Carmine Filomena

The Carmine Filomena was a passenger and cargo steamer of 5,287 tons built in 1899 by A. & J. Inglis Ltd. of Pointhouse, Glasgow. Originally named SS Urlana, she was built for the British India Steam Navigation Company and made several voyages from the UK to India and back. In 1924 she was sold to an Italian shipping company in Genoa and her name was changed to SS Operosita. In 1928 she was sold again to another Genoese company with her name being changed again, this time to SS Carmine Filomena. She ran onto the north side of Surf Point, Lundy in dense fog on 2 July 1937 while outward bound from Cardiff to Genoa with a cargo of coal.

Today, what remains of the Carmine Filomena is scattered over an extensive site between 50 and 150 yards offshore, to the east of Rat Island on Lundy's south east corner. The wreck(s) lies on an undulating seabed consisting of sand and pebbles. This is a moderate to high energy site affected by strong tidal currents. As much as 15% of the site may be buried in sand and there is extensive marine growth cover (approximately 40%) over exposed parts of the wreck.

The remains consist of a fragmented scatter of metal frames and hull plates fixed by rivets, steam boilers and cargo holds containing some pieces of coal. The site is extremely scattered and it is very difficult to define any orientation to this wreck and, in particular to distinguish individual structures from a twisted melee of wreckage. In fact, what appears initially to be one wreck may be the remains of two or three ships, as is indicated by a section of timber planking at one part of the site. One of the other ships on the site may be the Hanna Moore (wrecked in 1866). Such a conclusion is backed up by scattered wreckage found on the south coast of Rat Island indicating that this exposed promontory caused more than its fair share of shipwrecks.

After the MV Robert and HMS Montagu, the Carmine Filomena is probably Lundy's most dived wreck. It makes for a pleasant, sheltered, shallow water dive.