MV Comberbach
Coastal Freighter · United Kingdom · Lost 1986 · The Bahamas
A British-built ICI freighter deliberately sunk off Long Island to create Stella Maris Resort's signature wreck dive, with a van still parked in its forward hold.
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The Vessel and Her Loss
Comberbach was built in 1948 by W. J. Yarwood & Sons of Northwich for Imperial Chemical Industries, hauling industrial cargo around British coastal waters for decades. In the mid-1980s she was acquired and towed to the Bahamas, where Stella Maris Resort had her deliberately sunk off Cape Santa Maria, Long Island, to serve as a scuba attraction. She settled upright and largely intact, and remains one of the most-dived wrecks in the southern Bahamas.
Vessel
- 1948
- W. J. Yarwood & Sons
- Northwich, England
- Steel
- 120 ft
- Not established
- Not established
- Diesel, single screw
- Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI)
Loss
- January 1, 1986
- Intentional sinking
- Off Cape Santa Maria, Long Island, Bahamas
- Atlantic Ocean, Long Island
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
The Wreck Today
- 60-100
- Intact, resting upright on a sandy bottom
- Upright
- Not established
- Not established
Position
- 23.66° N 75.36° W
- Approximate position
- Cape Santa Maria, Long Island
Derived from published dive-site coordinates (23 39.605N 75 21.612W).
Evidence
Overall confidence: Partially documented (65/100)
The exact scuttling year is reported variously as 1984 and 1986 in different sources and is not firmly established.
cumberbatch.org vessel history
Builder, ICI ownership, 1984 scuttling claim.
1986 scuttling claim, dimensions, cargo of a van in the hold.
