The Borgny (Wreck)

 First World War 1914-1918, shipwreck, interesting place, invisible

The 1149 ton Norwegian steamer Borgny, 228ft long with a beam of 36ft, was sunk while heading up-Channel near the Isle of Wight on 26 February, 1918, carrying 1500 tons of coal from Newport for Rouen.

Those are the basic facts, but in reality the Borgny created a right tangle, not only for the Royal Navy, but for her skipper Ole Anton Hansen and, much later on, for wreck divers.

The Borgny sank in 10 minutes with no loss of life. But the Admiralty blacklisted Captain Hansen, accusing him of sailing up-Channel with a stern light showing and for failing to comply with his sailing instructions.

Captain Hansen wrote a letter of protest to his employers, who in turn passed it on to the Navy. The captain said that he had followed orders, which was why he had kept as close to the shore as possible. It was a dark night and he had been alarmed to find another ship very close in his wake.

In those circumstances his orders indicated that a dimmed light could be shown, and that is what he did. It was only later, when he headed out to pass round the Isle of Wight, that he was hit by a torpedo.

The Admiralty, after reading his letter and checking his report, withdrew his name from the blacklist. However, it never queried that he had been torpedoed, though there was talk that because no U-boat commander had claimed sinking the Borgny, she had in fact hit a German mine.

The saga of Captain Hansen's ship came to life again when divers over a period of several years kept diving a wreck about eight miles from Yarmouth, and entering it in their logs as the Borgny.

That had to stop when diver Richard Rimmer found the brass letters from the bow which spelt out New Dawn, a steam drifter used by the Admiralty as a minesweeper but herself mined on 23 March, 1918.

Where then is the Borgny? Well, all those wreck-divers who have this Wreck Tour site logged as the Asborg should get out their Tippex. This is definitely the Borgny - Hurn SAC found the brass letters from her stern!