Lartington

History

The Lartington was a working cargo steamer of the late Victorian era, an iron ship launched by Short Brothers of Sunderland in June 1875 for the owner J.S. Barwick and rigged to carry sail as well as steam. On 8 December 1878 she left Savannah, Georgia, with some 4,000 bales of cotton for the Russian port of Reval, under Captain George Dixon.

On the evening of the 10th, running before a severe gale, she was struck aft by a heavy sea; something cracked loudly, the after ballast tank began leaking and she took a heavy list. The pumps could not gain on the water, and early on the 11th Dixon gave up and bore away for Bermuda. At 1.40 a.m. on the 14th he sighted Bermuda light, eased to half speed and, judging himself well offshore, brought her head round to wait for daylight. While she was turning she took the ground. Every attempt to steam her off failed; by 7 a.m. she had filled, and at 8 she was listing so badly that the crew left her in a lifeboat and a whaler. The pilot boat Guide met them and led them into Hamilton Harbour.

Her cotton was landed at Mangrove Bay in Somerset, some of it quite dry. About 1,300 bales had been saved by the end of December and a contract was let for the remaining 2,800 or so, and bales were still being raised the following spring. In May 1879 the wreck was auctioned "as she lies stranded", masts, yards, anchors and all. The Governor appointed a commission of inquiry, and the Marine Board of Inquiry blamed the stranding on gross negligence: the captain should have sounded for depth and should not have changed course to the south-east.

Storms later broke the hull apart and her name was forgotten. For years divers called the wreck the Nola, which was really an alias of the blockade-runner Montana lying close by. Local marine historian Mike Davis suspected from the records that she was the Lartington, and the letters of her name, found on the lower port side of the bow, settled it.

Diving the wreck today

The Lartington lies close to the Montana and Constellation, so the three are often dived together. Although she has collapsed, the wreckage keeps the outline of the ship, running bow to stern along the reef. Her bow is the best-preserved section, lying on its port side and reaching almost to the surface at low tide; look low on that side for the remains of her name. Amidships the hull has collapsed into scattered plates, but the boilers are easy to pick out, and a broken propeller marks the stern.

It is a shallow site, but surge and current over the reef can make it more demanding than the depth suggests, so calm days are best. Hogfish, snapper and other reef fish are common, and visibility is often excellent, especially in winter.