SS Laristan (1899) & SS Denbighshire (1887)
This is a lovely little double-header for a dive listing, mostly because the two wrecks sit so close together that identity confusion was almost inevitable. SS Laristan was the younger of the pair, a British cargo steamer built in 1896 at Gray’s Yard, Hartlepool, owned by the Anglo-Algerian Steamship Co. On 22 October 1899, she was carrying iron ore from Bona to Rotterdam when she collided off the Goodwins with the SS Crimea of Cardiff. Her crew of 23 stayed with her for a time as she settled head-down, stern still showing, before an internal air-pressure explosion sent her under. No polite little sinking here, then. Even the final act had drama.
Close beside her lies the older Denbighshire, lost in 1887 and later identified by her recovered bell. Historic England notes her wreck lies close to Laristan, while Canterbury Divers describes the Denbighshire as sitting only about 10 metres from the bigger Laristan, in a maximum depth of about 31 metres, standing around 5 metres proud. For divers, the appeal is obvious: two Victorian wreck stories in one dive, one a cargo steamer loaded with iron ore, the other an earlier casualty close enough to turn the seabed into a historical puzzle. It is a cracking Dover site for anyone who likes machinery, structure and a little identity intrigue with their slack water.
