Page 431 - The British Big Four
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Top Ten Wreck Dives of Bermuda
Mary Celestia - a side-paddlewheel steamer chartered by the Confed- Bermuda and North Carolina. Bermuda’s shallow reefs accomplished
erate Army during the American Civil War. It was used as a blockade- what no Union gunboat could do when the Montana sank in De-
runner smuggling guns, ammunition and supplies to the troops. It’s cember 1863. Lying in 9 meters of water, the partially intact wreck is
Bermuda’s most-talked-about wreck site owing to the fact that in June marked by two steam boilers and two paddlewheel frames lying on
2011 five intact bottles of 148-year-old wine were found in the bow their sides.
compartment. Highlights include the bow, anchor, paddlewheels and North Carolina - was an English iron-hulled barque built in Liverpool.
boilers. While in route from Bermuda to England with a cargo of cotton, bark
Hermes - A U.S. Coast Guard buoy tender until the end of World and fuel, it hit a reef and sank on New Year’s Day, 1880. There was an
War II, Hermes was relocated to the Philippines as a freighter car- attempt to refloat the ship, but it ended in disaster when an anchor
rying mixed cargo. On the way to the Cape Verde Islands, the ship broke free, crashed through the hull and sent it straight back down to
experienced engine trouble off the coast of Bermuda and was aban- the seabed. The prominent bowsprit and rows of dead-eyes along its
doned. Hermes was acquired by the Bermuda Dive Association and deck railings make perfect backdrops for photographs.
thoroughly cleaned and made diver-friendly before being sunk as an Cristobal Colon - The largest Bermuda shipwreck, this Spanish cruise
artificial reef project. Divers can either skirt the outside of the wreck or liner was 499 feet long and three decks high. Built in 1923, it operated
explore the delights within. between New York and Central America. The liner crashed into the
Constellation - Built in 1918, this four-mast, wood-hulled American coral reefs off the Bermuda’s North Shore on Oct. 25, 1936, and was
schooner was pressed into service and used as a cargo vessel during subsequently looted by locals. The British eventually sank the ship’s
World War II. In July 1943, it was bound for Venezuela carrying a empty shell by using it for bombing practice during World War II. To-
general cargo of building materials, medicine and 700 cases of Scotch day, it is a haven for a variety of colorful reef fish.
whisky when it sank. Today, its hull lies broken on a coral and sand
bottom in 9 meters of water, exposing petrified sacks of cement, build-
ing supplies and glassware. The Constellation was the inspiration for
Peter Benchley’s book The Deep.
Montana (Nola) - An elusive ship of multiple identities — often oper-
ating under the name of Nola, Gloria, Paramount and Montana — it
was a Civil War blockade-runner that made trips between England,
