The
mighty 5409gt. wreck of the Swedish motor vessel
Akka is the largest diveable wreck
in the Firth of Clyde today. Built in Gothenburg in 1942 she saw service for 14
years until she cast off her mooring ropes at Oxelosound, on Sweden's eastern
coast on the Baltic Sea and set off on 4 April 1956 for what was unknowingly her
final journey. Her holds were full with a cargo of iron ore bound for Glasgow.After 5 days at sea on 9 April 1956 after an uneventful journey she was making way up the Firth of Clyde, journey's end was almost in sight. At 9.26pm her Captain ordered a change of course to take her away from the Gantocks, a dangerous clump of rocks rising from a depth of 24 metres to break the surface about a mile south of Dunoon.
It was immediately realised
that the Akka responded very
slowly to her rudder. Unable to steer his ship away from the Gantocks the
Captain ordered her engines stopped. Her forward momentum however carried her
onto the rocks.Her hull was rent open for almost half her length. Her engines were put astern however she soon developed a marked list, her hull rapidly flooding. The crew abandoned ship safely into lifeboats and only 3 - 4 minutes after hitting the Gantocks she heeled over to port and with blasts of steam and a large explosion rocking her she slipped beneath the cold dark waters of the Clyde to her watery grave.
Her wreck now is largely intact and sits on an even keel on a sloping muddy seabed. Her bows are in 30 msw, her stern in 40msw.
The history, sinking and dive details of the MV Akka are described in much greater detail in the book Dive Scotland's Greatest Shipwrecks.