Great Central Railway Co.; 1891; Earless Co.; 1,001 tons;240-3×32-3×15-1; 250 n.h.p.; 14 knots; triple-expansion engines.
The steamship Leicester was mined and sunk two and a half miles S.E. by E. of Folkestone Pier on February 12th, 1916 while sailing from Portsmouth to Cromarty with a General Cargo, plates and silver cutlery have been recovered along with her bells. Seventeen of the crew were killed; the captain was among the survivors.
Diving: This is a nice clean wreck standing up to 7m proud in a max depth of 27m.The wreck is actually sitting on top of a mound on the seabed which makes her quite shallow and a very good training dive site. The wreck is in 2 halves which are close together. We have had a depth of 30m in the area of her when the shot has dragged off. She is intact and ship shaped with quite a bit of damage from the mine.
