The V210 Hinrich Hey is located between Jersey in the Channel Islands and St Malo on the north coast of Brittany. The depth to the seabed can be as deep as 36 metres, or as shallow as 26 metres, depending on high or low water slack and spring or neap tides.
The remains on the stern rest on the port side with propeller and rudder in place. There is only a small section of stern and propeller shaft before the wreckage breaks where the engine would have been located.
When torpedoed the Hinrich Hey was broken in two at the engine room. The stern settled to port, and the forward part settled almost at right angles to the stern on its starboard side. The strange thing is that amongst all this destruction the boiler rotated upright, maybe almost floating upright due to trapped air. I get the impression that the Hinrich Hey was literally blown apart and sank very quickly.
To the starboard side of the boiler is a small pile of ammunition and a gun platform that would have been raised above it.
Staying on the seabed at this side of the wreck, there is a small pile of chain then two small gun pintles fallen on their sides before a larger gun platform and pintle, again resting on its side perpendicular to the wreck. Near the base of this platform is a case of ammunition, and just forward another small gun pintle. The Hinrick Hey must have been absolutely bristling with anti-aircraft guns.
Next comes a pair of drums, possibly small depth charges. Just in front of these are the breech, barrel and gun shield of a 20 mm gun with a scattering of yet more ammunition.
Further forward, debris on the seabed becomes more random and it is worth moving up to the centre line of the wreck. Now getting close to the bow, there is first an anchor winch, followed by an intact 88mm gun pointing slightly towards the surface.
The "88" was one of the more notorious German guns, serving very successfully as both an anti-aircraft gun and as an anti-tank gun. Allied forces didn't really have a gun to match it, though it is a bit small compared to big naval guns and was obviously found lacking as an anti-MTB gun.
At the bow the wooden deck has rotted through leaving the hawse pipes exposed with neither anchor in place. One of the Hinrich Hey's anchors is down below the keel, though the larger anchor and chain hooked along the keel is obviously an anchor fouled against the wreck and lost from a larger ship at a later date.
Back on deck it is possible to get inside the bow, though I couldn't see a clear way back through deck. Behind the anchor winch the hull is opened out, with a gun platform tipped upside down in the opening. Looking forward under the bow deck, 88mm ammunition is scattered about the small hold.
The main deck resumes just forward of the boiler where a solid steel section would have supported the wheel house, itself wooden and rotted away, though the foundations can still be made out on the deck.
That sums up the main part of the wreck, though there is one thing left to see. Its well off the stern, so even in good visibility it may be wise to attach a reel to co-ordinate a pendulum search and later find the way back to the wreck. About 25 to 30 metres off the stern is the remains of the engine. It is partly submerged in the sand and I suspect it just fell through the gap as the Hinrich Hey was blown apart by the Canadian torpedo, the rest of the wreck sinking quickly, but just slow enough to drift a few metres with the current rather than sinking on top of the engine.
The V210 Hinrich Hey was not the only escort to be sunk when the convoy was attacked by Canadian torpedo boats, Mike Rowley, Skipper of the MV Maureen, has also located the wreck of the V208 Walter Darre only 350 metres away.