Published July 22, 2010 Filed under Events,news By Phil
“We are looking for a black golf ball, in an area the size of two football fields.
However, the fields are covered in brown cricket balls and we are doing it at night with the lights turned off” Dr Iain Murray (17/07/2010) The day of the Highball Discovery
Most people are familiar with the story of the Dam Busters and the Bouncing Bomb, but few people know that Sir Barnes Wallis also designed a smaller version, named Highball, designed for destroying ships. Based on the same bouncing design but smaller in size, the Highball was designed to bounce across the water before sinking underneath its target to explode. The resulting damage to the ship would be below the water line and very difficult to fix.
A Highball Bouncing Bomb on the bottom of Loch Striven
The Highball was primarily designed to sink the Tirpitz, a role which fell to miniature submarines and eventually heavy bombers, thus leaving the Highball without the high profile role that had thrust it’s Dam Busting big brother into fame. No complete (or even recognisable) examples of a Highballs exist in museum collections.
However, over 160 dummy Highballs were dropped in Loch Striven during test flights. Following years of research by Iain Murray from Dundee University, a project was conceived to attempt to locate and later raise these test Highballs.
I was lucky enough to be part of the initial reconnaissance phase of the Project, conducted this July. The aim of the project being to locate the initial test area and any remaining Highballs. Following a shaky start of many dives on Highball shaped rocks, and with the help of an ROV from Sheerwater Marine Services Ltd, we finally managed to locate a number of Highballs on the bottom of Loch Striven.
The intention now is to return back to Loch Striven in a continued effort to record this historic environment, before recovering a Highball for display in a Museum.
You can view the full press release regarding the discoveries made during the Highball Bouncing Bomb Reconnaissance Project here
This 44 second clip shows the ROV and Rob diving near the Admiralty anchor that was found standing 3 metres proud of
the seabed in 30msw. The sheer size of the chain link can be seen, with each link being approximately 40cm in length.
This 27 second clip shows Rob diving over the 3rd Highball found along the anchor chain at a depth of 35msw.
Published March 4, 2010 Filed under Events By Phil
2010 marked the 28th International Shipwreck Conference, and probably one of the best of the last few years.
The first presentation of the conference was from John Riley. Entitled ‘Modelling Shipwrecks’, John presented some of the stunning models he has built of shipwrecks over the years, and gave details of his process of deconstruction, to turn a perfect ship model into a representation of the wreck on the sea bed. An interesting way to produce an accurate model!
Second up was a review of the Salcombe Bronze Age Wreck Site from Jim Tyson, proving the amazing array of shipwrecks available so close to our shores. www.swmag.org/
Sean Kinglsey was able to give an excellent update on the activities of Odyssey Marine Exploration on the wreck site of HMS Victory (First Rate Ship of the Line, sank 1744).
In the afternoon session, Innes McCartney demonstrated his well versed presentation skills with an excellent talk on HMS Audacious, the famous WW1 Super Dreadnought sunk of Malin Head. www.periscopepublishing.com
After being unable to make the 2009 conference due to the terrible snow, David Mearns then followed with details of the discovery of HMAS Sydney. The task of discovering wrecks in such deep water is impressive enough, never-mind capturing such stunning imagery. Certainly a presentation worth waiting the extra year for! http://www.bluewater.uk.com/
In the final session, Dante Batoli gave an excellent summary of 2nd Centrury BC Shipwreck in Capraia, Italy, as well as an interesting insight into the process of marine archaeology within Italy.
Closing the conference with a talk entitled ’Fireships and Firebrand’, Kevin Camidge provided an interesting insight in the use of fireships, something I certainly was not aware off.
Panoramic View on the way to look over the Cattewater Wreck Site
On the Sunday we were treated to an excellent walking tour of Coxside and Cattedown. Starting at the site of an early ropewalk we moved on to overlook Cattewater wreck before heading off to a Pleistocene cave containing early human remains. The tour finished with essential tea and biscuits at the Plymouth University Marine and Diving Centre, along with a guided tour of their facilities.
Published February 25, 2009 Filed under General By Phil
HMS Victoria is a pre-dreadnought battle ship, lauched in 1887. She was accidently sunk in June 1893, after a collision with HMS Camperdown during manoeuvres. Most of the blame for the incedent was places on Vice-Admiral Sir George Tryon, commander of the British Mediterranean Fleet, who was on board and ordered the manoeuvre.
The wreck today lies offshore tripoli in Lebanon, and is unique in that it stands vertically, completely unsuported. Her bows are firmily inplanted in the seabed at 146m, while here props stand free in the water at 77m.
Eventually, after our initial problems, we were able to get 2 dives on HMS Victoria. The footage below is from our first dive, and is from approximately 100m upwards. Unfortantely, a nice crack appeared in the viewfinder of my camera housing, so I decided to leave it in the hotel than risk it on the deeper second dive.
Despite the risk of fishing line, and the constant distance dynamite explosions from fishing and wreck breaking, HMS Victoria is a truely stunning dive. The orientation of the wrecks, as well as provided a perfect shot line and place to store additional bailout gases, makes it quite atmospheric and remarkable, and leaves you wondering how long will her armour belt keep her upright and vertical.
Unfortunately, it is also evident that the wreck has been heavily looted, particulally in the shallow areas where whole cabins have been systematiclly cleaned.
Published February 17, 2009 Filed under Events By Phil
As in previous years, a few of us ventured down to the International Shipwreck Conference in Plymouth over the weekend of the 7th / 8th Feb.
This years talks turned out to be as good as ever, despite the terrible weather conditions meaning some people couldn’t make it, including David Mearns, who was scheduled to be talking about the discovery of HMAS Sydney.
Opening the day was a presentation by Nigel Overton on the History of the Eddystone Lighthouse. Nigel is obviously very passionate about the local history, which came across in a very interesting talk. Following Nigel was Bob Peacock talking about recent finds in the English Channel, particularly around the Goodwin Sands, and making you realise just how many wrecks there are out there! The next talker was one for the inner archaeologist in everyone, Professor Ufuk Kocabas talking about the excavation of the Yenikapi Byzantine Shipwrecks, which included some excellent finds and some stunning photography. The afternoon started with two talks based on a more legal footing, with Mike Williams talking about the Heritage Bill and how it will affect divers, followed by Alison Kentuck talking about the duties of the Receiver of Wreck. The final main slot went to Mike Rowley, talking about deep wreck exploration off Lebanon and the story of HMs Victoria.
Over all another excellent conference, despite the snow on M5 on the way down.
Published January 11, 2009 Filed under General,news By Phil
This wreck is located approximately 4km outside the main port of Tripoli, and its identity remains unknown.
Used by the Vichy to supply submarines with torpedoes, she was sunk by either aircraft or sea vessel. She now lies in about 60m of water, upright, and usually with very good visibility.
Torpedos lie all over the decks, and while the main bridge superstructure is missing, the wheel and steering mechanism are still intact.
Published January 7, 2009 Filed under General,news By Phil
Le Souffleur is a French Vichy submarine, sunk by the British approximately 10km south of Beirut in June 1941. She now sits in two reasonably intack halves in just under 40m of water, making in a relatively easy dive. Fifty Two men were lost during the sinking.
Published January 5, 2009 Filed under Training,news By Phil
Title: Normoxic Trimix Location: Midlands and NDAC Description: Open Circuit Normoxic Trimix Course, one space left. Two weekends Start Date: 2009-05-09
Further details available from Scuba + Outdoor – Cannock on 01543 428808 or get in touch
Published November 26, 2008 Filed under General,news By Phil
The Lesbian is a British Freighter sunk by the French Vichy Navy during WWII. Just outside the main commercial port of Beirut, it is only a short boat journey out, yet is hardly visited by divers.
Sitting upright and fairly intact at approx. 60m. The Lesbian is a relatively interesting wreck and ideal (as we had original planned it to be) as a warm up dive for HMS Victoria.
This October I was lucky enough to be invited by Mike Rowley to join his trip to Lebanon to dive HMS Victoria. After many days of lessons in both local and international politics, we finally managed two dives on the wreck. In the days before hand, we also had a chance to dive some of the other wrecks in the area, as well as visit some of the sites.
Published October 27, 2008 Filed under Events By Phil
Title: DIVE08 Location: NEC, Birmingham Link out: Click here Description: DIVE08 at the NEC, Birmingham Start Date: 2008-11-01 End Date: 2008-11-02
As usual, members of the Tech Pursuits Team will be at the Birmingham Dive Show, DIVE08 over the weekend of the 1st and 2nd November. Why not pop over and see us our stand to find out what we have planned for 2009. Scuba + Outdoor will also be there with there usual array of stock at amazing prices, so why not see if you can’t pick up a bargain on that new rebreather?
