Lartington

History

The Lartington was a working cargo steamer of the late Victorian era, built at Sunderland in 1875 and rigged to carry sail as well as steam. In December 1879 she left Savannah, Georgia, loaded with some 4,000 bales of cotton bound for Russia.

Winter storms battered her soon after sailing. A heavy sea split her hull, and the leak gained faster than the pumps could clear it, so Captain George Dixon turned for Bermuda in the hope of reaching shelter. Instead she ran over the blind breakers off the island's north-west reef line and came to rest on the reef around five miles north-west of the Royal Naval Dockyard.

The whole crew was rescued and most of the cotton was salvaged. Over the following decades storms broke the hull apart, and the wreck's identity was largely forgotten until local marine historian Mike Davis spotted the name on her bow.

Diving the wreck today

The Lartington lies close to the Montana and Constellation, so the three are often dived together. Her bow is the best-preserved section, lying on its port side and reaching almost to the surface at low tide. Amidships the hull has collapsed into scattered plates, but the boilers are easy to pick out, and a broken propeller marks the stern.

It is a shallow site, but surge and current over the reef can make it more demanding than the depth suggests, so calm days are best. Hogfish, snapper and other reef fish are common, and visibility is often excellent, especially in winter.