In Scapa Flow's eastern approaches the third Churchill Barrier crosses East Weddell Sound, and the Gartmore lies a short swim off its northern shore in three to five metres of water — shallow enough to snorkel, close enough to walk in. She was already thirty-five years old and on her third name when the Admiralty bought her: launched on the Tyne as the Bedford in 1879, she became the Castilla, then the Gartmore, and on 14 September 1914 she was run into the sound and scuttled to help close an eastern approach the war had just exposed. She did not stay whole. Swimming west off the barrier you meet a large winch gear and a section of ladder, then the rudder and a single blade of a part-buried propeller; beyond them a long run of hull plating still encasing the propeller shaft lies north–south and comparatively intact, and further west again the crankshaft sits exposed on rock and sand. The remains are well dispersed rather than wrecked in one piece, but for a cargo steamer of 1845 tons there is a great deal of her left to find.
SS Gartmore is a cargo steamship wreck located off Orkney, United Kingdom at a depth of 5 metres. The wreck is diveable.
SS Gartmore lies at 3 to 5 metres depth, East Weddell Sound, Churchill Barrier 3, Scapa Flow.
Diving the SS Gartmore is rated beginner and is suitable for newly certified Open Water divers.
SS Gartmore is accessed by shore, Orkney, United Kingdom.
No seasonal data available.
27 evidence records from 6 sources.
easily accessible from the north of shore of Barrier 3
"BEDFORD" built by "Tyne Iron Shipbuilding Company," yard number 22
Gartmore (steel steamship, originally "Bedford")
Derived, not asserted by a document: the vessel's position (Scottish Shipwrecks — The Blockships) position 58.870967, -2.914650 falls inside the "uk:scotland:orkney:scapa-flow" boundary (Ordnance Survey / UK Hydrographic Office charting of Scapa Flow, Orkney). Scapa Flow is an enclosed anchorage within the Orkney archipelago. This outline is drawn inside the surrounding islands, so any point within it is unambiguously in Orkney, Scotland, United Kingdom. It is conservative: it excludes the approaches and the outer sounds rather than risk reaching beyond Orkney waters.
the wreckage sits in about 3m - 5m of water
Describes the dive in sequence: swimming west off the barrier divers meet a large winch gear and section of ladder, then the rudder and one blade of a part buried propeller.
1914: The Admiralty
Renamed "CASTILLA" in 1903. Renamed "GARTMORE" in 1911.
58° 52.258'N, 02° 54.879'W (East Weddell Sound)
Churchill Barrier 3: East Weddel Sound
58° 52.258'N, 02° 54.879'W (East Weddell Sound)
1914: Purchased by The Admiralty for use as a blockship & scuttled at Scapa Flow
The ship was requisitioned by the Admiralty and sunk on 14th September 1915.
a large winch gear and section of ladder; the rudder and one blade of a part buried propeller; a large section of hull plating which encases the propeller shaft, lying north south and comparatively intact; a large cargo; a large intact crankshaft and other hull plating
Derived, not asserted by a document: the vessel's position (Scottish Shipwrecks — The Blockships) position 58.870967, -2.914650 falls inside the "uk:scotland:orkney:scapa-flow" boundary (Ordnance Survey / UK Hydrographic Office charting of Scapa Flow, Orkney). Scapa Flow is an enclosed anchorage within the Orkney archipelago. This outline is drawn inside the surrounding islands, so any point within it is unambiguously in Orkney, Scotland, United Kingdom. It is conservative: it excludes the approaches and the outer sounds rather than risk reaching beyond Orkney waters.
Purchased by The Admiralty for use as a blockship
Derived, not asserted by a document: the vessel's position (Scottish Shipwrecks — The Blockships) position 58.870967, -2.914650 falls inside the "uk:scotland:orkney:scapa-flow" boundary (Ordnance Survey / UK Hydrographic Office charting of Scapa Flow, Orkney). Scapa Flow is an enclosed anchorage within the Orkney archipelago. This outline is drawn inside the surrounding islands, so any point within it is unambiguously in Orkney, Scotland, United Kingdom. It is conservative: it excludes the approaches and the outer sounds rather than risk reaching beyond Orkney waters.
Lying on a rock and sand bottom the wreckage sits in about 3m - 5m of water. Although the remains are well dispersed, there is still a lot to see.
launched 13/12/1879, Tyne Iron Shipbuilding Company, yard number 22
East Weddell Sound, Churchill Barrier 3, Scapa Flow