Lying virtually intact on a flat silty seabed the Shuna can sometimes be the best wreck dive in the Sound of Mull and sometimes the worst. Get the wreck to yourself and it is hard to beat. Get there after 3 other boat loads of divers have stirred up the silt and you will wonder why you bothered.
Amidships the flue from the boiler is open where the funnel used to be attached. Inside the ducting has rotted to provide access above the boiler, though there is not much space and there is a lot of silt to stir up.
Just aft is a much larger opening that would once have been the location of the engine room ventilation hatch. Now it is open straight down above the engine. Inside a grilled catwalk runs round the top of a typical 3 cylinder triple expansion steam engine.
On the main deck at the deck planking is rotting but intact all the way to the stern. The holds are all half full of coal with a good covering of silt.
The spare propeller is still attached to the stern deck with pairs of bollards to either side. Steering is by a simple steering quadrant, above the stern deck with cables still attached leading out to either side of the ship where they would be routed forwards to the wheel house.
Exposed surfaces of the Shuna are covered in tunicates and hydroids, with the tunicates even denser over the stern and on the rudder. The rudder is also one of the few locations I found bright white and yellow daisy or "fried egg" anemones. Inside the rudder the propeller is still in place.
The covering for the companionway past the forward superstructure has rotted through, as has much of the deck above which would have once supported a wooden wheelhouse. Inside is well lit through the broken roof, but crowded with rotting debris.
The forward mast has a noticeable cant aft. Masts would often have a slight rake aft, yet I get the impression that this mast has tilted just a little further. Behind the mast is another large cargo winch, but forward is a much smaller winch serving the forward hold.
Steps ascend to the bow deck, with a hatchway between them leading into the focsle. Some of the decking above has rotted through allowing a small amount of light to enter, but it is very silty.
At the back of the bow deck are a pair of drums for the mooring cables. Further forward the anchor winch is intact with chains leading down the hawse pipes. Over the side of the bow the chain dangles down and leads out until it is buried beneath silt on the seabed.
The Shuna's anchors were originally set back from the shore when the ship was beached, ready to pull the ship off again later.
So why is the Shuna sometimes the best wreck dive in the Sound of Mull? The structure of the ship is fairly normal with nothing particularly unusual. It's just the privilege of seeing a ship this intact and upright, especially when the visibility is good.