Blanche King

History

The Blanche King was a big American four-masted schooner built in Maine in 1887, of composite construction with an iron frame and wooden sides. Her unusual feature was a large drop keel (centreboard) that could be raised, letting her carry coal up shallow rivers to timber mills despite her size.

In December 1920 she was carrying coal from Norfolk, Virginia to Bermuda when she went aground on the south-west reefs near the Chub Heads beacon. She settled into a sand hole between the reefs in about 35 ft of water and was lost.

The wreck appears on the 1977 Receiver of Wreck list and is one of the buoyed, protected sites under the Bermuda Dive Sites programme.

Diving the wreck today

A straightforward 35 ft dive suitable for beginners, though visibility can be lower than at some West End sites. The iron hull has largely collapsed and the upper deck has gone, but wooden remains are still attached to the mid-deck frames and the centreboard trunk stands in place amidships. Wire cable, rigging and deadeyes are scattered over the wreck and surrounding reef, with a capstan at the bow and ballast exposed at the stern.