Wreck History Week on MV Halton with Bob Anderson and Kieran Hatton

Last year Bob and Kieran mentioned that they were running a slightly different week in the Flow where they would spend a little more time looking into the history of the wrecks inside the Flow, both from a technical point of view (the way the ships were constructed and the history of maritime architecture) and from a history aspect looking at the political situation and the way the war developed. This interested me and I asked about a place for Garf and myself. Unfortunately due to Garf’s company being audited by a major client this week, he had to pull out, much to his disappointment. After another buddy pulled out (I was starting to get paranoid), Zak finally surfaced as a buddy!

The plan for me to get here was a little convoluted to say the least! I was shooting a photography event on the Friday night in Salisbury which I had already committed to, so I needed Zak to drive my kit and his up to Scapa and I would fly from Gatwick to Inverness and then onto Kirkwall where Zak would meet me. After 4 hours kip on Friday night, I got a cab over to Gatwick with plenty of time to spare and watched the departure board…”Gate opens at 08:45” (for an 09:30 departure)…at 09:10 “Please wait”…at 09:20 “Gate Closing” !!!! I have 35 mins at Inverness to cross from one flight to the next, so I highlight my situation to the ground staff who say that the flight will be late off but they won’t hold the Inverness to Kirkwall but they could arrange a tarmac transfer for me. No worries I think. We didn’t get airborne until 10:05. As we land at Inverness I can see the onward flight sitting on the ground and despite some people not letting me get off the aircraft first, I manage to make it onto the flight with literally one minute to spare!

Over to Kirkwall and down to Stromness where I meet Bob and board MV Halton. I haven’t been on MV Halton before and I must say it is a nice boat. The bunks have plenty of room and the galley/meeting/dining room is plenty large enough for the daily briefings which Kieran was to conduct. I retired at 23:00 after a long day with not a lot of sleep the night before.

Day 1 – Sunday 12 July

The day started around 07:30 with a nice breakfast and lashings of hot coffee! We were to do the SMS Coln II this morning with a maximum depth of 36m. Along with Zak I was diving with Christine, a Belgian diver from DIRx I had met last year in Narvik. I won’t go into the wreck details themselves as they are plenty of details online but it is a nice shakedown dive on a pretty intact wreck.

Christine had already said that she might be a little slow getting down the shot but after spending 5 mins getting to 12m she thumbed the dive and Zak and I carried on down to the wreck.

The shot was tied in on one of the lifeboat davits and after making sure things were where they were supposed to be, I led off towards the bow and straight into a nice swim-through behind and above the conning tower. Kieran had given a comprehensive brief about the layout of the ship which meant that I could recognise certain parts as we swam through (the lower deck of the armed conning tower make sense, the winch capstans from a deck down and other bits and pieces). Out through the bow we met some others before turning aft, passing the bollards, capstan, the rangefinder (now missing the top half) and underneath the conning tower and superstructure. I know now where Zak got his YD handle of “wreckweasel” from. Keeping track of where he disappeared was sometimes a challenge. Along the seabed and behind the superstructure, we entered a great swim through which ended just before the break and debris field. Up over the top and past the 2 5” guns at the rear and over the rudder before turning forward to ascend on the shotline. After 60mins in 12 degree water I was still pretty comfortable and up the shot we went to be met by Bob’s new deckhand Gregor and a warm mug of coffee. A great first dive in the Flow. Combined with this being my 4th time here and the briefs from Kieran, the wrecks are starting to make more sense. The vis was around 5-8m with a slight plankton bloom; inside the wrecks was much better.

Off we steamed to Lyness to have a look around the museum and during the surface interval here, Kieran explained some of the significance of the site for both World Wars and also the plans to turn the area into a large ship-to-ship container transfer port. If this happens, then we are going to lose some of the access to the wrecks in the Flow.

All images on the Coln II

[IMG]http://www.imagesoflife-online.co.uk/Scapa2009/Coln-0004.jpg[/IMG]
The bow
[IMG]http://www.imagesoflife-online.co.uk/Scapa2009/Coln-0006.jpg[/IMG]
Deck structure
[IMG]http://www.imagesoflife-online.co.uk/Scapa2009/Coln-0014.jpg[/IMG]
The lower half of the rangefinder
[IMG]http://www.imagesoflife-online.co.uk/Scapa2009/Coln-0015.jpg[/IMG]
About to penetrate...again...
[IMG]http://www.imagesoflife-online.co.uk/Scapa2009/Coln-0026.jpg[/IMG]
Just off the seabed inside the wreck
[IMG]http://www.imagesoflife-online.co.uk/Scapa2009/Coln-0030.jpg[/IMG]
Going up aftwards
[IMG]http://www.imagesoflife-online.co.uk/Scapa2009/Coln-0038.jpg[/IMG]
The rear guns

After a nice surface interval we motor out to the SMS Karlsruhe which lies between 16 and 28m. Again you can read up more elsewhere but this wreck is one of the more broken up wrecks which means you can have more of a rummage and penetrations/swim-throughs are a little more accessible. Chris’ ears were playing this time and after Zak pointed down the wrong side of the wreck and subsequently got it right, we dropped over the top-side and proceeded forward. Zak was looking for any hole big enough to get a twinset diver through and he found plenty. Chris and I decided that the best plan, knowing his experience and the tightness of the holes, was just to follow the bubbles and meet him at the exit point of each swim-through. On the way forward we passed Kieran and Helen and then Zak found the capstan winching gear a couple of decks down (or would have been if the wreck hadn’t just slipped downwards, so it was only one deck down). This was a really nice area which I have been in before and I got some nice photos of Zak on the other side of the gear. Kieran told us that if we had gone aft in that room we would have seen the room lights which are still on the roof of that deck – doh!! Out and towards the bow where it has pretty much collapsed before turning aft and over the capstans before reaching the 2 guns on the foredeck. The brass operating plate on the upper of the 2 guns has been cleaned and you can see the German for open and closed on the rear of the breech, again something I haven’t seen before but Kieran did mention it in the brief so we do go looking for it!

Again Zak was like a rat up a drain pipe whenever a gap appeared and there was one occasion when we couldn’t see a bubble trail but he appeared very shortly afterwards none-the-less with a big grin on his face and giggling away. We finally reached the stern after spending nearly 60mins on the bottom and as we moved forward I thumbed the dive and we ascended, firing a bag on the way to let Bob know that we were okay.

The plan for the evening was to complete the first of the “history lessons” from Kieran which looked at the development of the British and German Navies and setting the scene for the political situation leading upto World War I. We also went through the dive plan and brief for the SMS Kronprinz Wilhelm, the wreck planned for tomorrow.

Today was an excellent start to what will hopefully be an excellent week up in Scapa. If you are into wrecks, this place is for you. The additional material which Kieran and Bob are putting together adds more to the trip and allows you to understand the wrecks in more detail.

We are off to Burray tomorrow and Longhope Tuesday to look at some of the land-based sights here and see how they fit into the history of Scapa Flow so I am not sure if I am going to be able to update this before Wednesday night.

[IMG]http://www.imagesoflife-online.co.uk/Scapa2009/Karlsruhe-0004.jpg[/IMG]
Just forward of the conning tower
[IMG]http://www.imagesoflife-online.co.uk/Scapa2009/Karlsruhe-0006.jpg[/IMG]
Kieran and Helen coming aft
[IMG]http://www.imagesoflife-online.co.uk/Scapa2009/Karlsruhe-0015.jpg[/IMG]
The lower capstan winding gear
[IMG]http://www.imagesoflife-online.co.uk/Scapa2009/Karlsruhe-0018.jpg[/IMG]
More of the gear
[IMG]http://www.imagesoflife-online.co.uk/Scapa2009/Karlsruhe-0026.jpg[/IMG]
The top of the capstans
[IMG]http://www.imagesoflife-online.co.uk/Scapa2009/Karlsruhe-0032.jpg[/IMG]
The rear of the upper breech
[IMG]http://www.imagesoflife-online.co.uk/Scapa2009/Karlsruhe-0038.jpg[/IMG]
Inside the rear of the hull
[IMG]http://www.imagesoflife-online.co.uk/Scapa2009/Karlsruhe-0043.jpg[/IMG]
The prop support for the port prop shaft

Howard and I are going back out...

After such a successful weekend this June, we are going back out again in August to dive the Polynesia on scooters, the bow of the Southwold and the Schnellboot.

Bring it on...

Part 4 - Malta

After a cracking 3 dives in the deeper sections, Howard and I thought we would join Paul Toomer and his IANTD ART student, Adam Fish (A Fish!!) on Adam’s first ‘deco’ dive to the El Faroud. So cylinders loaded onto the flatbed and off down the coast to the gulley and local swimming area which is the entry point to the Al Faroud. The pickup was parked on a very steep slope and to prevent it becoming a wreck of its own we made sure the front wheels were jammed with a breeze block before we left. Getting kitted up in a drysuit and thermals on the shore in front on scantily-clad locals is an interesting experience, especially as we were carrying stages of 100% too! I got kitted up very quickly as I was cooking my nadgers off and getting in the water was a welcome relief. The others (Paul, Adam, Howard and Hayden) joined me and Hayden led off towards the wreck surfacing swimming to the drop-down point and Adam leading the surface checks just before dropping down. We swam past a memorial to commercial divers on the way to the wreck. Once you pass the vast expanse of sea-grass, you come across white sand and the dark outline of the El Faroud.


L-R, Paul Toomer, Adam Fish, Howard Payne

Again, a little about the wreck

“M/t Um el Faroud was built in 1969 at Smith Dock Co. Ltd., Middlesborough, UK and was owned by the General National Maritime Transport Company, Tripoli. (GNMTC)
It had been operating between Italy and Libya carrying refined fuel up to the 1st of February 1995. On the 3rd of February 1995 it was docked at Dock no.3 of Malta Dry-docks. During that night an explosion occurred in one of the fuel tanks and 9 shipyard workers lost their lives. The vessel suffered structured deformation and was written off after following inspection and survey. It had been occupying the dock ever since the explosion until was decided that the best option to utilize its remaining value was to scuttle her as a diving attraction and to start a new life as an artificial reef.”


After the explosion


On the surface before scuttling

Once we got a little closer to the wreck I could see the scour around the rudder and propeller, so went over to get some shots of the guys coming across the sand and into the prop area.


Mr Payne above the huge prop


Adam above the same


Howard looking at some squidgy stuff just before crushing it with the torch head!! (1)

Paul and Adam started down the port side of the wreck with Howard and I hanging slightly back. Howard then spotted a hole in the side…here we go again!!


Howard entering the El Faroud

I followed Howard up into the wreck and then through a section before coming back out. Shame, it looked like it would go but we said we would stay with Paul and Adam. So further forward and towards the massive clean break in the ship. It looks like someone cut it cleanly in half at the stage and moved one section 30ft to the left! The penetration opportunities look massive!! This reminded me of the wrecks which Howard and I dived in Narvik last summer…through a bulkhead and out into another section. A quick goodbye to Paul for an explore…


Howard squeezing his tiny body through a bulkhead door…

..and back through the same hatchway so we didn’t lose Paul for too long. Then up onto the deck area in front of the bridge and superstructure; we could see Paul and Adam off to the left making their way back. We signalled that we might join them at the stern…





(1) Howard didn't really do that!!

Both Howard and I saw the entrance at the top of the stairs at the same time but I beat him to it to get some shots of him coming through the companion way with the daylight behind him…


What you can’t see is the massive fish that got in the way above Howard’s left shoulder (PS magic ;) )!!

Not that fish, a much bigger one!

Howard then turned right into the superstructure and first into what looks like the messhall/café…


Tables and ceiling lying on the floor…

Through another passageway making our way rearwards we passed a couple of other rooms which looked like they would entertain some penetration and then into the galley


Howard, the masterchef, fish anyone? :)

I exited the galley (just to the right of the cooker in the shot above) and waiting for Howard to exit behind me so that we could get some more shots of the hull before, hopefully, catching up with Paul and Adam.


Coming out of the Galley

One thing I did learn on this trip is that having lots of light can be a pain in the arse sometimes. Most of my stuff in the UK you don’t normally have a problem with shooting into sun because (1) there normally isn’t any and (2) if there is, it isn’t too bright and you don’t have too much of a contrast problem. The following shots were very hard to get sorted because the vis wasn’t great (by Maltese standards) into sun because of the small ‘dust’ particles in the water. As such, detail of the hull was almost non-existent.


Howard over the rear-starboard quarter


Howard poncing with his light sabre

We then followed the return track back to the exit point, stopping at 6m for 8 mins to clean up and admire the view. Howard then tried the “who can I hit with the SMB” game with the swimmers above. We surfaced to be met by some holiday makers with a video camera…stars again!

This nice little dive rounded off an excellent long weekend in Malta. As Howard has already said, Divewise bent over backwards to help us and I would definitely recommend them when it comes to running a wreck trip from Malta. Paul Toomer is now planning on running 3-4 months worth of trips back to back, so if you are interested in IANTD training in a brilliant wreck environment, drop him a line. I had not met him before and he certainly seems to hold no prejudices and appears to be a really enthusiastic and knowledgeable instructor and instructor trainer.

This was my first experience of the island and it certainly won’t be the last. The food was cheap as was the beer (certainly cheaper than Stockholm where I was 3 weeks ago!!). The wrecks are awesome and from my point of view, very photogenic. As both Howard and I have alluded to, we are already planning on getting back there and we will be using Divewise.

Admin bits:

Flight from LHR Term 4 to Malta with Air Malta was around £120 return. £13 each way for 32kg of additional baggage (dive gear) but on the return leg we only paid 15eu for 2 x 32kgs :)

Accommodation was in “The President” which is a 5 min walk. 25eu pppn based on 2 sharing a twin-room.

Food and beer was mainly consumed in “Huggins” bar where Divewise have a 25% discount. Huge portions and good quality food.

Additional costs (Gas for 2 x T2, 1 x T1 and 1 x recreational dives, stage hiring and twinset hiring, boat costs and water in the centre) came to around £370