Читать книгу Deeper into the Darkness онлайн

136 страница из 184

The main (aft) mast ran out at right angles to the wreck along the seabed, with thick old- fashioned electric cables running from the wreck up inside it. Just forward from it, a sturdy steel boom for a steam pinnace or boom boat lay on the seabed. As the ship sank, the boom boats could not be swung out and lowered, as all power on the ship had been lost; the boom boats were still secured on her as she turned turtle and went down.

As I swam out along the mainmast, I spotted a small triangular Yarrow boiler from a pinnace lying on the seabed just beyond its end. As the ship turned upside down, this Yarrow boiler, which provided steam for the pinnace engine, had fallen from its mounts straight through the wooden roof of the pinnace to the seabed. There was no sign near it of the engine or any other parts of the pinnace –presumably still lashed to the wreck and its boom.

As I looked further forward from the mast and boom, I spotted a large object standing upright on the seabed about 15 metres away from the wreck. I remembered seeing this in 2000 when I dived the wreck last – but at that time, on open-circuit trimix and limited bottom time on the wreck, I had not ventured out to go and see what it was.