Dive the FRAM
by Andy Higgins
The steamship FRAM, which had originally been named the RUSS was built in 1897 by Sir Raylton Dixon & Company of Middlesborough for the Danish-Russian Steamship Co. and cost 532,507 d. Kroner. She was registered in Copenhagen, had a gross tonnage of 2,463 and measured 325 feet by 22 feet. In her early life she carried wood and pulp around the ports of the Baltic at a normal cruising speed of 9.5 knots.
On April 16th 1920 the Danish-Russian Co with it’s entire fleet was taken over by Det Forenede Dampskibsselskab of Kobenhoun, and then the RUSS was swiftly sold off to the rather unfortunately named Angfartyg A/B Kjell of Kalmar in Sweden and was renamed the FRAM.
As any old sailor (or any modem one for that matter) knows, the most unlucky thing to happen to a ship or boat is to change the name. The FRAM seemed at first to give the lie to this superstition, as she survived not one but two collisions. The first was with the Norwegian Steamer the HESSA, and the second with the English Steamer CONTINENTAL TRADER. In 1937 The FRAM’s port of registration was changed to Stockholm.
On the night of 31st of January in the year 1940 The FRAM made her final and fatal voyage. Steaming from Stockholm ,with West Hartlepool as her final destination, she was forced to shelter from a howling south-easterly gale in Roseharty Bay on the Moray Coast. The crew had battled against extreme winter conditions for the whole three days of the voyage, and, apart from the watchkeeper, were all in their bunks when, at 01.43 a.m. a torpedo from the German submarine U. 13. blasted it’s way into her side and cut her into two parts. The entire chart room and the funnel were destroyed by the explosion, and the lifeboats and two of the dinghies were lost.
The bows of The FRAM sank almost immediately, the stem taking about twenty five minutes to slowly slip beneath the icy waves. Amazingly, fourteen people survived the disaster, despite them having spent many hours in the inhospitable North Sea. The German submarine fleet had claimed another victim. However, the submarine U. 13. had not much longer to prowl the depths, as the R.N. Sloop H.M.S. WESTON wreaked a terrible revenge on 31st of May 1940, when the U. 13 was depth charged and sunk with all hands to the north of Newcastle. The grey North Sea had claimed the U. 13 as well as the FRAM.
The FRAM still lies about four miles out from Pennan Harbour on the Moray Coast to this day. Depths are 44m to the sea bed and 34m. to the top of the wreck. The wreck is visited by seals, and shoals of juvenile fish can be seen at the appropriate season. Colourful soft corals are abundant, and the many holes in the superstructure are encrusted with marine life. Fishermen’s trawl nets have come to grief on the wreck in the past and are still draped over the wreck in places. Capstans and skylights are still reasonably intact.
Transits
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The Decca co-ordinates are |
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N 57.42.94 W 2.12.86 |
Strong currents of up to 4 knots are not uncommon on the wreck so that diving at slack water is by far the safest option. Slack water at Pennan is two hours after low water. Using an Echo Sounder, the wreck may appear as a group of vertical lines, which appear rather broken up. It does not give a solid return signal, and even may not register as a change in depth on a digital readout.