HMS Opal
HMS Opal was a British Royal Navy destroyer that met a tragic and catastrophic end on the night of 12 January 1918, when she was wrecked along with her sister ship HMS Narborough on the jagged rocks of South Ronaldsay, Orkney, off the coast of Scotland. The coordinates given place the wreck site in the turbulent waters off the southeastern tip of South Ronaldsay, near Windwick Bay — one of the most dramatic and remote stretches of coastline in the Orkney Islands. Of the combined crews of the two destroyers, totalling around 188 men, only one man survived: Able Seaman William Sissons, who was found clinging to the cliffs two days after the disaster. The wreck site is one of the most poignant and historically significant maritime disaster locations in British naval history, particularly for the Orkney Islands, which saw so much wartime loss during both World Wars.
The disaster occurred during a severe storm as the two destroyers were returning to Scapa Flow, the great Royal Navy anchorage that served as the main base of the Grand Fleet during the First World War. Caught in blizzard conditions with zero visibility, ferocious winds, and mountainous seas, the ships were driven onto the rocks at the base of the cliffs near Windwick. The force of the waves and the violence of the storm were such that the ships were utterly destroyed in a matter of hours. When search parties eventually reached the isolated coastline, they found only fragments of wreckage and the bodies of some of the crew. The sheer remoteness of the location and the severity of the storm meant that rescue was essentially impossible. The disaster was hushed up to a considerable degree during the war for reasons of morale and military security, which meant that the true scale of the tragedy was not widely known until much later.
The wreck site itself lies in waters that are notoriously difficult and dangerous even for experienced divers. The remains of HMS Opal — twisted metal, hull plates, machinery, and fragments of ordnance — lie scattered across a seabed and rocky foreshore that is regularly battered by Atlantic swells and fierce tidal streams. Some wreckage is visible at low tide on the foreshore, which gives the site a haunting, skeletal quality. The metal has corroded to deep russet and dark green tones, encrusted with marine life, and blends eerily into the surrounding kelp-draped rock. The area feels extremely isolated and exposed, with the sound of the sea constant and often overwhelming, the wind rarely still, and the cry of seabirds — fulmars, guillemots, and kittiwakes — echoing off the cliffs.
The landscape around the site is quintessential Orkney: vast, windswept, and utterly treeless, with green agricultural fields giving way abruptly to dramatic cliff edges. Windwick Bay is a sweeping, wild bay of dark rock and crashing surf, backed by grassy clifftops that offer breathtaking views south toward the Pentland Firth and north across the islands. The coastline in this area is part of a stretch designated for its natural heritage value, and the cliffs support important seabird colonies. Nearby is the village of St Margaret's Hope, one of the main settlements on South Ronaldsay, which provides the nearest services including accommodation, a pub, and a small shop.
For those wishing to visit, South Ronaldsay is accessible via the Churchill Barriers — the remarkable causeways built during the Second World War linking the southern islands of Orkney to the Mainland — which means you can drive directly to South Ronaldsay from Kirkwall without needing a ferry. The clifftop area near Windwick Bay can be reached on foot along coastal paths, and the bay itself can be approached from the road at Windwick. Walking this coastline requires sturdy footwear, weatherproof clothing at all times of year, and great care near cliff edges, which can be unstable and are exposed to sudden gusts. The site is not formally marked or managed as a heritage attraction, retaining a raw and undisturbed quality that many visitors find deeply moving.
Diving the wreck of HMS Opal is possible but should only be undertaken by highly experienced divers with local knowledge of the conditions, which include strong tidal streams, surge, and limited visibility. The wreck is a war grave, and interference with the remains is prohibited under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986. For those who cannot dive, the foreshore at low water in calm conditions can reveal fragments of the disaster, and the cliffs above provide a vivid sense of the ferocity and hopelessness of what happened on that January night in 1918. A small memorial exists in the area acknowledging the men lost, and local historical societies in Orkney maintain records and accounts of the disaster. The story of HMS Opal and HMS Narborough remains one of the most devastating single incidents of loss suffered by the Royal Navy in the waters around Orkney during the First World War.