Serrana

Join divers as they explore the wreck of a World War I cargo ship and read its story below.

Serrana was just one of 55 ships lost to enemy action of the Isle of Wight during the First World War.

She was torpedoed by the German U-boat, UB-35, under the command of Oberleutnant zur Zee Karl Stoeter on 22 January, about 10 miles west of St Catherine’s Point. The ship was quickly abandoned and the survivors clambered aboard the ship’s boats and rafts. In the confusion, two men drowned while trying to save themselves, and three stokers were killed by the explosion in the stokehold.

The Serrana survivors were rescued by the Auxiliary Patrol Force and the ship was being towed to safety when the towing hawser parted and Serrana drifted towards Bridge reef where she grounded. In the early hours of the 23rd, her fate was sealed as the stern section broke away and drifted north east before sinking a quarter of a mile away.

Much remains on the seabed, in 18 metres of water. Her two boilers are prominent and the steam engine lies on its side. The main stern gun lies on the sea floor close to the stern.