The Infamous Wreck of the RMS Rhone

The RMS Rhone was a UK Royal Mail Ship owned by the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company. The Rhone took two long years to build, then set sail for her maiden voyage in October 1865. She was 310ft in length and 41 ft wide.

Additionally, The Rhone was designed as an iron-hulled sail-steamer with a compound steam engine and rigged with two masts. With these combined, she could cruise up to a speed of 14 knots!!

Her bronze propeller is the second of its kind ever created for use on a ship. Rhone’s passenger capacity was 253 first-class, 30 second-class, and 30 third-class.

could you imagine if airplanes were this way?!

The RMS Rhone was on her Caribbean route from Southampton carrying mail, passengers, horses, and cargo in October of 1867.

On the 19th, a storm brewing east of the Caribbean moved through the Virgin Islands where the Rhone and the RMS Conway had been anchored in Great Harbor, Peter Island.

The first half of the storm, later known as the San Narciso Hurricane (category 3), passed uneventfully for the most part. However, the anchors of both ships had drug and the Captains were worried the second half of the storm would drive the ships onto the shore. They decided to transfer all passengers from Conway onto the “unsinkable” Rhone.

you can see where this is going…

Conway was then to head for Road Harbour and Rhone would head out to the open sea. The anchor of Rhone was caught fast, with its chain wrapped around a coral head. It was cut free, and her anchor and chain still lie in Great Harbor to this day.

Captain Frederick Woolley aimed for the fastest route to open sea between Black Rock Point of Salt Island and Dead Chest Island. Consequently, Just as the Rhone was passing Black Rock Point, and less than 250 yards from safety, the second half of the hurricane came around from the south.

All of the sudden, the winds shifted in the opposite direction and she was thrown directly onto Black Rock Point. The ship broke in two, and cold seawater made contact with her hot boilers which had been running at full steam, causing them to explode.

She sank quickly and 123 souls met their horrific fate that day. Many sailors were buried on Salt Island nearby. Only 25 people survived.

The stern of the ship is at a depth of 30 feet, visible to snorkelers on a calm and clear day. The “lucky porthole” is a brass porthole and glass window that survived the storm intact. It remains shiny by divers rubbing it for good luck.

Legend says the initial crash onto Black Rock Point sent Captain Woolley overboard, never to be seen again. His teaspoon can still be seen lodged into the wreck itself. The checker tile floor of the galley can be seen in a section broken off mid-ship.

Her bow section resting at 80 feet, is relatively still intact and an excellent swim through for SCUBA divers. This part of the wreck was featured in the 1977 cinematic thriller, “The Deep” with Jacqueline Bisset famously scuba diving in a white T-shirt.

Poor girl must have been cold. 😉

The entire iron hull is encrusted with coral and home to many fish, lobster, eel, and octopus.

The wreck of the Rhone is one of the most popular dive sites in the British Virgin Islands, and one of the top recreational dives in the Caribbean. The surrounding area was turned into a National Park in 1980 and is visited by hundreds of tourists every day.

There are a couple of ways to get to this legendary dive site. If your private yacht doesn’t offer scuba diving, we will arrange for a local scuba dive company to pick you up right from the stern of your boat and guide you on a rendezvous two-tank dive.

Sounds awesome! I’d like to know more.

Photography

Love the photography? Check out more incredible shots under the water, in the water, and some out and around the water of the beautiful Virgin Islands by the ever talented Max Koestenblatt. Prints available for purchase directly from his online gallery.

ScubaMaxsta Photography
Photographer
Saint John, U.S. Virgin Islands

Sara Nelson, Contributing Writer and Co-Founder of Uncharted