The report and photographs appearing in this gallery come from Geoff Brown
who undertook the difficult task of identifying an unknown wreck lying
approximately one mile off Cyprus. When Geoff began this endeavor in 1985,
virtually nothing was known about the wreck. After hundreds of dives and
several years of research, he came to the stunning conclusion that she
must be HMS Cricket.
In 1941, HMS Cricket had been supporting Tobruk when she came under attack
and was severely damaged. Remaining afloat, she was towed to the Egyptian
port of Alexandria and reportedly sold for scrap.
The ship comprising the wreck is believed to have sunk in 1944. This would
place the ship's sinking several years after HMS Cricket had been severely
damaged. The following report documents the wreck and leaves little doubt
that the ship is, in fact, HMS Cricket.
All of this information has been submitted to the Imperial War Museum and
records now reflect that the wreck is HMS Cricket. How she got there still
remains somewhat of a mystery but the following report provides some excellent
information regarding her ultimate fate.
I am immensely grateful to Geoff for sending a copy of the report and undertaking
the cumbersome task of imaging all of the photographs. Requests to use
any of the photographs or information appearing here are welcome, but publication
(by any means) may only occur with the prior approval of Geoff Brown. Any
inquires regarding this material should be made to Geoff Brown, care of
the site webmaster.
I have made every attempt to reproduce the sections of the report seen
here in their original form, but some concessions have been made to accommodate
the problems associated with download times and bandwidth. Some information
has therefore been omitted (not much) and the letters that appear have
been converted into a format designed to minimize the time it takes to
view them.
|
