The SS Carbon Shipwreck
21st March 2022
An Adventure: The SS Carbon
I have been waiting quite a while to go and try to photograph one of the more visible wrecks along the coast, which lies in Compton Bay on the Isle of Wight. It is only visible at very low tides and due to its position, you need reasonable weather. Finally, I went over this past weekend to try and get a result.
The wreck, the SS Carbon, lies off Compton Bay around 200m offshore, accessible only at very low Spring tides and even then, by climbing over the rocks and standing on a rocky ledge/peninsula, all covered in weed and slime. It was a low Spring tide on Saturday, one of the lowest of the year and with high pressure I was hopeful of getting a good view of the wreck.
Add to the mix that the winds were blowing at around 25mph, directly behind me blowing me out to sea, and it was definitely a photography trip to remember.
It took a while to get out to the wreck and setup, which with a short window for low tide, meant getting on with it. With waves lapping at my feet and covering the peninsula just a few feet away, I felt like I didn’t have long before the tide turned.
Being sunset, I was shooting into the sun, which was not ideal, but couldn’t get any further down the rocky ledge to shoot the other side of the wreck, so took the shot I could, with much of the wreck in shadow.
In hindsight, it would be better if weather permitted, to shoot the wreck at sunrise, rather than later in the day, to help illuminate what you can see, but opportunities to even see the wreck are not that common.
While I was there, a couple of people clambered out to take a look, with many saying they had never seen it this visible and uncovered.
History
Thanks to an excerpt from Divernet:
“The Carbon is in Compton Bay. The tug, originally called the John Holloway, was bought by the Royal Navy in 1900. She was 75ft. long with a beam of 17ft. and at the end of her long career with the Navy, she was under tow south of the Isle of Wight when, in the early hours of 10 November, 1947, the tow parted in heavy weather and the unmanned tug was lost in the darkness. She was found aground and full of water in the shallows, but an attempt to refloat her the following day failed and she was abandoned.”
I have been waiting quite a while to go and try to photograph one of the more visible wrecks along the coast, which lies in Compton Bay on the Isle of Wight. It is only visible at very low tides and due to its position, you need reasonable weather. Finally, I went over this past weekend to try and get a result.
The wreck, the SS Carbon, lies off Compton Bay around 200m offshore, accessible only at very low Spring tides and even then, by climbing over the rocks and standing on a rocky ledge/peninsula, all covered in weed and slime. It was a low Spring tide on Saturday, one of the lowest of the year and with high pressure I was hopeful of getting a good view of the wreck.
Add to the mix that the winds were blowing at around 25mph, directly behind me blowing me out to sea, and it was definitely a photography trip to remember.
It took a while to get out to the wreck and setup, which with a short window for low tide, meant getting on with it. With waves lapping at my feet and covering the peninsula just a few feet away, I felt like I didn’t have long before the tide turned.
Being sunset, I was shooting into the sun, which was not ideal, but couldn’t get any further down the rocky ledge to shoot the other side of the wreck, so took the shot I could, with much of the wreck in shadow.
In hindsight, it would be better if weather permitted, to shoot the wreck at sunrise, rather than later in the day, to help illuminate what you can see, but opportunities to even see the wreck are not that common.
While I was there, a couple of people clambered out to take a look, with many saying they had never seen it this visible and uncovered.
History
Thanks to an excerpt from Divernet:
“The Carbon is in Compton Bay. The tug, originally called the John Holloway, was bought by the Royal Navy in 1900. She was 75ft. long with a beam of 17ft. and at the end of her long career with the Navy, she was under tow south of the Isle of Wight when, in the early hours of 10 November, 1947, the tow parted in heavy weather and the unmanned tug was lost in the darkness. She was found aground and full of water in the shallows, but an attempt to refloat her the following day failed and she was abandoned.”