SS Efford – Stern (1940)

The SS Efford was a small British coastal cargo steamer, built in 1905 by Dublin Dockyard Co. and later owned by Efford Shipping Co. Ltd of London. Wrecksite records her official number as 107004 and gives her at 339 GRT, although some wartime loss summaries list her as 393 GRT, so I’d keep the wording as “small coastal steamer” unless you want to start a tonnage punch-up in the clubhouse. On 22 May 1940, in the chaos of the Channel during the German advance through France, she was off Dover when she collided with the French steamer Tlemcen.

Efford sank after the collision, reportedly cut in two, and her remains are known as two separated wreck sections off Dover. That makes her an especially interesting dive: not a grand liner or warship, but a compact coaster with a dramatic physical story written into the seabed. For divers, Efford offers exactly the sort of Channel wreck that rewards close inspection: broken structure, wartime context, collision damage, and the odd thrill of knowing the bow and stern are not necessarily where polite naval architecture intended them to be.