Expeditions
During 2000 - inspired by Rich Stevenson
of
Deep Blue Diving Ltd
- we embarked on a number of deep wreck diving expeditions
both to the North of Ireland and the Western Approaches onboard
MV Loyal Watcher. This was a real turning point for us, and
in these early days of mixed gas rebreather diving we learnt
much from Rich's wealth of knowledge and experience.
In 2001 we met up with Chris Hutchison and
in the early part of 2002 were invited to dive with the Starfish
Enterprise technical diving team - soon after we were formally
invited to join the group. The Starfish Enterprise team had
been around since 1994 and devised many of the deep diving
techniques commonly used today. This offered us not only the
benefit of many years of expedition diving experience but
also the opportunity to dive with what was undoubtedly the
premier technical diving team of that era.
Since 2000 we have been fortunate enough
to have met and dived with some truly amazing people - such
as Tom Mount and Mark Meadows - and dived on some awe-inspiring
shipwrecks. Some of our expeditions are described below:
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| RMS Justicia and HMS Audacious |
2007 |
 Of the
coast of Co Donegal, Ireland, in the hostile and unforgiving
waters of the North Atlantic lie some of the UK's most renowned
shipwrecks. Frequently battered by northwesterly gales these
sites are deep, exposed and invariably difficult to reach.
However for those who are persistent and adventurous enough
this location can arguably offer some of the best wreck diving
in the world. READ MORE ››
|
Anual
training exercise in the Red Sea designed to sharpen our emergency
bail-out drills. The culmination of this exercise was the
ultimate test of any rebreather bail-out strategy: the simulation
of a catastrophic failure of the breathing loop at 100 metres.
On the
22nd June 1893 the 10,000 ton battleship HMS Victoria collided
with HMS Camperdown during an exercise off the coast of Lebanon.
Half of the ships company (358 officers and men, including
Admiral Tryon) perished as the flagship of the Mediterranean
fleet plunged towards the seabed 144 metres below.
In the
early hours of the morning on the 10th of June 1923 the 8,205
tonne Steam Ship ‘Maidan’ struck the reef off
Rocky Island in the Southern Red Sea. Lying at a depth of
120 metres this is an extreme dive in a remote and exposed
location. 
On the
morning of the 22nd February 1943 the newly built 'U' Class
submarine, HMs/m Vandal, cast-off from the depot ship HMS
Forth to carry out an independent exercise in the Firth of
Clyde. Three days later she disappeared.. 
On 27th
April 1916 the battleship HMS Russell hit a mine seven miles
from the entrance to the Maltese Harbour of Valletta and sank
in 115m of water with the the loss of 120 officers and men..
In May
of 2002 we traveled to Malta on a go-see expedition to dive
on a number of deep wrecks and “case out” the
possibility of diving HMS Russell. The expedition was lead
by Kevin Pickering and Teresa Telus.. 
The Battle
of Jutland was fought between the British Grand Fleet and
the German High Seas Fleet in 1916. This was the largest surface
naval battle of the era and the only major fleet action of
World War 1. In 2001 and 2002 we set off to locate and dive
may of these remarkable wrecks.. 
