Dorset

The very mention of attempting the Royal Adelaide as a shore dive will result in a sharp intake of breath from most divers. An unfounded response of ‘I can’t do that!’ bought upon by endless warnings on social media of an almost-impossible walk over Chesil Beach will instantly raise a psychological barrier to many divers.

Although easily dived by boat from nearby Weymouth and Portland, the sense of achievement when tackled from the shore is second to none, and the adrenaline rush knowing you’ve conquered this Chesil diving ‘rite of passage’ makes very short work of the return walk back to your car. Where else along the Dorset coast can you dive a surprisingly intact, nigh-on 150-year-old wreck from shore? It truly is a one-way psychological trip that when done correctly is easier than people think.

The Royal Adelaide was a 72-metre iron sailing ship which found herself wrecked off Chesil Beach in a gale on 25 November 1872. Despite the fact that most of her crew were rescued, the stories of drunken men dying on the beach that night after consuming alarming quantities of the washed ashore casks of Dutch gin have become legendary. Today, she remains possibly my favourite Chesil shore dive and so, at the beginning of May this year, my wife Sarah and I decided to pay her our first visit of 2021. A little bit of local knowledge goes a long way for anyone wanting to visit this famous wreck site. From my own experience, the best time to dive the Royal Adelaide is around three hours after high water Portland - slack water is actually an hour later, but after six years of diving here with some sort of regularity, getting in an hour before is a far better bet. Be sure to arrive early, have your equipment set up and checked. This shore dive is all about minimizing any unneeded effort.

My own personal take from this point is to take a walk over the wooden bridge next to the Chesil Beach Centre and head up to the top of the beach above the entry point. From here you can assess the conditions - Easterly winds will usually mean it will be diveable, but not always. Even with the smallest swell, getting back out of the water is an important factor to consider - as the pebbles at this point are much smaller than at Chesil Cove at the Portland end of the beach, they tend to give way underfoot.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY COLIN GARRETT AND JASON BROWN

At times it can feel like two steps forward and one back, making it all the more important to keep your regulator in your mouth and mask on until you are completely out and away from the water’s edge.

If the conditions are right, it’s worth surveying the entry point for the many fishermen you’ll often find lining the beach opposite the wreck site - many know the ‘mark’ and it is a popular sea angling spot. If any are fishing in the vicinity, I have found from experience that if you walk down and have a polite conversation beforehand about what you are planning on doing, almost all are very accommodating and usually interested in ‘what lies beneath’. A good practice I have learned is to offer to bring them back any lead weight, of which you will almost certainly find, on or around the wreck throughout the dive. This way everyone is happy, and you don’t have to worry too much about incoming fishing hooks while underwater.

When you start to get ready back at your car, take extra care to make sure that you don’t forget anything and always double check all your equipment is working

Parts of the superstructure protrude up from the seabed

The wreckage is covered in marine growth before you set off across the bridge a second time. It’s all about minimizing any expenditure of energy. This time when you arrive at the entry point, rest for five to ten minutes and remember the ‘hard bit’ is now over - it’s now time to look forward to having an enjoyable dive. From here the wreck is less than five minutes away. Once you break the surface, head straight out and over the pebbles to a depth of around 12-14m. In good visibility the wreck is usually found almost immediately – look out for the large anchor, a very prominent feature just in front of the largest part of the wreck. Within this section of the wreck, you will also find a large winch - this along with the anchor make for lovely photo opportunities.

Visibility on the Royal Adelaide can vary considerably. On our dive in early May, we were spoilt rotten – the visibility was a very good eight to ten metres and we sighted the anchor with ease. Beyond it, the ghostly silhouette of the main hull standing three to four metres proud of the seabed sheltered several large ballan wrasse and a good-sized solitary pollock. As we explored the wreck, the numerous tompot blennies that call this place home started to appear, poking their cheeky little faces out of every

nook and cranny. The Royal Adelaide does seem to be a hotspot for this colourful little fish. In the summer months, usually around late-August, this location also becomes a good spot to see visiting grey triggerfish - these characteristic fish can make for a wonderful photo opportunity too as some inquisitive individuals will swim right up to the diver’s camera lens. Other resident marine life that can be found in and around the wreck are bib, common lobster, squat lobster, gurnard, conger eel and cuttlefish, to name but a few.

The main part of wreckage of the Royal Adelaide containing the winch, chain locker and anchor is not a particularly large area. After a good look around, this allows plenty of time to head out on a few excursions away from the wreck to locate other parts of her remains. Around 15 metres away and at the same depth as the anchor on a North Westerly bearing you’ll stumble across a very large hull plate. Shoals of small fish hide underneath the metal here, sometimes sharing their space with good sized conger eels for added protection no doubt.

Some 35 minutes or so into our dive and having had our first good look around her for this year, Sarah and I started to head back to shore. We always tend to leave a good amount of air to visit the added bonus that a visit to the Royal Adelaide from the shore can provide - the sizeable propellor from the Norwegian steamship Nor, wrecked here on 18 January 1887.

Finding the Nor’s propellor is easy if you know where to go. After leaving the Royal Adelaide, head back towards the shore until you hit a depth of around 7-8m and then stay at this depth along a roughly South Westerly bearing. After a couple of minutes, the ominous shadow of the propellor should - with any luck – come into view. Half buried in the pebbles, two of her beautiful blades still jut proudly towards the surface. Few divers can resist a quick photo next to this iconic feature!

Dragging yourself away from the propellor, head straight into the beach at this point. You should find yourself only around 75 metres from the original entry point and actually closer to the car park, making that feared walk back seem not quite as far. Exiting the water isn’t always as straightforward as it might seem. My advice on how to exit the water here is to remove your fins in around 1m of water. To make things even easier, Sarah and I usually support each other and walk out together until we are clear of the water line on the beach. It is at this point and only this point we take out our regulators out and remove our masks.

The conditions we experienced in early-May were some of the best I had seen for quite some time and the perfect first dive of the year for Sarah. Sarah was elated - her first dive of 2021 had been a good one! The anticipation of ‘getting back in’ was now gone, the ‘dread’ of walking over that infamous beach now replaced with ‘that smile’ that divers give after experiencing something really special underwater. Now all

Conger eel on the wreck Enormous anchor aids navigation

that remained was the final walk up and over the beach.

As before, take your time, stop and take a breath if need be. Within a few minutes you will find yourself standing on top of the famous Chesil Bank in a gentle breeze, your car in sight and a far less strenuous walk downhill ahead of you. This time around thankfully - with the adrenaline and elation now flowing through you - this last stretch is far easier than you would ever have imagined.

After arriving back at the car and removing our kit, we took a moment and considered what we’d achieved. The stories you always hear make diving the Royal Adelaide sound like climbing Mount Everest – but honestly, was it really that bad? Looking at my wife’s face, I would certainly say a big ‘no’. Although Sarah has done the Royal Adelaide numerous times, logging it as your first dive of the year is an impressive achievement in anyone’s logbook! Even she agreed that it really isn’t quite as bad as your brain and every muscle tries to tell you. One thing’s for sure - we shall return in the coming months and will definitely be back in August looking for the grey triggerfish, should they return. The Royal Adelaide with the added bonus of the Nor’s prop truly do make for a wonderful and highly memorable shore dive. For those of us that dive her on a relatively regular basis, I am fairly confident that all would agree that it is a hidden gem along this stretch of coastline. To those who have yet to pay her a visit, ignore the stories – the little bit of effort pays dividends! What are you waiting for apart from a bit of planning and a good spell of weather? The rest is simply in your head. n