PS Brighton



The Brighton in happier times alongside the Albert Pier Jersey



The  picture is a painting of the P.S. Brighton by A. Meaden 

The Brighton was a paddle steam ship and belonged to the port of Weymouth, of 316 tons and 136 tons net register, and was fitted with engines of 140 Horse power. She was built by the Palmer brothers in Jarrow in Durham in1857 and had been for a short time running between Jersey and Shoreham.  She was 268 tons gross at launch and then modified to 316 tons by 1887, and was 193 feet long with two funnels. At the time of her loss she was the property of Weymouth and Channel Island Steam Packet Company.  She left Weymouth at 0.10 am on the 29 th of January with 24 hands and 23 passengers with 30 to 40 tons of general cargo bound for Guernsey and Jersey.  On leaving port there was thick fog, but as they passed Portland Bill the fog cleared, and the captain for a time ran the ship at full speed as there was a calm sea with no wind.  After a few miles at around 1 am, the point at which the two lights of Portland Bill became one, she set a course South by West and the patent log was set.  Shortly afterwards the fog thickened again and she reduced to half speed of 8 knots (the Brighton's top speed was 11 knots). At sometime the captain ordered the second officer to check the log and found it registered 37 miles, then at 6.30 am the log showed that the ship had run 48 miles. On reporting this to the master they came to the conclusion that they were a mile to the Southwest and  putting them level with the casquets reef  Alderney.  Because the Brighton was somewhat antiquated (she was now some thirty years old), there was no device to count her engine revolutions, and Painter the captain had only the log pulled behind the vessel to tell him the distance travelled.  He also had the sounding lead, but as was later maintained at the enquiry he made little and insufficient use of it.  Within 12-15 minutes of the log being checked and with the visibility down to 150 feet, lookouts shouted that they could see rocks on the port side, and then all around the ship. Painter gave orders to the master to stop and give full reverse, but before the way could be got off, the Brighton struck rocks.  Painter reversed the ship off, but she was already holed and the vessel was filling fast with water.  The master then ordered the boats to be put out and all hands to abandon ship.  After about 20 minutes of her striking her bow went under and her stern rose.  Passengers reported a big explosion from under the water as a boiler blew up, her stern stuck up out the water for a while at 45 degrees and then disappeared. She sank in over 48 metres of water after striking the Brayes reef, North of Guernsey.

Dive team:
Phil
Nick
JT
Paul.. Boat man

Bottom Time 20 minutes
Depth 48 metres
Visibility 5/6 metres
Bottom Gas 20/30 Tri Mix
Deco  50%

After yesterdays dive on the M483, I had the bug again for wreck diving and couldn't pass up on the opportunity to head out of St Peter Port and blow some bubbles.   I will never tire of diving these living time capsules, when I had the opportunity to visit the Brighton  I felt the spirit of adventure stirring.

Today the wreck lies on the North coast of my home Island Guernsey. Our line took us straight onto the starboard paddle wheel.  I could just make out and see the steel remains of the port paddle-wheel illuminated from behind by other diver's torches.  The two wheels were almost as wide as the ship, and while the port one still looked impressive, the less well-preserved starboard wheel required a bit more imagination to visualise.  Further forward was the base of the stack. A few circular openings here revealed a monster of a conger hiding from our bright lights. The little wooden bridge had disappeared and I saw only the metal boiler and engine workings connecting the two paddle wheels together. The hull protruded a metre or so out of the white sand on the starboard side due to the sand built up, and on the port side a good 3 metres due to the scouring affect of the wreck. Like most of our wrecks they are shrouded in shoals of pout and home to our best known beastie, the conger eel. The Brighton was no exception with a monstrous shoal of pout, I sat there watching them for a minute or two. Looking back down onto the wreck I spotted the tale of a nice bug sticking out under a piece of wreckage and wedged deep inside a piece of tubing. Catching it involved completely silting out the surrounding area and coating myself in rust. "BUG VS DIVER" (Note to myself), Must be quicker on the draw. Lost the battle with the beast and went home hungry. With bottom time running out and with a 48 metre profile a fair amount of decompression will have been accumulated and I didn't want to hang around doing deco for long in 9 degree water, so it was time to return to the shot line and make my ascent to my deeper stops and do some hang time.  Not much more to tell, just a nice, moderately calm day on the ocean.  Getting back at 5pm was a treat, so off home for a nice Sunday tea of a good old Guernsey recipe of Bean jar and french bread that Jen had made.                                                             

                                          

                                   A Cheeky stowaway found on board  Poses for a photo. 

                                                        We nicknamed him Steven 

                                                             What you lookin at






    

Steven (Seagal)



Just had to take this photo... As we were loading up to head out this fishing boat came in from Sark with a load of sheep and lambs aboard

  


Mint Sauce