After the gentle boat ride back into Canadian waters from the Diamond Knot, we needed to make a decision on where to dive on the second part of this adventure. My initial idea when I created this shootout was to dive Race Rocks as the second dive on this trip, but due to the large tidal exchange, the only place to dive at Race was "the cathedrals". This is the area between West Race and Helicopter Rock which is basically an area that is made up of a relatively flat bottom with large boulders scattered around. There is not a great deal of marine life in this location compared to what inhabits Great Race and West Race Wall. As a group we decided that this site didn't interest us and a suggestion was made to dive the historical wreck of the Barnard Castle. I had not been on this wreck for many years and none of the other members of our group had ever dove it. 

The Barnard Castle was a wooden steamer built in 1878 and was 260 ft. in length. The steamer hit Rosedale Reef on November 2, 1886 but managed to limp to Bentinck Island where it sank in Pilot Bay. The ship was loaded with a shipment of coal when it sank and numerous salvage operations over the years failed to raise the ship or recover all of the cargo. In more recent years the British Columbia Artificial Reef Society has placed plaques around this historic site to create an underwater marine trek. Each one of the plaques represent an important piece of this historically significant wreck.  

Our dive on this wreck was very interesting at the start, when we discovered that the floating markers that are normally attached to it were missing. We ended up dropping anchor and initiating a circular search pattern to find the wreck along the sandy bottom of Pilot bay which is covered in patches of eel grass.  Once we had found the wreck, finding all of the plaques was quite a challenge, in the end we only managed to uncover two. The ship itself doesn't resemble a ship at all anymore, however pieces of deck plates, the two massive boilers, and the iron screw are all still visible. I am sure we would have been able to find more if the kelp growth wasn't as thick as it was. There were large schools of Black Rockfish all over the wreck, as well as numerous other creatures. The most fascinating part of this dive, other than the historical value of the the ship, was the coal scattered about the wreck and surrounding area. Coal is very light and filled with air, so you can lift what would seem to be huge heavy chunks with ease as they are almost neutrally buoyant; so cool!! Another interesting find was the bull kelp add attached to the chunks of coal. The coal was just heavy enough to weigh the kelp down but the coal was suspended in mid-water. It was quite a unique sight!

The Barnard Castle is a wreck worth diving, not only because of its historical significance, but also to see the cargo that is strewn around the area.

Thank you to everyone who made this West Coast Shootout such a memorable one: Jason, Chris, Nicole, Jesse and Ken, it was a great day!

I am really looking forward to the next adventure as always!

West Coast Shootout #7 - Images

Anyone looking to dive this site please check out the dive site descriptions: Barnard Castle

West Coast Shootout #7 Blog - Part 1: The Diamond Knot