The 2363-ton steamship Rondo was sheltering from a storm on the night of 25 January 1935 anchored near Tobermory. During the night the anchor chain broke and the Rondo started to drift with the strong tide down the Sound of Mull, eventually being driven sideways across the small island of Dearg Sgir so hard that it was stranded high and dry, balanced precariously across the island.
Over the following few months extensive salvaging removed most of the hull and machinery, until eventually the balance of the wreck was disturbed and it slid bow first over the rock and down the slope.
The Rondo is now one of the classic wrecks in the Sound of Mull. It is also a rather unusual wreck due to its condition and location. The bows now rest dug into the seabed in 50 metres with the stern rising to just 5 metres below the surface.
It is easy to get the impression that the Rondo is almost vertical in the water, standing on its bow and resting against a cliff face. However, a more analytical view is that with a length of 80 metres and a maximum depth of 50 metres, the average slope is consequently 35 degrees. But don't let my dispelling of a myth disappoint you; if you are in the area the Rondo is well worth diving.
A dive on the Rondo normally begins on the rudder post, the shallowest point of the wreck and where a buoy is conveniently attached. The vast majority of the hull has been cut down to a few metres above the keel, so the usual move from the rudder post is to get down inside the remains of the hull and continue down inside the wreck and out of the current.
A short way down there are some broken sections of the prop shaft tunnel, big enough to swim through. The shaft itself has been salvaged. Either side of this the hull plates have been folded in towards the keel giving the sides of the wreck a rounded appearance.
Up until a few years ago there was an intact archway of hull and decking spanning the wreck at this point. It gave a good impression of how large the Rondo originally was before it was salvaged. Unfortunately this has now collapsed leaving a skeleton of upright ribs projecting into the current.
In-between these ribs a small area of deck plating holds a winch above the tangled remains that fill the bottom of the hull. Another notable feature in this area of the wreck are the broken remains of an A frame mast that lies along the inside of the hull.
Continuing down hill towards the bows, the sides of wreckage are featureless and sparse until some ribs project from the port side at about 40 metres. The slope is now starting to level off, with the seabed in front of the bows being a coarse gravel and pebble plain at 50 metres.
The bows only stand about one metre above the seabed, but the wreck has dug in below the level of the seabed enabling a maximum depth of 52 metres just inside the bow at the bottom of the keel.
Having followed the inside of the wreck all the way down to the bows, for the return journey I like to follow the outside of the wreck and admire some of the vibrant marine life that grows from the hull and the rocks around the wreck. At about 36 metres the keel spans a dip in the slope to form an easy swim through to the other side of the wreck.
With the strong currents that flow along the Sound of Mull getting funneled through this gap beneath the keel, here is where you can find the biggest and densest arrays of plumose anemones. If the current is running and you want to do this swim through then it is best to start your return from the bows on the up-current side of the wreck so that you flow with the current beneath the keel.
Now on the opposite side of the hull, you don't have to stay there for long because at 24 metres there is another swim through beneath the keel. Although it may be a bit of a hard swim up current if you are not diving on slack water.
As you approach the stern the keel actually projects clear above the rocks. You may have time to swim beneath the hull yet again. If not the rudder provides a convenient point to begin any decompression stops accumulated, with final decompression completed hanging on to the buoy line.