casemate gun we would go on to find several more of these now upside-down 3-pounder guns.