Charted as SEINE, 'entire wreck' in the Marine zone.
Vessel remains:
Lies in position 50°50.82N, 001°04.55E at a depth of 25.5m in a general depth of 32m.
Sonar dimensions: 46.2 x 10.5 x 5.9m. Orientation 90°.
Slight magnetic anomaly, no scour.
Her condition was last observed in 2007, when she was reportedly 'upright and intact, bows East.'
A 'general cargo' was observed on the vessel by a diver in 1976.
Documentary evidence:
'Sank following collision in fog with USSR motor tanker DROGOBITS on voyage from Paris to London.'
She served as a British Ministry of War Transport rescue tug during WWII, with her Dutch crew.
In 1941 she towed the cargo ship EMIPIRE FROST after it had been bombed in St George's Channel.
She was herself attacked by German aircraft in March 1941 when off North Corwall, and although beached 'her cargo
of coal burned for four weeks. [She] was refloated, salvaged and repaired.'
Built: 1929
Builder: Jan Smit
Where built: Alblasserdam
LBD: Length 51.8m ; 44 x 7.44m (6); 44.2 x 7.5m
Tonnage: 363 grt ); 348
Propulsion: Screw-driven oil engine
Speed: 8 knots
Ownership details:
1929 Built as ESCAUT, and owned by Wm.H.Muller & Co's Algemeene Scheepvaart Mij
1944 Requisitioned by British Government, and re-named EMPIRE LEECH
1948 Returned to Wm.H.Muller & Co's Algemeene Scheepvaart Mij, and re-named SEINE.
There is a discrepancy between the dates of requisition given by Sources 2 and 5. The former gives 1944 as the date
that she was returned to her owner, having been requisitioned in 1940.
Although the vessel's point of departure on her final voyage is given as Paris, it cannot be determined whether she was actually making her way from along the Seine, or whether her name has given rise to an
assumption that she sailed this route. Given her wartime movements it seems equally possible that she worked the
ports around the south coast of England.