Dive Logs
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Hellopes Mounts Bay
What a differents a week makes to the viz going from nil to 14mts. Tolgus
6 went to the Alice Marie, with divers coming back saying they never seen
so
much of the Alice Marie even spotting a john dory fish. Well the rest
of us went to the Hellopes on T7. The wash buoy marking the wreck as gone
so we deployed
are own shot line. viz was that good we didn?t bother with the reel line,
and for a change we dive off the main part of the wreck and dived the debris
on
the portside. Areas you wouldn?t normally dive. We saw the remain of
what looked liked the ships masts forward and aft, the forward deck winch
and loads of
other wreckage plus a couple of congers and a small lobster things you
don?t see that much of on the main part of the wreck and near the donkey
boiler there
were several big ling. We then went onto the wreck its self swimming
between the boilers and heading towards the stern then over to the starboard
side which
as covered in pink fan corals, with shoals of bib just off from us. We
finished are dive where we started at the stern, Even this looked different
in this
viz, with all different coloured anemones especially around the steering
gear vicinity.
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H.M.S Scylla Whitsand bay
Up at 4.30am for an early start to go Plymouth and dive the H.M.S Scylla.
We launched T6 from the Mount Batten slipway at 8am, by 8.30am we were
diving
the Scylla & not another dive boat in sight. There are three yellow buoys
marking the Scylla's position, bow portside (bow faces south) mid ships and
stern portside. We used the wash buoy near the bow to start our dive, and then
we headed straight for the bow. Quick look here before making our way back
to the bridge on the starboard side. It's funny swimming across the deck of
the ship, which has a slight list to starboard. We entered the wreck below
the bridge & went along a couple of corridors & remerged out on the
portside. We then came to the helicopter deck in this area there are steel
tubes welded to the decking which were used for the pyrotechnics explosives
when the ship was sunk. The Chain for the stern wash buoy was also near by,
all of this is at 15mtrs & looking up the chain you could just make out
the surface, but looking across the ship the viz was 3-4mtrs it's the start
of the algae bloom. From the helicopter deck we went right over the railings
down onto the sea bed to look under the ship, no prop. Heading down the starboard
side we came across square access holes cut in the side of the ships hull to
let you go in & look around all the different compartments i.e. sleeping
quarters, engine room, electronics room etc, with signs saying check your air
before entering. We finally got to the bridge everything has been striped out
in this section one small piece of electrical equipment remains. Coming up
through a hole in the bridge we swam across the top of the ship to the helicopter
compartment & went inside coming back up through the roof of the helicopter
compartment & back across to the bow shot line, & we didn't spot a
single fish. On the surfacing there were 3 ribs & 1 hard boat on site by
now & its only 9.30am
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HEIDRUN (FORMALLY KNOWN AS THE IBIS) SUNNY GOOD FRIDAY 2004
The last time I dived this wreck was July 2002, we called it the Ibis back
then. But divers have now found a name plate calling it the Heidrun. The
conditions were the same then with a flat calm sea, and the journey took
20 minutes form
Penzance still a bit cold in the northerly breeze , there wasn?t a wash buoy
marking the wreck this time. Its took nearly 20 minutes to find it, due to
the fact the wreck pretty flat, the biggest parts being the engines the boilers,
and the engines are lying on there side which don?t help, plus there?s a
reef near by. At first I couldn?t make out where the shot line was on the
wreck
I wasn?t sure which direction to headed in to get my bearings, at least the
viz was reasonably good 7 mtrs, then I came across the mast which runs right
down the middle of the wreck, so we followed mast and it took us to a pile
of chain, we were at the remains of bow along with the chain there?s still
an anchor to look at in its housing. we turn around and followed the mast
back , as I knew this would lead us the boilers, from the boilers we found
the engines
then the stern tube finally down to the iron prop which lies on the reef.
There were several lobster pots in this area, no lobsters inside, if we
had a bigger
boat we would have sent them up. To see photos etc go to www.divernet.com
and look at wreck tours march 2003 or www.Liddiard.demon.co.uk
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Hellopes
A little bit different to last weeks dive, it's gone colder with a brisk
n.e. wind, that's why theirs only 5 of us diving. Three of us were diving
on the
Hellopes using the wash buoy tide to the stern. There was a slight tide running
which made it a little harder descending. From the stern section we made
our way towards the boilers following the starboard side of the wreck.
Upon reaching
the boilers we crossed over to the portside of the wreck then went out on
to the sea bed to the donkey boiler, which you could see from the main
part of
the wreck with the viz around 10mtrs. We swam right around the donkey boiler
then back to the wreck following the portside down to the stern. Rob indicated
to us he was down to 100 bar on a 12ltr. So we had a quick look at the iron
prop and rudder (loads of fish in this area) before returning to the shot
line. Their seemed to more fish life on the wreck today with free swimming
dogfish
shoals of bib, Pollock and wrasse. After are dive we headed over to low lea
reef for Paul and Andy to have their dive, plus re-buoy the wreck of the
Primrose
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EPSILON
I was the dive marshal for Sundays dive. Picked up t6 on Friday spent Saturday
getting it ready, only to find out we had 7 divers for Sunday, so I ended
up towing t7 down to Mylor harbour, lucky Stan would tow it back to Charlie?s
for me. Are first dive sight was the Epsilon with sank in 1917 after striking
a mine, the 3211 ton ship sank in 25 mtrs of water. Not a lot remains of
the
ship the biggest section is the boilers one of which is half buried in
the sand. This is where roger and I started are dive first looking in and
around
the boilers, where we spotted a small conger, before tying my reel line
to a piece of wreckage and then heading off over the sea bed onto more
wreckage
mainly twisted bits of iron nothing resembling parts of a ship. Further
on we came upon what looked like a prop blade sticking out of the sand
the rest
of it was buried plus bigger sections of wreckage in this area. Off the
wreck the sea bed was covered in brittle stars, there were also loads dog
fish all
around this wreck and other fish, wrasse, Pollack, bib and crabs. We were
diving this wreck on spring tides not a lot of current on the wreck but
you could
notice it a lot more coming up the line. After our dive Colin took Alex
in on a shallow dive in the east west narrows to try out is new dry suit.
Arrived
back at Mylor 1 hour before low tide there was just enough water to get
the rib out.
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Hellopes Mounts Bay, 4 miles. 39.3 Mts. /40mins
First dive in weeks, did I miss it? Bloody right. Considering the weather has been crap, and raining for ever, this Sunday morning was lovely and sunny. Late start at PZ with only 5 of us showing up. Shaun asked "where's the rest of em?". Thursday night, everybody wanted to dive, now its here, its just 5 of us. Kit up and away, I didn?t take a Joyrider as the sea looked flat, it wasn?t that flat the more we went out mind, so, I did well today. Quite a pleasant day with just a few sailing boats out. Took ages to locate the wreck, but eventually myself and Shaun were over the side and descending. I had a bit of a job to get down but eventually were plummeting down the shot. Dark! Bloody gloomy on the bottom alright, specially when you realise its over 130 foot down!! Shaun did this yesterday with JK, he said the viz was great, but today its very dark, and as were in rather late in the day, past 3pm by the time we got down, this didn?t help, as the sun was low on the horizon, still, were down and it?s a wreck, so, fuck it, lets get on. Shot was right on the stern compartment, we finned around the rudder and prop section with me hanging onto the top of the prop blade looking down a couple of meter's at Shaun looking up, wonderful. Very few fish or sea life today, bit more of mooch and then S and myself struggled with the anchor to clear it from the wreckage which was well jammed in, which resulted in incurring a lot more deco time than we planned. I was breathing quite hard and as id not been in for a few weeks, my dive fitness was not at its best. Ascend to 6mts for the 10 mins deco, waiting there quite happily `till I began to rise quite quick, the Aladin was "beeping", S was pulling me back down but this ended up giving me another 5 mins deco, still, were in, done the dive, that?s what counts. Surface to a bloody nose again, but excellent dive. The light was fading by now and by the time Stan had trawled to find the Alice Marie for the second lot to dive, they decided to abandon that plan and do the Low Lee instead. We found a wash buoy and tied up to that, 3 others in by now, I had water and even eat a bit of Snickers bar, but I had to strip off the dry suit as I was dying for a pee, this I did, resulting in a massive relief, ahhhh. So, by the time the others surfaced it was getting dark and by the time we got them into the rib, it WAS dark!! Bloody dark. Shaun said they had done a "night dive". We laughed. Took out the torches and rode back to PZ in the black of the evening with the lights of the town twinkling, it looked very nice though. Cold by now. Wash down rib and kit and change in the light of the sodium lamps, a welcome "re compression" beer in the Station pub. Excellent day.
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Onega
Onega, Atlantic Diver, Newquay, Trevose head, 4 miles. 39.1Mt. / 41mins
Another new wreck for us. Me and Shaun, Pathfinders away again first, as usual.
Shot line was just off the port side boiler, there should have been 3 boilers
but looks like one was either lifted or corroded away, either way, the remain
2 were enormous. And inside of one of them, as in Shaun's words," there
was an big conger, a big bastard", yes, he was huge, and as I descended
to see it, it looked at me and began to come out of its hidey hole, I thought,
oh no, its coming out! It was only inquisitive, according to my buddy, who
had delight in seeing me back away, as fast as I could! we headed around the
back of the boilers and S spotted the spare propeller, a big un. I spotted
a lobster with no claws and I think I just saw a cuttle fish fly past me in
the gloom. Im not sure, but I may have spotted a "Dragonet" sitting
on the deck plating, lovely colours to this fish. Plenty of fish on this wreck.
The wreck needs another investigation, there's lots of it but as usual, bottom
time gets the better of us. 11 mins at 3mts then 2 mins at 6mts was the deco
time.
Friday, 16/08/02. evening.
Steamship, steel, 3636 tonne, cargo of pit wood, built 1880,
3 boilers.
Torpedoed unknown German submarine, 30/08/1918.
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Hellene, aka Pandora , St Ives Bay, 7 miles. 43.7 Mts.
Sharks!! Sunfish and probably one of my best dives ever. The morning had torrential rain, resulting with flooded fields and roads and the water in Hayle estuary being dirt brown and opaque, yet warm to touch. Away from work early, again, collected 4 cylinders and me having to purchase a new hose and gauge for pony bottle (choked) then me racing away from Colin's shop, forgetting to get Derek's suit so had to re drive back to shop, I was late for everything today yet, after this mornings rain, the sun was out and it was hot. Collects Shaun from home, late then down to Hayle where, yes, you've guessed, were first ones there! Stan's and Shaun's choice today and what a choice it turned out to be, magic. Del/Karin towed T 6, then good old Ross showed, so after launching were away thru the mucky brown water over the bar to where it cleared but, lumpy sea and thrashing water over us the further we went out. Maybe 4 miles out the sea became real lumpy but we saw the fin of a Sunfish, then 2 Sharks. So after 45 mins we reached the site, "lets do it". This is a huge wreck, then, after descending, to see the shot line/grapnel just lying on top of the stern, we were lucky to have snagged where it landed, but, what a sight to see when descending, just ace. This looks like a ship, big intact hull sides and rudder in place, the whole thing just standing upright on the sandy bottom. Magic. Shaun away first, no reel, good viz aprox 15 mts plus. I kept well off the wreck to gain more air/time and as Shaun said, what to look at first? There was so much of it, the top layer had collapsed leaving huge winches sitting upright, and then onto the boiler section, you could just see two huge arcs of the tops of the boilers. There's a mass of asbestos corrugated sheeting in the holds, still intact, Nissan huts for the war effort. The boilers had loads of brass fittings still attached and one of the holds still has its ladder in place. Lots of crabs, fish, everything. Turned back, re traced our path then Shaun scratched about in the stern section, he saw some cutlery etc, I ventured out from the side (good buoyancy) and peered down the huge rudder, still in place and you could see the sides of the ship laying in the bright sand on the sea bed. I went back to S who was still mooching for treasure. Really into deco now, it clocked up more minutes every time you looked away, we eventually had 18 mins deco. Surfaced to swelly sea, chucked of course but what a dive, id say my second best to date. Spotted more sharks on the way back to Hayle, making 5 in all. Drink and chat in the halfway house pub in Connor Downs, excellent dive/day.
Friday, 25/07/2003.
Steamship, steel, 1567 tonne, cargo ballast, 2 boilers,
Built 1896, torpedoed UB-86, 17/08/1918
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Kintuck , St Ives Bay, 2.5 miles 5.3
Mts. / 41mins.
Wind, freezing rain, fog, yes, this is summer alright! A cracking dive at
the end but it was hard earned. Down at Hayle where there was 4 ribs from
up country
blocking the way. ? University divers who, pissed Stan right off and it wasn't
even 9 o clock. We had a chat with a couple of them, one said to Shaun and
Stan, "were going to stay out side of the breakwater over night".
Not wise, S/S said, the tides and weather etc. "oh no, it'll be ok, we
got all the info off the Internet" was chummys reply. S/S said back to
him, "well, the Internet dosnt tell you the weather conditions and that
people have drowned out there does it", to which matey looked quite put
out. "F***ing know- alls, they don't know f*ck all" Stan said to
me. Hmmm. Ok, Col arrived then Dave and Marie with Dave doing the usual of,
swearing and parking his huge "Animal" 4 x 4 motor in the middle
of the road, that pissed the Uni people more off,? good boy. Right, load up
only after JK had arrived and again, re pissed Stan off, old Stan was? having
a good morning so far. Course, before all this, the engine to T6 wouldn't start
so good job Colin the mechanic was there or we'd have been waiting there on
the road forever. Out, sea not bad, sunny as well but, the more further out
we got, (we were going to do a new one for us today, the " Gemini brass
wreck", some 9 miles out) the sea became worse with tremendous swells
and white horses. After being shook to bits with the journey, plenty of body
slamming of the rib on the water, at stages we were flying in mid air, all
silent for what seemed ages , then BANG, we hit the sea with force,? the sea
would pound over us, easy day! Decided to return and do something safer, the
Kintuck. By the time we got back and saw land, there was quite a few ribs there,
1 unknown to us, "the Wreck Hunter", obviously from up country with
a name like that. "what's your boat called?, the Wreck `unter, oo ar,
me ansomes". We were all talking like Captain Pugwash then, "an oim
not looking forard to the jurney ome ither", that kind of thing. This
went into the TV prog, Clive Cussels,? the Seahunters, "now, get out of
that comfy chair and start diving" , he wouldn't be saying that today
if he saw the sea we were in! Well, it passed the time didn't it. Doug Wright
in ?? hard boat was there, he knew a few of our lot and was quite chatty, no
mean feat as the swells were rocking us into oblivion. JK arrived, trouble
then as we shouted across, thought you were doing something else? Tris said, "someone
had moved the wreck, couldn't find it", this pisssed JK off almightily,
then, as we heard later, he asked Dougie if he could use? his shot line, "you
fuck off, you ruined my marriage" he shouted to JK in front of everyone,
that was 20 years ago, JK shouted back, "I don't care, you just fuck off",
Dougie replied. Happy lot us divers eh! Ok, kit up and pathfinders away and
down first, murky on the way down? but cleared greatly when we hit bottom,
the shot was tied onto one of the engine con-rods, spot on. The engines are
lying on their starboard side, huge things. We ventured down the stern tube
where S fixed his reel then we ventured off the main part of the wreck, here
we found, partly buried in sand, the big stern anchor, great stuff. I noticed
a couple of propeller blades, looked like you'd bolt them on a boss as there
were huge flanges on the ends, loads of debris, bollards, plating etc. On mooching
over the engine area, Shaun noticed a glint of brass, this was a lump alright,
we rubbed it to reveal the gold shining thru, S wanted to bring this back,
trouble was, you'd have to move 200 tons of iron engine to free it, Shaun went
for his lifty bag, we left it there! At the boilers again and S located "mister
conger", how does he do it?? I can never see them until im show, he has
that knack alright. Loads of fish and sea life, ie Fan Coral etc. While surface
waiting for Dave/Marie, we heard Mayday signal, 2 divers missing off North
Coast, Chris from Atlantic Diver eventually found them, they drifted 2 miles
in an hour, off the wreck site,? in open sea, not good. We spotted the "Wreck
Hunter" pair on SMB, they were only a hundred yards form their own rib
but because of the swell they were nearly invisible, that's why, our lot, specially
in bad sea, always come back on the shot line. The weather went from sun, to
pissin rain, to wind to sun in minutes. Now, as my stomach has not been good
for a while, as soon as I leaned over the side to recover Stan, my belly became
sore, the result of this was, as soon as I stood up I wanted to "chuck" and
chuck I did, I just turned around and right then, right over my mate Shaun,
sick came out of me like a jet, only water mind, but whooosh, right over my
old buddy Shaun. He wasn't impressed! In the meantime, Marie became cold and
tingly so she went on O2. So, after Stan and Col were de kitted we raced back
to shore, the sea was washing over us and bloody freezing. But, good dive.
Now comes the miracle, while de kitting the rib, Shaun gave me a tenner, (?10),
10 quid! To go and order breakfast in the caf?and get yourself a breakfast
as well" he said to me! So, after I regained consciousness, I ordered
full breakfast for the both of us, he's my mate alright, and this is after
I chucked over him, he must love me.
Sunday, 20/07/2003.
Steamship, steel, 4639 tonne, cargo ballast, 2 boilers,
Built 1895, explosion in aft` of ship, 02/12/1917
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Siracusa, Atlantic Diver, Newquay, 6 miles. 35.3 Mt. / 27mins
"Good character building dive", these were Shaun's words on exit of this pitch black, deep dive. Sunny evening now after the fierce shower of rain which was only ten minutes earlier. Sea looking rough, which when we did get out, it was really rough, thrashing water all over us. Eventually away at 5.45pm after waiting for Colin and Tris`. Not much you could say about this dive only that if you were thinking of giving up diving, this would have clinched it. On the way out, the boat was rocking` side to side and big waves were crashing over the gunwales. While we were trying to kit up the sea water was soaking us. Karin almost dressed me, did my mask, hoses and fins while Roger was holding onto me. Pathfinders away again, and really I had an idea that, what was said earlier about the viz, ie, the Sea life Centre at Newquay had stopped replenishing their tanks of water because of the crud in it. So, when im just on the surface after rolling in, fining over to shot line, I couldn?t even see the bright orange buoy never mind Shaun and they were only six feet away from me! Still, were here, lets get down. Soup, would be the way to describe the sea and viz and it got worse as we got deeper, eventually going to pitch black on the bottom. I knew I was on the bottom, as I hit something hard, the wreck!!! S did the reel and away we goes, to where? Who knows, it was nil viz and the only area in view was from your torch. I did see lots of Pink Fan Coral attached to the wreckage, it wasn?t there when we came back, I told Margaret this later in the pub, she just looked at me and shook her head. So, ok, were down here and scratching over debris, in and out of black holes while S was gesturing me to keep hold of the line and me getting to close to his fins which were hitting me and my mask. Now, all I can say is, I wasn?t over worried, couldn?t see an inch in front of me, so, I must be getting better. I didn?t even look at the depth on my Aladin (you couldn't see it anyway without torch light) I only was looking at my contents, which, wasn?t bad. Eventually reaches where?, im still not sure, then turns back and eventually got to the boilers, I knew this, because I bumped into them and could feel the iron. How can you not see huge boilers your asking? Well, try being in a dark room, with a balaclava on back to front will give you an idea. There must have been 8 of us down there all with torches but I only saw 1 torch, it was Stan's. Me and Shaun did go off again to mooch around the back of the boilers, much to the concern of Stan who said later to us, " I couldn?t believe you two fuckers were going off again instead of ascending" Shaun told him, we had to get in 30 mins at least before going back!! The distance reels were tangled everywhere and Paul's, red line was quite distinctive in the torch light. S, took ages to untangle our clip from the shot line, I still had 100 bar of air left, pity, it was good fill this week. So, up and up, still black until almost 8 to 9 mts from surface where it eventually did get a bit lighter. Now the fun began, while were at 6mts deco`ing, I saw Karin and then Del` come down the shot line, they were late getting in but, Derek had caught Shaun's DV with his torch line, resulting in S being pulled down, I really wasn?t sure what was on here. The shot line was pulling up and down anyway because of the sea, I just thought S was drifting down then back. But no, he was hanging onto dear life and his DV as Del was still going down. He freed himself and then proceeded to give me an underwater bollocking for not helping him!!! Hard climb back on board and a questionnaire was sent round seeing if we could get our money back! No, I jest, Chris would never give any money back. Rough ride back to shore, still nice and bright mind. Change up, moan about the viz. Into Red Lion for beer and, I must mention this, my mate Shaun had bought me beer and chips, (he must have found a fiver in the street) much to his discontent, he said that I gave them away instead of eating them. No, you'll find that Tris`, who's a big bloke, just took hand full`s , I wasn?t going to argue with him, id already had the bollocking at depth playing on my mind. But we did have quick look at the scantily clad girls on the next table just to round the day off. Good dive? Hmmmmmm.
Wednesday, 30/04/2003. evening.
Steamship, iron, 1003 tonne, cargo of coal, built 1897, 2 boilers.
Foundered in heavy weather, 03/03/1897.
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The Perran Wreck, Atlantic Diver, Newquay, 7.5 miles. 37.8 Mt. / 33 mins
Pollock! Well, what a beautiful day, sun shine and flat, well flattish sea, and to cap it all, 5 hours in total on board the hard boat, and no sick!! Load kit with Chris and his young 3 year old son, his first time out. 5 of us today, Shaun, Barrie, Roger, Stuart and myself, away by midday. Chat and settled down for the journey out but, when I heard, "slack at 3.20pm" I thought, no, this cant be right, that?s three hours away, ill be chucking for England. But yes, I heard right, slack at 3.20, we had to be away early to get the boat out of the harbour. I looked at Barrie when we heard the news, he looked at me with the same look, "sicky". I said to Shaun, there joking aren't they? No, Shaun replied, but said back to me, "you'll be ok, you wont be sick", he has so much confidence in me but, even ill admit, I did well. So, out towards Perranporth, lovely and sunny and sea, well, not bad I suppose, the boat began to rock at times mind, but over all, not bad. We all undid our suits as not to get over heated, then Chris said, "here, have a fishing rod each, do a bit of spinning" so, the rest had a rod, while me and Baz, were content just to look. Well, Chris's boy, this tiny 3 year old, with his Pokerman life jacket on, well, what did he catch straight away? "daddy, daddy ive caught something", his fishing rod was bending with the strain, up it came, a huge Pollock, just huge. Now, the rest of the chaps had some luck but poor old Shaun, he caught nothing. And to add insult to injury, the little boy couldn?t stop from catching fish, he was catching them one after the other. Naturally no one took the piss, specially Roger, who managed to get 3 I think. "here Shaun, put one of mine on your hook and pretend you?ve caught it", Fuck off, was the answer to that from Shaun. Even I had a go, me the Buddhist, but I said, if I catch one, it'll have to go back, but, I didn?t need to worry, I had quite a "few drops and spins" and failed to get a bite. What this bit of fishing did though was, take our minds off the waiting. I was quite enjoying myself at this stage. So, eventually we gets near slack time and starts to kit up. In no time at all were over the side, I was last in, following Baz while he followed Shaun. Wonderful viz, I could see them all below me with the bubbles racing up from the depths. Ears no problem today, but then again, I had Sudafed and Otravine earlier on but, there was something wrong, suit inflation missing. This resulted in suit squeeze. I gestured, "hose" and Shaun found the hose and connected it, quick burst of air and phew, lovely, my arms and chest was relived of pressure. So, shot landed near the boilers. what a wreck, excellent, huge boilers, and the engine block lying on its side, beyond this was the stern tube. The main plating had fell open to reveal loads of debris, all dominated by the massive boilers. Shoals and shoals of fish and spider crabs. S spotted a huge conger hiding in the fire box of one of the boilers, I peered around the side looking through the broken iron and it was then you could see how big this conger was, its body diameter was the size of a bucket, and at aprox 5 or 6 ft long, this meant BIG. Off again for more mooching, and spotted one more conger inside of a rusting pipe, he moved back up the pipe when we shone the torch on him, S spotted another making 3 in all. into deco by now, I managed to find some lead fishing weights, a bit crudded but they still came back with me. 9 mins deco. Surface to a sunny day. Hard climb up the ladder and did the "dead fly" collapse onto deck. Once again Chris didn?t fail to deliver, great wreck, I says. Chris replied "its always a good wreck for you Den", ah yes, I says, but your top man, the best skipper out here, I told him. He laughed. Stuart was back early through his neck seal leaking, Roger had a good dive, as of course, Baz and Shaun. So, excellent day and all back safe to shore with Chris's young son asleep in the wheel house, worn out no doubt by the excitement of fishing and having the Tolgus boys on board.
Saturday, 05/04/2003.
Steamship, no known information, look like a 1st WW wreck.
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Kintuck , St Ives Bay, 2.5 miles. 34.5 Mts. / 30mins.
Up at 6am, out, collect Shaun and down to Hayle by 7.30. On JK`s rib today with Andy, Roger, Ian and ?? and after slipping and sliding over the rib tubes I eventually managed to get in only to abuse from those onboard. I said, not bad for a 50 year old. To which everyone else replied, "well im, so and so etc." your only a youth!! Now, the morning at 8am was like summer, lovely and sunny and warm with the estuary flat and blue. But, it was not to be the same once out into the sea, it was rough as rats with big swells rolling in drowning all of us up front on the rib. I took a joyrider before I went out and bloody good job I did. So, ride out to site hugging the coast line quite close with St Ives brilliantly lit up with the morning sunlight. But the sea, well, shee, it was rough. Two and a half miles out and JK sounds for the wreck with cries of from the others "lets hope you get it this time" as last time, we all dived the Kintuck Reef. JK took this in good heart. So, anchor and buoy away then teams made up with, JK and Andy first away, then the next three leaving me and Shaun to boat handle. I thought, as it looked like we'd be last off, "fuck I hope im not going to be sick and miss the dive", but, myself and S were not bad specially considering that we both had to lean, head down at time's to help the rest on with kit etc. The weather, wind, got up making the sea get really rough and the rib, because JK ties it off onto the buoy, the rib was tossing and turning and we looked at each other with the same thought " hope they get back quick coz were both going to chuck if this keeps up". But, JK and Andy was back in no time and myself and S were bosh over the side and into water as fast as we could. Now the fun began. S away and im heading down into the green when I couldn?t clear my ears, normally im in, down and away but today my ears wouldn?t clear. The pain! Well, the pain was excruciating, so all I could do was get as far down the shot as possible until I couldn?t take any more, then rise back up the line to ease the pain then de send again, bit by bit. The viz looked good so I'm not going back that was fact. Met the last 3 on the line as they were coming back and im not sure but one of them patted me on the head, but as my ears were sore I didn?t acknowledge it. So, after some time I heard, well felt, the familiar whoosh on either side of my head and the ears seemed to clear, nice. Shaun, in the meantime was down and tied on the reel waiting for me. I gestured my ears, OK, he said, then away onto the boilers. 2 huge boilers on this wreck and a third smaller one off to one side, excellent. Saw the huge iron engine block with the enormous con rods locked in time. Fin off down the massive stern tube, iron 9 inches diameter at least and bolted together via 2 huge flanges, this abruptly ended, probly where the explosion took place all those years ago. The tide, in the meantime was doing the "washing machine" effect on us, pulling one way then the other. Viz wasn?t so bad and there were a few fish, 1 spider crab but not much else. I was getting cold but the ground swell was getting the better of us so decided to ascend. One last look around the boilers, located shot chain then easy ascent. Everything was ok but approximately 15 mts up from the bottom I felt cold water in both my ears, bad sign I thought, then tasted sea water in my mouth, my mask was letting in water from the begining so I wasn?t so worried at this but I didn?t like the feeling of cold water in my ears, I did think, fuck, going thru the pain barrier on the descent ive bust the pair of them now, resulting in bloody months out of diving while the ear drums repair, bollocks I thought. But, no, I think all I did was burst the blood vessels in my sinuses and the cold water was just cold water entering my hood into my ear lobes. The water temp was 9C. So, when I surfaced after another good deco stop of no up/downing, my mask was filled with blood, poor old Shaun had to wash my face with my water bottle coz the rich, red, blood was all over my nose, cheeks and up to my eyes, good game!! So, surface to sun and everyone ok. Really hard ride back to slip, big breaking waves meaning JK`s rib was either free flying or hitting the water like a car hitting a brick wall. The sun was shining mind and the little beach of Carbis Bay was looking quite tranquil. Back into Hayle, change up in the rather warm sun and down to Quayside Caf?or full breakfast and 2 cups of tea. Plus, the obligatory roaring ears!! Good dive and as what Shaun said later, least we got in today, not many other would have and it was still only 10.45 am.
Sunday, 23/03/2003.
Steamship, steel, 4639 tonne, cargo ballast, 2 boilers,
Built 1895, explosion in aft` of ship, 02/12/1917
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Raglans Reef, The Manacles, 37.3 Mts. / 31mins.
Kettle! What an excellent day, sunny, flat sea and treasure, great day, good dive. Colin organised this with Porthkerris Divers as T7 needed repairs etc, so, my old buddy Shaun, Colin, Paul, Mike and Eric plus the visitors from the West Midlands were on the big rib with Giles doing the boat handling. As I say, the weather was terrific, actually hot when changing into dry suits and the sea and sky blue, all this and were only in March. Colin, of course, because he organised the day, said he told God to make the sea flat and the sun come out!! Eric, who is going to betray the Tolgus team by leaving Cornwall and move to Milton Keynes, was here on his last "real" dive, as his next diving will be done in some poxy quarry somewhere, where, do doubt, the people who dive quarry's thinks the world is flat and don?t know any better. So, bit of a struggle to load kit into rib as the sea was still rushing up the beach but once on the rib it was OK. Giles told us that they saw pods of Dolphins out here yesterday, (we weren't that lucky today though) and one of the Midlands team had a strange "megaphone" looking device, which was actually a viewing porthole, big green plastic thing with a clear lens to look into the sea. So, away to the Manacles reef, and first thing on kitting up was Shaun's high pressure hose leaking, which, on looking at the split in it afterwards, good job had failed on the surface as if it had "blown" under water, who knows what the outcome would have been. So, Giles changed S`s main hose and fitted the "pony" hose, excellent. Good job it was calm though, coz I was sitting on the rib tube for a while and surely if it was rough id have chucked, but, eventually bosh, over the side and down the shot, excellent viz. I made sure my weight belt was tight and secure as I didn?t want a repeat of last weeks slipping, not on a reef anyway. So, bang, landed on the eastern side of the pinnacle, looked over the edge into the darkness, signal OK then free falling away descending the sheer side of the reef. This was like a garden underwater, placed on its side, full of anenomies , dead mans fingers, pink fan coral, wrasse, starfish, sea urchin's, loads of colour, the whole granite reef face full of stuff. Mind you, as Shaun said later back on top, once you?ve turned one corner into another gully which looked like the previous gully, there all the same. I had enough after 8 minutes but whoa, hold on, what's this S is gesturing at? Yes, buried in the sand, with just the top peeking out, what was it? shiny, metallic, oh what joy, what could it be? A sunken bit of history? A find, no one else would ever find? No, it?s a fucking aluminum kettle!! The highlight of the day. I of course pulled it from the sand revealing a barnacled, cruddy kettle. So, clipped that to me and away, mind you, finding out later, the bloody thing leaked! So, after finding the "treasure", deeper and deeper we went, spotting a few crabs and a crab with a star fish living on its shell. Decided to ascend, where by the time we turned into the north face of the reef, the pull of tide was quite hard for me to fin against. Shaun, who has this knack, spotted a big conger lurking in between a couple of big rocks, big old boy he was, blue/purple, the conger that is, not Shaun. Excellent. But the pull of tide was wearing me out and thought, lets get back. So, at aprox 20 mts, finding a spot to kneel and there deployed the SMB. Now, im not a lover of this, I like the security of the shot line but no, it has to be done so lets get on with it. Because my new suit is a proper fit and im better weighted, this ascent was, even ill admit, very good. My mate did a great job on the reel while I took my time ascending just above him, letting out suit/ jacket air, not the best by any means, but I did it, quite safe as well, no free ascending and static at 6 mts for the deco stop. Still static at 4, 3, 2 mts then, surface to still a lovely day and the "treasure" intact. Climb aboard to Giles saying, "wow, that?s great, that was probly thrown over just before the Mohegan sank" he was taking the piss of course. The sea was full of SMB`s by time we got back in and de kitted. The West midlands pair, Steve and Julie especially, were quite thrilled on my kettle. Julie is a wreckie and like myself and S, not a big lover of reefs, so I told her to come down in the summer where we go out from Newquay and do real wreck diving. This, impressed her no end, nearly as much as the kettle. Paul and Colin, in the mean time was quite derogative of my find with Paul issuing the cruel statement just before we headed back to shore, "shall I chuck this back then?" not fucking likely I said. While de kitting my mask strap busted!! Just split and sprung off. So, hump gear back up beach (hard) and another look at the kettle, lovely. Into caf?nd chat with Duchy Divers who, by some strange means, knew of my treasure find and of course were totally jealous.
Sunday, 02/03/2003.
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Mohegan
Mohegan, Manacles reef.
Good dive and a good day. Shaun towed T 6 and we made our way to Mylor to launch
the rib. Terry was there, his first real wreck dive today, so he's excited.
The sea looked flat. Easy launch of the rib, waited for Colin to arrive,
then away out into the bay, just a hint of sunshine as we headed towards
the Manacles. This was a typical day of why this area is known as the "graveyard
of shipwrecks". We were quite a way out from the shore, in deep water,
you'd think that you would be safe in a boat but then, as the sea was rising
and falling, you could just make out the top of a rock, just the top of it,
which obviously then grew into the huge mass of reef which is hidden below,
you can now see how many ships met their end, ramming onto these almost invisible
peaks of granite. Trawl and look on the sounder for the boilers, shot in,
and pathfinders away again, bang, right down on top of a huge boiler. Well
done Shaun! Good viz. to about 8 Mts., you could see the shot line go away
into the green distance. I reduced my weight this week, to 24lb, so just
about right. S unhitched the anchor and left it where it could be easily
pulled up after the dive. We didn?t bother with a reel, as the viz. was quite
good, so away around the 4 huge boilers having a good mooch. These boilers
are massive. We spotted a big Dogfish just fining away into the gloom and
a few spider crabs, just sitting on the deck plating, and I think it was
a gurnard or dragonet, either way, pretty little thing, just sat there minding
its own business. S found a few bits of crockery, even after all these years
the blue ceramic is still quite bright on the edge of the china ware, I put
them in my pocket, then onto more digging, looking for artefacts. Back to
the boilers where we connected the reel to the shot line and away then to
have a look around further away from the main wreckage. Pink fan coral is
in abundance growing all over the broken plating of the wreck, we spotted
a few wrasse and more spider crabs. One last mooch back to the boilers, I
still had plenty of air but my arms were getting cold, water temp was 9c
so we decided to ascend. My buoyancy is getting really good now with me only
touching bottom so`s we can scratch about on the sea bed. Easy assent then
our first deco stop at 6 Mts., surface to a bit of a swelly sea but excellent dive. Climbed aboard the rib. Kited up Colin and Terry, then as they went
down Peninsula BSAC came along side with Brendan and the rest of their lot.
I thought some of our club were slow in kiting up but two of P`sula`s took
ages to get things together. Later, Colin told us that he saw a stranger
below tying his reel on to our shot line, we said, that they took their own
anchor down because we would be pulling ours up when we had finished. Col`
said he gestured to matey, "no, no, this is our line", matey, who
apparently had water half way up his mask was just looking back at him not
doing or saying anything, quite blank. Colin said with the water filling
matey`s mask, all he needed was a couple of gold fish in there to complete
the scene, we laughed at this. Terry was overjoyed at seeing the huge boilers
and was totally impressed with this wreck, his first real wreck we told him.
So, good day, and couple of welcome beers in the Keys, purely for recompression
reasons of course. Forgot to mention I had "trailer rage" at Mylor
through some sightseer blocking off Shaun who was trying to reverse back
into the slip to get the rib. I was gesturing to matey "go back" etc,
chummy took umbrage at this and began to mouth something at me through his
windows, not sure of the words, but it wasn?t pleasant I gathered that. Anyway,
this goes on for a few mins then I realised, oh, he cant move because another
car was blocking his way, still chummy was f`nng at me, "ok, ok, I says,
calm down, everything's cool", I don?t think matey appreciated this,
so, that was a good ending to a very good day, hhmmm.
Sunday, 26/01/2003.
Steamship, steel, 7000 tonne liner, 4 boilers.
Struck reef, 14/10/1898. 106 lives lost.
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St Chamond, St Ives, off Clodgy Point, 29 Mts. / 37mins.
Another cold day but not as bad as last week's freezing weather. Sunny mind, so there's a bonus. Met Chris and Eric at Chas house and saw Derek and Karin, poor K cannot dive for a few weeks as she fell off their horse and knocked herself out!! What's she like! So, just 4 of us today, where's the rest of the club? Where's the lot who "ill dive anywhere anytime, even in a saucer of water". Met up at Haylel after Chris towed T6. Scottie was there, so at least we had another face. C/E had not done this wreck and was quite excited by the prospect of seeing the train engines on the sea bed. load up and away, flat in estuary where there was a couple of canoes and a gig rowing out. Sea became a bit more lumpy the further out we went and after an hour of waiting for slack I certainly was getting cold. Sunny, but chill wind. Pathfinders away and I had my new Beaver weight belt on (which later slid round my body, loose) and had my new Aqualung scissor /knife lovely. So, down and down, cleared ears easy until nearly at the bottom my right ear became really painful, got thru this and bosh, here we are, landed right on top of one of the trains lying on its side with the two huge drive wheel's looking still in good condition, excellent. Took S`s reel then away for a mooch. I've done this quite a few times but today it looked like a new wreck, good viz was the added bonus, about 7 mts, you could see quite a lot. Put on my mini torch then the big one and we proceeded to look over the first engine then up and over the debris of pipes onto the second train. We finned up to see one of the drive wheels, about 5 feet diameter with Shaun on one side, me on the other and S gesturing for "us to pick it up", this was an enormous wheel and the weight, if we could shake it loose, (which would be impossible), would have been tremendous. Mooch over around the boiler section, where S spotted a big conger, just peeking his head out of the end of the boiler section. This engine was quite broken up and S managed a swim thru a section of it, I missed this, too busy mooching elsewhere. The ground swell was pulling me one way then the other, S likened this to being in a washing machine, as he says, the trick is to with the swell. One more last look, my air was still quite good but we were already into deco time and I was getting cold so decided to fin back, and up the shot line, seeing a few wrasse on the way. Surface to a choppy sea and grey sky. Climb back into rib then help kit up Scottie and Eric, while Shaun helped out with Chris. Bosh, over the side they went and I took control of the rib while S tieded up the kit on the rack. Circuit the buoy in a big sweeping arc, one way quite still then as I rounded the buoy the fierce wind came onto us, this was really chilly. So, 30 mins later we spots fins and 2 then 3 surface. Helped them in and then tied on the shot line to drag up the anchor. We knew we had a teacher on board as Eric said to us, "my neck seal is chaffing"! oh, chaffing is it, we cried. Now, working class blokes would have said, "this is fucking tight". Cold run back to shore, quite sunny by now. Change and over to pub for the recommended deco drink of beer, good dive, good day.
Sunday, 12/01/2003.
Steamship, steel, 3077 tonne, cargo of steam trains for the Western Front, 2 boilers.
Torpedoed U60, 30/04/1918
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Stanwood, Carrick Roads, off Penarrow Point 21.5 Mts. / 36mins.
First dive of the year and was it cold? Well, having to break the ice out of the rib gives you an indication of how freezing it was. Change of plan from yesterday when Mounts bay was flat calm and sunny, to today rough as rats as according to JK, so canceled that side and decided to launch from Mylor. 5 hardy divers up for it today, Shaun, Stan, Colin, Eric and myself. "What are we doing out here?" we all cried after we launched and saw the rough sea and experienced the bitter weather. Desperate to get in, that?s why were here!! Still, were out, and first dive of the year. First time out from Mylor, new slipway etc, short journey out into bay, couple of three huge ships moored in the water, located the "wreck" well, wreck was a bit of exaggeration, there's not much of it, but its still hugely better than some bloody reef ! Green and choppy sea as the Pathfinders were away and down. I had on my new fins, everybody said, you could see me and the fins well into the distance, nice and vivid yellow colour. So, second time out in new suit, 24lb weight, breath out and descend easily. Very gloomy on the bottom, bits of plating scattered around, S tied off reel and away. Spotted lots of debris, lobster pots and rope and of course lots of rocks and boulders. The highlight of the dive was coming across a back axle and wheels of some car. Later back on the surface, Shaun and Eric was discussing , was it from a so and so Sierra and what kind of tyers were on it, me and Stan looked at each other and said, "a real sad pair there". So, back to the dive, after covering some distance we returned to the shot then went off again in a big sweep to see if we could locate anything else of interest. There was a bit of wreckage, broken steel plating and pipes, S spotted a crab underneath a bit of plating, he did spot a conger in a big pipe, it had diapered as I got near it, so the only life I saw down there was the one solitary crab. I managed to get a lump of coal for the collection. The viz went from green murky to even more green murky, but, the thing was, we were out and diving, getting some nitrogen into our blood stream. My suit was excellent, my arms were getting a bit cold but considering I only had 1 layer on my legs and just 2 sweat shirts on and the water temp` was 9C, it wasn?t bad at all. Ascend and buoyancy just about right, no free ascending at the last couple of meters. Surface to choppy sea and gray sky. Bit of an urge due to my neck seal being really tight but a bonus of no blood from my nose, and another dry dive, excellent. Waiting on the rib was cold mind, and good old Colin went down again to free the anchor, good chap. Change on shore, absolutely freezing for a skinny chap such as I. Back to Cross Keys in Penryn for a welcome few beers and the added bonus of Karaoke!!!
Sunday, 05/01/2003.
Steamship, steel, 4158 tonne, cargo of coal, built 1915, 2 boilers.
Fire in cargo hold, sunk in 2 minutes, 10/12/1939.
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Low Lee Ledges, Mounts Bay. 20.7 Mts. /42mins.
Wot, Me and Shaun doing Low Lee?, have they gone mad? No, not mad just aching
to get in the water. The exercise of the day was to try out my new Northern
Diver dry suit, but lets get this straight, we wont be doing this again,
not unless we get desperate. Had porridge for breakfast before I went out.
Cold
and early start to the day with S towing T6 and Stan on T7. Terry, the trainee,
arrived at PZ and quickly got the hump because Dave wouldn?t let him dive
in a wet suit, (too cold, possible hazard) he went home in a huff! We threatened
Dave and Stan that we would tell Heather that they two were putting off trainees!!!
So, a good beginning to the day, yet to be fair, as a few of us had not been
out in some time, and it wasn?t raining, I was quite happy to do something
shallow because of the new suit, it wasn?t a bad day. Don?t get me wrong,
im
not getting soft on reef dives, oh no. So 2 ribs out, a better turn up than
normal in fact. The "Portree 2" a huge diving support vessel was
on the slip undergoing repairs, this meant that launching and retrieving was
a pain, still, were away by 9 30am and found the wash buoy to Low Lee/Primrose
easily. We were going to wait for Eric and Chris to get back before we went
over the side, but as we had tied up both ribs to buoy and Stan was boat handling,
we thought, lets go now. In fact, Shaun's buddy check was, "ok, fuck it,
lets get in" so, I had on an extra 4lb weight I boshed over the side and
yes, with just breathing out, I descended the shot line, so, weight just about
right. I had previously dunked myself and new suit up to my neck in the harbour
to expel any air anyway. So, hard job again clearing my ears but got down to
about 14 mts ok. Viz not bad either. Shaun was away following Dave and Marie's
line, I followed as close as I could, trying out the inflate button on the
suit, it didn?t need much air to get rid of suit squeeze. But as I was up and
over rocks, I began to ascend quite fast, my buddy, my mate, in the meantime
had "fucked off" into the gloomy distance, so, rapid thinking now,
im rising fast, I dumped air on my B/C then thru arm vent. Excellent, I began
to fall instantly, now, my old suit would have just expanded and no doubt I
would have just rose to the surface uncontrolled. Anyway, by this time, my
mate had turned back and was waiting for me (nice of him) so, away again, looking
at the delights of rocks and boulders. We did find a bit of wreckage though,
some plating and what looked like a pair of cylinders, but, it was not the
proper wreck, this debris looked like it had only been down here a few years.
My mate valiantly tried to pull off some fittings but no joy im afraid. We
came across D/M at about 60, 70 mts distance line away and we followed them
back to shot line. Shaun put on his line then and we continued fining away
into the distance to look at yes, you?ve guessed, rocks and more boulders.
Well, we were overjoyed at this, no really, the rocks were all different sizes,
no really, some big, some not so big, some covered in algae some not. Marie
and if he was here, Ross, would have no doubt been in heaven. As for me and
Shaun, well, fucking hell, we don?t want to see any more rocks in our life
time. In the meantime Shaun found a 4lb bit of lead, course he gave it to me
to put in my pocket to bring back. Surface and yes, no free ascend at 3 mts
which was good, we then removed the extra 4lb weight and I dumped all air in
B/C and suit, breath out and yes, weight just right. On surface Marie and Dave
were happy, rocks see, Chris and Eric were happy, both their suits were ok,
I had the usual bloody nose and had somehow cut my finger which was spilling
deep red blood everywhere, but, good dive, good suit and probly the first dive
ive had dry!! Highlight of the day though while we were having a de compressing
drink in pub, was Stan telling us that Loraine was highly pissed of with him
because she had cut her hand and had to have stitches in it. Why? We said,
was she pissed off with you then? "well", Stan said, Loraine told
him after the hospital visit, "if you hadn't bought the bloody turnip,
I wouldn?t have cut my hand" We laughed out loud. Good day.
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Helene, "Pandora". St Ives Head, 8.5 miles. 45.5Mt. / 40mins
Second deep dive in 3 days and what an excellent dive it turned out to be. Lovely sunny morning down at Hayle, and as my buddy Shaun said "the sun was shining on this dive because two ribs were out" and yes he was right, it?s the same old faces mind. Launched by 9.30am and out, sea not over bad but the further out the worse it became. The 8.5 mile journey took it out of my arms alright. My ears were still blocked from Fridays dive and Karin gave me a Sudafed tab which did seem to do the trick, "what would you have done then if they weren't going to clear?" K asked. Just get on with it, I replied, hurt or no, im diving today and that?s a fact, she laughed. Arrived at site and looked for the white wash buoy set by JK the day before, he arrived with Colin and a few of his friends from his old club from Manchester, chat then trawl to wait slack water. Pathfinders away first again down to the stern of the ship where the shot was tied. What a wreck, this actually looks like a ship and it was laid out to see all the way into the gloom, just excellent. My new "dumpy" torched worked a treat not that it was dark but at 45 mts there was little light to penetrate this deep especially with the overcast sky, yet still good viz. I followed S right down to where the torpedo struck, all those years ago. The sea life was abundant alright, shoals of fish everywhere huge Pollock and Wrasse and a big conger in one of the holds. The bridge part has gone exposing the holds full of asbestos and steel corrugated sheeting, ready for the war effort to make the Nissan Huts, just full of stuff. Huge winches and bollards still intact, Shaun found a brass hinge, looked like a window catch, nice. The view from above the decking onto the white sandy bottom was excellent and gave a perspective on how big this ship was. The stern still had its big rudder attached, the prop` is gone mind. I descended this to get the depth in just before we went back. This disconcerted my mate who, later slapped my hand, yes, ill admit I was into the red 50 bar region of air left but we only had to do 13 mins deco!!! So good ascent and even saw little fish picking off bits of food while waiting on the crudded shot line. 6 of us decompressing at this stage with me stroking Margaret's hand when she wasn?t looking, she also slapped me later. Surface to a bit of choppy sea and me getting caught in T6`s painter line resulting in my cylinder boot being pulled off and lost. But, excellent dive and excellent week end of diving. Hard ride back to shore, more rough sea and chop. Not to mention, hoots of laughter from us as Dave and T7 had run aground in the shallow channel going into Hayle. Welcome breakfast in caf?nd chat with Colin and Jan, who was impressed with this wreck. Karin gave me the crudded bolt latch she found on the wreck, this and Shaun's window catch came up lovely when cleaned, a nice reminder.
Sunday, 29/09/02.
Steamship, steel, 1567 tonne, cargo ballast, built 1896,
2 boilers.
Torpedoed UB-86, 17/08/1918.
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Siracusa, Atlantic Diver, Newquay, 6 miles. 32.8 Mt. / 43mins
Well, the rain was pissin down at the start, yet we still had a good dive. So, kit up hump it down to Fly Cellars quay, wait and wait until Shaun ran over to the other quay to tell Chris where we were but had to then re hump all the gear back to the other quay wall as it was to dangerous to load up on the fly cellars. Phew, I was knackered. Sea was rough and Chris suggested we kit up in the harbour which myself and S did. Rough journey out with rain lashing us. So, as soon as Chris shot the buoy, bosh bosh, pathfinders away. Down into the gloom yet when we landed the viz wasn?t bad at all. On with the torches and away. Now, we have done this wreck many a time but because S took us in the opposite direction it was like a new wreck and we even found a porthole in one of the plates, rusted in mind and no hope of getting it out, not without tools anyway. We finned down the stern tube and back again then finned over the massive engines and thru the valley of the huge boilers, great stuff. Loads of fish, Rainbow Wrasse and Pollock and crabs, lots of everything. It was really enjoyable because as it was only 30 odd mts we had quite a lot of bottom time to see things. It was like a new wreck for us. Saw Stan and everyone down there then decided "up". We didn?t want to much deco to do as there was a big pull and surge going on, so did the usual ? mins deco, still a lot, then surfaced to a beautiful low sun and dry evening. What a difference between going down and getting back, like a different day in fact. Hard climb up the ladder and I chucked a bit thru sinus, my ears were roaring something awful, but, what a cracking dive and even Chris said afterwards, "is there nothing that puts you lot off" ie, bad weather. Back into harbour by 7.15pm, we hadn't even reached the dive site last week by this time, so, an early evening and good dive was had by all.
Friday, 30/08/02. evening.
Steamship, iron, 1003 tonne, cargo of coal, built 1897, 2 boilers.
Foundered in heavy weather, 03/03/1897.
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The Perran Wreck, Atlantic Diver, Newquay, 7.5 miles.???????? 42.6Mt. / 42mins
Lovely evening again, just as I was humping down the kit to the quayside,
Chris, from the boat, shouted out my name, all the tourists looked around.....
Another
new wreck for us. Called the Perran wreck because its off Perranporth. The
seven and half mile journey out was really nice, flat sea and sunny, but
took over an hour then we had to wait for slack water, good job it was
flat!. Pathfinders
away again first with Colin as a tag on. He had this huge video housing to
take down to make sure it didn't leak, 3.5K it cost! So, down down we go,
I could see the white shot line disappear into the gloom, ears no trouble
then
the wreck came into view, a bit gloomy but good viz. S tied off the reel
then were away around the prow which was covered in white annenomies and
quite good
viz so we could see the shape of this section which was badly broken up.
The main wreck, we gather was quite away. There was loads of fish swirling
around.
We came across on of the prow anchors, quite a big one still in its hawser
tube and the pointed ends of the anchor were still in good shape, also there
was a great mound of anchor chain with links aprox the size of dustbin lids,
excellent. Winches, decking plates were evident. I? missed the conger which
S spotted in one of the deck plates, I saw a couple of big crabs, moving
fast! Then came across another big anchor lying flat on the sea bed, decided
to go
back to shot, my suit vent cover,? by the way was lost from last week so
my arm was really wet. Into 17 mins deco at this point, this was the fastest
bottom
time I can recall, where did it go? At 42 mts on a high tide, there's not
a lot of bottom time. As Shaun said to me later, we will have to do this
one
again, there's loads of it we recon. Good ascent just a bit of blood in the
nose at the surface. Surfaced to low sun and flat sea magic. Good climb up
the ladder. Dark by the time we got back to shore with the lights on the
coast twinkling in the distance, great dive again.
Friday, 23/08/02. evening.
Steamship, no known information, look like a 1st WW wreck.
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Carasa, Atlantic Diver, Newquay, 7 miles. (slow) 40.7Mt. / 34mins
Another ace dive. A first for all of us tonight as well, another new wreck. There were more people on board than divers as Marg had her family and others out for a sea spin. Lovely evening again. Sea not bad, lumpy in places, Baz spotted a big Sun Fish on the surface, mind you it was so far away, was it one? Quite a ride out to site, eventually got there and "pathfinders" away again first, excellent viz again. You could see both huge boilers well before we landed. Started from the boilers then onto the huge engines, piston's all covered in sea life and crud. We followed the stern tube as far as we could before depth and time began to increase. The starboard boiler had a big Conger hiding under its lowest part. Shaun had spotted it and by the time I had got down to the bottom of the boiler and looked in, the Conger was curious to who was shining the light onto it. So, by this time, it began to venture out and see, it saw me! I saw it and its huge purple/blue head looking directly at me, I thought, fucking hell, its coming out now. I backed away as fast as I could, S in the meantime was seeing this and laughing to himself. We then spotted 2 more smaller Congers in and around the boiler. The donkey boiler, to the back of the 2 main boilers was terrific and because of the viz it was clearly exposed with the outer plating covered in holes. I found a big "fish" weight with monofilament line still attached, I pulled this off and got the 3 barbed hook caught in my finger then glove, I still had the weight though, a nice trophy, yes, a bloody finger mind, but a nice trophy all the same. The sides of the wreck had split and fell open revealing lines of iron ribs which make the ship, we didn?t have time to look as we were heading into 9 mins deco time as it was. I was wondering why was S signalling "up" I still had lots of air, but as we had done quite a few deep dives in a relative short time, Shaun thought it was best not to push things, and he was right. Surface and shouts of "that was a another great dive" to my mate. Chris was pleased we liked it. Up the ladder, I must be getting better because I don?t remember climbing up! Back to shore and beer in Red Lion to complete a good evening. Chris was selling his "Atlantic Diver" T shirts and mugs, I got mine free!!!!
Friday, 02/08/02. evening.
Steamship, steel, 2099 tonne, cargo of mineral ore, built 1911,
2 boilers.
Torpedoed UB-92, 25/08/1918.
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Plympton - Hathor, St Agnes Island, Lethegus Rocks. 27.6 Mt. / 38 mins
First time out here for Shaun and myself. Up at 6.30am, launch and out by
8.20am with Colin on our team and 5 up on JK`s rib. What a journey, flat
and sunny
at 8am, rough as rats and misty out past Lands End and a constant bashing
for nearly the 2 hour journey to Isles of Scilly. Land ahoy at last, but
shrouded
in mist for most of the forthcoming day. JK located the first wreck and
we were in by just after 11 am. Great viz, was the first thing we noticed
then
dropped right onto the decking of the Plympton. Shaun found a weight belt
in the rocks, There are 2 wrecks here one on top of the other, the Plympton
was
excellent. Scare for me as I got caught in S`s reel line and could not
free myself, they were quite away ahead as I was flashing my torch light
to attract
their attention, resulting in Colin untangling me, good chap. On then to
the stern of this ship, just excellent. The round end was intact with the
hand
rails still there and one of the stern lifeboat davits still in place,
I rested on the rails and looked forward to see the rest of the deck plating
running
away into the debris field, just ace. Pathfinder Shaun in the meantime
finned thru a huge gully of rocks to the left of where I was positioned
and he came
across the second wreck, the Hathor. This had an enormous prop shaft running
parallel to the Plympton but this shaft, maybe 12 inch's diameter was curving
into the gloom, the prop shaft was bent, this great piece of iron was bent
either with age or the collision. Loads of debris, gearing, plating, spars,
wreckage, bollards just loads of stuff. This disappeared into the drop
off far below the shelf the wrecks were resting on. I was down to 50 bar
by this
time, so we all came back to the shot still looking at the loads of wreckage
about, good viz meant we could see nearly the whole shape of the ship while ascending. Not much life in the fish sense for some reason, but, excellent
dive. Deco then surfaced to flat sea and a bit of sunshine thru the mist.
All agreed, a good dive. Motor back to St Agnes island to fiz off and get
a pint
and pasty, the pasty being at the horrendous price of ?3.70p. Chat to holiday
makers on the quay side in the meantime. Hot day by now. Changed over to
second cylinder for next dive which turned out to be a cracker.
Plympton, Steamship, steel, 2869 tonne, cargo of maize, built 1893, 2 boilers.
Struck rocks, dense fog, 14/08/1909.
Hathor, Steamship, steel, 7060 tonne, cargo of nitrates, built 1912, 2
boilers. Engine failed, broke adrift in a severe storm, stranded on rocks,
became a
total wreck, 02/12/1920.
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Siracusa, Atlantic Diver, Newquay, 6 miles. 35.1 Mt. / 47mins
One of my best dives to date. Lovely sunny evening again, sea not bad, a bit rolling, but ok. Load up and away at 6pm. Scotchman from last week was here again, I told him "if he needs more air this week, get it from someone else, not my buddy Shaun" he didn?t say much to me after that. So, arrived at site, buoy already there set by Trevor, in early 6.15 pm , pathfinders away again and viz not bad, not as good as last week but I could see S way down the line again, landed right by the engine on some plating and from then on I never touched bottom (except for my lump coal by the boilers). Huge pistons on this ship rusted in position with big con-rods. Made our way to the bow section, finned right around the bow, still looking like the front of the ship. Loads of fish here shoaling around us. Made our way back to the boilers again and spotted a couple of lobsters hiding away, no congers though. Looked around the engine then made our way slowly down the stern tube towards the propeller. 2 blades showing upright and Shaun holding the top of one of the blades then gestured to me to "take a photo" I made out to do this, he was posing! Well into deco now so we made our way down the port side of the wreck taking us to the shot line. Another 13 minute deco stop for us, Shaun wrote on his sleeve slate, "same old thing, just me and you again, on our own". Bit of a scare while waiting on line though, there was 6 of us hanging onto shot at 6 mts when, wheyyy, everybody stated to go up, I felt my ears go and saw on Aladin, 1.5 mts, fucking hell, we don?t want this, me and S still had ages to go on deco, so everybody began to fight to get back down, I went a bit dizzy, head wise but just relaxed and it soon passed. In the meantime of the lonely deco stop, I tried out my Air 2 reg, not so good a breather but will obviously work in an emergency, then tried Shaun's new TX40 reg, real nice, smooth. Surfaced to nice evening again. Back to quay, changed and beer for decompression reasons in Red Lion, good dive.
Wednesday, 24/07/02. evening.
Steamship, ironl, 1003 tonne, cargo of coal, built 1897, 2 boilers.
Foundered in heavy weather, 03/03/1897.
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Lincoln, Lands end, The Runnelstone. 31.5 Mt. / 37mins
"Fuck all on this" was what I wrote on Shaun's sleeve slate. Still, I hadn't done it before and wont bother to do it again. We should have done the Scillies trip but called off at last minute. Sea looked ok though and it was nice and hot, as summer should be. S was pissed off, he was right, we should have gone further round corner and done the Runnelstone, still, Dave was getting more and more teasy, so, did this without to much moaning. Anchored to shot buoy and away down line onto the spare iron propeller. Viz not bad but there was not much on this, getting spoilt according to Mike. Huge dead jelly fish stuck between the plates of the wreck with its white tentacles floating up like a big octopus, I touched it, spooky, all soft and strange. Some shoals of Bib floating around but not much life on this wreck. S spotted a conger, I missed it, we were a three-some again today with new boy Colin, he was ok. He spotted a Monk fish which he was going to stab and bring up, im not into this, if Marg hadn't stopped him I would. Easy day, warm and sunny, couple of pints in Station afterwards so the day wasn?t without a good end.
"or you can go with these two who do an inordinate time on deco" Dave to Colin.
Sunday, 21/07/02.
Steamship, iron, 624 tonne, cargo of coal, built 1865, 2 boilers.
Struck Runnelstone in bad weather, 05/07/1886.
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Tagona, Atlantic Diver, Newquay, Trevose head 6 miles. 39.3 Mt. / 31mins
Dive of the year, as Baz put it, yes, a cracking dive. Gorgeous sunny evening, flat sea, 15 mt viz and a wreck, what else could anyone want! After being late in to work first thing, im out early to collect Shaun for the dive, they must love me here at work! Newquay packed with this good weather. Load up on different quay tonite, low tide, onto boat and away before 6pm. The six mile journey out to wreck site was nice and smooth and warm, just ace. Chris did the usual excellent job of locating the wreck and shot the buoy which was, as we found out later, right on the boilers. Kit up and "pathfinders" away first, "don?t be doing half hour deco tonight you two fuckers" Stan shouted as we left. But, this was the dive to do huge amounts of deco as the viz was excellent. As I was following S down and you could make him out against the area of wreckage way below him, you could see the shape of the ship, just excellent. I spotted a big jelly fish free floating at 18 mts down then wow, the boilers, huge engine all come into view. Fish were everywhere, huge 4ft long Pollock were drifting around along with shoals of Bib and Wrasse. Landed, sort myself out and tied on reel, which we left, no need tonight, but had a throbbing headache from the word go. First thing was the engines, standing proud of the bottom, big con rods locked in position, ace. Circled these for a while then in the distance, you could just make something big was fining around. S` shook me to look, fucking hell, we both thought, it?s a fucking shark in the distance. Then as it turned we could see it was huge Sun Fish, at this depth? But excellent thing, just fining slowly away from us. By then others had arrived with matey from Scotland (more about him later) taking photos with his camera and strobe flash. Onto the boilers where S spotted, deep inside, a big Conger, big blue head and eyes just looking at us. Fish everywhere, Spider crabs in abundance as well. Fin off down to the stern, this was magic, to see this part of the wreck standing proud of the sand, at about a 45 degree list with the huge rudder and prop` locked fast with age, we just looked at this, magic. Divers were around this to give us the perspective of how big this and the 2 massive boilers were. Spotted another Conger under plating, I could see its long purple, blue body in parts thru the broken plating, big or what. One last mooch, spotted a Gurnard just sitting on the plating, into deco again, not as much as last week mind, so decided "up". This was pretty uneventful until we were quietly waiting at 6 mts, then, "who the fucks this?" matey, the Scotchman came between me and Shaun and pointed to S`s reg` he was completely out of air! I thought, where did he come from? And more to the point, where's his buddy? So, there's 3 of us now with chummy floating up, not weighted correctly, pulling on S`s spare reg` pulling Shaun up while im pulling Shaun back down to deco stop. Fucking surreal situation really, then mateys buddy appears offering Scotchman his pony reg. What seemed like forever (but nothing to the forever of last weeks deco stop) our computers cleared, so we left matey with his buddy, we surfaced to a beautiful blue/red sky evening. Chris picked up Shaun while I waited in water, my turn up the ladder, easy because of the nice sea, we told Chris about chummy and no air, C quickly got the O2 ready and was prepared to call the coast guard, but no, chummy surfaced and was OK. He apologised to Shaun and me later, got S a drink, so he was forgiven. We said if there`s any photos, we want to see them, he said ok. So, back into harbour with the sun still red and glowing, a terrific dive and evening, this is what after all the bad ones is worth waiting for.
Steamship, steel, 2004 tonne, cargo of iron ore, built 1908, 2 boilers.
Torpedoed U-55, 16/05/1918.
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Orfordness.
Orfordness , North Coast, Newquay 2.5 miles. 38.7 Mt. / 52mins
This was the longest deco dive for me and Shaun to date, and a cracker of dive
alright. As I was on holiday this week, I had half pint and lunch during the
day, as I couldn?t last the day without some food, and dived and still wasn?t
sick, am I getting better? Down at quay by 5pm, meet the rest and away on boat
by 6`ish. Good sea tonight and a easy journey out to wreck site. Chris had
the shot right by the boilers, Pathfinders away and descended to quite good
viz, no need for the reel line. Shaun spotted immediately a massive Conger
in one of the boilers. This was the biggest I have ever seen and scary. We
mooched around these for a while then preceded down the stern tube. There was
shoals of Bib all around us, spider crabs and edible crabs on the sand as well,
turning back at about half way, back towards the massive engines. Just past
the engines I spotted a fair size lobster hiding under the decking plates.
We gestured to Baz and Scottie to have a look. We moved off again towards the
boilers. We headed off towards the bow section good viz, spotted a crayfish
in the boiler section. We moved off towards the boilers again, finding 2 extra
congers hiding in there, then off to the bow section again where there is a
collapsed iron ladder on the decking, Shaun made out to climb this! I realised
that I was into deep deco time by now, why didn?t I notice this before ? you
may ask, well I just didn?t, ok. So, good ascent and waited and waited and
waited, it seemed forever. After 3 days of deco we eventually surfaced, excellent
dive. Poor old Stan and Baz were really concerned and were even thinking of
getting back in to see if there was anything wrong, good old chaps. Ace dive,
and pint or two in Red Lion afterwards.
Tuesday, evening,9th July.
Steamship, steel, 2790 tonne, cargo of ballast, built 1906, 2 boilers.
Torpedoed U-60, 20/07/1918.
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Dive on the Afric, 24 miles out of Falmouth, reported depth 82m
Wednesday September 30th
I was a little nervous about this one as the date for the dive was set about 3 months ago but I needn't have bothered as the weather and sea conditions turned out to be the best I have seen in a long time. Only 3 days after diving the Rewa and the amazing conditions held.We were diving off the Wavechieftain, a nice big atlantic 125 with a lift and all mod cons. We must have had about 2 centuries of diving experence on board. Gifford, Mike Etheridge, Mike Rowley, Bren Rowe, John Langley( now with adv valve open), myself (humble to be in such heady company) and Ian Jennings who was doing the final dive for his A.M.G.advanced course.
In due course the wreck was found, the shot put in, and myself and Ian descended on 30/30 travel gas. We stopped at 40m to change to bottom gas 15/50 and as I looked around in mid water I was astounded by the Viz -nothing to measure against but clear deep blue water with a total lack of sediment, this was going to be good. I could make out the outline of the wreck at about 50m and thought jeez how good is the viz? We hit metal at 60m, checked gas, ok signals and off down the side of the ship. I remember thinking just how big is this wreck if its 82m deep? We hit the bottom at 75.4m, deep enough for Ian's Qual card, and swam along the starboard side to the stern and were rewarded with the sight of a huge prop and rudder. Here we were at 75m in the U.K; it was light enough to turn your torch off and the sea was a deep purple colour that I have only seen on deep dives in the Red Sea or Carribean - superb. All too soon we had to make our way up the ship.At 65m I spotted the edge of a plate in a hold so went for a look to find it broken, then saw a saucer further in but that was broken too. I saw Ian waiting at the entrance so turned around. We located the shot, easy in this viz., and started the ascent with 19 minutes on the clock. Going back up the line I tried to estimate the viz. I lost sight of Gifford at 30m and he wasn't directly below but off towards the bow 25+ - looks like I picked a good day after all.
Oh and on the way back we spotted 5 packs of pilot whales with 10 or 12 in each pod and went snorkeling with them! All in all it beats the Sh*t out of going to work on a Wednesday.A special thanks Marianna for looking after the shop, creep creep.
Afric 75m 19 mins Bt 90 mins 30/30 travel 15/50 bottom 80% deco
Colin Fairhurst.
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Enrico Parodi, Zennor head, The Carracks. 33.4 Mt. / 35mins
Nice afternoon but choppy further out we went. Located wreck quite close to rocks so the tidal pull was fierce and the slack window was short. Im in first quietly waiting on line for Shaun, then had to let go because Derek nearly ran over me with the rib, trouble was then, I was pulled with the tide bloody yonks away from the buoy, so then had to be hauled back, in water, this takes a lot out of you. So, second time on shot as S dropped in and I was away first down the line into the gloom. The line was pulling something ferocious, I was hauling myself down like a Trojan which took ages, by the time I landed, I held onto the bit of sticky up wreckage that the shot line was secured to and awaited my buddy. And waited, and waited. Where the fuck was he? I was looking back up the almost 45 degree line and pulling thinking S was on the line, it was loose, bad sign. Spotted Stan and Baz to the left of me, they gave the OK signal, while I, because of narcosis couldn?t remember what the signal was for "distress" they just looked at me and smiled! Stan told me later that he was completely out of it, narked. Mean time I was thinking, ill have to say to Liz, S`s missus, "im sorry, we don?t know where he is, he's gone", there would be tears and gnashing of teeth. Bloody hell, where the fuck was he. Should I go back?, yes, good practice says, "if buddy lost, return up shot line" but I thought, hold up, I wont get the dive in then! Just as I was nearly contemplating going back I got a glimpse of a light, yes, here he was, below me, appearing out of the gloom, "where the fuck have you been?" I gestured to him. He looked at me, gave the wanker signal and pointed upwards. Later, I found out that Del had put him down river of the shot making him struggle for the line by which time it sprung from his hand and he lost it. Still, he's here now, lets get on with the dive! I told him afterwards on surface, I was going to go back, "fucking good job you didn?t, id have to have returned as well", see, were both desperate for the dive! Right, off we sets rummaging around the huge boilers and wreckage. Shoals of fish were everywhere, and just by the huge boilers was an enormous Conger, then another Conger appeared. Lots of netting on parts of the wreck, not good. Huge iron work all over the place then came onto the big sand ramp which ran up the face of the big boilers. Decided to go back and spotted the prop` on the way up the shot line. Surfaced to choppy sea and a bloody nose for me and a headache for my mate. Onto rib and I called Coast guard on channel 16 (heard in Falmouth by Graham at work who listens via short wave radio), then drove rib back to Hayle nearly running over a small fishing boat on the way in! This brought a smile to them in the rib, even the fisherman laughed, didn?t do me much good mind, confidence wise. Im getting better Shaun said!! Good dive though.
Sunday, 7th July.
Steamship, steel, 3818 tonne, cargo of coal, built 1903, 2 boilers.
Went aground, dense fog, 23/07/1916
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SENNEN WEEKEND
This year?s annual club weekend away was a little closer to home than normal.
Our dive officer had arranged five dives in Sennen, near Land?s End - new
territory for many club members. Dave, Steve, Mike and myself met in the
Wrecker?s Inn
on Friday lunchtime to look at charts and plan the weekend?s dives. We
decided to first go out to the Brisons, two large rocks at the north end
of Sennen
Cove which hold the remains of the S.S. Datetree, which broke her back
when wrecked in 1914, and the naval stores tender Devon. We believed that
slack
water for the area would be 2 hours before high, and had been advised by
a local diver that there was another, smaller slack window 6 hours after
high.
We knew very little about the area, but calculated from the nearest tidal
diamond on the charts that there wouldn?t be much of a run at slack water,
and decided
to go and explore.
After settling in at the campsite, we donned thermals and drysuits in the heat
and headed off for the slip. The harbour master had been contacted prior
to the trip and given us advice on launching and parking. Sennen Cove has
three concrete slipways, two of which are restricted in use, but the larger
public slip at the north end leads to a firm sandy beach, with plenty of
local parking. We launched the smaller of our two ribs, Tolgus 6, with little
effort, but I must confess to some uncertainty at our ability to recover
easily on the sand. Slowly motoring out of the harbour huge rocks were evident
just beneath the surface and we carefully picked our way through them. The
dense kelp made spotting them difficult however, and we had just begun to
pick up speed, the sounder indicating plenty of water beneath us, when the
prop struck something hard. There didn?t appear to be any major damage done,
however, and we got under way again.
Conditions were perfect for the first dive of the weekend; the sea was flat
and the sun glorious, and we soon arrived at the Brisons. Seals could be
seen basking in the sun on the rocks, but most slipped into the water at
our approach. Uncertain exactly were the wrecks lay, we trawled around with
the sounder in the general area of where we believed them to be. It became
apparent that there were more large rocks just beneath the surface, and we
realised we would have to be cautious when trawling around. The water looked
clear and the bottom very kelpy, and we were doubtful of being able to find
any wreckage here so we agreed to move into deeper water. Mike and Steve
were the first two in, but within minutes Dave pointed out that a couple
of fisherman?s buoys had abruptly swung around by nearly 90 degrees, indicating
a sudden change in the direction of the run. Soon a delayed surface marker
buoy popped to the surface. We assumed the pair had found the run too strong
to contend with when another delayed appeared just a few metres from the
first. Apparently the pair had become separated and this didn?t bode well
for the visibility. On surfacing, Mike informed us that he had lost sight
of Steve as they had descended to the seabed. The pair had met up again,
but the run was a lot greater than we had calculated it would be. They informed
us that the bottom here was at least mostly free of kelp and quite interesting,
so Dave and I quickly kitted up for our dive. I attached the end of my line
to a d-ring on my buddy?s BC and gripped the reel firmly in my hand, and
we began our descent.
The dive might not have been what we had planned for, but it was enjoyable nonetheless. The run wasn?t too bad when we first reached the bottom, but it soon picked up and we were swept mercilessly through gullies and over huge boulders. Then, just as soon as it had raced us on, it stopped, as if someone had thrown a switch turning off the current. We finned gently on for a while, past rocks covered in anemones, starfish and urchins, before the current again turned and swept us another way. We sped past numerous wrasse and even encountered a silvery mass of sand eels as we came upon a sandy patch of seabed. As we neared the agreed dive time Dave sent up his delayed SMB. It had been an interesting dive, and the four of us agreed it might be worth another look later in the weekend when more club members had joined us.
Recovering the boat that evening proved interesting. Even Dave?s land rover couldn?t quite get the grip needed to haul the boat and trailer up the sandy beach. After several frustrating attempts, the decision was made to rope the boat up the beach, with the land rover positioned at the top where it could get more grip, and Mike, Steve and myself physically hauling the boat and trailer with us as we staggered up over the sand. We eventually succeeded, and even if we had found the incident frustrating, the crowd of onlookers which had gathered to watch us huffing and puffing our way up the beach had at least appeared to have been entertained by our antics.
Steve returned home on Friday evening after the necessary couple of pints in
the pub, so on Saturday morning there were only three of us diving. We had
hoped to have enough interest to do the Runnelstone, one of my favourite
dives, but instead had no option other than to moor the boat up in preparation
for that afternoon?s dive and have an easy swim around some of the rocks
in the harbour. This dive was unfortunately very kelpy and it was hard to
find any depth (maximum depth 7.5 metres) but a root amongst the kelp fronds
revealed the odd shy wrasse and spider crabs, and pollack could be seen swimming
just above the kelp. Mike got so caught up in his fantasy of being an intrepid
explorer beating his way through the jungle that he lost his snorkel amongst
it at some point, but he at least navigated us perfectly back to the exit
point. After our dive, we moored the boat closer to the shore and discarded
hot and smelly drysuits and thermals to pop into nearby Penzance for air
and lunch.
We were joined that afternoon by Barrie and Ross and decided to do a dive on the Longships. South and west from Sennen Cove, the Longships lighthouse stands on a huge reef on which the remains of the S.S Bluejacket can be found (the Bluejacket nearly demolished the lighthouse when she struck the reef in 1898). We were again diving the uncertain slack 6 hours after high, and the water appeared to be boiling around the lighthouse. Not wanting to drop divers into a run that might be strong enough to rip off a mask, we trawled around in the boat looking for areas of slack water. We decided to dive into shallower water where we believed the wreck of the Bluejacket to be, and dropped the first pair of divers, Barrie and Ross, in at a depth of about 15 metres. They had hoped to swim into the rocks and even shallower water where we thought it most likely to find the wreck, but once again the movement of the water appeared to have suddenly changed and by the time their delayed had surfaced they were in 30+ metres of water. Back in the boat they claimed to have had a good dive, drifting through large gullies, even if they had not found the Bluejacket, so Dave, Mike and I eagerly kitted up.
The dive was indeed interesting, but marred a little for me by an unfamiliar and heavy cylinder which strained my back as I moved around in the run to avoid colliding into rocks and the other two. We had agreed that if we hit 30 metres we would ascend because of the nitrox mix in my cylinder, and we soon reached this depth. Dave struck off at another angle and we swam towards another large outcrop of rocks only dimly visible in the not-so-great visibility. ?On the rocks were a riot of soft corals, sponges, hydroids and anemones in all shapes and sizes. Wrasse and Pollack were also evident in abundance. At one point Dave appeared to be vigorously waving his torch to attract our attention, and swimming up to him I saw a large lobster in a crevice in the rock. A little further on, and a little shallower, a lobster walking across the rock surface had to be one of the biggest I?d ever seen, but Mike, perhaps not yet over the trauma of losing his snorkel, apparently saw neither!! We remained on this outcrop for the remainder of the dive - we were forced to turn around at the far end by the current, but when we reached the other end we were again unable to swim against the run. If we happened to stray only a couple of feet from the wall we found it a considerable struggle to swim back, so were forced to hug the wall closely to prevent ourselves being swept off into the blue. We surfaced when there was simply nowhere else left of the outcrop to explore.
Having sussed out the best method the previous evening, and with more bodies to lend a hand, recovery of the boat was much easier this time, and we ate fish and chips under a starry sky before retiring to the local for one or two, or perhaps it was three, well-earned drinks.
Sunday morning dawned as bright and warm as the previous one. This was the dive I suspect most of us had been looking forward to most - Wolf Rock. We met Charlie (with Tolgus 7), Stan, Shaun, Derek, Karin and Steve at the car park at 9am (this time diving the more reliable slack 2 hours before high). The sun was already strong, but a bank of fog was rolling ominously in. At least we now knew the easiest (and safest) route out of the harbour ? we had watched local fisherman and figured out the best approach to avoid the submerged rocks. By the time the boats were launched and we were under way, the fog had well and truly set in. I initially drove the boat but was a little shaken by the Longship reef suddenly appearing before me as I drove at high speed and suggested that someone else might like to take over from me before I made our rib one of the wrecks that litter the reef! The guys seemed somewhat relieved as Dave took over the wheel (I don?t know why - I?ve never flipped the rib at Kennack Sands!!) and we continued on through the fog.
Wolf Rock is some 8 miles off Land's End and before the erection of the lighthouse this rock was a constant danger to shipping. A number of attempts to put a beacon on the rock were made between 1795 and 1850, with a lighthouse finally built on it between 1862 and 1870. The rock is said by some to owe its name to the unique howl heard when the wind filled the fissures of the rock, and by others to the supposed resemblance of the shape of the rock to a wolf's head. The club had last dived the rock a year before and we were all expectant of a great dive ? none of us were disappointed. Dave and I were the first pair in from our rib and we dropped in at a depth of about 8 metres. Here it was very kelpy, but there were plenty of fish and it looked like an ideal place to mooch around while decompressing at the end of the dive. The visibility looked great and we eagerly swam over the kelp plateau to reach the drop off. At about a depth of 15 metres the kelp thinned out. We slowly worked our way down to a maximum depth of 47 metres, and here my buddy grabbed me by my BC .. I expect he had seen me staring wistfully down into deeper water and expected me to continue on regardless of the mix in my cylinder, but I had checked my depth and already reluctantly stopped my descent (anyone would think he doesn?t trust me!!). We came across the odd bit of unrecognisable junk which could only be rubbish discarded either from the lighthouse or from supply vessels, but no wreckage (Shaun later claimed to have seen wreckage a few metres deeper). The real treasure of this dive sight is not any wreckage or potential promise of brass, however.
The walls of the reef were blanketed with countless beautiful jewel anemones of all colours; there was hardly a bear patch of rock in evidence. There were also large patches of olive, brown and the more familiar white plumose anemones too, some of which were out in their full splendour, others which were withdrawn. Large groups of pollack could be seen swimming just below us, cautiously keeping their distance. We soon had to start our slow ascent and reluctantly began to fin gently up the rock face. The visibility was good enough to allow me to hang a couple of metres from the wall and look at the mass of colour which extended for several metres above, below and to either side of me. Back in the kelpy shallower water, lots of wrasse could be seen, with spider and edible crabs, starfish, sea cucumbers and urchins. Back in the boats, the fog now gone, we all agreed to having had amazing dives.
Back at Sennen after an uneventful return journey, we moored both boats up for lunch. Those of us staying at the campsite returned to pack away our tents as we expected it to be late by the time we had finished the second dive. On our return to the car park a few hours later, I received a call from Ross on my mobile. He had got there earlier than us only to be turned away because there were no available spaces. Phoning me from elsewhere in the cove, he told me ?someone?s towing our boats away!? Looking out into the harbour, a boat was indeed removing first one and then the other rib and towing them out to a mooring site much further out. We had sought advice from local fishermen when mooring the boats up for any length of time, but didn?t realise the buoy we had tied on to was needed by the lifeboat when recovering after exercises or an assistance shout. A little embarrassed, we apologised for our mistake and sheepishly asked for a lift out to recover Tolgus 7 in order that we could get out for our final dive of the weekend.
By this time Barrie, Mike and Shaun had left us, and Karin remained on dry land with her youngest son, Akiva. In her place, 16-year-old Addy had joined his father, Derek, for the dive. Because some of us had had such a good dive there the previous day, we decided to return to the Longships in hope of another great drift dive. Ross, now diving with Stan, asked to be dropped off closer in to the rocks to look for the Bluejacket. Stan?s delayed surfaced after just 20 minutes, however, and Dave and I exchanged uneasy glances ? either something had gone wrong, or they hadn?t enjoyed the dive. On surfacing, Stan and Ross told us they had spent their entire dive in kelp. We thus chose to move further out for our dive, and I agreed to lead. We made another free descent to the bottom, and found it to be free of kelp. I saw a nudibranch drifting in mid water and cupped it in my hand to place it on a piece of seaweed; whether it was happy to be there or not I couldn?t tell. There were many others like it amongst the weed here. I paused to admire a beautiful patch of lightbulb seasquirts and excitedly pointed it out to my buddy, only to be told later by him that he had only seen an indistinct blob! We swam through gullies and around huge boulders and walls adorned with dead men?s fingers and plumose anemones, assisted by a gentle current. Mindful of the earlier deep dive and the small seven litre cylinder on my back I had just turned back at depth of 25 metres when a huge dark shape swam sinuously past just metres from me. I shrieked into my D.V and excitedly grabbed Dave by the hand. He looked nonplussed and I tried to shout ?seal? into his ear, but his disappointed looked told me he had missed it. We swam on, and barely a minute later the same large shape swam back passed us, and this time Dave?s smile indicated he had seen it too. We ascended a wall adorned with jewel anemones, and I half expected a nibble at my fins at any moment, but our return to the surface was uneventful.
After recovering both boats, many of the group went straight home due to the late hour, but those of us who were more aware of the dangers of decompression sickness agreed to keep an eye on each other for the early appearance of symptoms while drinking a pint or two in the pub (!!). ? Many thanks to Dave for organising a fantastic weekend?s diving.
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Zone, St Ives Bay, 6 miles.? Sunday 23/7/00 33Mts. /30mins
First dive in a couple of weeks and did I suffer.? Couldn't have been any
more different from the last time we dived this wreck. Meet Shaun and down
to Hayle
by 8.30am, windy or what! 2 ribs today, kit up and out. I had been on holiday
all week and on each coast I had been on, the sun was hot and the sea flat,
today the sea was rough, very choppy and overcast sky, typical! Marg was
going to call it off but we carried on, eventually reaches the site, bit
of trouble
finding the wreck but shot the buoy and this could not have come sooner,
I was ready to chuck. Bosh, over the side and down the shot, getting darker
the
further we got down to eventually it was almost black. Reeled off and had
to find the wreck, we were quite a bit away from it. lots of debris but
no main
wreckage. We found what was the bow, big bollards and plating. Finds part
of the hawser and anchor with chain, huge big winches etc. up and over
the wreckage,
not many fish at all, I saw a lone spider crab but other than that not a
lot of life at all. More mooching around till were into deco time, fin
back to
shot and easy ascent up the line, I was gesturing to Shaun, "im ready
to chuck" 5 mins deco and just as I surfaced, whoosh, out everything comes.
Marg said she saw the sick plume from the rib!! Over Baz and Marg went, we
patrolled on the surface to me frequently throwing up, theatrical style, in
the meantime, my buddy Shaun is eating a chocolate bar, non plussed. Back to
shore, all agreed very dark down there today, but I still recovered enough
to have a full breakfast and pint of beer afterwards, I must be getting better!
Shaun did a good bit of boat handling and on the way into the Hayle estuary,
we saw Sea Core with its new rig, sucking up sand on end and throwing it out
at the other, huge pipe work. S said I probably had the narks but we did it,
another good dive.
?
steamship built 1903, 3914 gross tonnage
torpedoed by U-110, 8AM, 30/12/1917
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Dive Site: Wreck of Hera, South Coast of Cornwall
Dive Log of Margaret Collins – Sunday 18 October 2009
Dive Site: Wreck of Hera, South Coast of Cornwall
Spring tide; flat sea; no wind; overcast
My Shortest Dive
My first boat dive for a considerable period of time and Barrie couldn’t have chosen a better day to bully me into donning my pink dry suit once more and taking the plunge. Diving on a spring tide is always a bit risky but Honor and Ric who were responsible for managing the dive had chosen the site wisely so I was not worried at all.
All divers were prompt arriving at Falmouth; in fact Barrie and I were the last to arrive and the boat was just being launched. Bearing Mark’s words in mind, that it was best if the trailer wheels were kept out of the water as much as possible, in order to keep the boat lighter the kit was loaded after it had been launched. However, Barrie didn’t quite do that and loaded his not only before the boat was in the water but whilst Ric was in mid-launch. Quite rightly, Ric took Barrie to task over that!
Anyway, eventually out onto the water with Honor in the driving seat. It was a beautifully calm sea and the engine purred like a kitten and we didn’t take long to get to the dive site. There was little fuss in finding the wreck and putting in the shot. Ric and Honor really are good at finding this one. Kerry and Terry Pinnington were the first over the side, followed by Honor and Ric. 40 minutes later Kerry and Terry were up. Once they were on board Barrie and I kitted up. I always have trouble getting my fins on and thank Terry for his assistance. Kerry manoeuvred the boat into position and over the side Barrie and I went. It was just a short swim to the buoy but even before I got there I could feel the water coming into my dry suit, and it was cold. Bugger! The last time I dived in my lovely pink suit it filled with water up to my knees. I couldn’t face that again. So I didn’t hesitate this time, I aborted my dive. I am heavy enough without having a percentage of the English Channel in my suit. My dive that wasn’t really a dive was listed as lasting 1 minute on the slate.
No idea where the water was coming in. The direct feed valve had been replaced in case that had been the culprit last time, so it obviously wasn’t that. So, Thursday the suit is going to Polar Bear for an overhaul and hopefully not only will my next dive be longer it will also be a dry one.
PS: Barrie committed the cardinal sin of diving on his own and thoroughly enjoyed the peace and quite!
--- ed. smart choice Barrie!!!
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Dive the Rewa 22 miles out of Rock
Sunday 27th September
For once the weather is kind with a light wind and a calm sea. We have dived this wreck in some awful conditions this year, and a total of 44 miles in a RIB in a heavy sea is no fun.
Today however is the pay back. We have on board myself, Ian Jennings, Ian Morcom, Alex Vernon, John Langley and Terry Pinnington who had kindly volunteered to drive my Rib.
We made excellent progress in the good conditions and the wreck was soon located; a bit of good luck here as Gifford had already put a shot in and we went down it. A little drama on the way as John Langley had forgot to open the ADV valve on his rebreather and nearly died! This reminded me again why I haven’t got one!
I was diving with Ian Morcom. We hit the wreck at 65m mid-ships with about 20m visibility. We headed for the stern passing rows of portholes; I gave a couple a try with a crowbar but they were stuck. We found the stern and prop bronze still there! and a nice big winch. Just looking under the port side stern I spied a heavy porthole of the type that should have a bronze dead eye, luckily it was only attached to a smallish lump of ship so out with lift bag and I sent the lot up.
Back around the stern again and Ian found a nice big stoneware jar, complete. Up it went and I spent the last few minutes trying to release a navigation light with glass intact but time was against us and I didn’t want to break it.
So back up the line for a nice hour’s deco on 80%.
Back on the boat I find Alex has upstaged me yet again. He got a bigger porthole than mine also with glass intact. John L also had a porthole but no glass. He did however manage to come back alive - Which is always a bonus!
All finds reported to H.M. receiver of wreck.
Wreck SS Rewa 65m
20 min bottom time 20/30 mix
30% travel
80% deco
Total dive time 75 minutes
Report by Colin Fairhurst.
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