West Sussex Wreck Map
2 wrecks in West Sussex, United Kingdom. Recorded depths: 12–30 m. View on map
HMS/m A1
Lying in 9 to 12 metres of water off Bracklesham Bay, HMS A1 holds a unique place in British naval history: she was the very first submarine designed and built in this country for the Royal Navy. Constructed by Vickers in 1903, she had already survived one sinking — a collision with SS Berwick Castle in 1904 that killed eleven crew before she was raised — when she was repurposed as an unmanned torpedo target. In August 1911, operating on automatic pilot, she sank for good off Selsey Bill. Tidal currents slowly dragged her five miles along the seabed to her present position. The hull is virtually intact, with the bow standing proud while the stern disappears beneath a sandbank.
SS Gascony
The Gascony presents a puzzle that rewards patient exploration. Attacked by UC-75 on 18 January 1918, this armed cargo steamer broke in two and sank the following afternoon near Selsey Bill, coming to rest upside down on the edge of the Owers — a notorious shallow bank that has claimed countless vessels over the centuries. Her inverted orientation makes navigation tricky: what should be the deck is buried, and you swim beneath the keel looking up at the hull plating. Among the scattered cargo, the wheels of army gun carriages poke through the wreckage, a reminder that she was doing war work when the torpedo found her.