Hired by the Royal Navy as an armed trawler in 1915. Year Built: 1909 Builder: J Duthie Torry SB Co. Machinery: W V V Lidgerwood, Glasgow; located aft Construction: 1 x deck Propulsion: Screw, 3 cylinder triple expansion Engine HP: 64 Boilers: 1 Owner: Royal Navy. (1)

This Steel hulled 198 Ton, Admiralty hired trawler, built in 1909 in Aberdeen was serving as a minesweeper in the Dover Patrol when she went out on the 19 Nov 1915 with 2 young RNR officers onboard while her Commander Lt H Beadle DSC showed them the procedures of Patrolling the Dover Barrage. She struck one of the 4 mines laid by the German Submarine UC-5 and sank, 2 of the other mines had sunk the Hospital Ship Anglia and the Coaster Lusitania 2 days earlier. The Falmouth III initially sank on top of the Anglia and stayed there until blown off in a gale several days later.

The wreck site was visited by the Canterbury Divers who noted: Today the wreck is upright and quite intact with mine damage to the stern. She is in a Max depth of 30m and the decks are at 25m. The holds are quite open and very easy to drop into, and despite filling with sand you can still have a good look around. The bow is very intact and the majority of the decking has gone. This is a nice clean wreck that can be seen in 1 dive and has been used for training and progression dives by us in the past. This wreck is in the position given for the Lucitania in Dive Kent, the Lusitania is about 200m to the SW and much bigger. (2-3)

<1> United Kingdom shipwreck index, Page Nos. N/a (Bibliographic reference). SKE6340.

<2> Unknown, 2019, Canterbury Divers: Wreck Sites (Website). SKE52189.

<3> Maritime Archaeology, 2015, Royal Navy Loss List Complete Database (Unpublished document). SKE52190.