DIEPPE Fe'Camp COURSEULLES PORT EN BESSIN ST VAAST LA HOGUE CHERBOURGH
Visit the French fishing town of Fe'camp, This beautiful French fishing village which is situated to the eastern end of the Seine Bay has been a favorite stop over for visiting mariners for centuries. Today this town on the Normandy coast is alive to the hustle and bustle for the French tourist industry, as one of their favourite getaways. It also pays host to the many visiting boats from Holland, Belgium, UK &Scandinavia. It gets so busy in the summer months that it is almost impossible to get a berth for the night.
The Grand Pavois Harbour View from Pavois. Hotel D'Angletterre
There is plenty of accommodation available, French or English, and the Hotel D'Anglettere with its English bar is a favourite. There is also a camp site, 10 minutes from the harbour, which has static & mobile homes for hire or you can pitch your tent. There are also plenty of restaurants and bars to choose from , Chinese, Indian,Italian, French but no English. There are even a couple of kebab take aways next to the harbour, but one of our favorites is The Progress, a French restaurant which over looks the harbour and specialises in sea food, its great value for money. The Progress
Night life - there are some late night bars and there is also a Casino & night club on the sea front to the western end of the promenade which stays open until the early hours. Fe’Camp is home to the Benedictine monastery, where the Benedictine wine is produced, visitors are welcomes for guided tours and some sampling. As well as being a major fishing port with a fresh fish market, Fe'camp is full of history, which can be seen all around. If you look high up on the cliff tops you can still see all the remnants of the German gun enplacemmants from the 2nd WW, and up in the town center there is a memorial to the fallen.
After your day’s diving & exploration, relax and take in the late afternoon sunshine at one of the town’s many café’s & bars that overlook the harbour, all of them do meals or snacks to help you soak up that cold beer or glass of wine.
The wreck diving on this part of the Normandie coast can be fantastic and Fe’Camp gives excellent access to the many WW1 & WW2 shipwrecks dotted along this Normandie coastline, the diving is quite challenging and can be very demanding. We offer 2 wreck dives per day whilst in France, tides & times permitting, and one dive on the dys that we cross the channel.
During the 2nd World War, Fe'camp was used by the Germans as a midget submarine base where many successful missions were carried out. successful missions were carried out. From FeCamp we will venture West into the Bay de Seine or North to the offshore wrecks in the Channel, Or maybe heading Eastwards towards St Valery.
The diving around Fe'camp can range from a depth of 20 meters - 50 metres, depending on the experience of the divers on the trip, and the wrecks you will be diving will be mainly from the 1st and 2nd World Wars. However there are many from before & after the wars.
Fe’Camp Shipwrecks
There are two British minesweepers, HMS Britomart and HMS Hussar, both sunk on the same day whilst minesweeping off Cap D'antifer, mistaken for the enemy by British rocket firing Typhoon planes, they were sent to the bottom and now lie at a depth of 33metres.
HMS Britomart is completely upside down, and has both propellers in place. The hull is riddled with holes all the way along the length of her on both sides, this allows easy access for some good penetration,
The other minesweeper, HMS Hussar is more of a twisted wreck, with her stern blown off, she twists her way forward to her bows, which is again upside down. There are very large holes to look inside & explore.
HMS Eden, laying in 34mtrs,
is a British WW1 Destroyer,
she was sunk in collision on
16th June 1916. She is broken
in 2 with the Bow section
missing, hopefully it is not to
far away but as yet has not
been found. The wreck is quite open and has easy access
for penetration into the engine Room, there is an abundance
of life on the wreck with large free swimming congers,
shoals of fish which include very large bass.
The merchantman Ikaria, was en-route to the battle of the Somme, when she struck a mine and sank 4 miles offshore, she stands some 15mtrs high in a depth of 27mtrs and is 460ft long. This wreck is huge, it has large open areas of superstructure to explore, the bows are broken off and point to the sky. The superstructure is intact along the length of the wreck, with large access areas to explore. The marine life is amazing. The ship was carrying Horses and munitions and today you can clearly see the boned remains of the animals, which are scatter around the holds and Bows area.
Close to the Ikaria is the wreck of the large Belgium
merchantman Piriapolis, She was sunk on the same day
as the Albertville, 11th June 1940 also by German aircraft.
At the time of her sinking she was being used for the
evacuation of British forces from France.
The Granville was sunk on the 13th June 1940, she was
hit by Germen shore batteries close to the town of St
Vallery en Coe. The ship was hit and burst into flames,
the crew abandoned ship and the Granville drifted until
she eventually sank.
There are 2 of these German patrol boats close to Fe’Camp,
AF13 located in just 20mtrs of water, one is upside down
and very broken, the other is on its side, her armaments
buried in the sand and depth charges scattered around.
They make very interesting second dives.
All the way along the Normandie coast there are plenty of wrecks loaded with ammunition,
and fe’Camp has its fair share of them as well. From armed Merchantman and coastal
patrol boats to fully laden barges carrying anything from belts of 303 bullets to anti-aircraft
rounds, land mines and lumps of phosphorous, Under no circumstances are these munitions
to be brought to the surface.
The Malachite, this large merchantman was sunk
on 23rd November 1914 by U18. Today she sits on
an even keel with all her sides ripped away and leaving
a seabed of flat plates and ribs and exposing her huge
boilers which sit neatly in the middle of the wreckage.
Large conger eels have made this wreck their home
and by the look and size of some of them I’d say they have been there a very long time.
This wreck sits in only 30mtrs of water so you can get a good long bottom time on her.
The SS Albertville is the sister ship to the other
great Belgian liner the Leopoldville. She was
bombed and sunk by German aircraft on the 11th
June 1940 and is lying in only 20mtrs of water. The
wreck has been largely dispersed but still has 
sections
of hull and superstructure still recognizable.
Positive I.D. has been made by the recovery of the
ships Bell. The wreck is spread over a large area and
makes for a good rummage.
The Rye, the first thing to grab you about this wreck
is the amount of congers living in it and they are not
shy either, some will even swim along with you.
A first World War wreck sunk on the 7th April 1918 en
route to Le Havre along with the merchantman Unity. They were attacked by the German submarine UB74, under the command of Oberleutnant Ernst Steindorff, he struck under the cover of darkness at 03.15am. Although all the ships crew managed to escape to the life rafts, 4 were washed out, off which 3 drowned and 1 was rescued but died of exposure. Today she rests in 38mtrs of water with her bow and stern being the highest points, Her mid section has folded over onto her starboard side with lots of holes to look inside. Bottles & jars lay strewn inside the wreckage.
The German patrol boat UJ1433 was sunk on the 28th August 1944. She sits almost upright with a list to starboard, and is virtually intact, although it has been noticed of late that she is beginning to loose some plating. Its amazing to think that this wreck is less than a mile offshore and is only in 21mtrs of water and makes for an amazing dive. There is loads to see and do, penetrate into the galley where the pots and pans are still on the shelves or into a hold which is full of wine & beer bottles. Large sea Bass swim through the wreck looking for their escape as the divers explore into her depths.
The British submarine D3, sunk by mistake, bombed from the air by a French airship on 12th March 1918. This WW1 sub was quite unique, her deck mounted gun rotated and disappeared below to leave a flush Deck & her torpedo tubes on the bow were mounted one above the other and rotated round like a colt revolver, this was experimental and must have been for ease to reload the torpedo tubes. Today the wreck of the submarine lies a long way offshore, she sits upright and is totally intact. There is signs of damage at the base of the coning tower, but apart from that she is whole.
The Ruth, We haven’t been able to find out much about this small coaster, she sits upright and almost completely intact, apart from some damage to her stern. For a wreck so far offshore, she is only 38mtrs to the seabed & stands 6mtrs high. She was discovered and first dived back in 2005, a fishermans snagging that turned up trumps. Swim along the decks or drop into the hold and come out next to the winch gear, there is some debris on the seabed but most points of interest are on the wreck. The wheel house and accommodation area was at the stern & although collapsed down it is a good rummage area, you can access the engine room from here, but beware there are some huge congers living around the boiler.
The SS Dulwich, sunk on the 15th February 1915, this collier was en route from Hull to Rouen when she was torpedoed by the German submarine U16, the torpedo struck number three hold and the explosion took this ship to the bottom in minutes. All the crew took to the lifeboats and were later picked up by a French patrol boat who took them to Le Havre. The wreck today rests in 38mtrs and is quite broken yet still recognizable. The marine life on her is as all the wrecks on the French side of the channel, amazing.
The Seapark, Found and identified in 2006 this is the wreck of another small coaster, again upright and intact. She sits 38mtrs to the seabed, We don’t know how she sunk or how she came to be in this position but it’s a good dive. One of the few wrecks on the French coast that we have seen masses of Pollock swimming around.
The Jerseyman, A Mid-Channel wreck 48mtrs to the seabed, upright but quite broken, lots of life on this one, and as we hadn’t been dived this one before, turned out to be really interesting.
The wreck of the steamship Express, this ship lays in 30mtrs on her portside. Large holes give access to the ships engine and boiler, the superstructure and wheelhouse has collapsed down to the seabed and is a good rummage. On the last visit the ships helm was exposed and stood up proud on the shingle. The wreck is only about 150ft long so it doesn’t take long to have a good look around. Large congers jostle for position around the big boiler and their not scarred of divers.
Congass This unknown wreck, known as the conger & bass wreck sits upright fairly intact but as yet unidentified. She is quite a size and stands 8mtrs high in 34mtrs of water. Hopefully all will be revealed soon.
The Steamer, This is an old wreck, very broken and scattered around, she has 2 big boilers, which are well exposed, props are still in place. Sitting in only 28mtrs of water, makes good for a second dive.
There are lots of unknown targets that we have still to look at and groups willing to be adventurous diving guinea pigs the results can be rewarding
There are lots of wrecks to choose from when diving over in Normandie, many unidentified and most very rarely dived. The marine life is absolutely incredible, teaming with fish, crabs, lobsters, and free swimming congers. The only thing is, the reason that there is so much to see and look at, is because the French have a strict law which states, that no one shall, whilst diving with aqualung remove anything from the seabed or especially from any ship wreck, be it metal or edible. And this is a strict rule which applies to everyone, so please look don't touch.