This 2695 Ton Motor vessel built in Masch in 1951 was sailing from Antwerp to Kingston with a general cargo when she struck the stern of the Texaco Caribbean which had sunk the day before on 12 Jan 1971.
The Channel Shipping Separation lanes had been set up some years before but at the time, observance of the schemes was voluntary, but in 1971 a series of accidents in the English Channel led to calls for immediate action – in the most serious incidents, the tanker Texaco Caribbean was in collision with a freighter off the Varne shoals and the following night the wreck was struck by the freighter Brandenburg, which also sank. Some six weeks later, the freighter Niki struck the wreckage and sank with the loss of all 21 people on board
The company Risdon Beazley from Southampton was contacted to remove the wrecks of the Texaco Caribbean, the Brandenburg and the Nikki. The operation lasted 18 months. During that time the area was signalled by 2 lightships and 14 lighted buoys.
Diving: The wreck having been salvaged is quite broken up in a max depth of 32m in the middle of the shipping lanes. Having dived her in very good visibility she was very enjoyable with large parts of the hull still intact, however in poor visibility there could be problems as there are lots of very sharp and jagged points sticking out following the salvage work.
