Ship sunk in Great War brought back to life by BSAC divers

Divers from Severnside SAC have launched an appeal to find relatives of crew members who were killed when their ship was torpedoed by a U-boat in the First World War.

Members of the Bristol-based club have been exploring and investigating the remains of the SS Baygitano for the last three years and recently won the BSAC Wreck Award 2014 for their archaeological efforts.

SS Baygitano was sunk during the First World War while travelling from Le Havre in France to Cardiff. Both the first mate and fourth engineer were killed in the attack.

The wreck was formally adopted by Severnside Sub Aqua Club (SSAC) and members are now planning a commemorative dive on the 18th March, 2018, at exactly the time the vessel sank a century before.

Club member and keen nautical historian Nigel Braybrooke said: “As a club we intend to dive her on the 100th anniversary of her sinking, in 2018, to commemorate her loss as part of the Nautical Archaeology Society’s ‘Lost Beneath the Waves 1914-1918’ initiative.

“I will be trying to locate relatives of anyone who may have served on her at the time of her sinking, especially Captain Arthur Ligertwood Murrison and the two casualties, First Mate Frederick Rudolph Richards and 4th Engineer Harold John Chinn.

“If anyone can help locate descendants or has any further information on the Baygitano I would urge them to get in touch via Severnside Sub Aqua Club.”

The SS Baygitano lies almost perfectly flat on the seabed in around 20 metres of water and has provided the club with an excellent training dive site as well as an intriguing project.

Nigel’s dedication to researching the life of the ship both before and during the Great War led him to apply for a BSAC Wreck Appreciation Award that the club won and was presented with at the end of last year.

Nigel was delighted with the award which he hopes will encourage other clubs to look into the wrecks they dive in a different way.

He added: “We will continue to dive the SS Baygitano and hopefully with a little bit more understanding of the life she and her crew led crossing the oceans and a respect for those who risked their lives on a daily basis to keep the allies supplied with coal vital to the war effort, two of whom paid the ultimate sacrifice.”

SSAC chairman Leon Smith said: “The SS Baygitano is a popular second site for divers. They often visit it if a planned dive hasn’t worked out due to weather conditions or whatever as it is relatively accessible.

“But this meant that people were often turning up knowing very little about it as they hadn’t done any research beforehand. So with Nigel’s help and research we’ve been able to hold a weekend focusing more on it and it is fascinating in its own right.”

You can listen to a BBC Radio Bristol interview with Nigel about the wreck, which was aired on the 14th March, here (scroll to 1.39:45).

Anyone with information on the SS Baygitano, can visit www.severnsidesac.com or follow @severnsidesac on Twitter.