Montana

History

The Montana was a fast, Clyde-built paddle steamer of 236 ft intended for the Confederate blockade-running trade between Britain, Bermuda and North Carolina. Like many runners she used several names, including Nola, Gloria and Paramount, to throw Union agents off her trail, and she was said to make 15 knots.

On her first voyage out from Britain, bound ultimately for Wilmington, she called at Bermuda to coal. On 30 December 1863, approaching through the reefs north of the island rather than by the usual channel, she struck near Western Blue Cut and tore open her side. Her crew got off safely and much of the cargo was recovered, but the ship was a total loss: Bermuda's reefs had done what no Union gunboat managed.

The wreck was never lost; it was long known to fishermen, and Bermuda Maritime Museum field schools surveyed and mapped it several times between 1985 and 2000. Almost eighty years after her loss the freighter Constellation came to grief on the same spot.

Diving the wreck today

Lying in shallow water, the Montana is one of Bermuda's most popular wrecks for both divers and snorkellers. Her two boilers and paddlewheel frames are the obvious landmarks, along with the partly intact bow, all covered in hard and soft corals and full of fish.

The Constellation wreck lies alongside, so the two are usually dived together, and the Lartington is just to the north. It suits all levels in good conditions. Hurricane Humberto caused damage to the site in 2019.