Gutter Sound is a location in Orkney, Scotland, part of the vast anchorage of Scapa Flow. It lies to the west of the main harbour between the internal islands of Cava and Fara, and the large outer island of Hoy. Gutter Sound was the one of the sites of the mass-

scuttling Scuttling is the deliberate sinking of a ship. Scuttling may be performed to dispose of an abandoned, old, or captured vessel; to prevent the vessel from becoming a navigation hazard; as an act of self-destruction to prevent the ship from being ...

of the interned Imperial German

High Seas Fleet The High Seas Fleet (''Hochseeflotte'') was the battle fleet of the German Imperial Navy and saw action during the First World War. The formation was created in February 1907, when the Home Fleet (''Heimatflotte'') was renamed as the High Seas ...

in 1919, and the scene of a major salvage operation in the 1920s. Today the remaining wrecks make the Sound a popular diving location.

Location

Gutter Sound is a body of water some four miles long and a mile wide at its widest point, and has a depth of around 30 meters in places. It separates Hoy and Cava in the north, and Hoy and Fara in the south, opening onto the Flow between Cava and Fara. In the north it opens out into the Bring Deeps, while the south it joins Weddell Sound, between Fara and

Flotta Flotta () is a small island in Orkney, Scotland, lying in Scapa Flow. The island is known for its large oil terminal and is linked by Orkney Ferries to Houton on the Orkney Mainland, Lyness on Hoy and Longhope on South Walls. The island has ...

, and to Switha Sound, between Flotta and Hoy.

History

At the end of the First World War Scapa Flow was the anchorage for the surrendered German High Seas Fleet; these vessels were anchored around the island of Cava, in the Sound itself and in the Flow between Cava and the Barrel of Butter skerry. In 1919 this was the scene of the fleet's mass scuttling. 12 capital ships and a number of smaller vessels went down in the Sound itself, the remainder in deep water between Cava and the skerry. A number of the sunken ships were salvaged by Ernest Cox during the 1920s. He used a variety of techniques, lifting the smaller ships with

floating dry dock Floating may refer to: * a type of dental work performed on horse teeth * use of an isolation tank * the guitar-playing technique where chords are sustained rather than scratched * ''Floating'' (play), by Hugh Hughes * Floating (psychological p ...

s and hawsers. With the larger ships he patched all of the holes and then pumped the hulls with compressed air to force out the water and make them float upside down. Seven of the wrecks are still at Scapa Flow, and are protected as maritime

scheduled ancient monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...

s. During the Second World War the Sound was again used as a Royal Navy anchorage, being the site for , the

stone frigate A stone frigate is a naval establishment on land. "Stone frigate" is an informal term that has its origin in Britain's Royal Navy after its use of Diamond Rock, an island off Martinique, as a 'sloop of war' to harass the French in 1803–04. ...

ashore base at Lyness; it also served for the anti-submarine patrol forces and their depot ship, .Rayner p57 Commercial salvage work on the vessels ceased in the late 1970s and further salvage is no longer technically possible. Lyness is now the site of a Naval Cemetery, and a Heritage Centre detailing these events. it is also the site of a Dive Centre, as the seven vessels that remain are a popular target for divers.

Diving the wrecks

Today the seven remaining wrecks, though deep, make for popular and interesting dives for skilled scuba divers. In addition, debris and wreckage left from the ships salvaged is sometimes dived as well.

Notes

References

* Rayner, Denys: ''Escort: The Battle of the Atlantic''. London:Kimber 1955 (reprinted Annapolis:U.S. Naval Institute Press 1999, )

External links

* ''The Grand Scuttle: The sinking of the German Fleet at Scapa Flow in 1919.'' Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1982 {{coord, 58, 51, 03, N, 03, 11, 14, W, region:GB_type:waterbody_source:GNS-enwiki, display=title Landforms of Orkney History of Orkney Royal Navy shore establishments Underwater diving sites in Scotland Ports and harbours of Scotland Protected Wrecks of Scotland Scheduled monuments in Scotland Sounds of Scotland Archaeology of Scotland Scapa Flow