Читать книгу Deeper into the Darkness онлайн

43 страница из 184

There is a pronounced rise at the back of the bridge superstructure: the hull rises up a deck level to the fo’c’sle deck and two rows of portholes were studded along the side of the ship here. The stump of the foremast rose up, directly abaft the bridge. It had been brought down by the force of the explosion in 1914, along with the foremost smokestack.

Moving up on top of the remaining bridge superstructure, we made out the circular outline of the conning tower. This wreck is a military war grave and British divers have shown great respect for it over the years; there has been no pilfering of artefacts that I am aware of. As a result, small personal items were still strewn about here in the bridge area – I spotted a brass sextant and brass cage lights and lanterns.

A number of brass 4-inch shell cartridges littered the ship here, and immediately beside the empty grooved circular mounts of her 4-inch guns, a number of non-ferrous boxes were stacked side by side. Each box still held six ready-use 4-inch shells – the circular bases of some of the shells had corroded away to expose the rods of spaghetti-like cordite propellant inside.