THE name has stuck to this day – Bomb Ship, which obviously tells you what she was carrying.

THE Appollonia was built by Reinherstieg Schiffswerft at 1891 as The Venetia and the ship had six names in its 26-year career.

She was later named Bellagio in 1900, the Paros in 1905, Galata in 1906 and Appollonia in 1913.

Her sixth name was given by local divers who first found her.

Appollonia was 334ft long, with a 40ft beam and had a depth of 24ft.

Her gross tonnage was 2,861 tons.

She was originally a passenger liner on the Hamburg to New York run but ended her days in the ownership of the Sicilia Soc di Nav in Palermo.

She was carrying munitions – bombs – when she was sunk off Flamborough Head on March 1, 1917.

There is some doubt as to the cause of her loss.

One source said she struck a mine while another said she was torpedoed by German U Boat U32.

Either way, Flamborough lifeboat was launched and able to save seven lives and there is a written record of the incident in the Flamborough Lifeboat house.

The wreck is in the position of 54 07.320 N 000 03.410 W in a depth of around 80ft, just out from Selwicks Bay NE of Flamborough Head.

Her bows are to the NW, her stern to the SE on a hard, rocky seabed and she is still quite intact, with her cargo of bombs in her hold
She stands five to six metres off the seabed and is quite an interesting dive.

We first dived her in 1975 after being given the marks by Rolly Rollinson, a well known local fisherman.

You can imagine our pulse rates increased when we set eyes for the first time on her cargo.

On examining the munitions, they were found to be large bombs, 2ft long with a 15in diameter – quite a daunting sight.

We have found numerous artefacts on the wreck, including nameplates from the cabin doors with German writing on and, on the reverse, Italian writing, which explains that it was under different ownerships.

The wreck is teaming with life, with plenty of pollock, cod, coley and pouting shoaling around.

There is also the usual crab and lobster.

We used to dive this wreck quite a lot in the late 1970s and one time, in his haste to get down the shot line, Graham, one of the divers, was seen scaling the engine while on the dive.

I was amused to find he had forgotten his fins.

On some dives we visited a place on the wreck we christened the "milk round" (a large, long crack in the hull) in which plenty of large lobsters had made their home.

This was quite a sight when you swam by them with their claws hung out of the holes.

The wreck is still a good dive because of its shallow depth but care must be taken as the tides at times are rather strong.

So, in closing, when next you venture off Flamborough Head, or look out to sea from Flamborough Lighthouse, just think what is below you and out there – ie don't cough too hard!

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