Wreck of steamship lost 140 years ago found off Alderney

DIVERS have made a “once-in-a-lifetime discovery” after the wreck of a 140-year-old steamship was found off the Channel Islands.

The wreck, two miles off Alderney, has now been identified as the SS Virago which sank in 1882. The ship had been used for trade with the Far East from the UK.

Richard Keen, the dive supervisor, told the BBC it was a “once-in-a-lifetime” discovery.

Mr Keen said the wreck – 282ft in length – was difficult to get to because of the island’s strong tidal range.

The SS Virago was sailing from Hull to Russia, transporting 1,000 tonnes of machinery, when it disappeared in the Channel in June 1882.

Divers found steam engines, ironworks, wheels and other machinery on the wreck.

Mr Keen said there was fog on the day the ship sank, but the speed and time at which it struck Alderney remains unknown. There were no survivors.

He said: “There were 26 crew, one body was washed ashore near Cherbourg sometime later and four of the lifeboats were found, two off Dieppe and two north of Alderney.”

Mr Keen added: “I’m just waiting to dive it. I’d never believe that a wreck like that would exist in that area and be there 140 years and nobody had really found it or looked at it.

“We’ve yet to explore the whole of the wreck.”

The ship, which belonged to the Wilson family business, is still listed as missing on Lloyd’s Register of Ships.

Dr Robb Robinson, from Hull University, said ship losses occurred on “alltoo regular [a] basis” in the 19th century and it was greeted in a similar way as car crashes are reported today.

‘Steamships like this played their part in cementing the British Empire. The Suez Canal had just opened’

He added: “Steamships like this played their part in cementing the British Empire. The Suez Canal had been recently opened, links to India were strengthened as a result of being able to cut sailing round South Africa out of the voyage and being able to make direct voyages to India.”

A seabed survey in 2009 had established the presence of a wreck near Alderney but it was not identified as the Virago until now. Britain’s oldest shipwreck, from the 13th century, was discovered off the Dorset coast in July.