A RUSSIAN merchant vessel that was torpedoed in 1917 off the coast of northeast Scotland has reportedly been identified.
The SS Tobol, a vessel that has perplexed archaeologists with its whereabouts since the First World War appears to have been found by sonar scans during the construction of a floating North Sea wind farm.
The scans were carried out off the coast of northeast Scotland as part of preparations for the proposed MarramWind development, which is being undertaken by Scottish Power and Shell.
After its discovery, an exclusion zone of 250 metres was put in place around the wreck to protect it during the survey works.
The ship, which had a turret deck design, was built in Sunderland at the start of the 20th century.
It operated as the SS Cheltenham until it was captured by Russian warships in 1904. A year later it was renamed and transferred to the Russian imperial navy.
It was torpedoed by a German submarine on September 11, 1917, while sailing from Blyth, Northumberland, to Arkhangelsk in Russia.
“This really is an extraordinary find,” MarramWind’s development manager Colin Anderson said. “Our seabed surveys — which give us vital information about seabed conditions — covered a distance of around 6,000 miles.
“We always expect to come across wrecks when carrying out works like this, but these tend to be smaller vessels and known to the authorities.
“While the Tobol was known to have been torpedoed in the war, its location was unclear, so to discover it after more than a century and uncover its history is something special.”
He added: “It has a fascinating story and it would be amazing if we could find out more about the fate of the people who were on board as online information suggests there were some survivors, although this has not been verified.
“However, we also need to be mindful that the wreck could be the final resting place for crew members, so hopefully our find will provide closure and comfort for their families and descendants.”
The UK Hydrographic Office and Historic Environment Scotland have been notified of the find, and discussions are under way to establish a long-term archaeological exclusion zone to ensure the wreck of the SS Tobol is protected and preserved.
Toby Gane, the archaeology lead for the Canada-based consulting firm WSP, said: “It’s incredible that more than a century on, we finally have a sense of where the SS Tobol likely went down.
“This discovery of a small but important piece of a collective national jigsaw puzzle of marine heritage speaks not only to the global nature of international commerce and alliances in the early 20th century, but also to the interconnectedness and competitiveness of national interests at the time, something still relevant today.”
During the First World War the ship transported military cargo between the Allied ports in Russia and western Europe, including the UK.
