The British Splendour

Torpedoed April 6th, 1942

7138 Gross Tons

441 feet Length, 59 feet Beam, 33feet Deep

Owner: British Tanker Company of London

Builder: Palmer's Company, Ltd., Newcastle, England

Depth 110 feet

The British Splendour was carrying fifty-three men and a valuable cargo of 10,000 tons of gasoline destined for the British Isles via Halifax, NS when she was torpedoed on April 6th, 1942. She had departed Houston, Texas on March 30th, 1942 and was to meet an Eastbound Atlantic convoy in the neighborhood of Halifax. The Captain of the vessel was well aware of the dangers German U-boats posed in the Hatteras area and he had intended to pass Hatteras during daylight, but that did not occur. Shortly after 2200 hours a "buzz like an airplane motor" was heard onboard the Tanker. About ten minutes later, at 2215, a torpedo struck on the port side below the waterline, just aft of the engine room. The explosion blew off almost all of the aft superstructure and the engine room skylights. The lives of twelve men were taken in this brief instant.

The life of the Splendour was also over. She immediately began to go down by the stern and would eventually capsize. The sinking vessel remained afloat long enough for the radioman to get off a distress message and the remaining crew of forty-one to launch three lifeboats and one raft into which they fled the sinking ship. The surviving crew were picked up by the British Armed Trawler HMS St. Zeno which had been escorting the Tanker at the time of the attack. Immediately after the attack, the St Zeno launched a search for the U-boat but it was not successful. It returned to the area of the dying Tanker and picked up the first survivors within 45 minutes and had collected them all within two hours. There were no serious injuries to the survivors and they were eventually landed at the Naval Base in Norfolk, Virginia, on April 7th.

It was Oberleutnant zur See Erich Topp, of the U-552, who had torpedoed the tanker and sent her to the bottom. Topp, already considered an "ace" for his actions against the British convoys had already sunk two vessels since arriving off the American Coast. The British Splendour was his third and a total of six were lost to this U-boat commander. The U-552 (a type VII-C) survived the war and was scuttled at Wilhelmshaven, Germany, on May 2, 1945 (Lube in command).

Diving The Splendour

Engine Crankshaft spills from the stern The British Splendour had been built in 1931 and was considered very modern for the day powered by two diesel engines. She was also very big for the times, 441.2 feet long and had a beam of over 59 feet. Now the Tanker is upside down in 110 feet of water off Ocracoke island, many miles south of where the attack that sank her is reported to have occurred. The wreck was positively identified in 1983 by the recovery of the engine builder's plaque by diver Dave Bluett, of Virginia. The tanker sits in an area of hard sand bottom and usually has clear water over her resulting in normally good to excellent visibility. The bow and stern sections are relatively intact with the amidships section, which contained the tanks and pumping gear, somewhat collapsed and fairly flat to the sea bottom. The stern (though upside down) is generally the better dive due to the much greater relief rising to 70 feet and the presence of more artifacts there. The area hit by the torpedo is easily seen on the side of the engine room and the crankshaft of one of the engines easily identified laying just outside the hull. The stern section is fairly easy to penetrate and swim completely through. However, extreme caution must be exercised as several pieces of machinery have fallen from the overhead and the stern is beginning to show signs of collapse.

In the summer of 2000, a large crack opened up in the hull plating of the upside down stern, creating a split completely across the hull. This has continued to split the hull open and the crack is now about 10' wide allowing entry into the hull in both directions from the split. Additional plating has been peeled back from the hull exposing the frames, webs and brackets that supported the outer shell. Several of the overhanging hull plates on the forward end of the stern section have also recently fallen. Over the winter of 2004, a section of the side of the hull tore away in a small chunk and one of the large electric motors that was previously inside the engine room is now laying just outside the hull. The forces of the sea are always at work and it changes these wreck sites constantly.

The wreck usually holds large numbers of fish even though it is heavily fished by the Ocracoke bottom boats which leave a great deal of mono line on the bottom. The inside of the engine room provides a great habitat for a large number of creatures and I have seen very large jewfish (300#+) lurking in the stern section as well as sharks and other large fish. There are also many eels and large numbers of bait fish inside as well. Outside, lemon sharks, large rays and turtles are seen here often.

Young Queen Angels on the Splendour The British Splendour is consistently a great Hatteras area dive for either the novice or experienced diver. School of Jacks chase the baitfish above the hull

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