Virgin Gorda – Diving the Wreck of the RMS Rhone

RMS Rhone was a UK Royal Mail Ship owned by the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company (RMSP). She was wrecked off the coast of Salt Island in the British Virgin Islands on 29 October 1867 in a hurricane, killing 123 people. Her bow section is still relatively intact, and although the wooden decks have rotted away, she still provides an excellent swim-through for divers. Her entire iron hull is encrusted with coral and overrun by fishes (and the local barracuda named Fang), and the cracks and crevices of her wreckage provide excellent habitats for lobsters, eels, and octopi. Her wreckage was also featured in the 1977 filming of The Deep, including a scene of Jacqueline Bisset diving in a T-shirt.*

Bow

Hull ribs

Remaining linoleum flooring

Hatch featured in “The Deep” – we entered the ship through here, identical to the movie scene . . .

and exited here, where the hull was breached.

Portholes

Wrass

Propeller

Local residents of Salt Island found 8 bodies on shore after the wreck and created a small graveyard there:

*Courtesy Wikipedia