Arfon (protected wreck)
Type of vessel - SteamTrawler
How sunk –Hit a mine
Former names – None
Wreck height - 6m
When the Arfon was built in 1908 in Goole for the Pattern Steam Trawling Co of Milford in South Wales, she was designed for trawling, not for war. A 227-ton steel ship, she was 120ft long with a 21ft beam and 11ft draught. Like her sisters, she was worked hard fishing almost every day until World War 1. The Navy requisitioned her, fitted her with a 6pdr AA gun and put her to work from Portland with several other trawlers of her type. Their main task was to sweep German mines laid by the UC-class of mine laying U-boats from the inshore shipping lanes off Dorset. Arfon swept mines for nearly three years until she sank rapidly on 30 April 1917 after hitting a mine and 9 of her crew perished.
As of 2016 the Arfon is now a protected wreck. To dive her you must have a licence holder on board. As licence holders we are able to take divers to this site, but there is a very strict no take policy.
Programmatry Survey: https://www.cloudtour.tv/arfon
The below video was filmed and edited by Bryan Jones.