The Best Wreck Dive in Sussex

The City of Waterford Wreck, Sussex

There are many great wrecks along the Sussex coastline such as the P&O passenger liner SS Oceana that was built in 1888 and various wrecks from both World Wars. However the City of Waterford is the wreck that brings the most smiles to divers faces. Sitting at a depth of 30m about 10 miles from Brighton she is easily accessible by any diver with an Advanced Open Water certification or equivalent.

She measures 270 x 37 feet and had berths for 40 passengers. Her main route of service was between Dublin and Europe (Belgium, Holland and Germany).

The City of Waterford was a British steam ship weighing 1,334 tons before she collided in foggy weather with the Marpessa on 14th April 1949 while on her way back from Antwerp. What makes her so special is that she is sitting upright so the top of the wreck is 20m so you can get a good long dive, She is relatively well in tact for her age and there is stll lots to see including parts of the engine room, pots and pans from the galley and floor cermaic tiles.

There is an abundance of fish life including dense shoals of bib, pollack, wrasse, conger eels, lobster & edible crabs. She is covered in Dead Mans Fingers and many species of anemones.

Oyster Diving the UK’s premier PADI scuba diving and travel centre runs South Coast dives out of Shoreham by Sea every month throughout the dive season. For more information visit https://oysterdiving.com/uk-diving-trips/south-coast-weekend-shoreham