By boat from Portmuck or Ballylumford Harbour, head towards Hunter’s Rock, look out for yellow marker buoys attached to the bow of the wreck (these will only appear at slack water). Enter the water at the shallowest point of the Hunters Rock pinnacle and follow the slope down either side (depending on whether you are diving the bow or stern end).
Portmuck Harbour provides free car parking, a slipway and public toilets. The pier is 25 metres long, 6.5 metres wide and in good condition.
Free parking, a slipway, public toilets and outdoor changing facilities are available at Ballylumford Harbour as well (access to slipway restricted to Islandmagee Boat Club members; email: info@islandmageeboatclub.co.uk).
Nearest tank filling is DV Diving, Mount Stewart, Newtownards.
- Buoys attached to the wreck and several lobster pots usually in the vicinity.
- Ferry traffic (site is located very close to the Larne to Cairnryan ferry lane) and commercial fishing boats.
- Port of Larne can be busy, contact harbour master on VHF 11 to get permission to exit/enter port.
The deteriorating stern of the wreck is at a depth of 25 metres at the base of the north east side of Hunter’s Rock on a sandy/pebble seabed. The bow of the wreck is located approximately 80 metres south east of the stern on the other side of Hunters Rock (see State of Louisiana Bow Section page). Both parts of the wreck can be explored in one dive but given the short tidal window, it is recommended to split this into two separate dives to allow more time on each part of the wreck. However the stern end is a better dive with more to see. The bow is very small and once you have seen it you can return to midships for ascent.
Date of loss 24/12/1878. This 1,216 n.t. British Steamship of Glasgow stranded and was a total loss. The captain, W. McGowan, 49 crew members and 17 passengers were all saved. The vessel was built in 1873, and was owned by The State Steamship Co. Ltd., Glasgow. Its voyage was from Glasgow to New York carrying a general cargo. The officers were exonerated at the Inquiry.
(Sources: CSP 1880 Vol. 66, p.131 and p.168; WA F117). CSP (Commons Sessional Papers); WA (Wilson Archive)
Information derived from Historic Environment Record of Northern Ireland (HERoNI), Department for Communities, Historic Environment Division.
The stern of the wreck is covered in dead man’s fingers and sponges, with mobile fauna including sunstars, sea urchins, crabs and wrasse, mainly Cuckoo and Ballan.
View all species records from this site
A link to the dive site location on the NBN Atlas Northern Ireland website, showing all species records from within a 1km boundary of the site centroid. Any new species records from the site submitted to Seasearch, iRecord, CEDaR Online Recording or iNaturalist will appear here- In an emergency call 999 or 112 and ask for the coastguard.
- Follow VHF radio Channel 16 (156.8 MHz), the international distress frequency. Send a distress alert followed by ‘MAYDAY, MAYDAY, MAYDAY’ and ‘This is [boat name]’.
- Find nearest defibrillator (AED) here.
- Portmuck/Ballylumford Harbour: 028 9336 6666
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