To get the orientation of the wreck sorted out, a quick circuit of the boilers will reveal the fire holes at the front and a smaller donkey boiler forward and to the port side of the wreck.To get the orientation of the wreck sorted out, a quick circuit of the boilers will reveal the fire holes at the front and a smaller donkey boiler forward and to the port side of the wreck.
Heading forward, there are still traces of the Volnay's cargo of munitions scattered about the hold areas, rusting steel warheads, balls of lead shot and sticks of cordite looking like wholemeal spaghetti.
The bow of the wreck has collapsed to port, the first sign of this is a broken section of hull slightly to starboard of the main part of the wreckage. From here a 1 metre rocky ledge can be seen off to the west of the wreck.
There is a substantial section of bow lying on its side. It would be easy to just swim past it as blank metal plate, but there is actually a way in to the rear of it with a swim through to the top of the bow. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone without plenty of experience inside wrecks. It is tight and there are lots of metal projections to get caught on.
Having said that, anyone can poke their head inside and watch the swirling mass of bib and poor cod that inhabit the sheltered area.
Above the bow, to the port side of the wreck, debris from the deck includes a pair of mooring bollards and a small crane that would have been used to service the anchors.
The anchor winch itself lies upside down and a little further to port. This is the shallowest area of the wreck and is a metre or two shallower than the seabed at the boilers.
Behind the boilers there is little sign of the engine, it must have been salvaged or substantially dispersed.
The aft part of the wreck appears to have twisted to starboard slightly round about half way back. Here the way the wreck has collapsed changes from hull plates fallen outwards with ribs exposed to fallen inwards with flat steel upwards. Again little clusters of lead shot and tufts of cordite mark the area of the holds.
As you near the stern a large iron cleat or fairlead lies diagonally across the wreck, followed by a pair of bollards slightly to the port side.
Just behind the bollards lies the base of the rudder shaft. This slopes upward and towards the starboard side of the wreck, confirming that the stern had fallen to starboard before breaking up completely. The top of the shaft is a few metres above the seabed and even in the negligible current there is a cluster of plumose anemones growing on it.
The Volnay was my first wreck dive and I am sure many other divers will look back on it with equal fondness.