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| Kruisschans |
I've convinced myself It's Kruisschans but nobody else as yet but, it's definitely not the Fortuna!
Quite a few reports say it was carrying a cargo of bricks. A brick has been found but one brick doesn't make a cargo!
Possibly there are bricks in the bottom of the hold but, as there are tons of cement on top, It's hard to say. The report below does say a cargo of cement though!
Pottery and artifacts of Dutch/ Belgian origin have been found. So has a bell but It had nothing on it!
Fortuna was 80m long, this wreck is largely intact and we measured it to 42m
Engine is at the stern of the ship, as per picture. Having found plans for the ship the layout of the wreck seems very similar.
The Kruisscans started life as SS Navis X11 1920- 1923, a Belgian ship built by Muller Gebr at Foxol with a 3cyl engine and 1 boiler. The engine is visible in the wreck if you drop to the starboard side and look through where a hull plate has come away. The engine room itself is full of sand but the casing around the cylinders is still visible. If you look forward, with your head poked inside the engine room, you can see a hatchway that leads up onto the deck.
The wreck is sunk into the sand so the prop is covered. The very stern of the wreck has a space, just below the deck, which is shown as the ships stores on the drawings. This is where the jamjar came from ,the egg cup and plates.
Move forward to where the bridge was and there is an opening that looks back into the engine room. This is the hatchway you will see from looking through the hull at the stern.
The Technison Bereau - Schapps was the manager, sold the Navis in 1923 to the Wash Shipping Company Ltd, Kings Lynn and they changed the name to Thomas Woodthorpe.
They owned the ship until 1826 when it was sold to Rasmusschs Rederi, Bergen, and renamed Sandholm.
Again, It was sold in 1928 and renamed Piet Hein.
In 1929 It finally sold to Bull& De Korte, Antwerp and became the Kruisschans.
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Reportedly hit submerged wreckage which cause the ship to sink on the 28th of May 1930. It's position was estimated as 20 miles West of Beachy Head. We always take position given with a large pinch of salt, and from what we have found in the past, the position of the wreck it is very much within the right area.
To my mind It is the Kruisschans but I am more than happy to be proved wrong if someone has a makers plate or clue to prove it is another ship.
What we can say with 100% certainty though , It is not the SS Fortuna!
