As you come up the River Plate to Montevideo you can see the mast of the Highland Chieftain sticking out of the water from miles away. The un-initiated on the ship thought that this was the remains of the Graff Spee. No such luck as she lies broken up underwater some 3 miles away.
The Highland Chieftain was built in 1929 by Harland and Wolf of Belfast, and made her maiden voyage on the London toRiver Plate service, on the 21st of February and later transferred to Royal Mail in 1932. She commenced wartime trooping duties in 1939, but was damaged on the 11th of October, 1940, during a bombing raid on Liverpool.
The mast of the Highland Chieftain
After the war she did not resume her commercial operations until 1948 on the River Plate service, and was sold out of the fleet in January of 1959 to the Calpe Shipping Company of Gibraltar and converted for use in the whaling industry,and renamed Calpean Star.
The Highland Chieftain
In March of 1960 she suffered rudder damage when off Montevideo, and after leaving under tow she suffered a boiler room explosion which resulted in her being abandoned.The wreck wasn't cut up for scrap until 1965.
Submerged is a website about shipwrecks and scuba diving around Devon, UK and the world. It's written by Peter Mitchell, author of The Wrecker's Guide To South West Devon Vols 1 and II and several DVDs. [more info]
