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Sunken Royal Navy Warship Discovered After 100 Years
10K views
Apr 22, 2025
Following a terrible accident, the Royal Navy destroyer, HMS Negro, vanished in December 1916 with the loss of 51 sailors. Years of research produced a possible site for the wreck. Overcoming the challenges posed by the remote location and 100 metre (300 feet) depth, the team were able to positively identify the wreck and confirm the final resting place of 51 men. *Useful LInks* Lost in waters deep website - https://lostinwatersdeep.co.uk/hms-negro.html Rick Ayrton on facebook - https://www.facebook.com/rick.ayrton.1/ MV Clasina - https://www.clasina.co.uk/ *Highlights* 00:00 HMS Negro introduction 01:54 Stunning images of the wreck! 02:33 Deck plans of HMS Negro 03:22 Tying in at the bottom of the shot 05:31 Jarrow boilers 06:38 The ship's bridge 07:00 Boom - the bell! 10:40 Bell on top of the wreck 13:05 Looking for the gun 15:45 Starboard side and divers
View Video Transcript
0:00
finding a ship's Bell is a moment that
0:02
almost every diver dreams of but in this
0:06
case it was also tinged with
0:09
Sadness by confirming that this was the
0:11
wreck of HMS negro we'd also located the
0:15
final resting place of 51 Sailors who
0:20
drowned in horrendous conditions and
0:22
freezing Waters after their Destroyer
0:25
was involved in an accident even though
0:28
this was wartime there was no enemy
0:30
involvement making it particularly
0:34
poignant the wreck is in an extremely
0:38
remote location it's north of Fair Isle
0:41
and to get there we have to travel for 2
0:44
days on a liver board dive booat from
0:47
scappa flow no one has ever dived this
0:51
site so it's entirely possible that it
0:54
could be nothing we've got information
0:57
from the UK hydrographic office and two
1:00
very old s scan images dating back to
1:02
the
1:03
1980s Kevin Heath from the lost in
1:06
waters deep website has spent years
1:10
researching the fate of HMS negro and
1:13
he's convinced that this is her final
1:16
resting
1:17
place it's 100 m deep the water's about
1:21
10° maybe a bit less on the bottom we're
1:25
very remote and a long way from help
1:28
this is going to be a big D dive people
1:31
who've watched my other videos May
1:33
recognize this setup it's my divex piran
1:37
scooter with a GoPro and two video
1:40
lights that's what's producing the video
1:43
that you see for the rest of this dive I
1:46
also had a parall lens mounted to the
1:48
side of my head unfortunately it didn't
1:50
want to play so I didn't get anything
1:52
useful from that diving with me on the
1:56
scooter in front is Rick Erton he's a a
2:00
brilliant underwater photographer and
2:02
I've had the very great privilege of
2:04
diving with him on some of my best
2:06
Dives all the photos that you can see
2:09
above this video are
2:11
his they're just a small sample of the
2:15
many fabulous photos that he took on
2:17
this dive if you haven't done so you
2:20
should definitely look him up on
2:22
Facebook he posts a continuous stream of
2:26
fabulous photos from Deep technical
2:29
Dives and they're well worth a few
2:31
minutes of anybody's time on a 100 meter
2:34
dive your bottom time is really limited
2:38
so it's important that you make the most
2:40
out of it we were really fortunate that
2:43
Kevin Heath had managed to find the
2:45
plans for HMS negro and we'd studied
2:48
them in detail before we went down
2:51
wrecks of warships are always
2:53
distinctive but thin fast sleep
2:56
destroyers like HMS negro have many
3:00
features that make them easy to
3:03
identify we were particularly looking
3:05
for armaments and the four jarro boilers
3:09
that are easy to recognize due to their
3:11
inverted
3:12
vshape as always with Dives of this
3:15
depth it's taken a long time to get to
3:18
the bottom you can see that Rick has
3:20
beaten me to it he's busy tying the
3:23
shotline in with a waser and then he's
3:26
going to release the pellet to let the
3:28
divers above know that they were able to
3:31
get in we're using a slightly modified
3:34
technique this time rather than sending
3:37
the was up through the water it's
3:39
actually looped around the
3:41
shotline we'd had a problem on a
3:43
previous dive so we're giving this
3:45
technique a go while he's doing that I'm
3:49
attaching my strobes leaving the scooter
3:53
and the video camera to dangle in the
3:55
water which is why the video footage
3:57
seems a bit odd
4:00
I've got it back again unfortunately it
4:03
seems as though I've knocked the video
4:05
camera which is why it's videoing a bit
4:09
of the front of the scooter fortunately
4:12
it's not completely ruined the video and
4:14
you can see that this is going to be an
4:16
incredible dive conditions are stunning
4:20
visibility is great there's a ton of
4:22
Life on this wreck you can also see that
4:26
there's lots and lots of machinery for
4:28
what is a small wreck this is really
4:31
distinctive for military vessels they're
4:34
not built for carrying cargo so every
4:37
space has got something in it off to my
4:40
left is actually the first jarob boiler
4:43
but you're going to get a better view of
4:44
them in the video later on I'm just
4:46
waiting for Rick to sort himself out and
4:49
once he's done that we're going to head
4:51
off to the left which I've already
4:53
figured is towards the
4:55
bow there's loads of big fish I'd love
4:58
to tell you what they are unfortunately
5:01
anyone who seen my other videos will
5:04
know that that isn't my
5:07
forte right we're on the Move we're
5:11
starting to head towards the
5:12
bow this is going to be on the port side
5:15
of the
5:16
wreck you'll see in a second all the
5:18
wreckage is off to my right hand side
5:21
off to the left pretty much nothing it's
5:24
absolutely beautiful although that's not
5:27
what I'm looking at
5:29
what you can see there is another jarro
5:31
voiler if my video was pointed up a bit
5:35
further it would be really clear but I
5:38
haven't noticed that it's pointing down
5:39
yet so we're going to crack on keep on
5:43
moving forward don't worry it's not
5:46
going to be that long before I realize
5:47
the video isn't doing exactly what I
5:49
want it to
5:51
do you can see that there's a gap
5:54
between two boilers here there's a jarro
5:56
boiler on the right and one on the left
5:59
that's is up to three at the moment we
6:02
know there's four on HMS negro so
6:05
already I'm getting pretty
6:07
excited you'll also see that there's a
6:09
load of line on this wreck fishing line
6:12
old fishing nets easy to see why with
6:15
all the fish but it's definitely
6:17
something that we've got to be concerned
6:18
about and making sure that we
6:22
avoid as we continue to move forward the
6:26
wreck starts to drop down to the seabed
6:29
there's a lot less Machinery here that's
6:31
pretty much what you'd expect with the
6:33
bow which has got accommodation and
6:34
messes in and stuff also see down there
6:38
the first of two toilets I knew from the
6:41
plans that there are toilets in the bow
6:44
area of HMS negro just in the top there
6:47
that looks like a door there's loads of
6:50
fish but this has got to be the bridge
6:53
area I'm looking for anything that might
6:56
identify as a bridge maybe a telegraph
6:58
or a hell
7:00
and then bum I've spotted it I'm not
7:03
sure if you have but there just at the
7:07
top of the video just going out a shot
7:10
that is the
7:16
Bell that's the sound of me getting
7:19
really excited through my uh rebreath
7:23
the breathing Loop and telling Rick that
7:26
I found the Bell that moment is just
7:30
unbelievable I can't describe how good
7:33
it is you can see I'm now coming up to
7:35
it trying to see if there's anything on
7:38
it Rick's coming over he's got his
7:41
Stills camera he's making sure he
7:43
records it and I'm just moving away so
7:47
that I can get some video of Rick
7:50
photographing the
7:52
Bell it's really interesting at the time
7:56
I was completely and utterly focused on
7:58
the Bell
8:00
and I ignored all the other things that
8:02
were around it it's only now looking at
8:05
the video that you can see how many
8:08
other parts of the wreck are just in
8:11
this small area obviously there's all
8:13
that prominent sort of copper tubing but
8:17
there's also there's a brass window
8:18
there from the uh probably from The
8:20
Wheelhouse there's a port hole there is
8:24
uh a sort of brass circular thing which
8:27
may well be part of the uh the ship's
8:28
wheel part the helm over here there's
8:31
two of those toilets I've already
8:33
mentioned the door to the left but when
8:36
you look at it in a moment you'll see
8:37
that the uh the handle is on it
8:39
obviously the Ling is kind of getting in
8:41
the way um but yeah that's clearly a a
8:44
door there's a handle and there's a
8:46
grill at the bottom of
8:47
it uh everything's covered in net as
8:50
we've already uh mentioned but there's a
8:53
whole load of other bits and
8:55
pieces Rick and me are talking you can
8:58
just about hear it trying to decide what
9:01
we're going to
9:03
do I think the Bell
9:05
is kind of slightly buried there and we
9:09
decide that the Bell would be better off
9:11
put on top of the wreck not only is it
9:13
less likely to get buried but it will
9:16
make for some better photos and what we
9:19
really want to do is make sure that we
9:21
can clearly see the name on it we've
9:24
agreed that nothing would come off this
9:27
wreck it's the last resting place
9:29
of 51 Sailors and even though my
9:33
personal view is that that Bell will be
9:35
better on the surface in a
9:38
museum it's going to stay down there
9:41
some people may think that even moving
9:44
artifacts such as the bell is something
9:47
that shouldn't happen and obviously
9:50
that's a view that I respect and you
9:52
know people are entirely entitled to it
9:54
but for me the important thing here is
9:57
is the record
9:59
these people on this wreck have been
10:01
lost for over a hundred years by diving
10:04
it by identifying it by confirming the
10:09
location their last resting place will
10:11
no longer be
10:13
unknown for anybody who has a relative
10:17
that was on HMS negro they'll finally
10:20
know where that person
10:22
is so whilst I'm moving the bell and
10:25
putting it somewhere a little bit more
10:27
prominent the scooters just resting on
10:29
the seabed or rather the wreck and he's
10:33
videoing almost randomly bits of
10:36
wreckage but you can see just how much
10:38
there is what's left down
10:41
here right the bell's up on the uh on
10:43
the top now Rick's moving in for a photo
10:47
I've put it so that the uh words and the
10:49
letters are facing really clearly so
10:52
that he can get the best possible image
10:55
I'm pretty convinced it says negro on
10:57
there and 195
11:01
the crown on the top of the Bell is
11:03
classic Royal Navy there's all those
11:05
jarro boilers I'm pretty convinced that
11:08
we've cracked this but getting a really
11:11
good high quality image is so important
11:15
because that's what we'll be using to
11:16
give to the Royal Navy that's what we'll
11:18
be using to give to anyone else who's
11:20
interested and that is what Rick is
11:23
currently providing for us I'm staying
11:25
in position with my video lights it'll
11:28
just help with illumination
11:29
help with the quality of the photo that
11:31
Rick is
11:33
getting and it's also just an amazing
11:36
thing to
11:37
see as I said at the beginning of this
11:40
video this sort of moment is what divers
11:44
dream about certainly what I dream about
11:46
diving an unknown wreck identifying it
11:50
finding the Bell that is just a great
11:55
great
11:56
feeling unfortunately I'm spending too
11:59
much time enjoying the feeling and not
12:02
enough time thinking what I should be
12:04
really doing is videoing the Bell from
12:06
all sorts of different angles rather
12:09
than just the one maybe it's that I'm
12:11
thinking that Rick is taking some more
12:13
photos or something like that but I'm
12:17
just sat here in one position I don't
12:20
know why I think in these sorts of
12:22
situations there's so much
12:25
adrenaline circulating around your
12:27
bloodstream that I'm not really thinking
12:30
sensibly I'm not standing back
12:33
objectively and thinking how should I be
12:36
recording this if I just moved slightly
12:39
to my left there I'd be get all the
12:42
words you wouldn't have half of it but
12:45
anyway I don't and uh fortunately Rick
12:49
he comes in with his camera and uh
12:53
you've already seen some of his photos
12:54
they're absolutely brilliant and it's
12:57
really clear and easy to see the word NE
12:59
grow in 1915 so we end up with the
13:02
evidence we need to conclusively prove
13:05
that this is the wreck well I finally
13:08
had enough of that and I'm moving on to
13:11
the rest of the wreck I've already been
13:12
over here you recognize that
13:15
Ling uh I think what I'm doing now is
13:17
I'm just going to go forward and have a
13:19
look at the bow the wreck probably
13:21
looking for the gun really uh that would
13:23
be the obvious
13:25
thing uh it should be kind of about
13:29
where I am
13:31
now now we had a big debate afterwards I
13:34
thought the thing to the left there was
13:36
the gun um and you'll see later on I
13:40
come back and I video it a couple of
13:42
other
13:43
people disagreed with that they think
13:46
the gun is forward has fallen forward so
13:49
about where you can see Rick is now off
13:51
to his right that's where they uh that's
13:54
where they judged it to be but you can
13:56
see there's not much left of the wreck
13:58
at all
13:59
just the hor pipe
14:04
there and presumably off the front there
14:06
a bit of an anchor Rick's getting in my
14:09
way he's always likes to get the best
14:11
possible shots which is fine cuz his are
14:15
stunning and uh that's what he's
14:20
doing I'm providing a bit of video like
14:23
for him which is something that any
14:25
photographer will tell you is a useful
14:27
thing to do so I've had enough right at
14:30
the bow and I'm heading back now mainly
14:33
because I want to go and video this
14:34
thing that I think is the
14:36
gun now as I say there was disagreement
14:40
I'm still not 100% convinced that isn't
14:43
the gun but hey ho uh a serving naval
14:47
officer told me otherwise so I'll bow to
14:50
their judgment for those of you
14:51
interested in such things there's a pair
14:54
of wolfish off to the left hand side I'm
14:56
guess I'm not as much of an ignoramus as
14:59
as I uh as I suggest about fish but
15:02
could be just that they're really
15:04
distinctive so this is back on the
15:05
bridge area again I'm just videoing all
15:08
the bits and pieces there's there's the
15:10
thing that I think is the
15:12
gun
15:14
um my naval officer friend tells me that
15:17
the it's just a pipe so uh it's a bit of
15:20
a mistake by me and then I'm kind of
15:23
aware that there's a whole load of the
15:25
wreck that we've not looked at yet and
15:28
obviously we're 100 m so bottom time is
15:30
running out back over to the other side
15:33
I'm slightly obsessed with the
15:35
toilets frankly this isn't the best used
15:37
of my time so I need to be doing other
15:40
things I'm now heading back on the
15:43
starboard side you can just see the
15:45
strobes flashing away in the distance
15:47
you can also see the next two divers
15:50
coming down uh along the top of the
15:52
wreck I'm about to get very excited and
15:55
tell them that we found the Bell
15:57
unfortunately I'm also shocked Shing my
15:59
video lights in their face so they can't
16:01
see the hand gestures I'm making and
16:04
therefore they believe when we talk
16:06
about it on the surface that they found
16:08
the Bell we're completely unaware that
16:11
we'd seen it that's top of the jarro
16:13
boiler
16:14
there I think that's probably number two
16:17
there's a whole load of other bits of
16:18
Machinery down there as I say vessels
16:22
like this are just chock full of
16:24
Machinery um and this is back at the
16:27
shot Line This is is the break in the
16:30
wreck so you probably saw from the uh
16:33
side scan earlier on that the wreck is
16:34
in two
16:36
bits we put the shot on the bigger bit
16:39
which we thought was the bow but always
16:41
we had the idea that we would try and
16:43
get over to the other bit so what I'm
16:45
doing now is just going off into the
16:47
sand looking around seeing if I can see
16:50
any more wreckage see if I can make that
16:52
jump over to it we knew it was about 20
16:54
or 30 mters in conditions like this
16:57
where the viz is great that doesn't
16:59
isn't such a problem but if the visz had
17:01
been poorer it would have been
17:04
potentially quite a uh a challenging
17:06
thing to do to try and go and find the
17:08
other bit of the wreck
17:10
fortunately it stands out really well
17:12
here and there it is there I found the
17:15
next bit of the wreck what isn't
17:17
immediately obvious to me is actually
17:20
that this is the stern and those
17:22
underneath it are the props so the stern
17:26
of the wreck is 180° out of orientation
17:31
from the bow which I think just gives an
17:35
indication of the fact that it must have
17:38
been blown in half at the surface and
17:40
then fell down in two separate pieces so
17:44
here I am on top of it and once again
17:47
there's loads of stuff there's
17:49
ammunition Port holes various other bits
17:52
of brass things that I can't
17:54
recognize I'm really aware that my time
17:57
is limited and I've got to try and make
17:59
the most of it and this I'm just about
18:03
to realize is the emergency steering
18:06
section there is the helm next to it is
18:09
a coffee grinder Royal Naval Telegraph
18:12
in front of it on the seabed there's The
18:15
Compass Bowl there's a whole load of
18:17
other bits and pieces there's a steering
18:19
wheel from the
18:20
helm I'm looking back the big thing on
18:23
the left that's the coffee grinder
18:25
Telegraph the thing behind it is the uh
18:27
the actual
18:31
Helm I mean it's just incredible to see
18:33
things like that so rare that there you
18:36
can see is a wheel there must have been
18:37
a gun or probably a torpedo tube on that
18:40
although I haven't actually spotted the
18:42
torpedo tube
18:44
yet don't know what that is there maybe
18:47
a bit of just a bit of net wrapped in on
18:48
itself and standing
18:50
vertically once again I'm I'm just going
18:53
around the wreck trying to take in as
18:55
much as I can it's uh overwhelming how
18:59
much there is to see down
19:04
here and you know what you really want
19:07
is a lot of time to study it and to go
19:09
into real depth unfortunately just don't
19:12
have it on a 100 meter dive so I'm only
19:16
going to get one shot at this dive so
19:18
I'm just trying to get as much as I
19:20
possibly can I know I've got the video
19:23
running I'm know I'm going to be able to
19:25
review the W the the video in slow time
19:28
at the surface
19:29
come over here don't know what this
19:31
thing is initially I look at it again
19:34
and I'm pretty convinced that this is
19:38
some sort of valve mechanism it's off
19:41
the side of the wreck clearly big and
19:44
Brass off to my right here something
19:46
else that looks interesting possibly
19:49
part of the
19:50
condenser uh when I go back and look at
19:52
the plans that would seem to be uh seem
19:55
to be
19:56
correct I'm going along here once again
19:59
just looking at what I
20:00
can it's incredible how many fish there
20:03
are down here and how big they are
20:06
clearly they've never seen a diver or a
20:08
human being before they uh they almost
20:11
have no sense of fear interested
20:14
probably in the video lights their life
20:16
must have been spent in darkness I'm
20:19
sure anybody who's a fisherman is
20:21
currently salivating at the prospect of
20:23
fishing this wreck but that's not my
20:26
thing I'm uh I'm scootering around
20:28
looking for more artifacts just I'm
20:33
certain there's going to be some other
20:34
great things I mean you can see around
20:37
here how much brass there is even though
20:39
this vessel was built in
20:42
Wartime the amount of resources that are
20:44
spent on it are just incredible you can
20:47
see there's Port holes and there's
20:48
wheels and there's various other
20:50
interesting things with prisms in you
20:52
know all made of brass all really nice
20:55
quality and uh all still on the wreck
20:58
and and then I spot this thing over here
21:00
it's a foot
21:02
plate this would have been on the side
21:05
of the ship so when people particularly
21:08
important ones were getting on and off
21:10
the ship this is the very first thing
21:13
they'd have stepped on you can see it's
21:15
got the name negro on it I'm really
21:18
really excited not only have we seen the
21:20
Bell but we've now found a nam foot
21:23
plate as well I'm shouting at Rick
21:25
because I know he's going to want to get
21:26
some photos of this
21:29
uh in the meantime I'm just just
21:31
enjoying the moment I've never seen one
21:34
of these before and uh I probably will
21:37
never see one again cuz diving a wreck
21:40
like this is is so rare it's such a
21:43
privilege Rick's over at the emergency
21:46
steering station still I'm going to have
21:49
to to go and tell him that this is
21:51
better this is better than a Helm this
21:53
is better than a coffee grinder
21:55
Telegraph uh he needs to come over and
21:57
get the photos and as you can see he's
22:00
come over and he's going to do exactly
22:02
that so I'm pleased that I've I've given
22:05
him the heads up and he's not going to
22:06
miss it as a good photographer's
22:09
assistant I'm going to stay in the area
22:11
with my video lights just continue to
22:13
illuminate it while he comes in and gets
22:16
his
22:17
photos you can see there he is he's
22:20
doing that he's got that big fisheye
22:22
lens getting really close getting a
22:24
really good high quality image
22:28
now we've been down here quite a long
22:31
time at this point in the dive need to
22:34
be starting to think about what happens
22:36
next oh can't miss that though that's a
22:40
pedestal possibly with a Compass Bowl on
22:42
the
22:44
top just incredible to see these kind of
22:47
things on a
22:48
wreck but time's limited need to get
22:52
moving need to keep on moving and as you
22:55
can see I'm heading back towards the
22:57
stern back towards the strobes which you
23:00
can see flashing over there no idea what
23:02
some of this stuff is but there's all
23:04
sorts of interesting things down here I
23:06
just wish I had a lot longer to uh to
23:10
get around this to find out all this
23:12
stuff you just see there's so much so
23:15
much on this the other divers are
23:18
heading over to the wreck uh I'm pleased
23:20
that we've uh We've shown them the way
23:22
to the stern as well and they uh they
23:25
they follow us and they're going to uh
23:27
they're going to go over there they're
23:27
going to see all the things that we saw
23:29
which is absolutely brilliant meanwhile
23:32
I'm scooting over back over to the other
23:34
bit of the wreck there you can see the
23:36
shotline where we tied it on right at
23:38
the beginning because our time
23:41
unfortunately is done so we're going to
23:44
start heading up first things first
23:46
though need to get my strobes and have a
23:50
final look back at Rec site it's uh it's
23:54
just been a an unbelievably amazing dive
23:59
to kind of see the things that we have
24:01
seen uh in such a short period of time
24:04
to have conclusively identified a wreck
24:07
to have given the relatives of those
24:10
missing people closure so they know
24:13
exactly where they are it's as I say
24:16
it's the uh it's these kind of moments
24:19
are what you live for as a diver but
24:22
what I'm living for now is getting
24:24
myself back up from 100 m to my first
24:28
Eco stop and that's where I'm going
24:31
now you can see his ascending Rick's
24:34
ahead of
24:35
me um there's a few more strobes on the
24:38
shop from when we uh arrived which
24:41
belong to other divers and there we are
24:43
heading up you can see it's light above
24:46
us as opposed to the pitch black that it
24:49
was on the bottom but the viz is just
24:52
absolutely
24:54
stunning you seen my Deco profile
24:56
already for this dive you know I've got
24:58
a good 2 and 1/2 hours to do before I'm
25:00
getting out the water this is really
25:03
close to the end of the dive my
25:06
decompression is almost complete I
25:09
thought it might be of interest to show
25:11
you the decompression setup that we've
25:13
got there's a trapeze with bars at 6 M
25:17
and 9 M and at each depth there's a
25:21
cylinder of breathing
25:23
gas 100% And 80%
25:26
respectively the reality is for a dive
25:29
like this it's almost impossible to
25:31
carry enough gas to complete a bailout
25:33
Ascent so having lots available is
25:36
really
25:37
important Dives like this don't happen
25:40
without a great surface team and we are
25:43
really fortunate on this dive to have
25:45
the use of MV Cina with Bob Anderson as
25:49
her Skipper they're an incredibly
25:51
capable Duo who in recent years have
25:54
helped divers explore some of the most
25:57
significant and adventure reck in the
25:59
northern UK it's great to get back on
26:02
board the boat at the end of a really
26:04
long demanding
26:06
dive anyway I hope you've enjoyed this
26:09
video as always please like comment tell
26:13
your mates hopefully you'll subscribe
26:16
and I'll see you for the next one thank
26:18
you
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