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.
The International Shipwreck Conference is run by shipwreck enthusiasts every year in Plymouth.
Tags: conference, Wreck
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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.
Tags: HMS Victoria, Lebanon, Wreck
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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.
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NISD Center in the Marina
Our Lady of Lebanon
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.
Even for those of you not quite up for diving a wreck like HMS Victoria, Lebanon and Beirut is still and excellent place to visit.
All our diving was done through NISD, The National Institute For Scuba Diving in Lebanon.
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