DIRdudes

Coron Bay Wrecks

2011-01-31T13:55:00.003+08:00

DIRdudes Andrew and Richard have just returned from a week of wreck diving in the Philippines. We teamed up with the guys at Living Seas in Singapore and headed off on a 22 hr travelthon via Manila to the island of Busuanga.

Our hosts for the trip were Discovery Divers and their purpose built dive facility at their Puerto del Sol resort certainly met our expectations of a good dive operation. In preparation for our arrival they had arranged for seven sets of manifold double cylinders to be ready, they had arranged for our exclusive use of a dive boat large enough to take all our gear and laid on dedicated dive guides for the duration of our stay.

History

September 1944. The US Third Fleet, under the command of Admiral "Bull" William Halsey aboard the USS New Jersey, began moving toward the Philippines Islands.

Task Force 38 was involved in carrying out air strikes against Japanese targets in the Philippines.

In the early morning, 0550, 24. Sept. 1944, the TF 38 took off towards a target area some 350 miles away from their carriers. A total of 120 aircraft consisting of F6F HELLCAT fighters and SB2C HELLDIVER bombers were on there way to CORON BAY.

At the time it was the longest range air raid in history. At 0900 the Planes reached Busuanga Island, found 15-18 large enemy ships anchored in CORON BAY. 45 minutes later it was all over, the planes returned home leaving behind a hell of burning oil, explosions and sinking vessels.

By way of an introduction to our dive videos for this trip we made this trailer covering the background. Enjoy.

The Wrecks
We dived six wrecks in total, some multiple times and we also visited Barracuda Lake with its haloclines and geothemally heated depths. Follow the links below to read more about each wreck.

Okikawa Maru
Olympia Maru
Ekkai Maru
Koygo Maru
Barracuda Lake
IJNS Akitsushima
IJNS Irako

Our Videos

You can watch all of our videos for this trip in this vimeo album.

DIRdudes in GUE's Quest Magazine

2010-07-01T10:29:00.001+08:00

The Sinking of the TT Seven Skies,

Quest Vol 11, No 3, Summer 2010

The DIRdudes have had an article published in GUE's quarterly publication Quest. Quest is a quarterly magazine published by Global Underwater Explorers that seeks to cultivate an understanding and appreciation of the underwater world and of its component parts. Composed of articles submitted by supporters of GUE's mission—both lay and academic—Quest's subject matter ranges from accounts of exploration from around the globe, to equipment, training, exercise, physiology, diverse aquatic environments and ecological considerations. Often showcasing the work of internationally recognized photographers and scientists, Quest seeks to help grow a global community that shares GUE's commitment to education, conservation and exploration.

The article, written by Richard Walkland, details the extensive research he did prior to the dives carried out in 2009 on the 40th Anniversary of her sinking.

You can read a copy of the article here, posted with Quest's permission by our good friends at Living Seas.

Lake St Clair, Tasmania

2010-04-21T15:25:00.017+08:00

Recently DIRdude Rich teamed up with GUE ITC Candidate Matt White from Sydney to dive Australia's deepest lake, Lake St Clair in Tasmania.

View Larger Map

Lake St Clair is located at the southern end of the world famous Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park and is part of the Tasmanian World Heritage Area which covers a significant proportion of the South West and Central Highlands of the state.

The Lake has an area of 11 square miles (28 square km), measures 9 miles by 1 mile (14.5 by 1.6 km), and lies at an elevation of 2,417 feet (737 m) on Tasmania’s Central Plateau. Filling a valley carved out by ice during several glaciations over the last two million years and then dammed with a moraine, the maximum depth approaches 700 feet (215 m) along the west-side, making St. Clair Australia’s deepest lake. It is also the headwaters of the Derwent River. It is ringed by some remarkable mountain peaks which are frequently covered in snow for much of the year. Lake St Clair is also known by its Aboriginal name of Leeawuleena which means "sleeping water", an apt description, although this often tranquil lake has many moods which seem to change constantly.

It is also the end point (or the start) for bushwalkers tackling the Overland Track which runs between Lake St Clair and Cradle Mountain, the track much beloved by bushwalkers from all over Australia and the world.

The area around Lake St Clair offers a wealth of walks, ranging from leisurely strolls to overnight bushwalks, with beautiful forests and alpine moorlands to explore. But relatively little is known about the aquatic environment in the lake itself and it has only ever been infrequently dived and never (to our knowledge) documented. Likewise the lake has never been bathymetrically surveyed in any detail.

Logistics

We flew our gear into Tasmania and hired O2 Clean S100 cylinders and weights from the guys at Southern Tasmanian Divers in Hobart.

We were diving EAN32 which meant at 730m elevation we had a MOD of ~27m (ie. less ~3m fto compensate for the altitude), more than deep enough for the reconnaissance dives we were planning for this trip. Later trips were we'll require Trimix are going to be more complex and will require partial pressure mixing of gas on site.

The DIRdudes chartered the lake's ferry the 'Ida Clair' from Lake St Clair Lodge where we stayed. This ferry, whilst not specifically designed for diving or water entry and exits, was more than adequate for our needs, and certainly made accessing some of the more remote parts of the lake easier.

Accommodation

We stayed at the Mimosa Cottage, a heritage listed cabin on the banks of the Lake, which offered simple self-catering accommodation, plenty of room for setting up the dive gear and fantastic views of the lake.

The Diving

Heres an vimeo album of the dives we did on the lake.

Dive 1: Submerged Islands

Lake St Clair is a deep U-shaped channel for much of its length with a pronounced shelf along its eastern flank. Towards the southern end the lake shallows rapidly as the valley is dammed by glacial moraines which have been folded up into distinct and unique ridges. Historically there were a number of isolated vegetated islands along this southern coastline which likely represent the crests of further morainal ridges descending into the lake. These photos below (courtesy of the Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office) are from circa 1900 and clearly show this small islands along what is now know as Frankland Beach.

In the 1930's the decision was taken to build a weir at the outflow of the lake and established a pump-house to provide Hobart with emergency water. The construction of the weir artificially raised the lake by approximately 3m and inundated these small islands and permanently changing the character of the southern part of the lake and the headwaters of the Derwent River.

The objective of our first dive was therefore to attempt to relocate and document these islands and get a feel for the character of the lake in terms of visibility, water temperature, aquatic flora and fauna etc.

Dive 2: Pump-House

In 1933 the HEC drew up plans to develop a large Hydro Electric Scheme in the upper reaches of the Derwent River. The scheme was built between 1938 and 1940 and involved the erection of a controlled dam on the Derwent River and a pumphouse and substation at Pumphouse Point.

The pumping station allowed the lake to be drained below its original level. In order to stop the river from draining back into Lake St Clair when the lake level was low, a weir was constructed at the northern end of St Clair Lagoon. This resulted in the permanent inundation of the northern end of the Derwent River. The pumphouse was built out on the Lake allowing the pumps to draw water from 6.5 metres below the surface. This water was then discharged along a 245 metre concrete flume connecting the pump house to the shore. It then flowed via a short canal into St Clair Lagoon.

More coming soon...

Dive 3: Cynthia Bay Jetty

Our third dive was off the Cynthia Bay Jetty which acts as the home mooring for the 'Ida Clair'.
More coming soon...

Rich & Matt at Echo Point

DIRdudes become GUE Affiliates

2010-01-28T10:16:00.004+08:00

DIRdudes are proud to announce that as of January 2010 we are now an Official GUE Affiliate Group.

This status is available to organizations who seek to support GUE divers with resources, services and training. We have our own gas mixing facilities and our team has access to a sizeable and comprehensive collective resource of dive equipment and scooters which we regularly make available to visiting GUE divers from around the world (with prior arrangement).

Increasingly, we are receiving requests from visiting divers interested in diving with us or new divers interested in GUE training hence our official affiliation. As local GUE ambassadors we are proactive in our promotion of the GUE organization and the desirability of GUE dive instruction.

If you are a GUE trained diver living or visiting Perth, or if you are interested in GUE training or just finding out more about it, feel free to contact us at mailto:info@perthdivers.com.

DIRdudes 'Dive Porn' goes Hi Def

2009-12-09T09:52:00.009+08:00

For a few years now the DIRdudes have been recording all our major dives with J's Hi Definition video camera. Unfortunately, until now, we have only been able to publish significantly degraded 'Low Def' versions of our finished edits on the Internet because of the limitations of free hosting sites like YouTube.

However, recently we discovered Vimeo, this is a fantastic community that supports and promotes HD videos. Over the coming months we will be dressing up some of our best videos and reposting them on Vimeo in their full Hi Def glory.

To begin with here are some of our more recent videos, whilst these are not in full HD yet they are significantly better quality than the equivalent versions on our YouTube page.

Enjoy!

Key Biscayne

2009-11-14T18:38:00.011+08:00

A 4:30am start is always tough, but the wreck of the Jack-up Rig Key Biscayne is usually worth the effort. Our team's 'good weather fairy' Justin delivered again and provided us with great conditions despite being called off the dive at the eleventh hour due to work commitments.

That said, and despite the good weather, the trip out to the wreck had everyone on board dropping their breakfast over the side before we got to the wreck and there were some distinctly yellow faces as people geared up and dropped in.

The Dive

We motored down the shot line and then took a wide swing around the perimeter of the wreck enjoying the good (15m) vis to get a rare overview of the wreck site. We then hung around the central section of the wreck which is littered with meters of scattered drill rods and other oil rig paraphernalia exploring the crevices of the up-turned superstructure. Unsurprisingly the Crays were out in force, knowing as they do that this was the last day before the season begins. Its a given that by tomorrow they will all have vanished.

As we got into the latter half of our 30min bottom time we headed off down one of the three triangular legs now laying splayed out on the sand in 40m water. These legs are massive, 10m high and at least 200m long and make for a great scooter ride.

Once back at the main superstructure we took our time ascending to the shot line and into a slightly nauseous deco; the seasickness having not totally worn off on the dive.

Date: 14/11/2009

Max: 40m

Avg: 21m

BT: 30mins

RT: 60mins

BG: 21/35

Deco: EAN50

Ratio: 3,2,2,2,2,8,5

Heres some video and photos from the dive.

Colourful life on the upturned deck

A diver ascends the shot line

Scattered winch at the end of a leg

Part of a crane

Into the distance

Crushed Superstructure

An encrusted motor

GUE Extravaganza 2009

2009-11-11T11:08:00.013+08:00

GUE Wrecks of the South China Sea trip 2009
In this photo: Gideon Liew, Alvin Javier, ZJ Wen, Eriko Jonsson, Andy Dyer, Thomas Jonsson,

Takashi Tayama, Richard Walker, Andrew Robertson, Justin Martin,

Richard Walkland, Leon Boey, Dagomir Dag Kaszlikowski

For the past three years Gideon Liew and his team from Living Seas have been running a GUE sponsored dive trip to the numerous wrecks around Tioman off the coast of Malaysia. October in the South China Seas is a period of calm and warm weather perfect for running extended open ocean diving expeditions. Each year the trip has grown in popularity and and the calibre of the diving has improved from what was essentially a Fundamentals level trip in 2007 to a full Tech 1 & Tech 2 level expedition with scooters etc in 2009.

Word of these trips has certainly got around and this year the trip was over subscribed. The trip also attracted a prestigious number of GUE Instructors from around the world; along for the trip with Gideon and Leon was Thomas Jonsson, his wife Eriko and Takashi Tayama representing the Japanese Underwater Explorers (JUE); and from the UK Rich Walker GUE's Technical Training Director joined the trip as part of a four week diving tour of South East Asia.

The rest of the team was made up of the technical divers from Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, both regular faces and some new blood, and of course the DIRdudes were there again to lend our own distinct form of credibility to the whole proceedings!

THE DIVING

Technical Diver Level 2

2009-10-10T17:34:00.001+08:00

PURPOSE

The GUE Technical Diver 2 (Tech 2) course is the second in a series of three courses designed to develop technical diving excellence, building upon previously learned skills with a focus on extending essential technical diving skills Tech 2 training focuses on building diving proficiency at increasing depth using Helium diving gases with Oxygen enriched decompression gases. These skills include:

• the use of multiple stages
• the use of Trimix
• the use of greater percentages of Helium
• gas management
• Oxygen management
• decompression
• accelerated, omitted and general decompression strategies
• dive planning
• technical equipment configurations

Course participants will gain experience working with a variety of different gas mixtures for use as bottom mix and multiple decompression gases.

PREREQUISITES

• Must meet GUE General Course Prerequisites as outlined in Section 1.6
• Must be a minimum of 21 years of age
• Must be GUE DIR Fundamentals and GUE Tech 1 qualified
• Must have a minimum of 200 logged dives, with at least fifty (50) dives on double tanks/cylinders; twenty-five (25) of these should have utilized a single stage
• Must have a minimum of twenty-five (25) dives beyond Technical Diver Level 1 qualification
• Must be able to swim a distance of at least 60 feet/18 meters on a breath hold
• Must be able to swim at least 500 yards/457 meters in less than 14 minutes without stopping. This test should be conducted in a swimsuit and, where necessary, appropriate thermal protection.

COURSE CONTENT

The GUE Tech 2 course is normally conducted over a 5-day period, and cumulatively involves a minimum of forty (40) hours of instruction, designed to instill in divers a working knowledge of extended range diving; including physiology, tables and logistics. Special emphasis is placed on extended exposures and on their associated considerations (gas consumption, DCS, Oxygen toxicity, and thermal concerns).

Course requirements include a minimum of six (6) hours of academics, and eight (8) dives, four (4) of which will be critical skill dives and four (4) will be experience dives. Four (4) dives must utilize Helium.

Technical Diver Level 1

2009-10-10T17:33:00.000+08:00

PURPOSE

The Technical Diver Level 1 (Tech 1) course is structured to prepare divers for the rigors of technical diving and to familiarize them with the use of different breathing and decompression mixtures. Tech 1 training focuses on expanding the fundamental skills learned in the GUE Fundamentals course (or elsewhere), and is designed to cultivate, integrate, and expand the essential skills required for safe technical diving. This will include problem identification and resolution, and building the capacity for progressively more challenging diving. In this class, students will be trained in:

• the use of double tanks/cylinders and in the potential failure problems associated with them
• the use of Nitrox for accelerated and general decompression strategies
• the use of Helium to minimize narcosis
• the applications of single decompression stage diving with respect to decompression procedures.

The class will focus on enriched air and Trimix as flexible and beneficial breathing gases for dives down to 160 foot/48 meters, and provides an excellent foundation on which divers can build their technical diving experience and prepare for GUE's Technical Diver 2 course (Tech 2).

PREREQUISITES

• Must meet GUE General Course Prerequisites as outlined in Section 1.6
• Must be a minimum of 18 years of age
• Must be GUE DIR Fundamentals qualified
• Must have a minimum of 100 dives beyond open water qualification
• Must be able to swim a distance of at least 50 feet/15 meters on a breath hold
•Must be able to swim at least 400 yards/366 meters in less than 14 minutes without stopping. This test should be conducted in a swimsuit and, where necessary, appropriate thermal protection.

COURSE CONTENT

The GUE Tech 1 course is normally conducted over a 5-day period, and cumulatively involves a minimum of forty (40) hours of instruction designed to provide a working knowledge of enriched air diving, normoxic and hyperoxic Trimix and decompression mixtures, including history, physics, physiology, tables, and operational considerations.

Course requirements include ten (10) hours of academics and eight (8) dives, six (6) of which will be critical skill dives and two (2) will be experience dives. Initial dives will be conducted in shallow water to test diver ability and to fill in any deficits in skill levels. The last two (2) dives are to be Trimix dives at depth for experience.

HMS Repulse

2009-10-07T20:00:00.002+08:00

Dive 1

The line was tied off immediately above the Twin 15" Guns of the "B" Barbette, and there was a moderate current running. We followed the line hand over hand to the ships rail then dropped down to the sand at 54m and headed aft towards the forward funnel, the main superstructure and the command & control tower.

View of the main command and control tower that was the focus of our first dive.

We explored up and down the ships central command tower now laying only partially exposed on the sand. The Flag deck, Lower and Upper Bridges and funnel are now either buried by sand or largely obscured by nets. However the Syren deck, and both the 4” and the 15” Gun Director Platforms are clearly recognisable as is the remains of the Spotting Tower and the H.A.C.S.

1936 Plans of the Repulse highlighting the areas we explored.

We turned and swam back down the mast toward the main body of the hull out of the swirling mists of the milky thermocline appeared the distinct shape of one of the ship's nine Mark IX 4 inch low angle 'Triple Guns' two of its three barrels clearly visible the third buried in the sand. This gun was a British medium-velocity naval gun introduced in 1916 as secondary armament on the Renown class Battlecruisers.

One of the Triple Mounted 4" Breach Loading Mark IX Guns.

J pays his respects at the gun.

The same gun in 1941.

This placed us on the Conning Tower deck right beside the forward funnel an area bristling with weaponry. In fact, a few fin kicks to our left brought us to a net shrouded Vickers QF (Quick Firing) 3 pounders - used as anti-torpedo boat weapons.

Addendum: We have recently been reliably informed that what we thought was a Vickers QF is in fact actually one of the optics of one of the 12' Bar and Stroud rangefinders. Many thanks to Andrew F at the Ship Model Forum for this correction.

The breach & Mount of a Vickers 3 Pounder
or a 12' Barr and Stroud Ranger finder shouded in nets.

A vickers QF.

Barr and Stroud Ranger finder.
1936 Plans showing the location of the weaponry on the Starboard side of the Conning Tower Deck.

Beyond the Triple Gun and further aft we came upon the remains of a large Carley Float, these invertible life-rafts were formed from a length of copper tubing 30-50 cm in diameter bent into an oval ring. The ring was originally surrounded by a buoyant mass of kapok or cork and covered by canvas. The floor of the raft was made from a wood or webbing grating, all now long gone but the copper ring was still clearly recognizable.

The remains of a Carley Float.

Carley Floats stowed aboard HMS Rodney 1940.

A Carley Float in action.

This life-raft had come loose from its stowage location on the Shelter Deck below was resting against one of the ship's three 2 pound Mark VIII pom pom anti-aircraft arrays its eight 40mm barrels clearly recognizable despite the years.

Encrusted Mk VIII Pom-Pom.

These guns were advanced weapons when introduced, but by the outbreak of World War II advances in aircraft would have effectively made it obsolete, but for the introduction of a high velocity round, and new Director designs. It was intended that the curtain of fire it threw up would be sufficient to deter attacking aircraft and it did deter many attacks, but was hampered by an ineffective director.

Mk VIII Pom-Poms on HMS Rodney 1940.

The after action report on the battle of HMS Repulse and HMS Prince of Wales judged that the single 40mm Bofors gun, mounted on the quarterdeck, had been a more effective anti-aircraft weapon than the entire battery of multiple pom-pom mounts, as the pom-pom ammunition had deteriorated badly in their ready use lockers, and the Type 282 radar units also failed in the equatorial heat. In the same action, the Commissioned Gunner of HMS Repulse spent the whole action running from one pom-pom mount to another trying to keep them operational due to the faulty ammunition.

From the Pom-Pom we swam onto the Shelter Deck and worked our way stern to look at the sides of the Seaplane Hanger and ascending to the ships rail at the catapult before heading back up and across the hull to the line.

Watch the video of this dive here:

Looking forward to GUE Extravaganza 2009

2009-09-19T09:10:00.001+08:00

Its nearly October and that means its nearly time for our annual GUE expedition to the wrecks of the South China Seas. This year promises to be every bit as good as previous years with a number of other GUE Instructors joining Gideon and Leon on the MV Black Manta.

MV Black Manta

The trip is planned around doing some serious Tech 1 and Tech 2 level exploration on both HMS Repulse and TT Seven Skies as follows:

Day 1: TT Seven Skies

Day 2: HMS Repulse

Day 3: HMS Repulse

Day 4: TT Seven Skies

Day 5: MV Maritime Fidelity

This year there will be multiple camera teams and a healthy supply of scooters to ensure that we come away from the trip with some seriously good documentary footage.

Importantly we will be revisiting the Seven Skies exactly 40 years and a day since her sinking on Monday 6th October 1969. To commemorate this anniversary I have been brushing up on my Swedish to research newspaper and survivor accounts of the explosion and sinking that claimed four crew men's lives. You can read my research into the incident here and about our previous dives on the wreck in 2007 here.

This year is also the 68th anniversary of the sinking of HMS Repulse and HMS Prince of Wales on 10th December 1941. We feel honoured to have the opportunity to return to document some more of this majestic battle cruiser as a mark of respect for her fallen crewmen.

Finally we will have the opportunity to revisit the MV Maritime Fidelity which sank 10 years ago on 1st June 1999 following a collision with the VLCC New Venture. This is a great penetration wreck and we are looking forward to getting some good footage of the engine room and lower decks, and perhaps even visiting the detached superstructure.

The sinking of TT Seven Skies

2009-09-19T09:00:00.005+08:00

History

TT SEVEN SKIES was originally named the TT MALMOIL and was built in 1965 by Odense Staalskips A / S, Lindo, Denmark. She was equipped at Kockums Mechanical Engineering Ltd, Malmo, Sweden.

She was one of four sister ships the others being the SEVEN SEAS the SEVEN STARS and the MALMÖHUS.

Note: She is some times confused with the MT SEVEN SKIES built in 1957 and scrapped in 1988.

Seven Stars 1967

Seven Seas 1967

Malmohus 1965

She was a 261.21 x 39.00 x 18.10 m 97,950 DWT vessel equipped with two Kockums Stal Laval 22,500 HP steam turbines producing a top speed of 16 Knots.

She was originally ordered by Rederi Ab Malmoil, Malmo Sweden. The hull was launched on the 18th April 1965 in Denmark and sold to Salén Rederi AB, Stockholm in June 1965. On 30th December 1965 she was delivered to Salén as the SEVEN SKIES and in 1969 she was transferred to Rederi AB Pulp, Stockholm.

Seven Skies 1965

The sinking

Monday 6th October 1969.

The TT SEVEN SKIES was cruising through the South China Seas approximately 220 miles North East of Singapore en route from Japan to Indonesia and Dubai. The weather was clear and the sea flat calm.

At 7:30am the Norwegian chief engineer Svein Arnulf Nielsen (36) was in the engine room when the vessel was rocked by a massive explosion somewhere nearby. He was seriously injured receiving a fractured skull, broken bones and burns but he later reported:

"There was no time to think about anything else than to rush out of the fire that was all around me. Then I noticed that water was pouring into the ship. Confusion erupted when the ship was thrown back and forth by the powerful explosion.”

The ships Captain Otto Ferdinand Henning from Oskarshamn, Sweden reported:

” I was just eating breakfast. Suddenly I heard a bang. At first I thought it was a collision. The ship sank so quickly that we had no time to send SOS signals, but we were in a very busy waterway and other vessels responded immediately.”

Bjorn Edholm was an electrician aboard below are his notes on the incident written on letterhead from the Queen's Hotel in Singapore:
"06.30 Shaved and bathed and checked the temperature (+28 degrees) on the pier and looked out on the deck. All quiet and calm.
07.10 went into my cabin, put on the radio and began to read a book.
07.25 was thrown out of the chair onto the floor then back up again and again. All black, had no lights on and through the port holes was no light.
I left my cabin and opened the door to the deck, but closed it again. Everything was just smoke, fire (no flames, but red light) and water. An engineer came and opened the door and when through when it had calmed down somewhat, two engineers also went through before before I went out. Climbed to C-deck (I dared not try the bottom of the poop-deck). I found a Lifebelt and took the ladder down to B deck. The ship was listing about 45 degrees by now. The time was approximately 1-2 minutes after the explosion. I waited up on the railing for a short while to see if we were still sinking. The movement seemed to have subsided as she was rocking more before.
From where I stood I could see the back tyres were in the water and they seemed to float. I could see nothing of the tank deck. The Portside bridge wing was in the water and a lifeboat was at the port wing, including a mate in the boat. It was burning heavily on the starboard side.
When it looked as if we were not going to sink so suddenly I began to climb again with the help of the railing down to the height of the door of the machine room and jumped from there into the water astern of the port bridge wing and swam up to the lifeboat and was helped into it. It was almost full with water and oil. It was almost impossible to get a foothold on the slippery oil. We pulled up all that were on the port side of the boat and used a life raft that had unfurled itself to help rescue those in the water.
We tried to row away from the Seven Skies so we would not be drawn down with her when she sank. It was almost impossible to grasp the oars and put any force behind the stroke because everyone and everything was covered with black oil. We managed to get free from the hull in time, it sank 15 minutes after the explosion.
We picked up four other crew in the water and around 08.45 we were rescued by a Japanese fishing boat / trawler named Myojo Maru, where we could refresh ourselves, wash most of the oil off and were given coffee and sandwiches, while they continued looking for more missing."
Stoker Harry Lundgren said:
"Most of us were asleep when the explosion occurred. We had to throw ourselves into the sea. We could not think of what happened we just grabbed a life-vest and ran out on deck. We had time to launch a lifeboat before the ship sank but most of the crew were jumping into the sea among the floating wreckage and sticky oil."
For crew man Olle Jonsson it was a particularly bizarre experience:
"I had just risen and I only had a towel wrapped around my hips when the ship shook with the blast. Someone threw a life-vest for me and the next moment I was in the water, naked!
When I stuck my head up out of the water it felt as if someone had painted my face with oil. The towel was gone. The guys on the Japanese fishing boat were a little bit surprised when they pulled out a naked man covered in oil."
The ship sank rapidly, but within 20 minutes the 32 surviving crew members had been picked up by the Japanese fishing vessel MYOJYO MARU which was nearby at the time and transferred to the British cargo vessel ARCTIC OCEAN which transported them to Singapore. The severely injured engineer was flown to Singapore by British Air Force Helicopter.

The Japanese fishing vessel and another Japanese cargo ship continued to search for the missing four crew for hours but only found an empty survival raft. Aircraft and helicopters from the British Navy also helped in the rescue work.

The four crewmen killed were:

• Stig Gunnar Gote Lindblad (44), Telegraph clerk, Malmö, Sweden;

• Gunnar Filip Wallberg (54), Finance Director, Solna, Sweden;

• Bjorn Pettersson (25), Repairer, Lidingö, Sweden; and

• Dicky Mamangkey, Stoker, Indonesia.

Singapore 1969

The surviving crew members stayed in the luxury Queen's Hotel in Singapore, but they arrived wearing only underwear and work clothes which in the tropics meant nothing more than shorts. Hotel staff had not been warned that the guest were shipwrecked and were shocked when the scantily clad and dirty crowd walked in and shortly afterward the Hotel's tailor experienced a boom in trade in his little shop.

At the time of her sinking the vessel had an estimated value of between 45 and 60 million Kronor and was insured for 50 million Kronor. Making her one of the most expensive disasters ever at the time.

Salén Shipping Lines flew technical inspectors to Singapore to investigate the incident yet to this day mystery surrounds the actual cause of the sinking. The vessel was under charter by the Japanese oil company Idemitsu Kason to transport crude oil but was empty at the time of the sinking. Empty vessels are more prone to explosions given the technical difficulties of cleaning the storage tanks and the fact that Crude oil contains all the various oil fractions that can build up a highly flammable explosive mixture of air and oil vapours.

The potential source of the ignition was speculated to be repairman Bjorn Pettersson who was welding on the deck. He had barely begun work when the ship exploded killing him instantly. According to the inspector's findings, he was also the only one who did not manage to throw themselves into the water. The other three crew men who were killed were drowned.

An alternative ’conspiracy theory’ fuelled by Salén Lines attempts to avoid negative publicity by keeping the crew away from the press suggested that the SEVEN SKIES may have collided with another vessel, perhaps even a submarine or an old WWII mine. This however seems unlikely given that no other wreckage was found, and none of the rescue vessels reported seeing any any other vessels in the vicinity at the time of the explosion. Furthermore, the SEVEN SKIES sank in approximately 15 minutes which is consistent with previous tanker disasters where a gas explosions practically tear the ship apart.

Seven Skies 1965

Sources: Numerous Swedish Newspaper and survivor reports from 1969.

Salén Shipping Line Archives, Swedish Vessel Register

DIRdude is DUI DOG of the week!

2009-08-13T11:14:00.002+08:00

Just for fun we submitted a photo of my new drysuit to DUI for entry as DOG (DUI Owners Group) of the week.

The response from DUI was extremely warm and friendly and now a few weeks later Rich has been made DOG of the week!

Check out the article here.

Thanks DUI!

What is GUE?

2009-08-10T23:51:00.000+08:00

Global Underwater Explorers (GUE) was created to increase the quality and diversity of aquatic education. GUE was founded by conservationists, explorers and educators with a desire to see the mystery of the underwater world explored, studied, protected and shared. Global Underwater Explorers is prepared to redefine the nature of aquatic activity in three specific areas: education, research and exploration.

GUE's educational programs have been designed for the discriminating diver interested in obtaining the best possible instruction. Toward this goal all GUE educational programs combine comprehensive dive instruction, extensive task-oriented educational materials and detailed environmental literature. The Global Underwater Explorers educational program is structured to create the world's most experienced and proficient divers. To accomplish this goal GUE will select only the most dedicated and experienced individuals to conduct their training.

In addition to their unique approach to diver education, Global Underwater Explorers is the first training organization to focus significant resources on scientific investigation. Specifically, their goal is to dramatically increase the quantity and quality of underwater research through sponsorship of original research initiatives and the application of advanced diving techniques.

In addition to their personal role in exploration efforts, GUE representatives are in a unique position to share their experiences with a host of willing participants. By assisting other teams with the development of viable exploratory techniques and sharing in the distribution of available funds, GUE is prepared to drastically expand the nature of international exploration.

Global Underwater Explorers is a complete resource for the underwater enthusiast with a specific interest in seeing the underwater world explored, studied, protected and shared. The future of the underwater world is replete with unique opportunities; regardless of one's specific area of interest, Global Underwater Explorers has created a nexus to bring together the best of sport, technical and research diving in the service of environmental protection and understanding.

(©2000, Global Underwater Explorers) *
For more information about GUE, please visit their site at: www.gue.com

What is DIR?

2009-08-10T23:49:00.000+08:00

The "Doing It Right" (DIR) system evolved out of the exacting demands of the world's most extreme exploration diving, yet the approach is rapidly gaining favor among all levels of divers. Everyone benefits from a system that makes the underwater experience safer and more comfortable. The DIR system is much more than an equipment configuration. It is a diving style that ensures every aspect of each dive represents safety, fun and efficiency.

Leading explorers long ago realized that a confused or delayed response to emergency situations creates an unacceptable risk. DIR attempts to bring the practical solutions to safety and productivity honed in the world of exploration into the classroom for entry and advanced divers. Risk is managed by streamlining and minimizing gear configuration. Buddy communication skills are refined to heighten awareness of the dive environment. Taken together, rethinking your gear configuration and your approach to teamwork puts you back in the middle of the dive.

Unfortunately, there is a prevailing assumption that standardized equipment, clean configurations and attention to detail are only for "technical" or other rigorous diving conditions. In reality, clean and simple universal configurations are even more beneficial for divers with limited experience. GUE representatives have discovered that training all divers with standardized equipment has been highly successful.

(©2000, dirQuest, Issue 1.1) *
For more information on the DIR philosophy, please visit www.gue.com and www.dirquest.com

GUE Fundamentals

2009-08-10T17:34:00.000+08:00

PURPOSE

The GUE Fundamentals course is designed to cultivate the essential techniques required by all sound diving practice, irrespective of level or environment. Functioning as a prerequisite for all other GUE classes, save its recreational diver course, GUE Fundamentals performs a three-fold function within the GUE curriculum:

it provides the recreational diver, in whom there is no desire for further diver training, with a context in which to advance his/her basic diving skills, thereby developing more comfort, confidence, and competence in the water; and
it provides the diver with aspirations of more advanced diver training with the tools that will contribute to a greater likelihood of success; and
it provides non-GUE trained divers with a gateway into GUE training.

PREREQUISITES

Must meet GUE General Course Prerequisites as outlined in Section 1.6
Must be a minimum of 16 years of age
Must be a certified open water diver from a recognized training agency
Must be able to swim a distance of at least 50 feet/15 meters on a breath hold
Must be able to swim at least 300 yards/275 meters in less than 14 minutes without stopping. This test should be conducted in a swimsuit and, where necessary, appropriate thermal protection.

COURSE CONTENT
The GUE Fundamentals course is normally conducted over a 3 to 4 day period. Combining lecture and practical (in-water) sessions, this course focuses on cultivating the foundational skills required by all diving practice. It is focused on increasing diving fun by reducing stress and increasing diver proficiency through proper control of buoyancy, trim, propulsion, teamwork, and other DIR principles. Course requirements include a minimum of 10 hours of academics and five in-water sessions; at least two of these dives must include a depth of 25ft/8 meters.

GUE Training

2009-08-10T17:20:00.006+08:00

Global Underwater Explorers (GUE) is a non-profit organization formed by leading explorers, researchers, and educators; these individuals are dedicated to the training of divers as well as the study and protection of the aquatic realm. GUE and its associated projects are responsible for conducting some of the world’s most remarkable dives, setting numerous world records in the process. The success of this group encouraged great interest in their diving and procedures.

Of particular interest is the promotion of solid fundamental skills for all divers (recreational and technical) as well as their adherence to a common diving standard. This general standard requires the following:

Divers use the same equipment configuration; this enhances safety and efficiency
Divers use the same well-defined set of breathing gases, including Nitrox, Helium and Oxygen; standard mixes eliminate complexity and greatly enhance safety
Divers use a team approach during all dives, facilitating fun and safety
Divers must have a solid grasp of fundamental diving skills, including refined buoyancy, trim and teamwork; these skills must be developed in concert with the type of dive pursued. Difficult dives require very high levels of skill development.

GUE Training
The structure of GUE training is as follows:

Recreational Diver Level 1 and 2 (beginner and advanced)

Training includes a heavy emphasis on fundamental skills
Level 1 training includes Nitrox; level 2 includes Helium

GUE Fundamentals
The GUE Fundamentals course gives students the skills and techniques to be able to be in complete control in the water and takes a comprehensive look at the diver as a self-contained unit, exploring every single aspect of what affects the diver in the water. From pre-dive planning, to critically looking at equipment choice, to propulsion and maneuvering techniques, to team communication and emergency protocols, to even the gas that the diver breathes, every single component is explored in detail to understand what their risks and benefits are.

Designed to shore up weakness in fundamental skills
Pre-requisite class for Cave and Tech classes

Technical Diver Level 1, 2 and 3

The GUE Technical Diver Level 1 and 2 courses take these skills and further refine them to bring the diver beyond recreational ranges. These courses introduce the equipment and gases necessary to do these sorts of dives and explores the risks and contingencies of decompression diving.

Level 1 forms the foundation of technical diving
Level 2 is experienced-based training for aggressive diving
Level 3 lays the foundation for exploration diving

Cave Diver Level 1, 2 and 3

Level 1 forms the foundation of cave diving
Level 2 is experienced-based training for aggressive diving
Level 3 lays the foundation for exploration diving

Rebreather

Trains divers in the use of the Halcyon RB80
Requires Tech 2 training

60m Wreck Ships Graveyard

2009-07-11T11:21:00.001+08:00

The Wreck
This wreck is approximately 25m long, laying on its port-side and both the hull and superstructure have almost completely collapsed with only the Bow section still intact. Elsewhere the wreck is simply a jumble of hullplates, pipes and beams.

Most notible amongst this wreckage is the large boiler now laying on its back at a shallow angle towards the stern. The wreck is home to a broad variety of animal life with both Port Jackson and Wobbegone Sharks resident and a large population of mature Crayfish particularly in the boilers. We also saw a large ray off to the side of the wreck and heard a haunting whale-song in the distance which certainly added to to the experience. Overall this is a very nice Tech 1 level dive with plenty to see in the 20mins bottom time.

The Dive
Date: 11/07/2009
Max: 58m
Avg: 29m
BT: 18mins
RT: 52mins
BG: 18/45
Deco: EAN50, O2

Photos:

Starboard side midships looking towards the Bow.

Diver hangs over the boiler.

Stern looking towards the bow.

Stern section.

Plenty of Crays in the Boilers.

Close up on the Crays.

Boilers standout towards the Stern

Starboard side midships hull plates looking aft.

The Bow.

Inside the Bow.

Starboard side midships looking towards the Bow.

Assembling Double 12l Steel Cylinders

2009-07-09T19:12:00.003+08:00

We have recently had to build a new set of Doubles for a friend and thought it might be useful to document the process for those attempting this for the first time. If you are at all unsure about doing this, take the components to your local dive store and have them assemble them for you.

Step 1: The Components
We ordered two Faber 12l Steel cylinders with no boots and no valves. By ordering them with no valves from the manufacturer they should in theory arrive O2 clean but we had them cleaned at the shop prior to picking them up. Additionally, we ordered a Halcyon 300BAR DIN Isolator manifold (3/4" Thread) and Halcyon 18.4cm diameter tank bands.

It is beyond the scope of this article to argue the pros and cons of the varying methods of setting up double cylinders. Suffice it to say that the DIR community at large has settled on the 300BAR isolated DIN manifold as the manifold of choice.

The bands are the 3" Highland-Mill type which have been proven to provide the best possible support for dual systems. When choosing a band, ensure that the centre of the band, where the bolt binds the band to the cylinder when tightened, has been sufficiently reinforced so that it will not deform when torqued.

Step 2: Disassemble the manifold
The first job is to carefully disassemble the manifold so that the left and right post valves are free of the isolator. Be careful to maintain the orientation of the isolator so that you don't inadvertently attempt to re-connect it backwards and cross the threads. The right side of the isolator is reverse threaded, if the isolator is reversed it will not screw into either post, but inadvertently trying to force it can damage the delicate threads and render the whole manifold useless. The right post on the isolator has a notched nut to help identify the correct orientation.

Step 3:
Attach the drain plugs (dip sticks) to the cylinder valves. These are important as they prevent debris or liquid ingress into the valves and impeding airflow in the event of the cylinders being inverted.

Step 4:

Sparingly lubricate the threads of the valves with Oxygen compatible grease. Attach the cylinder valves to the cylinders, when it sets as firmly as you can set it by hand, use gentle taps with a rubber mallet to fully seat each valve.

Step 5:

Lightly grease the isolator's internal O-rings with Oxygen compatible grease if required.

Step 6:
Offer up the isolator to the cylinder valves and push together the cylinders to close the gap until the threads meet on both sides. Ensure that the cylinders are aligned in parallel to one another.

Step 7:
Carefully begin to rotate the isolator ensuring that there is even pressure on both sides until you feel the threads connect. It is important that the threads engage on both the right and left sides at the same time. Frequently one side will catch before the other, which creates an uneven fit. You may have to back the isolator off a couple of times to ensure that both posts engage evenly.

Step 8:
Slowly rotate the isolator into the cylinder valves, the threads will tighten as the cylinders are drawn together and pulled out of parallel so gently squeeze the cylinders together to realign them as you proceed. Eventually you will reach a point where the isolator will no longer rotate a full turn, at this point align the valve knob to its desired final position.

The gap between the right and left post valves and the isolator should be equal on both sides. Note the notched nut on the right side of the isolator valve.

Step 9:
Disassemble the tank band bolts, fit a bolt to each band and lightly secure with a washer, a split washer and a nut. Carefully slide the bands onto the cylinders from the bottom ensuring that they remain in parallel and you do not stress or rotate the manifold.

Raising the tail of the cylinders on a small strip of wood helps facilitate moving the bands down the cylinders and into position.

Step 10:
Align the top band with the start of the shoulder of the cylinder, right on the point where they begin to curve away to the neck. Secure the bolt with a spanner and gradually tighten the nut. Stop periodically to ensure the the cylinders remain in parallel and that the isolator valve can rotate freely and is not being strained. Tighten till moderately tight such that the cylinders will not shift when being handled.

Step 11:
Once the top band is secure prepare the second band as you did the first. Slide the band up the cylinders until the bolt head is 11" on centre from the top band bolt. Use a backplate to correctly position the bottom band along the cylinders.

Secure the bolt and gradually tighten the nut as before, ensuring periodically that the isolator valve remains free to rotate. Also periodically offer up the backplate to the bolts to ensure that they remain the correct distance apart.

As the band tightens make any final adjustments to it position with gentle taps of a hammer.

Step 12:
Once the backplate fits do the final tightening of both bands. Tighten till snug and then rotate one or two extra turns. Remember that the cylinders are empty and will expand when filled. Over tightening the bolts will cause them undue stress. Ensure there is still free movement of the isolator and that the threads are not under stress. Note: the isolator should be able to move freely. Do not tighten the locking nuts as this will impair the ability of the isolator to rotate slightly if it comes in contact with an object during diving, thus increasing the likelihood of damage.

Reassemble the remaining bolt hardware and spray the assembly with marine lubricant to lubricate and protect it.

And that's it, you now have a beautiful new set of DIR doubles all ready for their first fill.

DIRdudes Dive Porn on YouTube

2009-06-14T03:02:00.006+08:00

We've finally got around to setting up and posting some of our more recent videos on our own YouTube page. We've added a selection of videos covering the best of the last few years diving including: Seven Skies, Igara, Key Biscayne, HMAS Swan and HMS Repulse.

We'll retrospectively embed video of individual dives into the write ups here to provide easier access and more context.

We've arranged the files into playlists that match the categories here on the blog and so far they are:

Expeditions:

GUE Extravaganza 2007 or on YouTube
GUE Extravaganza 2008 or on YouTube

and

Local Dives

There is more footage to come so please feel free to subscribe to the channel and leave comments etc and check back regularly for updates.

Update on my TLS350

2009-05-27T18:48:00.001+08:00

Ok so the difference between diving this suit and my old one is completely night and day!

As I said before my old suit always required me to dive heavy. I have lost count of the number of GUE instructors that have looked at my weightbelt, then at me, then at my weightbelt again, and then just shaken their heads. Notably, both Andrew Georgitsis and Gideon Liew have both attempted to lighten my load in the past - unsuccessfully. “Dude you need a new drysuit” was one response.

I dive twin steel 12's that are 9lb (4kg) negative with a stainless steel backplate that is 6.6lb (3kg) negative and still needed a 4lb (2kg) v-weight and a 12lb (5.5kg) weightbelt to be correctly weighted at 3m with <30bar.

Thus assuming zero contributions from either wing gas and cylinder gas we can see that my old suit was contributing somewhere in the order of 32lb (14.5kg) of positive buoyancy.

-4 + -3 + -2 + -5.5 + 14.5 = 0 (neutral)

After diving my new suit I was amazed to discover I could completely do away with the weightbelt 12lb (5.5kg) and still be neutral at 3m. Given the above this means my new drysuit and the Polartec 300 undersuit are only approximately 20lb (9kg) positive.

The difference is particularly noticeable at shallow depths where the new suit makes stops much easier to hold. The smaller inherent buoyancy means that control is much easier, dumping is more efficient, the suit reacts more quickly and more predictably. Less is definitely more in this case. Plus, not having a weightbelt makes the whole rig more comfortable and considerably easier to walk around in.

For comprehensive coverage of balancing your rig read:

Weighting: in search of a balanced rig & Balanced equipment: what does it mean?

Sanko Harvest

2009-05-01T21:21:00.000+08:00

We are planning a trip to dive the Sanko Harvest in the next month or so. Here are some details, there will be more to follow.

The Sinking
At 03:20 West Australian time, 14 February 1991, the Panama registered bulk carrier Sanko Harvest grounded in shoal water between Hastings Island and Hood Island, in position 34° 07.4’ South, 122° 05.1’ East, approximately 19 miles south south east of Esperance, while on passage from Tampa, USA, via Cristobal, Panama, to Esperance, West Australia, loaded with 30,791 tonnes of fertiliser. It was her Captain's first command.

No person was killed or injured as a result of the grounding but extensive bottom damage was sustained from the impact with the reef, resulting in the release of heavy bunker oil from the
double bottom fuel tanks.

From the 14 February onwards, the condition of the ship deteriorated, being in a position exposed to the prevailing weather and swell, resulting in the progressive breach of further tanks and cargo holds. On the advice of the ship’s owners the Sanko Harvest was evacuated by the crew, for their safety, at 1655 15 February. The ship broke into three sections and sank during the night of 17/18 February.

The Sequence of Events
The Sanko Harvest loaded 21,993 tonnes of di-ammonium phosphate and 8,798 tonnes of triple strength super phosphate in bulk, in the port of Tampa.

The ship sailed from Tampa on 8 January 1991, via the Panama Canal, for three Australian ports, Esperance, Kwinana and Geraldton. The ship arrived in Cristobal, at the eastern end of the Panama Canal in the evening of 12 January and took on 1154 tonnes of heavy bunker C oil. The total quantity of bunker fuel on board sailing Cristobal was 48.23 tonnes of bunker A diesel oil and 1290 tonnes of bunker C.

The Sanko Harvest cleared the Panama Canal at 23:20 (UTC+5) 13 January. The distance to Esperance was approximate 9,300 miles with an estimated time of arrival as the morning of 13 February. The voyage to Australia was uneventful. The officers kept the traditional 3 watch system, with the Second Officer keeping the 12 to 4.

The Second Officer was responsible for navigation planning. Before departing from Cristobal he submitted the courses, distances and times for the Master’s approval. The Master also stated that he consulted the Volume 1 of the Australian Pilot. Shortly after leaving Cristobal all courses were laid off on the appropriate charts. These charts were checked for outstanding corrections against the British Admiralty Notices to Mariners held on board, which were complete to number 47 issued on 1 December 1990, the most recent notices having been received in Tampa. The Second Officer noted that, amongst other corrections, the last small correction shown on chart Aus 119, 'Approaches to Esperance', was Aus 543 of 1986.

He apparently entered 10 corrections to bring the chart up-to-date, covering the period from January 1987 to 1 December 1990, and recorded the corrections at the bottom left hand corner in accordance with accepted practice. He also recorded the corrections in a separate record of chart corrections.

The voyage followed a route through Cook Strait, New Zealand, via Bank Strait in the southern part of Bass Strait, south of King Island and thence 290° to a position 34° 22’ South, 122° 17’ East, off Twin Rocks approximately 35 miles south south east of Esperance.

On 2 February with the ship’s noon position at 41° 58’ South 174° 30’ East, the estimated time of arrival Esperance was calculated as 1000 13 February 1991. On 5 and 6 February telexes from Sanko Tokyo, confirming the program based on arrival on 13 February, were received by the ship. On 8 February the Master notified the company of an amended estimated time of arrival of 2000 local time 13 February. The following day, with 1,315 miles to run from the noon position, this was further amended to the early hours of 14 February.

On 10 and 11 February the Sanko Harvest experienced a reduction in average speed, due to head winds which put back the estimated time of arrival to later in the morning of 14 February. On 12 February the Master received two messages, one from Sanko Sydney, the other from the local agents in Esperance, asking the Master to endeavour to arrive in time to commence discharge at 0800. This required arrival at the pilot station not later than 0600.

At noon on 13 February the vessel was in position 35° 17’ South, 125° 27’ East with 209 miles to run on the planned route to Esperance. Fuel oil bunkers recorded as being on board at the time consisted of 39.7 tonnes of light diesel and 676.57 tonnes of bunker C. The course of 290° was maintained into the Second Officer’s watch.

At midnight the wind and sea conditions were recorded in the log book as south westerly force five (17-21 knots) with overcast sky and 10 miles visibility. At 0130, with 38.3 miles, to run the Second Officer altered course to 3280 and the planned passage through the Recherche archipelago commenced, utilising radar distance and bearings.

The Master stated that he went to bed at 2200 on 13 February, leaving instructions that he was to be called at a position marked on the chart 4.5 miles west of Mondrain Island. He was called at the prescribed position shortly before 0300 14 February. He arrived on the bridge shortly after, feeling no undue tiredness or fatigue. The ship proceeded at a reduced speed of 10.5 knots to make the pilot ground at 0530.

At 0307 the course was altered to 332° to pass between Hastings and Hood Island. The Master went to the radio room to send a telex to the Harbour Master, Esperance, confirming the ships time of arrival at the pilot ground. As he returned to the bridge the ship grounded in position 34° 07.4’ South, 122° 05.1’ East, apparently in shoal water not shown on the ship’s chart.

The Master sounded the general alarm and mustered the crew. The ship’s tanks were sounded and flooding into the forepeak tank, and numbers 1, 2 port ,3 port and 4 port double bottom water ballast tanks was found. The ship was seen to be leaking oil from forward and the crew deployed the limited amount of absorbent material contained on board. The escape of oil also suggested that 3 and possibly 4 port double bottom fuel tanks had also been breached. Captain Kim then telexed his owners and informed them of the grounding.

The vessel grounded on a falling tide, approximately 5.5 hours after predicted high water Esperance and 2.5 hours before the predicted low water at 0600. The ship was traveling on a course of 332° at about 10.5 knots. When the vessel brought up on the reef the heading altered to 343°. The draught at the time of the incident was approximately 10.059 forward and 10.409 metres aft. Based on a daily fuel oil consumption of 20 tonnes per day, there was approximately 36 tonnes of diesel oil, 664 tonnes of fuel oil (with approximately 500 tonnes distributed between numbers 3, 4 and 5 double bottom fuel tanks), 38 tonnes of lubricating oil and a small quantity of hydraulic oil remaining onboard.

At 0520 the ship slewed around to starboard and brought upon a heading of 050°, with a 5° list to port. At 0530 Captain Ian Harrod, Harbour Master, Esperance arrived at the Port authority offices and noted the telex from the Sanko Harvest sent at 0320. Shortly afterwards he received a VHF radio message from the ship informing him that the ship was aground and was leaking oil. The ship’s position was approximately 19 miles south south east of Esperance.

Captain Harrod informed the Federal Sea Safety Centre, Canberra of the incident, following the procedures of the National Plan to Combat Pollution of the Sea by Oil. Captain Harrod arranged for the Esperance Harbour’s oil boom to be loaded on to the harbour tug and then proceeded to the casualty, shortly after 0600.

Captain Harrod arrived on board the Sanko Harvest at 0800. He examined the ship’s chart in use at the time (AUS 119) and observed that the last small correction noted in the bottom left hand corner was Aus 500. He stated that he told Captain Kim that the chart in use was not the latest edition. The ship’s staff then referred to the notices to mariners on board and found Aus notice 577 notifying mariners that a new edition of the chart would be published shortly.

Captain Harrod also stated that there was no suggestion that alcohol or drugs were a factor in the grounding. United Salvage Pty Ltd of Sydney responded to the incident at 0930 14 February and a salvage team was dispatched to Esperance. The Salvage master arrived in Esperance at 1930 and after a meeting with local port administrators was taken to the ship by launch, where he arrived shortly after 2245.

The condition of the ship continued to deteriorate, by noon on 14 February a further five tanks were confirmed to be breached with number 3 port and number 4 port and starboard double bottom fuel tanks flooded and loosing oil to the sea. By the time the Salvage Master arrived a further three tanks had been breached and were flooded including 3 starboard double bottom fuel tank.

Arrangements were made by United Salvage for a Fremantle tug to be placed on stand-by ready for dispatch to Esperance and for pumps, compressors and other equipment to be made available.

During the early hours of 15 February water was detected in the bilges of numbers 2 and 4 holds and by 0650 both holds were flooded and cargo was being lost.

On the morning of the 15 February an underwater inspection was made of the hull. A great deal of buoyancy had been lost and the ship was effectively being prevented from sinking by the reef on which it had grounded. There was serious doubt as to whether it would be possible to refloat the ship, particularly in view of the worsening sea condition.

United Salvage, through its Sydney office notified the ship’s owners at 1308:

“Technically, the vessel was in a sunk condition yesterday with the loss of 4,900 T of ballast tank buoyancy and was only held up by contact with the reef on the port side. . . . . , we believe it is only a matter of time before there is a further failure of the hull....."

The decision to order the tug to sail from Fremantle and bring in salvage equipment was deferred until further appraisals were made by the salvors and ship’s owners.

At 1400 the Esperance harbour tug arrived at the vessel with an additional (more substantial) oil pollution boom, dispersant and spray equipment. The Master gave instructions for the ship’s lifeboats to be swung out and made ready in case of emergency.

By mid afternoon 15 February, it was apparent that the ship was seriously stressed and shortly after 1500 Captain Kim received a telex from the owners advising him to evacuate the ship before sunset. Arrangements were made through the Harbour Master for two local vessels to evacuate the crew to Esperance. All crew and salvage personnel had left the ship by 1655 hours.

Over 16 February the salvage crew attended the vessel and reported on the deteriorating situation. Aerial inspections were made of the oil pollution threat by Captain Harrod, as on scene co-ordinator, and others of the oil spill response team. Spraying with dispersant was conducted by the Esperance Harbour tug and by helicopter.

During the evening of 17 February a heavy swell developed, estimated to be between 3.5 and 4 metres. During the night, believed to be in the early hours of 18 February, the ship broke up and sank.

Inquiry Conclusions
An Inquiry concluded that the grounding of the Sanko Harvest was caused by:

The lack of appreciation by the Master and Second Officer (and other officers who were aware of the planned approach to Esperance) of the warnings contained on the charts and Australian Sailing Directions, Volume 1;
The failure of the Second Officer to properly apply the available corrections to the charts of the area, in particular his failure to enter small correction Aus 2 19 of Admiralty Notices to Mariners, weekly edition 20 of 21 May 1988, which described the geographical location of the shoal water upon which the Sanko Harvest grounded;
The Master’s decision to navigate in an area where acceptable hydrographic surveys were either incomplete or had not been undertaken;

Further:

The ship had on board the appropriate charts, notices to mariners and other publications to allow safe navigation;

Had the charts held on board, particularly Aus 119, BA 3189 and BA 1059, been properly corrected, they would have provided proper and reliable navigational information;
The 1990 edition of chart Aus 119 was not available to the Master and hence the outcome of the voyage had the ship been in possession of this edition is not an issue;
The grounding was caused by human failure alone. Neither the cargo, nor the mechanical equipment, nor navigational equipment contributed to the incident;
Neither the Master nor the Second Officer were in any way under the influence of drugs or alcohol;
There is no evidence that fatigue was a contributing factor.

Source: Maritime Safety Investigation Report - Final Photos: courtesy of Esperance Diving & Fishing

The Wreck

We are in the process of researching the wreck site in preparation for the trip. More details to follow, but as usual we have built a 3D model of the ship from the available plans to help plan the objectives of the dives.

Royal Dutch Navy Submarine HNMS K XI (N53)

2009-05-01T21:20:00.000+08:00

The Royal Dutch Navy submarine, HNMS K.XI (N53), arrived in Fremantle on March 22, 1945 after spending most of the war as an asdic training submarine for the British and Indian navies.

After being decommissioned in Fremantle on April 10, 1945 K.XI was handed over to the RAN for transfer to the Commonwealth Disposal Committee on June 21. K.XI was partially stripped in the Swan River HMAS Leeuwin II where its 3.5" deck cannon was removed and presented to the Fresh Water Bay Yacht Club.

Later she was, towed down river to Fremantle Harbour and was scheduled for further stripping. however, whilst moored outboard of another vessel at North Quay she sank overnight because a valve or gauge was left open.

It took six weeks to raise the hull and further strip it down before K.XI was finally towed out to the “Ships Graveyard” site some 12 nm west of Rottnest Island and scuttled September, 1946.

The submarine now lies at approximately [32 03S, 115 22 E] in around 80m of seawater.

Photos: copyright Kevin Lock / Saxon Fogarty, & G.D. Horneman

Sources: Dutch Subs, uboat.net

My New 'GUE-Spec' DUI TLS350

2009-04-29T09:49:00.001+08:00

I have been diving my Otter Skin trilaminate drysuit for over 8 years now and it has served me well. However, it was a stock size and is quite roomy, in addition it has large 'Wellington boots' which mean I've always needed to dive quite heavy and wear gators to help manage my buoyancy. So when the latex wrist seals gave out at the beginning of the year I figured it was time for a new suit.

During our South China Seas Wreck Expedition in October 2008 I had Gideon Liew measure me up for a new DUI TLS350 drysuit. This crucial piece of gear is a serious investment and it is really important to ensure that the sizing is done accurately.

DUI have an 11 step process for ordering a custom drysuit (see form here) which includes 21 separate body measurements. Gid took about an hour to methodically work through the form and ensure everything was done correctly and all the various options were explained.

A 'GUE-Spec' TLS350 is a Special Production Explorer Series with the following features:

TLS350 Drysuit (Explorer Series)
Cave Cut (Maximum mobility)
Black with Charcoal (the new red) Tuff Duck overlay
Overlay style #1
Turbo Soles
Zip-Seals on wrists
Classic zipper
Swivel inlet valve
Apeks high profile dump valve
Cloverleaf crotch pad
Cordura Kneepads
Halcyon balanced p-valve
Halcyon Explorer pockets
Hood

For a comprehensive guide to drysuit options read Rich Walker's excellent notes here.

Having Halcyon Explorer pockets factory fitted is a nice touch, but non-standard and I'm very grateful to Gideon for arranging this. In addition to the suit I also ordered a Polartec® PowerStretch 300 undersuit.

I ordered the suit through Dr Graham Blackmore GUE instructor and DUI agent in the Phillipines. The order went to DUI in February and it was shipped to Graham last week, after final checking Graham couriered it to me in Perth and it arrived two days later. All told, the order took 64 days (2 months) to arrive, not bad.

The suit ships with its own bag, as does the undersuit, in addition it comes with zipper wax, a talc sack for the seals and an inflator hose. The p-valve comes with a adjusting tool, a catheter and a plastic bottle for rinsing out the hose.

The first job after unpacking and checking the suit is to cut the latex seams to the correct diameter. Trimming the seals is agony because all you want to do is get the suit on, but its important to take your time and do this right. Gideon had recommended fitting the seals over a suitably sized can and using a razor blade to cut the seals to the right size rather than using scissors as DUI recommend. He's right, having recently used scissors to size my repaired Otter seals; this method is preferable.

The undersuit was a stock size but fitted perfectly with plenty of mobility in the arms. The drysuit is a 'Cave Cut' which though not for everyone, is perfect for me and with the undersuit it fits like a glove. After some minor adjustment to the internal braces the suit was on and WOW! I have to say both DUI and Gideon did an excellent job, the fit and the quality of this suit is exquisite. I'm not really sure how I managed to not get one of these for so long, there is certainly no going back!

To anyone considering purchasing one of these suits I'd say ensure you get properly sized, preferably by a GUE Instructor who knows what to specify, there are a lot of options out there and this is a big investment, but be under no illusions it is worth the money and the wait.

I'm seriously looking forward to getting into the water and potentially finally getting rid of most of my weightbelt.

DIRdudes on the GUE Website!

2009-04-07T00:05:00.002+08:00

We have made it on to the GUE website! See the article here.

Recently our good friend and dive buddy Terrence Lee in Singapore was approached to write an article on our recent GUE Dive Expedition to dive HMS Repulse in the South China Sea in October 2008. It look a while for GUE to process the report but it has now made it to the GUE website.

DIRdudes preparing to dive HMS Repulse.
(Image copyright Vie Panyarachun.)

HMAS Swan

2009-01-31T20:00:00.000+09:00

The former HMAS Swan, a 113 metre long decommissioned naval destroyer, was scuttled in December 1997.

HMAS Swan was laid down by the Williamstown Dockyard, Melbourne on 16 February 1965. She was launched on 16 December 1967 and decommissioned on 13 September 1996.

Diver access holes were cut through the hull, deck and bulkheads. This allowed easier access to the interior to the ship along with greater light penetration. In most instances a diver can now stay within direct line of sight on an entry/exit point and still explore a significant portion of the Ship.

On 14 December 1997, HMAS Swan was scuttled. The sinking was observed by an estimated 10,000 spectators on shore, plus 600 spectator craft. The actual detonation was performed by a six-year-old child, whose father had won a raffle for the honour. HMAS Swan sank quickly in 31 metres (100 ft), and came to rest on the sandy bottom in a nearly upright position.

The site is now host to an estimated 100 different species of marine life.

The Dive

Date: 31/01/2009
Max: 31m
Avg: 18m
BT: 65mins
RT: 107mins
BG: EAN32
Deco: O2

Who are these guys?

2009-01-16T12:44:00.020+09:00

The DIRdudes are a small team of dedicate GUE divers who are based in Perth, Western Australia and who are very active throughout Australia and Southern Asia. In recent years we have become increasingly active in promoting GUE training and awareness both in Perth where we have organised a number of training courses and gradually eroded some negative stereotypes regarding DIR to establish ourselves as respected ambassadors for GUE within the local diving community; and more widely with the creation of our blog and videos.

We have actively participated in a number of GUE hosted diving Expeditions to the South China Seas; made contributions in terms of detailed wreck and historic research; and through the development of 3D models of wreck sites to assist with dive planning, visualisation of objectives and dive safety. We are currently developing articles for publication in GUE’s Quest magazine on a number of topics.

Currently the DIRdudes are:

Richard Walkland
Diving since 1999
DIR since 2003 (1000+ dives)
[PADI Openwater; NAUI Advanced; NAUI Master Diver; GUE Fundamentals; GUE Tech 1; TDI Advance Trimix; TDI Deep Cavern; CDAA Deep Cavern]

Justin Martin
Diving since 1991
DIR since 2006 (1000+ dives)
[PADI Openwater; PADI Advanced; PADI Divemaster; GUE Fundamentals; GUE Tech 1; TDI Advance Trimix; TDI Deep Cavern; CDAA Deep Cavern]

Andrew Robertson
Diving Since 199?
DIR since 2006 (1000+ dives)
[PADI Openwater; PADI Advanced; GUE Fundamentals; GUE Tech 1; CDAA Deep Cavern; CDAA Cave]

As of January 2010 DIRdudes are now an Official GUE Affiliate Group.

The DIRdudes are also proud members of the

GUE Team: PerthBoys

Homemade Gavin trigger wheel modification

2008-12-02T15:38:00.000+09:00

Ok so this month I purchased a Gavin scooter. Finally now all of us have one of these great pieces of kit and I can't wait to get it in the water.

Whilst giving it a thorough strip-down clean to familiarize myself with its workings I noticed that the trigger wire had an annoying tendency to jump off the wheel stopping the trigger from working. It did this with the least provocation and after disassembling the handle a dozen or so times to fix this problem I figured I had do something about this before taking the scooter into the water.

The problem is clearly in the design of the original wheel which does not have sufficient groove depth to hold the trigger wire in place if slack is applied to the wire eg. when the magnet is rotated independently of the trigger.

A quick internet search showed that I was not alone with this problem and turned up John Preston's (jpreston1845) fantastic Derelin replacement wheels.

Ultimately, I'm sure I buy one of these great replacements but it occurred to me that I could easily modify the original wheel as a quick fix to get the scooter in the water.

My DIY Version

After measuring the available space within the handle I cut two 35mm diameter discs from the back of a CD case and drilled out their centers. Next I shaved the little retaining loop off the original wheel with a sharp knife. After sanding down the surfaces I applied a small amount of Araldite® 2-part adhesive to the outsides of the original wheel and attached the new disks.

Once the glue had set I fitted the new larger wheel back into the handle and Bingo! Now no matter how much slack I put into the trigger wire it cannot jump off the wheel.

GUE Extravaganza 2008

2008-10-20T15:53:00.004+08:00

In what has become an annual event, Gideon and his staff planned a liveaboard trip the MV White Manta to visit some more of the wrecks of the South China Sea.

This was the most ambitious trip to date, with 5 full days of diving and only GUE trained technical divers on board.

Including Gideon and Leon, there were 6 Tech 2 divers and 7 Tech 1 divers, plus 2 support divers. Just about everyone had taken a course from Gideon in the past or otherwise had some association with him.

Putting the G in GUE were visiting guests – 4 from Australia oursleves included, one from Thailand and one from China. The rest of the divers were local to Singapore.

Read full reports of this trip: here and here

Here's some of our footage from this years trip:

Maritime Fidelity

2008-10-19T18:43:00.001+08:00

bulk carrier ship of the ‘Handymax’ class similar to the Fidelity

At about 0030 hours on 1/7/1999, there was a collision between a Panama-registered bulk carrier "Maritime Fidelity" (GT 14,921) and a Liberia-registered Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) "New Venture" (GT 156,307) at Latitude 01 32.1'N Longitude 104 35.1'E about 30 kilometres north east of Horsburgh Lighthouse, outside of Singapore's port limits.

The "Maritime Fidelity", carrying a full load of fertilizer, was eastbound for Vietnam and the "New Venture", empty of cargo, was westbound for Singapore.

Built in 1984 with a crew of 28, the "Maritime Fidelity" had 4 cargo holds, 3 deck mounted lifting cranes was 156.7m long with a beam of 25.2m and a draught of 10.2m she displaced 40,900 tones.

The master of "Maritime Fidelity" reported that his vessel was holed at the portside and taking in water. The master of "New Venture" reported that his vessel sustained a small hole on the bulbous bow above the waterline, and was not in any danger of sinking. The vessel will make its way to Singapore.

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) immediately informed the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN), the Police Coast Guard and salvors of the collision. An RSN ship arrived at the scene to render assistance to the vessels. The Maritime Rescue and Co-ordination Centre at Port Klang, Malaysia, was also informed of the incident.

At 0338 hours, the master of "Maritime Fidelity" reported that his vessel was still taking in water and was in danger of sinking. He decided to abandon ship. All 28 officers and crew members from the "Maritime Fidelity" were rescued by the RSN ship and brought back to Singapore. No injury to any of the crew members was reported.

At about 0740 hours the salvors at scene reported that the "Maritime Fidelity" was still taking in water and sinking.

Source: MPA

The Wreck
Due to the wreck being a hazard to other ships the bridge was removed by Salvors in early November 1999, as well as removal of 450 tons of fuel and the cutting of the Derrick and 3 deck cranes.

Sketch of the wreck

The main hull (marked by buoys) now sits approximaely 50m from the Bridge; which is resting on a sandy bottom at about 44m. The bridge superstructure is relatively undamaged (accept for salvage works), the roof of the bridge section is approximately 37m.

The Dive

Date: 19/10/2008
Max: 39m
Avg: 22m
BT: 30mins
RT: 58mins
BG: 21/35
Deco: EAN50

HMS Repulse

2008-10-16T18:44:00.004+08:00

HMS Repulse was one of two very fast battlecruisers ordered by the Admiralty in 1915 the other was HMS Renown.

In World War I, Repulse's combat service with the Battle Cruiser Squadron was limited to a skirmish with German light cruisers in the Helgoland Bight on November 17, 1917. Following the war, her belt armor was increased to nine inches.

During the interwar period she made several long cruises, including one around the world, and she served with the Home and Mediterranean fleets.

When World War II began, Repulse served on convoy duty in the Atlantic, and in April 1940 she took part in various actions during the German invasion of Norway.

In October 1941, she was sent to the Far East with HMS Prince of Wales as the nucleus of the Eastern Fleet under Admiral Sir Tom Phillips. They arrived at Singapore on December 2. Six days later, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and began their drive into Southeast Asia.

On December 8, Force "Z"—the two capital ships and destroyers HMS Electra, Express, and Tenedos, and HMAS Vampire—sortied to attack Japanese forces in southern Thailand. Force "Z" was sighted by submarine I-68 the next afternoon, but avoided further detection until 02:20 on December 10.

December 10, 1941

Shortly before dawn, the Japanese launched thirty-four land-based bombers and fifty-one torpedo-bombers, which attacked the two capital ships at 11:15. The planes made three separate attacks, and Repulse sank at 12:35, an hour before Prince of Wales.

The Dives

	Dive 1	Dive 2	Dive 3	Dive 4
Date:	16/10/2008	16/10/2008	17/10/2008	17/10/2008
Max:	54m	53m	52m	53m
Avg:	25m	23m	23m	26m
BT:	21mins	20mins	20mins	22mins
RT:	50mins	54mins	53mins	47mins
BG:	21/35	21/35	21/35	21/35
Deco:	EAN 50	EAN50	EAN50	EAN50

Stern Torpedo Damage

Bow Rails

Midships Torpedo Damage

Port-side Propeller

Center Propeller Shaft

Midships Torpedo Damage

Midships looking Aft

Midships looking Foreward

Midships Torpedo Damage

Foreward Main Guns

Foreward Main Guns

Foreward Main Guns

Midships Superstructure

Magestic Bow (Photo courtesy AG)

Midships Superstructure (Photo courtesy AG)

Aur Tanker

2008-10-16T13:55:00.001+08:00

The wreck lies 38nm south of Tioman, one hour east of Pulau Aur, in a completely upright position in 64m of water. The identity of this wreck is a mystery. She is believed to be a post war British (ESSO?) oil tanker sunk sometime after 1957 but has never been positively identified despite being dived since the 1980's.

Vessels very similar to the Aur Tanker

The wreck's interior is completely stripped and she appears to have been deliberately scuttled. The anchor is out on the sand and there are numerous outward facing blast holes with the metal blown outwards. These blast holes are circular and about a meter in diameter. Possibly suggesting that she was a victim of piracy. Pulau Aur has a history of piracy which continues to this day:

01.04.2009
Posn: 02:30.10N - 104:24.20E, 6 nm NW of Pulau Aur, Malaysia.
Five pirates with masks and armed with knives boarded a tug towing a barge underway. They stole crew cash and personal belongings and escaped.

29.01.1998
Pirates stole over 1 mm litres of gasoil from a tanker in Malaysian waters this month, after a gang of between 7 and 10 men boarded the 3,077 dwt Tioman near Pulau Aur. The assailants attacked, beat, bound and blindfolded the crew, and removed all the communication equipment from the ship, owned by SEA Resources of Singapore. An unidentified tanker than pulled up and offloaded around one-third of Tioman's cargo of gasoil.

The Wreck
The stern house has much to see and good penetration. You can swim from the stern steering room through the aft house to the front of the house. There are two hallways that run the length of the accommodation section and each hall way has rooms leading off to port and starboard.

The hall ways also connects to the engine room and turbine rooms in board. The cold room still has cork on the wall and this can be entered at the front of the aft house. The engine room can be accessed via a sky light in the center of the stern house or via hallways that run the length of the aft house. The engine has a round blast hole that is at about 63m and the sand is at 65m.

The engine room is full of equipment. You will find a machine shop on the port side and a storage area on the starboard side with metal in racks. There are plastic names plates for the electrical controls in English but nothing that has provided a name. An RCA Radar set was once recovered with a stamped date of 1957 so it seems this wreck made it through the war. The portholes were made in Rainhill UK.

The midships house has nothing in it and the bow is quite buckled and blasted, worth a dive but not much to see. Once again plenty of rooms but all empty. Here is a Google Sketchup model of our dives through the midships house.

The Dives

Dive 1
Date: 15/10/2008
Max: 53m
Avg: 25m
BT: 19mins
RT: 51mins
BG: 21/35
Deco: EAN50

Dive 2
Date: 18/10/2008
Max: 55m
Avg: 27m
BT: 16mins
RT: 46mins
BG: 21/35
Deco: EAN50

Dive 3
Date: 18/10/2008
Max: 54m
Avg: 23m
BT: 14mins
RT: 51mins
BG: 21/35
Deco: EAN50

TDI Advanced Trimix Course

2008-09-28T23:11:00.000+08:00

The DIRdudes are all GUE trained and dive DIR, no surprises there, but we also maintain a healthy interest in what other diving training organisations can offer and after completing GUE Tech 1 in 2007 we were interested in the TDI Advanced Trimix Course as a warm-up ahead of doing Tech 2 later this year.

This course provides the training required to competently and safely utilise breathing gases containing Helium for dives that require staged decompression, utilising Nitrox and/or Oxygen mixtures during decompression to a maximum depth of 91msw. This new adventure promised challenges and excitement whilst calling upon all of our previously learnt skills, knowledge and experience.

Getting to know you...
We contacted Callum Girvan at Dolphin Scuba because of his reputation as a first rate TDI Instructor (he has subsequently been awarded TDI Instructor of the Year 2008). We arranged an informal meeting to discuss our interest in the course, understand the prerequisites and get to know one another.

Its an interesting dance at this level of diving, when both the instructor and the students are very experienced. We had already done our homework before approaching Callum and we were satisfied that he was the best instructor available in our area. Likewise after meeting us Callum not only checked our credentials but also our reputations in the local dive community. Given the seriousness of the diving on this course it was good to see this level of selectivity before accepting candidates. A further check with Richard Taylor at TDI HQ established that our GUE Tech 1 qualification was sufficient as a prerequisite for the course so all was fine on paper. Justin and I were joined on the course by Josh who had just completed an instructor qualification and was about to enter the Navy as a Clearance Diver.

In addition to clearing the certs we wanted to see how each other performed in the water so we arranged to join Callum on a couple of his upcoming Extended Range course dives, in this way we could assess each others abilities and style ahead of the course.

The Course
The course itself consisted of about 10 hours over three evening classroom sessions covering the academics and four skills assessment and pre-qualification dives.

The classroom sessions provided an opportunity to discuss the similarities and differences between GUE training and TDI, this was done with a health dose of good natured piss-taking from both sides. Whilst Callum and Josh are both successful and dedicated TDI divers they were somewhat interested in hearing about how the use of standardised gases provided the framework for deco on the fly (ratio deco). The course itself covered diving physics, physiology; deco gas options; equipment considerations; dive tables and theory; dive planning including support, team and emergency plans; procedures and contingency.

The training dives likewise provided an opportunity to compare technique; given we would be diving with three deco/travel cylinders (2 x S80 + S40). This gave us an opportunity to show off (and practice) the use of a stage leash and the DIR technique of multiple-cylinder switching rather than carrying two deco cylinders on the left and one on the right side. We also had discussions about the rationale behind DIR hose routing and the ubiquitous discussions over what constitutes good trim.

Callum was preaching to the choir for much of the course but none the less consistently drove home the need for proper gas analysis, adequate pre-dive planning and proper execution of the plan. The skills dives were fun re-covering most of our GUE Fundies skills. Callum had us demonstrate the basic 5, valve drills, line laying, blind navigation, SMB deployment etc. Our maskless breath-hold swim at 20m was interesting, with all of us learning that we 'dress to the left' :). Removing and replacing stage bottles without a mask was likewise a little different.

Things got even more interesting as Callum increased the task load beyond our comfort level. By the end of the skills assesment we were holding simulated deco stops as a team despite multiple failures. We had two maskless divers and two failed depth gauges! The remaining sighted diver who was OOA had to monitor depth and time on another divers wrist whilst a maskless diver deployed an SMB. We held our stops but it wasn't pretty.

The Dives
To find the depth we needed for this course and a suitable objective for each dive we planned to visit the wrecks of the Rottnest Ships Graveyard. The Graveyard is an area between 5-18 NM west of the West End of Rottnest Island encompassing the entire region between the south-east and the north-west quadrants. The seabed in the region lies between 40-200 metres deep.

The area has been used as a dumping ground for derelict ships and surplus munitions from the early 1900’s until the 1970’s, but some dumping was carried out later than this but usually in much deeper water. There are reportedly around 40 ships scuttled in the area, but a large number of these were old iron “hulks” and wooden ships of which there is little remaining.

Rottnest Ships Graveyard (info from the National Shipwrecks database)

Warm-up dive

Date: 13/07/2008
Max: 58m
Avg: 26m
BT: 20mins
RT: 64mins
BG: 18/45
Deco: EAN50

HMAS Junee?

We planned a 60m warm-up dive on what was supposed to be the scuttled wreck of HMAS Junee.

It was pretty clear however when we got down to the wreck that it was a small bulk carrier and not a Navy vessel at all. Not that it mattered it was still a beautiful wreck teaming with life and there was whale-song in the distance!

Apparently the Junee is nearby, less than 20m from this wreck! You've got to love the graveyard!

Qualifying Dive 1

Date: 7/09/2008
Max: 83m
Avg: 30m
BT: 12mins
RT: 58mins
BG: 15/55
Deco: 35/30; EAN50; O2

An interesting friend at 90m!

A fantastic dive made all the more memorable for the appearance of a 4m Grey Nurse Shark just as we arrived at the wreck. Interesting company to keep when you are at least an hour from the surface.

Qualifying Dive 2

Date: 28/09/2008
Max: 88m
Avg: 31m
BT: 12mins
RT: 59mins
BG: 15/55
Deco: 35/30; EAN50; O2

Conclusions

This was a great course particularly for the intense practical experiences it provided. Overall, given the depth that this course certifies you to to dive, we think the academics are a bit light and there is not enough consideration of team contingencies. This is not a substitute to a Tech 2 course. We were glad we had our Tech 1 training to fall back on otherwise some aspects could have been quite scary. That said it fits well as a complement to Tech 1 and as a preliminary to Tech 2 and Callum rocks as an instructor.

The sinking of the Key Biscayne

2008-03-16T12:01:00.000+09:00

Summary of the Sinking

Date: 01/09/1983
Location: Ledge Point, Western Australia
Activity: Rig move

The Key Biscayne, owned by Key International Drilling Company, was under contract to Esso Australia and had just completed a well in the Arafura Sea, 180 miles northeast of Darwin, Australia. The decision was then made to stack the rig in Cockburn Sound near Fremantle. Two rig supply vessels, the Atlas Van Diemen and the Lady Sonia, would be used to tow the rig down the west coast of Australia to Fremantle. The Argus Guard was to accompany the rig as its stand-by vessel.

The first week of the tow along the north-west coast passed without incident. On Wednesday 24 August 1983, both tow lines parted and were reconnected by the early hours of Thursday 25 Aug. The rig then rounded the NW Cape and passed Shark Bay, experiencing slight seas but no problems. On Sunday 28 Aug, the weather began to worsen with force 6-7 winds, rough seas and 6-7m swells. On the evening of the Sunday 28 Aug, both tow lines were again lost. The rig was pitching and rolling heavily with the sea constantly washing over the main deck, causing damage to the rig from smaller cargo items which were washed around the main deck. There was some suspicion that sections of the deck plating had been fractured causing leaks, and water taken onboard during the bad weather was pumped out. By Monday 29 Aug, both tow lines were reconnected and the tow resumed in more moderate weather.

As the Key Biscayne sailed south of the Abrolhos Islands on Wed 31 Aug, it experienced heavy SW winter swells. By midnight of 31 Aug, gale force conditions sprang up with high winds, rough seas and 6m swells buffeting the rig. At 0644 hours on Thurs 01 September, the Lady Sonia tow line parted and the Atlas Van Diemen attempted to hold rig into the wind, although both vessels were being driven easterly towards the shore. The rig appeared to be pitching more to the stern than the bow with the sea continually washing over the main deck, indicating that some flooding of the aft tanks may have occurred. On the morning of 01 Sep, it became obvious that the rig was settling to the stern and the rig reported water overflowing from the aft pump room into the port-side sack room.

The worsening situation led to the decision to evacuate non-essential personnel and a MAYDAY was sent at 0930 hours on 01 Sep. By this time, a charter helicopter had arrived on scene but the pilot could not land due to the excessive pitching of the rig. Two defense force choppers were dispatched and were able to winch off eight crew, after which there was a lull in the weather and the charter chopper managed to lift off another ten. By 1230 hours, only ten essential crew were left aboard. Through the day, the rig began settling to the stern and listing to starboard, with heavy seas washing over deck. The bow was observed lifting clear of the sea, with the rig pitching 10 degrees forward, 25 degrees back and rolling 15 degrees to each side. The rig's Manual of Operations specified that the rig's pitch or roll should not exceed 5 degrees.

After a number of unsuccessful attempts to re-attach the towline, all line-throwing rockets had been used and conditions on the deck became too hazardous for work. Ten nautical miles off Ledge Point, the rig's port anchor was let go to help hold the rig. The remaining crew were then evacuated at 1620 hours, with the intention of returning the following day.

At 1730 hours, the rig anchor parted. At 1845 hours, the Atlas Van Diemen towline parted. The Argus Guard then turned to starboard to clear the rig. After the turn, the rig was no longer visible and radar contact had been lost. The rig had capsized in 41m of water, landing inverted on the seabed with two of its legs bent or broken under the rig. The third leg lay broken off away from the rig. The attitude of the rig on the seabed indicated that it had tipped over backwards.

Causes
Loss of directional control and gale force conditions were cited as the main factors in the accident. Loss of watertight integrity and flooding through possible hull fractures caused by excessive leg oscillation experienced as the rig pitched and rolled were also named as contributory factors.

Sources
Australian Transport Safety Bureau: Preliminary Investigation
Photos: DIRdudes & Image Dive & Charters

Key Biscayne

2008-03-16T00:06:00.002+09:00

This weekend Robbo & Rich (J had a cold!) took a trip to Lancelin to dive the Key Biscayne Wreck - a jack-up oil rig platform that sank in high seas while being towed in 1983.

The wreck now sits upside down in 40m water making it a great Tech 1 level dive. The surface conditions were perfect for the trip out to the wreck but unfortunately on the wreck the vis was poor (-10m) due to the presence of tonnes of marine snot in the water.

Dive 1
Date: 15/03/2008
Max: 41m
Avg: 22m
BT: 23mins
RT: 63mins
BG: 21/35
Deco: EAN50

Dive 2
Date: 15/03/2008
Max: 42m
Avg: 23m
BT: 25mins
RT: 56mins
BG: 21/35
Deco: EAN50

CDAA Deep Cavern Course

2008-02-19T01:04:00.000+09:00

Between 15 and 18 February 2008 we attended the first CDAA Deep Cavern Course held in Perth for many years. It has long been our intention to plan a trip to Mexico or Florida to do our Cave 1 course but when the opportunity came up recently to take the CDAA Deep Cavern Course in WA J and Rich took it.

If you want to dive caves or sinkholes in Australia you need to be a member of the CDAA regardless of your cave training with other organizations. This is because the CDAA are the only organization in Australia who can provide you with access the the sites.

Altogether there were seven students on the course run by Linda Claridge and Gary Barclay who are two of the most experienced instructors in the CDAA.

The Course
The Deep Cavern Course is the amalgamation of skills and knowledge necessary to safely dive in Cavern and Sinkhole rated sites. The first two days consisted of classroom training that covered the planning, organization, procedures, techniques and problem solving in a variety of cavern and sinkhole diving situations areas that may have zero visibility and the potential for unlimited visibility.

The classroom portion of the course involved about twelve hours of theory covering: CDAA history and bureaucracy, Natural History, Equipment Considerations, Buoyancy and anti-silting techniques, Communications, Line usage, Gas management, Physiological Considerations, Decompression, Access, Dive Planning, Emergency Procedures, Hazards and Accident Analysis.

These classroom sessions were broken up by land based practical skill sessions covering reel use, line placement, reel locking, blackout line following, OOA sharing. At the end of these two days we had a formal written exam to complete.

In addition to the theory we also conducted four controlled water training sessions in the Swan river at Blackwall Reach. The sessions are structured to gradually increase the task load on the students. For J and I these dives were a great deal of fun, having recently completed Tech 1 our buoyancy and trim, line skills and comfort under stress were already at a level way beyond the level required of this course and this gave us the opportunity to simply enjoy the tasks and the dives including the final pre-assessment 'stress-test' dive.

Due to the scarcity of suitable inland dive locations in WA on the 17 February the class drove 100km to Waroona Dam, only to discover upon arrival that the water level was much lower than had been reported prior to the commencement of the course. In an attempt to find deeper water the class then drove a further 100km to Wellington Dam where the class conducted a training dive in which we encountered multiple failures and simulated deco.

Whilst at Wellington Dam we also completed rope access training at an adjacent rock bolted quarry facility.

Stockton Lake near Collie WA

On the 18 February the class again drove 250km to Stockton Lake outside Collie which is a flooded coal mine where we conducted two qualification dives in about 32m of water.

Qualification Dive 1
Date: 18/02/2008
Max: 22m
Avg: 16m
BT: 17mins
RT: 27mins
BG: EAN32
Deco: NA

Qualification Dive 2
Date: 18/02/2008
Max: 32m
Avg: 22m
BT: 20mins
RT: 32mins
BG: EAN32
Deco: NA

Conclusions
The course was interesting and a great deal of fun, it provide an opportunity for us to dive in some of WA's more unusual locations. Both Gary and Linda are very experienced and capable instructors with a clear passion for Cave diving and it was a pleasure to meet and dive with them. In contrast the CDAA organization appears to overly bureaucratic and be mired in its own internal politics and were it not for its monopoly on land access to cave sites in Australia I doubt that it would be of any interest to us.

Linda Claridge after our qualification dives.

Igara

2007-10-21T19:40:00.002+08:00

A Cape-sized bulk ore carrier similar to the Igara

The Igara was an Italian owned Cape-sized (140,000 DWT) bulk ore carrier on a voyage from Vitoria to Muroran with a cargo of 127,718 DWT of Brazilian iron ore. After passing through the Sunda Strait, she struck an uncharted rock in the South China sea about 190 nautical miles from Horsborough Lighthouse, off Mendarik Island, on March 11, 1973.

The vessel remained afloat and continued her voyage whilst taking on water until her bow settled submerged on the sea bottom in 36m of water about 70 nautical miles from Singapore. She settled with her entire stern section sticking out of the water.

The following day, 27 of the 38 crew abandoned ship, and were picked up in their lifeboats by passing vessels. The master and 10 crew stayed on board until March 19 when she began to break across hold no.1.

Salvors used explosives to cut through the ship at hold no. 1 and the entire stern section of the ship which included the superstructure and engines was towed to Japan where a new forward section was attached and she was renamed the Eraclide.

At the time of her sinking the Igara was the largest ever single marine insurance loss in maritime history valued at over US$25M.

In recent years the iron ore price reached levels which made the salvaging of the ore economically viable and the holds were opened and the ore removed with vaccum lifts.

The Wreck

Dive 1
Date: 21/10/2007
Max: 31m
Avg: 15m
BT: 26mins
RT: 51mins
BG: 21/35
Deco: EAN50

Dive 2
Date: 21/10/2007
Max: 35m
Avg: 20m
BT: 26mins
RT: 51mins
BG: 21/35
Deco: EAN50

Seven Skies

2007-10-20T19:44:00.003+08:00

The Seven Skies

The Seven Skies was a 261m 97,950 DWT Swedish AFRAmax Super Tanker, built in 1965 as one of 34 built by Kockums between 1965 and 1979. In 1969, she suffered an explosion and sank east of Tioman Island, not far from Anambas Islands.

The location of the Seven Skies can make visiting her an interesting experience, she sank at location: [2°38' N, 105°13.5' E] approx 220km NE of Singapore. Whilst there have been numerous disputes; in 2005 it was finally resolved that the wreck is in Indonesian waters meaning liveaboards need to clear Indonesian customs before visiting the wreck. The Indonesian Navy is known to patrol the site and have impounded vessels in the past.

The Wreck

A schematic of an AFRAmax Super Tanker

The wreck is huge; sitting perfectly upright in 67m of water with the entire superstructure intact, but tanker section has largely collapsed. The top of the funnel is in approx 25m, the bridge and superstructure at 30m, and then various decks and structures to explore down to the main deck level at 45m.

The superstructure of an AFRAmax Vessel

Main attractions include the bridge, the pool, the explosion damage and many easy swimthroughs and penetrations. Almost the entire superstructure is accessible and it is possible to enter the engine room from the main deck at about 48m after passing by the workshops and lavatories.

Another excellent penetration is descending down the opening next to the pool on the first deck into the boiler room. In this huge room ringed by staircases and containing the main boilers crushed by the water pressure.

Our Model of the Seven Skies:

Our Model at Sea

External view of the Wreck

Wreck Cross-section

The Dives
Dive 1
Date: 20/10/2007
Max: 44m
Avg: 22m
BT: 21mins
RT: 54mins
BG: 21/35
Deco: EAN50

Dive 2
Date: 20/10/2007
Max: 46m
Avg: 24m
BT: 22mins
RT: 55mins
BG: 21/35
Deco: EAN50

GUE Extravaganza 2007

2007-10-20T15:32:00.007+08:00

GUE instructor Gideon Liew and his Living Seas staff organized the first GUE Annual Dive Extravaganza 2007 aboard the Black Manta a large and pretty luxurious live aboard based out of Singapore.

Living Seas had been working on this trip for several months and organized all the logistics, including delivery of helium and oxygen bottles and the gas mixing. Over last several years, in no small part due to Gideon’s efforts, a sizable group of GUE trained divers has formed in the region. It’s remarkable that Living Seas was able to fill just about the entire boat with GUE trained divers including ourselves from Australia and one from Shanghai.

Us here seen giving the traditional "PerthBoys" Salute.

Certainly the best thing about it was the fact that many people on board knew or had dived with one another before and everyone was diving to the same high standard.

Read full reports on this trip: here and here

Here is some of our footage:

Saxon Ranger

2007-10-14T11:14:00.000+08:00

Images courtesy of www.westcoastdivepark.com.au

This 400 tonne former fishing vessel was the first purpose sunk dive wreck in the Perth metropolitan area.

The Saxon Ranger (formerly Atlantic Seal) was built around 1960 in Grimsby, England at a cost of 100,000 pounds to work as a side trawler in the North Atlantic ocean. The vessel is 37m in length with a beam of 9m and hosted a crew of 17.

Owned by the British Trawler Company, arrangements were made in 1974 for the vessel to be used to develop a southern fishery off Albany. It was later sold and arrived in Australian waters working around Tasmania and Albany WA with occasional trips into the Antarctic. The first catch of 52 tonne of fish was blockaded by unions and had to be hand filleted on board.

Continually plagued with 'bad luck' the vessel suffered numerous breakdowns, broke moorings, ran out of fuel, and was finally salvaged from the shores of Rockingham after a gale in 2003.

Considered a jinx, the Saxon Ranger now lies in 18m of water amongst other sunken wrecks on the seabed floor of the West Coast Dive Park.

Source: http://www.westcoastdivepark.com.au/

The Dive

Date: 13/10/2007
Max: 18m
Avg: 14m
BT: 45mins
RT: 52mins
BG: EAN32
Deco: EAN50