| Gutter Sound | |
|---|---|
 Rysa Little and Gutter Sound | |
| Location | Scapa Flow, Orkney, Scotland |
| Coordinates | 58°51′03″N03°11′14″W / 58.85083°N 3.18722°W /58.85083; -3.18722 |
| Type | Sound |
Gutter Sound is asound in theOrkneyarchipelago, Scotland, part ofScapa Flow. It lies to the west of the main harbour between the internal islands ofCava andFara, and the large outer island ofHoy. Gutter Sound was one of the sites of thescuttling of theinternedImperial GermanHigh Seas Fleet in 1919, and the scene of a major salvage operation in the 1920s. The remaining wrecks are frequently visited by recreational divers.
Gutter Sound is four miles long and a mile wide at its widest point, and has a depth of around 30 meters in places. It separates Hoy and Cava in the north, and Hoy and Fara in the south, opening onto Scapa Flow between Cava and Fara. In the north it opens out into the Bring Deeps, while the south it joins Weddell Sound, between Fara andFlotta, and to Switha Sound, between Flotta and Hoy.
At the end of the First World War, Scapa Flow was the anchorage for the surrendered German High Seas Fleet; these vessels were anchored around the island of Cava, in the Sound itself and in the Flow between Cava and theBarrel of Butter skerry. In 1919 this was the scene ofthe fleet's mass scuttling. 12 capital ships and a number of smaller vessels went down in the Sound itself, the remainder in deep water between Cava and the skerry.
A number of the sunken ships weresalvaged byErnest Cox during the 1920s. He used a variety of techniques, lifting the smaller ships withfloating dry docks andhawsers. With the larger ships he patched all of the holes and then pumped thehulls withcompressed air to force out the water and make them float upside down. Seven of the wrecks are still at Scapa Flow, and are protected as maritimescheduled ancient monuments.
During the Second World War the Sound was again used as a Royal Navy anchorage, being the site forHMS Proserpine, thestone frigate ashore base atLyness;[1] it also served for the anti-submarine patrol forces and their depot ship,HMS Dunluce Castle.[2]
Commercial salvage work on the vessels ceased in the late 1970s and further salvage is no longer technically possible.[citation needed]
Lyness is now the site of a Naval Cemetery, and a Heritage Centre detailing these events. it is also the site of a dive centre, as the seven vessels that remain are a commontarget for divers.
The seven remaining wrecks are often visited byscuba divers. In addition, debris and wreckage left from the ships salvaged is sometimes dived as well.
| Name | Type | Depth |
|---|---|---|
| SMS Brummer | light cruiser | 36 m (118 ft) |
| SMS Cöln | light cruiser | 36 m (118 ft) |
| SMS Karlsruhe | light cruiser | 36 m (118 ft) |
| SMS Dresden | light cruiser | 25 m (82 ft) |
| SMS König | battleship | 43 m (141 ft) |
| SMS Kronprinz Wilhelm | battleship | 38 m (125 ft) |
| SMS Markgraf | battleship | 47 m (154 ft) |
