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Launched as Avon February 1870 |
Depending on what report you read it was 4 miles to 11 miles that the two ships collided.
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The wreck, or what is left of it, is sitting 3.5 miles from Hastings and with no other wrecks in the area that could possibly be the Vesuvius it's a good bet that what is left on site is in fact the remains of that ship.
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The ship has sunk into the sand and after being blown up there is not a huge amount left sticking up, but some remains. The 2 cylinder engine sits up to only 8m below the water at low tide and the prop shaft out the back of the engine leads to the 4 bladed prop. Going forward there is pieces of wreckage poking out the silty seabed and another larger piece of wreck further forward, but nothing is recognisable. Even the boiler in front of the engine has been blown to pieces and pieces of boiler tubes are sticking up.
Not a very inspiring dive but the fact the Vesuvius does not appear in the shipwreck index or Dive Sussex and was lost to history, for me , makes this an interesting site.
