The Rosehill

The Rosehill, built in 1911 as the Minster. Torpedoed by the UB40 on voyage from Cardiff to Devonport, carrying 3980 tons of Welsh coal. All the torpedoes UB40 fired on its many Channel missions bore the same red paint. This one smashed into the 311ft Rosehill just behind the engine-room in No 3 hold in September 1917.  The explosion sent the Rosehill's stern 3m under. The captain ordered to the boats the 24 crew and the two Army gunners who manned the old Japanese 12-pounder on the stern. But despite the weight of coal in her holds, the steamer remained afloat. Two privately-owned tugboats soon arrived and started to tow Rosehill towards Fowey. Then two Admiralty tugs arrived and changed the direction of the tow to Plymouth, but she didn't make it.  Everyone got off just in time as she broke in two and went down in deep water.

Length : 311 feet                 Tonnage : 2788

Max Depth : 30m                  Viz: 1 - 10m

Almost levelled and surrounded by reef, the only parts that show well on an echo-sounder are the boilers and the stern.
Both boilers have rolled a little to starboard. Behind them, the triple-expansion steam engine has also collapsed to starboard
The propeller-shaft is partially obscured beneath the fallen hull, visible in places by peering beneath the collapsed plates .
Behind the propeller, the Rosehill's rudder lies flat to the seabed at about 30m, depending on the state of the tide.
At the top of the rudder-shaft, the steering quadrant is quite small, the steering being assisted by a steam-powered steering engine .
Between the rudder-post and the stern, the Rosehill's 12-pounder gun and gun-mount lie on one side , with the breech of the gun in the sand and the barrel angled slightly up and towards the keel.

The Rosehill was a conventional four-hold freighter with two holds forward and two holds aft, masts and winch gear between holds, halfway back to the boilers, a section of mast rests just off the side of the wreck.  Following the line of the mast further out, just forward of the line are the broken remains of a winch.  
Forward of the boilers, there is considerably less wreckage. Along the line between the two boilers and just a few metres forward, another steering engine marks the wheelhouse end of the steering system .
A little further forward and off to starboard, the donkey boiler  has rolled out from its original location in the stoke hold. A domed cap has broken off and rests on the seabed behind it.
The largest part of the original bow structure is made up of some hull ribs shaped for the port side of the bow. These just rise from the seabed .

Life you could see

In addition to the usual wreck fauna, this wreck has many pink seafans and care should be taken not to kick these over.