British destroyer identified off Orkney coast after 100 years

A wreck of British destroyer identified as HMS Pheasant has been identified near the island of Hoy, off coast of Orkney, Scotland, after having been sunk in 1917.

Multibeam echosound image of the wreck (by Orkney Research Centre for Archaeology)

The vessel has been discovered through use of a multibeam sonar. The destroyer is reported to have been sunk on 1 March 1917 after hitting a mine believed to have been laid by a German U-boat Type U-80 two months earlier. All of its 89 crew on board were lost. The vessel was originally built in Clyde and was on patrol heading out from Stromness on the day when it sank. After the tragedy only one body was recovered, belonging to Midshipman Reginald Campbell Cotter who was 20 at that age. He was buried at Lyness on Hoy.

(after Orkney Research Centre for Archaeology & BBC News)

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