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View Full Version : Large broken up wreck in Discovery Bay, N Jamaica - anybody got any ideas?



bubbles
01-01-2008, 06:52 PM
Hi there, Bubbles hubby here with a query.

(Already posted this query on another part of the site, but, thinking about it, here might be more appropriate).

Whilst holidaying in Discovery Bay, Jamaica in June/July 2007, towards the end of our stay we dived on a badly broken up wreck in shallow water. The name of the dive was called 'Banana Boats', and consisted of a number of coral canyons running roughly N-S some 80-100 yards from the shoreline of Discovery Bay.
I am no expert, but it must have been a pretty big ship at some point, but the pounding of the waves and hurricane's over the years have reduced it to complete junk. It certainly was made of iron/steel, but could have still been a tall-masted ship as we found the remains of at least one fairly wide mast (c. 3 feet in circumfurance, possibly more). We also found two large ornate anchors each about 7-8 feet long, heavily coralled, and there is also a third anchor of idential type a few miles to the East at an interesting drop-off dive called 'Spanish Anchor' (the locals believe it came from a Spanish Galleon, however it looks far more recent than that judging from the condition and level of coral infestation) which also comes with a good deal of cable, hanging over the edge of the drop-off - nobody seems to know for sure how far down the cable goes!

I am no expert, but believe it hails from the late Victorian or Edwardian era type of ship. However I could be 100% wrong! It was certainly metal, well-ribbed and if it had at least three anchors (assuming the one at Spanish Anchor hails from the same vessel) that we could find, was obviously pretty large in its hayday.

Anybody out there got any ideas as to what ship it was, its' history and when it went down? The wreck covers a fairly substantial area thanks to being broken up, but the wreckage is still identifiable (just about) as coming from a ship. It's also a very easy dive, most of which is 10m or less so the main problem diving on it is staying submerged! I took quite a few photos of the wreckage + a cine film which I can post on the site or mail to anybody interested.
It is interesting to note that it was obviously a big ship at one point, yet the locals have no tales to tell about it or even speculation as to what is was or where it came from (very unusual for the Jamaicans!). All they know of the site is its local name, 'Banana Boats' (from the canyon-like coral formations) and that there's a big wreck 'somewhere there'.

Thanks for listening

Chris and Ingrid