U/W photo Steve Clarkson     Porthole Callum Beveridge

SS Cotavia was a British Transport ship built by Irvine Shipbuilding & Drydock Co. (Sunderland) in 1911. She was owned by Frumentun S.S. Co. Ltd London. She was 4020 Gross Tonnes with a Triple expansion engine and three boilers. On 22 July 1917 SS Cotavia was sunk by a mine south east of Auskerry in the Orkney Islands laid by German U-Boat UC-49 . UC-49 now lies in 50m of water off Dartmouth in Devon having been sunk by British Destroyer ‘Opossum’.
The Cotavia was on route from Arkhandelsk making for Dundee with a cargo of Flax.

The wreck today is very broken up as if it had been opened up with a can opener. She lies in 41m of water with her boilers rising 12m from the seabed. There is still plenty to see around the boilers and engine as she is not often dived.

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Picture and video   Steve Clarkson