The Breda easily qualifies as Scotland's most dived wreck, and it is not hard to see why. At 6941 tons, the Breda is a big wreck with lots to see. It is reasonably intact, conveniently located near Oban and sheltered from most bad weather. The wreck is so popular that local dive centres maintain up to three buoys on the Breda, one at the bows, one amidships, and one at the stern.
At 30 metres the seabed at the stern is the deepest part of the wreck, so a quick diversion to the rudder is best made now at the start of the dive. The propeller was excavated from the silt and salvaged in 1968, earning the salvors £2,500.
The entire length of the deck is covered in collapsed masts and the associated winches, but unlike many wrecks where the main interest is the structure of the ship, the Breda has some interesting cargo remaining.
The aft hold has a stacked wall of solid cement bags at the front of it, providing some interesting crevices for conger eels to have set up home. This hold also originally carried spare parts for trucks, so you may find some interesting bits of suspension in the silt at the bottom of the hold.
Back at deck level, a pair of cabins are located on either side of the deck between the holds. Like the stern accommodation, the ceilings have gone but the walls are partially intact, with circular openings left where portholes have been removed.
The number 4 hold is also half full of solid cement bags, but this time more jumbled up with other scraps of cargo.
Continuing forwards, extensive salvaging has left the remains of the engine room a tangled mess of girders, plates and machinery. Access is possible from above, or through a hole in the port side. Be careful exploring too far inside here, divers have died inside the Breda when the way out has become silted or blocked by falling wreckage. No matter how careful you are, there is always the risk that one of the many other divers that descend on the Breda could unwittingly do it for you.
The forward superstructure has been cleared completely when the wreck was wire swept. Nothing remains but a few girders that run across the wreck that have almost collapsed down to deck level. The remains of the superstructure can be found on the seabed off the port side of the wreck.
At the bottom of the number 2 hold are the remains of a 4x4 truck chassis. On the shelf at the side are some fragile looking metal skeletons, the remains of tiger moth aircraft. Rather than ascending to deck level to cross the superstructure from the previous hold, there is also an easy route under the remains of the forward superstructure between these holds.
On the starboard deck above the hold lies the remains of another 4x4 chassis.
The forward hold is only part complete, with the front half being swept clear with the raised bows. In front of the hold the bow has been swept clear to one deck below the main deck level. Most of the debris lies just off the port side of the bow.