James Barrie 3D Shipwreck Tour

Explore the James Barrie shipwreck in 3D. Simply drag with your mouse to move around the wreck.

A dive on the James Barrie makes a refreshing break from the staunch stoicism of diving the main wrecks of the German fleet and offers a bit of light relief amongst the weapons of war. When setting off from Stromness, she lies about 2 hours away in the mouth of Hoxa Sound and so requires a longer steam than the usual mornings’ routine. The Barrie, as she is colloquially known, is far smaller than her German neighbours, weighing in at lesser 666 tons. She rests at 43 meters - relatively deep in diving terms, but the depth is offset by the superb clarity of the water at the mouth of the Flow, so it feels like a far shallower dive. Although small, she is somehow the perfect size for the depth: big enough to be interesting and hold a challenge but small enough to see her entirely during the dive whilst also keeping an element of curiosity to go back.

The wreck itself sits on a flat rocky seabed in 43m. She lies on her starboard side with her bows pointing South East. Unlike the main body of the Scapa Flow wrecks, the Barrie lies in tidal water and so is a slack water dive. The timings of slack water are unusual off Hoxa Head and seem to be longer in bigger spring tides. On a good day, there will be a respectable 40 minute dive window, on other days the buoys never break the surface.