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The Red Sea Wrecks

August 8, 2023 by Colin Jones Leave a Comment

SS Numidia

The Steamship Numidia was brand new, launched 04th February in 1901 by D&W Henderson and Company of Glasgow (her port of registration), for the Anchor line. Owned and operated by a Mr William Meiklereid again of Glasgow, when she left Glasgow 28th Feb of that year, bound for Calcutta (modern day Kolkata, India) via Liverpool. Her maiden journey passed without incident, as far as there is no mention of anything unusual prior to her second sailing from Liverpool 06th July of 1901, where she had loaded a “general” cargo of 7000 tons bound again for Calcutta, under her Master, Captain John Craig

SS Circassia (II), with SS Assyria, Anchor Line Sister-ships to SS Numidia (Web Photo: Unknown Origin)

The Anchor Line had its beginnings in 1838, started by Nicol & Robert Handyside, Nicol was the Russian Consul, an official appointed by the government of a country to look after its commercial interests and the welfare of its citizens in another country, although the “interests” of Russia at that time, expressly in Glasgow, even in Scotland in general were lost to me… However, in the 1890’s Russia completed their Trans-Siberian Railway pushing East, and the British were expanding our large-scale commercial activities in China through Hong Kong, and the “treaty ports” of China. Russia very much desired an all season port south of Vladivostok, and both nations were fearful of Japanese plans of expansionism in the Far East (apparently more so than they were wary of each other), meaning both saw a benefit to mutual collaboration. It, therefore, is not as surprising as it might seem that Russia had a consular representative in Great Britain and, as Russia was also a customer for British Shipping, including Warships, perhaps that makes a case for a Russian consul in Glasgow…….. The Handyside brothers traded with Russia and the Baltic under charter arrangements and were merchant ship-brokers operating as N&R Handyside &Co (Jisc Archives Hub: “Records of Anchor Line, shipping company, Scotland. Administrative/Biographical History” Online resource: https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/archives/93c7f198-d46d3c15a46ae692c2cfb038?terms= %22Anchor%20Line%20Ltd%20 (shipping%20company%20%3A%201852-%20%3A%20Scotland). Accessed 29/12/22)

Anchor Line Building Glasgow c1900 (Web Photo: Courtesy Graces Guide)

In 1852 Thomas Henderson, Master Mariner, joined the company having retired from the sea, but bringing with him a desire to run shipping to Canada & the USA. In 1854 the first of many vessels was bought and a year later, in 1855, Thomas became a full partner, the business changed its name to Handysides & Henderson, converted a former clipper to steam power, and, trading under the “Anchor Line” title, began running steam packets across the Atlantic to New York

Anchor Line Routes c1900 (Web Photo: Unknown Origin)

In 1857 two Anchor Line ships were chartered by the British Government to take troops to India to quell the Indian Mutiny, that year also saw Thomas’ two brothers begin the Finnieston Steamship Works Co primarily to construct steam engines (for conversions from sail to steam and for supply to other shipbuilders) but eventually becoming D&W Henderson c1858 and engaging in full ship builds of their own. In 1865 “Henderson Brothers” opened the Anchor Line Office in New York, followed by an office in Londonderry, Ireland, in 1869 which was quickly followed by offices in Liverpool & Dundee whilst services expanded to add Italy (Naples) to New York and increased to include India on the opening of the Suez Canal, which was heralded by an Anchor line vessel, the SS Dido, becoming the first vessel to pass through the canal February 17th 1867, although it would not “officially” open until November of 1869

Calcutta, India, Hooghly River Docks c1900 (Web Photo: Courtesy Old Indian Photos)

In 1690 The Honourable East India Company (EIC) had established a trade post in what was “Kalikata” under the Mughal Emperor Akbar (until 1605), Job Charnock of the EIC had attempted to establish trade at the Hooghly river but had not managed a sufficiently equitable relationship with the local officials there, and had moved on to what was then named Kolkata, and became, in English, Calcutta from that point.  (Britannica: “History of Kolkata, the early period” https://www.britannica.com/place/Kolkata/History Accessed: 30/12/2022)  The Hooghly river was both wide and deep at Calcutta making it a natural choice for a port of sorts, although there were marshes and swamps near, there were local Indian merchants who had moved down from the rivers increasingly silted upper reaches, so commerce was practical and there was clearly a market for trade in both directions, into and out of the Indian continent

Anchor Line Advertisement “Herbert’s Guide to London” 1873 (Web Image: Courtesy Anchor Line Ltd)

There were various resistances to trade and “Empire” with notable sackings of the town in 1756 by Siraj al-Dawlah, which saw British prisoners interred in what would become known as “The Black Hole of Calcutta”, with many deaths attributed to the heat and appalling conditions. Robert “Clive of India” Clive re-took the town defeating al-Dawlah in June of 1757, building Fort William to consolidate the British presence there. The continued military presence and the increasing wealth of the town saw it become the British Capital of India in 1772, drainage reduced the swamps and correspondingly the outbreaks of Malaria, this had the additional effect of increasing the density of population, and the quality of the “palatial” residences being built by the wealthy local merchants

Secundra Bagh, Lucknow, c1858 Bones & Skulls still lying where they fell (Web Photo: Courtesy Iconic Photos)

Calcutta’s influence spread throughout India and with the coming of the railways in 1854 Calcutta connected its trade to Peshawar, now part of Pakistan. This British influence in India, and the imposition of British officials had become an irritation to the Indian aristocracy and the Indian Brahmans, Priests who maintained themselves as highest of what was and still largely is a “Caste” or status divided secularity (where “untouchables” are the lowest “class” then workers, then traders, then warriors and at the upper level the Aristocrats & Brahmins……), this lead to inevitable discontent, which erupted in a rebellion, beginning amongst the locally employed East India “Sepoy” Troops spreading from Meerut through Delhi, Agra, Kanpur and Lucknow and was called by the Indians the “First War of Independence”. The British would not cede India and the Anchor Line was amongst several shipping companies to supply troops and much needed supplies to besieged British Troops, and some loyal Sepoy throughout India, resulting in bloody battles with massacres committed by both Indian and British troops. Following protracted sieges, notably at Delhi and Lucknow, and vicious sporadic fighting, the British quelled the uprising and eventually re-established complete control in July of 1859

A Steamship Unloading at Calcutta c1900 (Web Photo: Courtesy GetBengal)

  With their connection to India already made supporting the re-supply during the Indian Mutiny of 1857, continued trade to India and the carriage of those trading there to and fro, meant the Anchor line had a regular scheduled departure from Glasgow, calling at Liverpool and then sailing to Calcutta via the Suez Canal. Three of the Anchor line ships had been specifically built to undertake this trade route, the Assyria built 1900, yard number 418, The SS Numidia built 1901, yard number 419, and the Circassia built 1902, yard number 431. Numidia was built as a steam cargo ship of 6,399 GRT by D. & W. Henderson & Co., Ltd.at Meadowside Shipyard (85 Castlebank Street, Glasgow, Scotland), for the Anchor Line Ltd. She was launched and delivered on 04 February 1901 and her propulsion was provided by a triple-expansion steam engine through a single prop-shaft giving her a top speed of 12 knots. For those of you immersed in technical details here is the specification for the Numidia

Perhaps the only chance we will get to look at the Numidia is to look at her sistership Circassia II, the sad loss of Numidia on the Brother Islands on what was her second journey, means to date there are no photographs I’ve been able to find anywhere, and I include in that search R. S. McLellan’s “Anchor Line 1856 – 1956” a detailed history reference which has many of the line’s ships represented, but sadly not Numidia. I truly hope one will emerge but to this day not even the Anchor Line archives at Liverpool have yielded one. I will continue to look and if I find one I will add it to the piece, for now, Circassia II, Numidia’s sistership, shown below, is the nearest direct comparison we have and, as she was constructed in 1902 off the same plans, we can be sure Numidia looked pretty much identical, those photos and pictures you see on articles and wreck pieces similar to this one, claiming to be Numidia, are invariably incorrectly attributed, often to the “Numidian”

Numidia’s Sistership Circassia II (Web Photo: Courtesy oldpostcards.com)

Numidia had a particularly striking stern, Victorian steamships had developed from the sleek sailing ships and clippers, some still operating well after steam power proved more reliable and generally (with distinct exceptions) faster than the best of the clippers. With the opening of the Suez Canal the few clippers still trading were generally on the Australian routes, where the wind could be relied on to make them competitive against the coal fuelled steamers. The residual full rig sailing masts & sails remaining on early steamships displayed the lack of trust in steam in the early days, on occasion they proved their worth too, when steam powered ships had failures at sea and limped back on sail power. But the other remainder of the sail era prominent on the early steam vessels was the overhanging, rounded stern, a beautifully stylised feature that persisted long after the sails and masts had gone for ever. Numidia had a particular stern, she featured a deeply curved stern hull transition down to the main deck which can be seen in the main Circassian photo at the opening of this piece, just behind the funnel of her tug at the stern on her starboard side, the cut features on the for’ard deck transitions from quarterdeck to main and again from main to forecastle     

Circassia I, Masted & Sail Rigged 1887 (Web Image: Courtesy Anchor Line Archives)

The brand new Numidia set sail on her maiden voyage on the 28th February 1901 departing from Glasgow, she was captained by John Craig and bound for Calcutta, it seems this was an entirely successful voyage which saw her back safe in Liverpool re-victualling and loading for a departure on the 06 July 1901. Numidia was carrying 7000 Tons of “general cargo” and casting off with a crew of 97. Numidia successfully transited the Suez Canal via Port Said exiting from Port Tewfik, the city of Suez, early on 19 July and continued south into the Red Sea. Numidia passed the island of Shadwan at 1900 that evening. Captain Craig, altered course at 2300 and two hours later, at 0100 in the dark morning hours of the 20th the Big Brothers Island Light was sighted off of the port bow. John Craig altered the ship’s course again intending to pass a mile to the west of Big Brothers

Assyria, Numidia’s Other Sistership c1905 (Web Photo: Courtesy Scottish Maritime Museum)

Captain Craig, clearly happy with the Numidia’s progress and position, left the Bridge in the hands of the Officer of the Watch with the instruction that he be notified when the Big Brothers light was abeam of the ship. It is not clear exactly why Captain Craig was not woken, the belief at the enquiry into Numidia’s loss was that the Watch Officer had fallen asleep, but at 0210 the sound of Numidia running aground on the northern plateau of Big Brothers in clear view of the lighthouse rent the night! Captain Craig, on reaching the Bridge, tried in vain to get Numidia off the reef by reversing her, after almost two hours she was still firm on the rocks, Numidia’s bow had sustained serious damage and she was taking on water, realising the futility of the situation Captain Craig ordered the engines stopped

The Brothers Lighthouse (Photo Courtesy: Gary Newbold)

It didn’t take Captain Craig long to realise the bow damage had doomed Numidia, despite assistance from ships including the SS Rhipens, which came into view at around 07:40 on the 20th July only hours after Numidia hit the rocks, and then took despatches from Numidia to Suez calling for assistance. All following attempts to get Numidia off the reef were unsuccessful, the bow was too damaged and the water in her bow was helping to pin her to the rocks, all that remained was for Captain Craig to give the abandon ship order and permit the crew to be rescued and taken back to Suez. Captain Craig remained with his ship for seven weeks after the grounding supervising the removal of Mail and cargo and no doubt ensuring the same was not looted from the site by local boatmen and tribesmen, as was often the case in the remoter of regions of the Red Sea at the time. Numidia inevitably broke her back on the reef, separating just for’ard of her bridge, although tides are minimal in the area, there is a range of a metre or so and there can be quite fierce seas on occasion too. The loss of Numidia would be laid at the feet of the Officer of the watch who the Board of Trade enquiry believed fell asleep, failing to navigate the Brothers Island leading to the vessel striking the reef, it would cost him his ticket for 9 months, although I do not know his details and cannot say if he sailed again after Numidia’s loss

SS Numidia (Web Illustration: Courtesy Rico Oldfield)

The steep angle of the reef and the stresses of tide and sea state left the bow of Numidia in the shallows and the main part of the wreck upright but lying down the reef to its base, her stern and prop at around 80m, over the years she has become a part of the reef, especially midships where the upper length of her hull has collapsed into it and her bridge area is just ruined and indistinguishable metal and coral. I first dived Numidia on my fourth Red Sea trip, we were diving off the MV Hurricane (a great Liveaboard that burned out with tragic the loss of 3 British divers in June of 2023), this was the first “Southern Red Sea” expedition and a new area to me entirely, my Green Navy Log records: “28/04/10 BIG BROTHER ISLAND “Numidia” This is an awesome wreck and actually is defying gravity as she is almost vertical on the reef. One good storm and she looks as though she would disappear! We dropped down the Port side to 50m at the stern mast which is still upright in and around the lower deck which is easily accessible as the wood is all gone. Again there is a classic engine room air intake in the hull but more broken. Up along the prop shaft tunnel and into the broken through centre section, this is heavily rotted but navigable with caution. Out onto the deck area round the mid ships block house & then through into the centre section to come out of the between decks to decompress again on the reef where we saw two turtles and a conger – sorry spotted Moray ell to be accurate! Plenty of Pipe Fish & Big Eye Jacks and shoals of Anthea along with beautiful hard & soft corals – amazing dive! Buddy Craig & Gaz & Claire Air In 200 Out 100”

Numidia’s Stern, Emergency Steering Gear (Photo: Courtesy Derek Aughton)

 My next dive on Numidia would be just a year later, clearly the Southern Red Sea Wrecks had impressed me and another entry in the Green Navy Log records: “02/08/11 Red Sea “Numidia” Big Brother, dropped in & down the side to 40m & up through the port companionway, half way up we dropped starboard into the engine room to exit the bridge which is broken open. Back in through the Starboard Bridge area and down & through the bridge area coming out at the rear of where the funnel would be – in and through again and out the Port side to see the whole hull going into the deep – wonderfull! There were too many fish & corals to mention but two Napoleon Wrasse got close & a 3’ Barracuda being cleaned on the reef by a tiny & brave blue cleaner Wrasse – a magnificent dive Viz 30m Air In 210 Out 150 Buddy Craig 28%”

Looking Up Numidia’s Hull (Photo: Courtesy Derek Aughton)

I was lucky enough to get back to the Red Sea in 2013 and again we were on a wreck safari including the Southern wrecks, this time there was quite a current as you will see “28/07/13 NUMIDIA – RED SEA _ Brothers A maul to get down to her in a very fast current (4kt ish) but wonderful to rest at the hatch combing looking at the stern rail & bollards. Into the hull for a circuit through the hold winding through the collapsed decking & bulkheads – engine room & to the break at the for’ard bridge area. Round the hull and on to the reef to deco and watch her disappear from view. A fantastic dive Air In 200 Out 100 Buddy Craig”

Another Look up Numidia’s Hull (Photo: Courtesy Derek Aughton)

I have often heard divers extol reef diving over wreck diving, I have never really understood that perspective, I love the colours and diversity of a reef as much as anyone, however every wreck acts as an artificial reef anyhow, the first minute or so a ship goes down fish and marine life are drawn to it. I have dived in some barren locations where the only thing there is a wreck, and usually, as a result it is teeming with life, fish of all sizes, crustaceans, eels, soft and hard coral and that’s not just in warm seas, anyone who has dived the James Egan Layne will attest to the fields of dead man’s fingers down her sides and the shoals of Bib & Pouting swimming through her

Numidia, Corals Everywhere (Photo: Courtesy Derek Aughton)

Numidia is a very good case in point, her hull settled on a reef, undoubtedly there were corals and marine organisms already, but those have now colonised Numidia too, and what’s more Numidia has history, a connection to distant pasts and many lives even after only two brief voyages, you don’t generally get that from an isolated Atoll or a rock outcrop or a barren sea-bed, unless of course some poor unfortunate vessel happens to land on them…….and when you’ve finished your exploration of as much of the wreck as you can, then there is decompression……..that’s what reefs are for!

“Wonderful to Rest at the Hatch Combing…..” (Photo: Courtesy Gary Newbold)

The Anchor Line was another of those Liverpool Shipping Lines that made the city the hub of Britain’s international trade, for the most part far more trade passed through Liverpool than did London, the Anchor Line was a piece of Liverpool’s history, although began in Glasgow around 1854 with the Handyside Brother’s outright ownership of their first vessel “Phantom”, Following the docking of “Tempest” out of Bombay 29th December of 1856, Liverpool would be the main departure port for their Atlantic & Mediterranean sailings, eventually becoming equally as important to them as Glasgow and New York (McLellan R. S. “Anchor Line 1856-1956”. P17: Anchor Line Limited Glasgow 1956)

Numidia’s Open Engine Room Skylights (Photo: Courtesy Derek Aughton)

My last dive on Numidia was August of 2015 with Blue O2 off Blue Melody (another fantastic Red Sea Dive Liveaboard), on the Best of Wrecks tour, there were some staggeringly good dives on that trip, some you might read of elsewhere in this self-indulgent retrospective, but you can find those if you will, my Navy Log write-up says: “04/08/15 NUMIDIA Big Brother Island Red Sea – Fair current when we dropped in & descent was rapid which “pinched” my ear – down to the stern hold and a look round to see the beautiful lines of this iconic steamer sunk in 1901 – swam up the deck to enter just short of the accomm/bridge and then wended our way through the starboard gangway & in and out of the various rooms – most are featureless now but collapse has meant you can access the engine room & the upper holds then come back into the bridge & accomm block through the gaping holes left in the hull and bulkheads. Wonderful dive with half an hour deco swimming with a shoal of fish on the reef past magnificent fan corals & brain corals & hordes of Red Sea fish Great! Air In 200 Out 70 Buddy Craig”

Numidia Descent (Photo: Courtesy Derek Aughton)

The loss of Numidia bears scant comment in the Anchor Line History with Mr McLellan recording it thus: “….The following year one ship was sold and one lost, and three new ships joined the fleet. One of these, the Numidia, was lost on her second voyage to Calcutta; she went ashore on Northern Brothers Island in the Red Sea and became a total loss.” (McLellan R. S. “Anchor Line 1856-1956”. P55: Anchor Line Limited Glasgow 1956) ………so ended the story of SS Numidia

As ever without the reference sources and photos this piece would not be what it is, I will be forever grateful to those who’s shoulders I stand on: Derek Aughton & Gary Newbold for the Photos of our diving, Rico Oldfield for the brilliant wreck Illustration, Ned Middleton & R. S. McLellan for the history & archive material & my long time dive buddy Craig for his patience

This Piece is Respectfully Dedicated to Those Who Tragically Lost their Lives on MV Hurricane 11.06.2023……. At One With The Sea Eternally……. RIP

Now why not take a dive on Numidia with me, but be advised this is a long one…..

Filed Under: The Wrecks

Southern Ireland, Valentia

July 19, 2023 by Colin Jones Leave a Comment

A Tale of Two Ferries……..

Portmagee Harbour, Valentia

Ireland had always been an ambition of mine, I knew the waters of the Atlantic were often angry and un-diveable, however, I knew they could also be beautifully clear, and the natural history under their surface was said to be spectacular, it was not that long before, in 1967, that the Spanish Galleass (a hybrid Galley/Galleon) Girona had been discovered by the Belgian Diver Robert Sténuit and the wreck of La Trinidad Valencera was found by local divers. Those discoveries, and the raising of a cannon and some actual gold escudos and real treasure pieces from the Girona (although both sites lay in Northern Ireland), had led to an outpouring of articles in the dive press and the news about the Irish West Coast and scuba diving there, I had seen a couple of articles in Diver magazine from those lucky enough to get dives in the Irish Atlantic and it had made me keen to see for myself

Diving galore off Western Ireland, July 1996….. (Web Photo: Courtesy Diver Magazine)

I decided to gauge what the appetite would be in FSAC and to look at putting on a trip to Ireland, I had to take into account there would be holidays to consider as getting to Southern Ireland kills a day travelling, and there would be the same on the return journey, it wasn’t just a case of driving either, there were ferries to book and they weren’t cheap. The trip would have to at least pay for itself in terms of fuel, accommodation, diving and ferry costs otherwise I would catch hell from Ellie, I knew we didn’t have the money to support such a trip if there wasn’t enough interest from the club and that meant ensuring any trip would be on a bank holiday weekend, so there would only need to be a day taken as holiday at the worst………I needed to look for a dive centre too, we would need all the support out there, a dive boat, air fills, somewhere to stay and someone who knew the areas dive sites as I was going in blind here, I’d never dived Ireland, the last time I was in Ireland…….well that was another life……

Des Lavelle’s Dive Centre Flyer
 

I took my time looking for the right area and for the right dive centre and eventually landed on pretty much the farthest away from England you could get in that direction, an obscure little place I’d never heard of called Valentia on the Ring of Kerry, essentially the point of Southern Ireland that pokes furthest out into the Atlantic Ocean, and the closest you can get to America whilst still this side of the pond! How I came across Des Lavelle’s dive centre I cannot actually recall, I know I took months making sure everything would be there, the local Valentia waters had seen Spanish Treasure from the wrecks of the Armada recovered by divers in the ‘70’s, there were islands off the coast with Gannets, Seals, and marine life in abundance from the descriptions I had read before considering booking, and when I did, eventually, call to discuss a trip with Des Lavelle he was enthusiastic and very helpful, with a trace of that uniquely “Irish” humour and assured me we would not regret coming across to dive Kerry

Des Lavelle’s 2022 Book, One of Several he has Authored

So around January of 1998 I put up a poster in Fenton Manor advertising the Irish Adventure, the dates and a £200 price per diver, I’d done rough costings based on Des’ prices, the ferry costs and accommodation a little down the road from Des’ dive centre at Knightstown between there and Portmagee, the mainland town linking Valentia to Ireland. Before I got any further we had to get some people interested, and I wanted Ellie and the boys to come across if possible too…….I should have been more careful what I asked for really……  There wasn’t a problem getting enough people, we only needed three to break even and as my brother Barry had decided to come across we only needed one more with us and that place was taken by Paul Tinsley, we rounded it off with Toots joining us and that meant it really was more of a family foray rather than a truly “club” trip…..but we were all members….. and we all couldn’t wait to get there. I’d booked ferry places from Swansea and we turned up on the Friday morning to be told the weather was too bad to get the ferry into or out of the harbour, apparently a very rare occurrence, but we’d just driven almost 3 hours to get there and I was fuming…still, there was a long shot….the Holyhead ferry was still sailing, our tickets would be honoured on it and all we had to do was make a 5 hour trip through Wales onto Anglesey and all the way up the A55 to Holyhead……….now today “health & safety” would go ballistic if someone drove those hours…..but when things get tough………we got going!  

Irish Ferries “Superferry”

Unknown to me the fun had hardly started yet, the drive was punishing, we had Ellie with two young lads to handle with no support from me and even if we made it onto the Ferry, I had to get some sleep (which we all tried to do in the wait whilst we queued to get aboard) because when she docked in Dublin, I’d have a couple of hours drive to Valentia at the end of which the next morning we would be straight onto Des’s little boat and out for the day’s diving……this was starting to get challenging! Now to say the trip was fraught is understating the case, the kids were not overenthusiastic about another long drive and tempers were strained to say the least, but we made it to Holyhead and onto the Irish Ferries “Superferry”, a solid looking ship, she could handle the rough crossing we were facing to get to Dublin. I won’t dwell on the trip too much but recall with some pride both Lee and Lewis shrugging off the majority of passengers firmly wedged in the ships “heads” praying to the lords of many nations to stop the stomach wrenching sea-sickness almost everyone on board was going through, as the valiant Superferry took all the Irish Sea could throw at her, and simply rolled with the punches……literally!

Lee n Lewis “Meet & Greet” a very patient member of the Superferry crew

To see the boys waiting until one side, port or starboard, had reached its zenith….and then haring across the width of the ship as it fell back level and then heaved equally high the other side was hilarious and death defying at the same time………and I’m sure it was a source of much macho embarrassment for many of the passengers to endure watching the lads have so much sheer fun, in the face of such gut wrenching fear around them…….my heart swelled with pride I must admit…….even if Ellie was scathing at my enjoyment and at the scandalous bad parenting I displayed in encouraging such behaviour! Despite the drama, and the rather frenzied trip through Southern Ireland on roads I would describe as “B” roads at best, sometimes more resemblant of those country roads seen in Devon & Cornwall, but appearing on the maps (Yes….no SATNAV in those days) as “A” roads…….go figure……we heaved around one corner to see, indifferent at our intrusion, a Donkey & Cart, the Donkey tucking in to tufts of grass at the view point on the side of the road, as we came into sight of the sea from the heights around the Ring of Kerry, which, I have to say is beautiful on the eye when not focusing keenly on the road in front and its twists n turns………

The Cahersiveen Ferry, Valentia (Web Photo: Courtesy thejournal.ie)

It turned out Valentia was for most of eternity, an island, linked only by the ferry at Cahersiveen, and it wasn’t until the 20th century a bridge was constructed linking the Island to the mainland. We were staying in Valentia and crossed from Portmagee on the R565, we rolled into Knightstown at somewhere near 10:00 pm and barrelled straight into the nearest bar, I believe it was Boston’s but perhaps otherwise (memory has me thinking it was closer to the ferry), time has played hell with my memory, needless to say we were worried we would be having one quick drink as the kids needed bed and we were close to English “Last Orders” which was 10:30 in the UK…….Ellie grabbed some seats in what was a very lively little place, warm and welcoming with 2 dozen locals enjoying the “craic”…..I went straight to the bar and ordered a round and asked, “what time do you close…..” as expected the answer came back “10:30….” In the most wonderful Irish accent possible, the barman, clearly having had his joke at my expense then said “…tomorrow morning….”   I love Ireland, and I was absolutely in love with Valentia from that moment on!

Boston’s Valentia (Web Photo: Courtesy google.co.uk)

We got everyone settled in the Hostel we’d booked and next morning set out for Port Magee, 15 minutes back the way we’d come last night, the town and the bridge finally hoved into view and Des’s little dive boat was there to meet us and we just had to drop the kit into the boat…..it was time to dive and that shook most of the cobwebs of the previous evening away from me, despite the rigor of the extended odyssey we had just completed. Our first dives were out of the beautiful little harbour at Port Magee and around the Southernmost tip of Valentia itself, Des would take us to a scenic little area where we could get some decent wildlife around us and some interesting rocks and formations and we weren’t disappointed

Des Lavelle’s Boat, “Bael Bocht” and Port Magee Bridge

Kitting up and rolling off Des’s “Bael Bocht” into crystal clear Atlantic swell was wonderful, the sea was welcoming us it seemed, gentle as any I’ve dived in and once we paired up, Barry and me buddied and Paul with Toots (the start of a diving partnership that lasted a good few years after too) we set out to explore the rocky underwater terrain, around us was rock shelf, cut into vertically by cracks and small gullies with occasional Kelp and nooks and crannies everywhere and my dive log records: “12/04/98 HARD BOAT DIVE – Dan Gan Mor Head – Eire Des Lavelle’s boat “Bael Bocht” Out to a local wall dive, – Anemones, Sponges, Overhangs & a Huge Crevasse, Corkwing & Ballan Wrasse with plenty of Cuckoo & a couple of Coalfish – Wonderful stuff!! W Temp 10’ Viz 15m (Brilliant) Air in 200 Out 135 Buddy Barry”

Valentia’s Southernmost Tip, From Bael Bocht, Ruggedly Picturesque

I recall the wonder of descending the huge crevasse in the cliffside as we went from a rock plateau into a fissure only just big enough to swim in line, and then dropping deeper and deeper as the huge break in the tortured rock of the cliff paralleled the headland for what seemed like half a mile but in reality would have been a few hundred meters or so. The light in the narrow confines was dimmed more the deeper and further we swam, we were not beyond 25m below the surface swell but it seemed we were way deeper just by the brooding atmosphere of the place, I was loving Ireland and its Atlantic coast as much as anywhere I had dived, and the visibility remained 20m or so throughout, this was all I’d hoped for and more!

Barry Above & Behind me with Toots, I Think, Just Behind Him

I would constantly check above and behind me to ensure Barry was ok, always getting a grin and the OK signal back I could see Barry was enjoying this as much as I was, as this was Barry’s first real sea diving he was getting spoiled….if only he knew that! I couldn’t see as far back as Toots and Paul most of the time, they had to trail us by several metres just to avoid getting our fins in their faces, but I assumed (correctly) that they were loving this just as much. Neither Paul nor Toots is given to outpourings or waxing at all lyrical, but they both came over the side of Des’s stalwart little dive boat with huge grins on their faces and it was clear they’d loved the dive. Next Dive was on the way back in to Port Magee, the same spit of the Southern tip of Valentia just a more sheltered dive amongst huge boulders that had evidently come from the rock face above us, here there were more crab and fish than we had seen on the more exposed front side, and the water was less of a swell than our first dive, we hunted in and around every rock catching sight of plenty of life as we meandered about for 40 minutes or so

Paul & Yours Truly at the Surface….Huge Grins All Round

We had an equally great dive recorded so: “12/04/98 HARD BOAT “Bael Bocht” in Eire @ Dan-Gan-More-Head again a wall but down to rock gullies & huge boulders – again fields of anemones & plenty of Wrasse & Coalies with a safety stop in kelp forest – Retro Falklands! Air In 210 Out 140 W Temp 10’ Viz 15m Buddy Barry” a briefer description of a dive which I recall enjoying more than the script might suggest, there really were some very large boulders under those cliffs and it did resemble, very closely, the diving I had done off New Island a couple of years before on Don Shirley’s Southern Craftsman exercise in the Falklands, written up elsewhere on here. The South Atlantic around the Falklands is similar to the more remote of sites in the North Atlantic on its Western side, temperature and visibility very similar, the wildlife not perhaps so inquisitive perhaps and maybe not as abundant as the South Atlantic, but very similar!

Barry could be off New Island…..Very Similar!

Those of you struggling with the location should not worry, I believe the “Dan-Gan-More” to be a colloquialism, a local in-joke perhaps, lost in translation. The area we were in was Bray head, the very Western-most tip of Valentia before you reach the Skellig Islands, Skellig Michael and Small Skellig, It would be a year or two more before we got to Dive Luke Skywalkers’ idyll……..but more on that another time

Toots, Just Out & Des Lavelle on Bael Bocht Valentia

Our second day of diving, in this 4 day international odyssey, saw us diving off “Puffin Island” which is a bird sanctuary under the control of the Irish Wildbird Conservancy and is home to colonies of its namesake Puffins, Manx Sheerwater, and Storm Petrels, of course it is not exclusive to those birds but they are the predominant focus of the wildbird conservancy!  

Puffin Island off Bray Head with the Skelligs in the background (Web Photo: Courtesy Ireland Highlights)

My Navy Log records: “13/04/98 HARDBOAT DIVE – PUFFIN ISLAND – Eire Probably the best of the Eire dives round a cliff face with anemones everywhere small and medium – lovely colours – plenty of Wrasse & Coalfish but the best of it was the huge gully between the cliff face & fallen slabs – a lovely tight squeeze & plenty of surge to ride plus huge area deep and long – great stuff – excellent dive Air In 200 Out 130 Temp 10’ Buddy Barry” I have to say, of the dives we did this one was my favourite and you can see I wasn’t alone from the photo Toots took of Paul, Barry and Me sat on the stern of Bael Bocht immediately after exiting, Puffin Island just visible behind us!

Me Paul & Barry at Puffin Island, a Really Great Gully Dive

Our last dive of the long weekend was on the wreck of the Sailing Barque SS Crompton, I cover that wreck in another section on this site so I won’t go into any detail on her history in this piece, suffice to say she is well worth some of any wreck divers time in the read! The dive made it into my “Little Red Wreck Log” and is recorded as “13/04/98 Valentia Eire Wreck of CROMPTON a four masted Barque that was wrecked in 1910 & not discovered again until 1970. The main anchor is on Des Lavelle’s forecourt. We dropped onto the second anchor – slightly smaller & quickly found the mass of rusting chains from the for’ard chain locker & then ferreted back amongst the spars & plating back to a great little rock “squeeze” & back up to find the 3rd anchor & more chain – great ferret about & well worth another visit great viz!” I recall looking everywhere for something more of the wreck but finding very little, it was a little disappointing if I’m truly honest. I can understand any wreck sunk under a North Atlantic cliff for 88 years is going to be little more than matchwood and metalwork, but I’d hoped to find more of the metal about the site, in hindsight I think the smaller of the anchors we found may have been a different wreck, however Des didn’t know of another in this area so it is entirely possible it was from the Crompton. Despite the lack of rusty metal we still had a great dive with excellent visibility and plenty of interest around the cliff base, it amazed me when I learned that some of the crew managed to climb the cliff following the Crompton’s wrecking, but if you get ashore you are motivated to incredible feats of self-preservation I’m sure!

Des looks on whilst I steady Toots on the ladder Under Bray head

All that remained of the trip was to get back to Ellie and the boys and pack everything up for the journey back, I knew Monday was going to be a long day but that didn’t matter, the “craic” from all involved in the diving was enough for me to know we would likely be back in Eire in the not too distant future, all being well, after all…..there were two distant rock outcrops that Des had been telling us about, something about monasteries, hooded monks, the wreck of a world war II bomber and seals…..lots of seals…….I couldn’t wait!

Des Lavelle, Diver, Author, Raconteur and Genuine Local Legend (Photo: Courtesy Jason Harrison)

Filed Under: Fenton Sub Aqua Club

Betsy Anna

June 2, 2023 by Colin Jones Leave a Comment

Portland Dorset

  Betsy Anna Docked at a Coal Quay, Likely Newbiggin, c1900 (Web Photo: Courtesy tynebuiltships.co.uk)

There was little glamorous about coal in the Victorian era, it was the fuel that built the industrial revolution and arguably made the largest contribution to the Victorian era and, therefore, by extension, the British Empire. The Ashington Coal Co of Newcastle on Tyne had it’s origins in the late 1840’s, at one time Ashington was “….proudly proclaimed as the largest pit village in the world….”  (Thornton. S in “History Lesson – Ashington No.5: Today’s history lesson – Ashington Coal company No.5” Online resource:  https://northtynesiderailway.blogspot.com/2020/07/history-lesson-ashington-no5.html Accessed: 25/05/2023). The town had the largest private railway system in Northumberland, possibly even in the whole of the North East of England

Ashington Colliery Railway (Web Photo: Courtesy northtynesiderailway.blogspot.com)

The Railway was constructed in 1879 and ran from 1880, it was 2ft Gauge to begin with and built to ferry miners between Ashington & Pegwood Colliery, miners alighting at Hirst Platform (Ashington Colliery), it used four and six wheel coaches and was operated by the colliery company (Young. A in “Disused Stations Site Record: Station name: Hirst Platform” Online resource: http://disused-stations.org.uk/h/hirst_platform/index.shtml Accessed: 25/05/2023)

1880 Miners Depart for Hirst Platform, Ashington Colliery (Web Photo: Courtesy disused-stations.org.uk)

The intimate connection between Ships, Trains and coal was visceral in the Victorian era, without coal there was no steam, without steam there were no steam trains or steamships and without steamships and steam trains there was little or no travel, especially global travel. Whilst Sailing ships and windjammers carried trade across the world for a hundred years, coal and steam power revolutionised industry and travel, shortening distance and travel time to a degree never before possible…… Ashington lies around 4 miles from Morpeth and 15 miles North of Newcastle Upon Tyne and was part of the Hamlet of Bothal (hence the engine name above). Owned by the Duke of Portland, Ashington only really developed into a large town when local men were granted permission to mine in the area paying royalties to the Duke for the privilege. Between 1840 and 1867 the town grew to include “…..Six hundred and sixty five houses (had been) built in eleven long rows, running from East to West, to accommodate the colliers” (Sense of Place North East, Northumberland Communities, Ashington Online resource: https:// communities.northumberland.gov.uk/Ashington.htm Accessed 25/05/2023)

Ashington Colliery & Newbiggin (Web Illustration: Courtesy disusedstations.org.uk)

The Steam Collier Ashington was built for the Ashington Coal Company and launched in May of 1892 by William Dobson and Co from their Wincomblee Road Yard, (between Mitchell’s Low Walker Yard and, latterly, the Walker Naval Yard). The Wincomblee yard had three berths and could construct vessels up to 10,000 tons, there was a smaller berth for building tugs and hopper barges

Ashington Coaling Barges, Likely Amsterdam c 1900 (Web Photo: Courtesy shipsnostalgia.com)

The Ashington was decidedly functional and of her time, utilitarian it could be said, she had forward and aft holds, a meager accommodation and engine room, an open bridge, and was powered by a 3 cylinder compound steam engine & boilers by John Dickinson & Sons of Sunderland. Purpose built as a cargo steamer this was a workhorse, and at around 530 Tons Net weight, she could carry around the same in coal for a dead-weight of 1300 Tons, a coaster destined to be moving coal from pit quay to the corners of empire via much grander passenger and transports of the time

Jarrow Steamship Boilers c1890 (Web Photo: Courtesy John Badge)

It is truly remarkable to find a receipt for Boiler Steel in the Lloyds Register Foundation Archives where John Dickinson of Sunderland has purchased Steel Plates from David Colville & Sons of Motherwell on the 20th of March of 1890, it is very likely these plates would become a part of the Ashington’s Boiler…….

John Dickenson Esq, Steel Plate for the Boilers of the Ashington? (Web Photo: Courtesy Lloyds Register Foundation)

William Dobson & Co, Newcastle upon Tyne was started by its namesake William Dobson in 1883, Dobson had previously worked for Barclay & Curle on the Clyde and then moved to Newcastle in 1863 to manage Mitchell’s Yard at Low Walker. The Wincomblee Yard was started in 1883 on land adjacent to the Low Walker Yard and had 3 berths for mid-range vessels up to 10,000 Tonnes and a smaller slipway for Tugs and hopper barges (Tyne Built Ships “William Dobson & Co (1883-1928) – History” Online resource:  http://www.tynebuiltships.co.uk/Dobson-History.html Accessed 02/06/2023)

Wincomblee Shipyard (Web Illustration: Courtesy Tyne Built Ships)

The Dobson & Co yard built special orders, some for the Russian market, coasters and river boats mainly. It is interesting to note some of these vessels were built and then dismantled to be shipped abroad for re-construction in foreign yards, presumably to allow local fit-out and finish and avoid having the expense of additional work at higher British prices, however there is no note to confirm a specific reason.  William Dobson & Co lasted under the ownership of his sons following William’s death in 1907, they would keep it until the last known vessel, White Crest, was finished in 1928 when the yard was taken over in July of that year by Armstrong-Whitworth

For those of you who love the technical details:

The Ashington Coal Company bought at least one additional steamer, the Woodhorn, built in 1894 by J L Thompson & Sons of Northsands, again using a John Dickinson Engine and boiler, it is the Woodhorn that gives an idea of the routes these vessels would typically run as she was torpedoed on a journey from Blyth in Northumberland en route to Sarpsborg, Norway. Likely these steam colliers would be largely employed on UK coastal journeys, but occasionally see longer trips to Nordic and other North-sea ports, wherever their cargoes would fetch a better price assuredly

The British Medical Journal October 15th 1892 (Web Photo: Courtesy British Medical Journal)

One particular journey does become a matter of record however for a distinctly different reason and found in a rather unexpected journal: (The British Medical Journal October 15th 1892. P 864: “Cases of Asiatic Cholera in the United Kingdom, 1892.”)  where a case of Asiatic Cholera was recorded in a member of the Ashington’s crew arriving in Blyth 06th Sept of 1892 from Hamburg in Germany. Luckily for him the sailor survived following treatment at Blyth Port Hospital, as Cholera had been expected in Britain having been a large scale epidemic in Europe in the summer of 1892, so much so that The medical Department in the UK deployed a Dr Barry to monitor the spread in Europe. His observations lead to the issuing of precautionary advice and prompted measures to control immigration and preventative emergency arrangements in London and British ports (Hardy. A in “Cholera, quarantine and the English preventive system 1850-1895” Para 2, P 265. Online resource: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ pmc/articles/ PMC1036746/ pdf/medhist00042-0032.pdf Accessed 31/05/2023)

Anti-Quarantine Statement (Web Photo: Courtesy British Medical Journal) 

 It is clear from the British Medical Journal (Vol 2 No 1659 (Oct 15th 1892) P864-868, that there was little support for the re-imposition of a period of Quarantine to prevent the wider spread of the disease through Britain from Europe. The report states containment of individuals showing symptoms at the ports had effectively prevented the spread. A perhaps less than expected conclusion from a respected medical journal, especially in light of the Government “overkill” response to our recent viral Covid pandemic. It is interesting to see how easily the Ashington and her steam driven peers demonstrate the huge influence advancing steam technology had on global travel and the spread of populations (and diseases) around the globe……..    

Blyth Harbour c1900 (Web Photo: Courtesy Billy Embleton)

One thing immediately obvious which made Ashington stand out is her forepeak, the pronounced “Crown” or perhaps more Tiara-like bow peak above her Hawses is very distinctive, I can’t recall seeing another like it. In truth, although Ashington lacks the glamour of a Liner, or the more prestigious look of a passenger steamer, she has something distinct about her, an honest swagger if you like! Ashington was sold to a Dutch company, Firma W H Berghuys of Amsterdam, (Noord-Holland) Netherlands in 1905 and re-named Betsy Anna to honour the director’s British Wife. In an odd parody, the Dutch registration of the company who bought her is “Maatschappij tot exploitatie van het Betsy Anna” literally translated as “The company to exploit Betsy Anna”, hopefully the director’s wife had no Dutch language skills otherwise I could foresee some awkward conversations over the dinner table in the Berghuys home……..

Betsy Anna Starboard Side (Web Photo: Courtesy stayhappening.com)

There is at least one incident in Betsy Anna’s life with the Berghuys coal shipping company, as the postcard view above illustrates, Betsy Anna aground off the seaside resort town of Egmond aan Zee (by the sea) on the North Coast of the Netherlands, best known for the Dutch painters Cornelis Beelt and Jacob van Ruisdael painting around the area in the 1600’s and, in the time of the Ashington era of our vessel, the small colony of artists hosted by Egmond Binnen including the Americans George Hitchcock, Gari Melchers and Walter MacEwen in the mid 1880’s

The beach at Egmond aan Zee, Cornelis Beet (Web Photo: Courtesy Wikipedia)

The Betsy Anna stranding is detailed in a piece on her in the Dutch Maritime History Databank and describes the event of the 31st of January 1914: “The steamship was loaded with 1100 tons of coal, came from West Hartlepool and was destined for Amsterdam. In view of the bad weather, the crew, consisting of 17 people, was taken ashore by the Egmonder lifeboat. According to the captain’s report, they had become entangled in the fog. On Saturday afternoon, the tug ‘ATLAS’ left for the beaching location to try and make it off. This succeeded towards evening, and the ‘BETSY ANNA’ was towed into IJmuiden on Sunday morning. (Source: Kleine Courant,’t Vliegend Blaadje, for Helder Texel; 04.02.1914 RN – Rotterdamsch Nieuwsblad 31-12-1915)” The sources quoted are the small (local) newspaper “Flying Blade of Helder” 04th Feb 1914 and the “Rotterdam Newspaper” of 31st December of 1915

Betsy Anna Stranded at Egmond aan Zee (Web Photo: Courtesy marhisdata.com)

It seems that Ships have been coming ashore at Egmond by the sea for millennia, however it is clear the Betsy Anna did not do so intentionally from the tug Atlas, of Zur Muhlen & Co, towing her off the sandbar evident in the postcard. I can only assume that the small boat attached to Betsy Anna’s bow is attempting to keep her straight as she is hauled to prevent her capsizing during the tow. Betsy Anna’s home port was Amsterdam, however her coaling for North Sea, Baltic and European journeys was often carried out from Rotterdam and in 1910 she would be sold again, this time to another Dutch company, W H Berghuys Kolenhandel N. V. clearly a subsidiary of the original Firma Berghuys but now indicating “Coal Trade” (Kolenhandel) in the title, not just “Firm” (Firma) however Betsy Anna was still managed by The company to exploit Betsy Anna………. This period of Betsy Anna’s life was not without incident and a measure of controversy too, way before Jarrow became a focus for the unemployed marching to parliament in October of 1936, the crew of the Betsy Anna refused to sail her back to Rotterdam from Hull in 1915 in fear of the German U Boat Threat to sink “neutral” (those ostensibly not declared at war) shipping. The crew claimed they were on strike, the shipowners, Naamlooze Vennootschap (limited company) W H Berghuys Kolenhandel, decided to use a strike exemption clause to force the issue, (Schofield. J: “Laytime & Demurrage Interruptions and exceptions to laytime” Ch 4.340 P 36 Seventh Edition Published by Informa Law from Routledge, 711 Third Avenue, New York 2016) the judge (J. Sankey) allowed the use stating “…..I do not think it would be possible to say the abstention of a workman from mere fear to do a particular thing or perform a particular contract would necessarily constitute a strike” the crew were instructed to sail……..

Betsy Anna Alongside at Rotterdam (Web Photo: Courtesy wrecksite.eu)

I expect there will be manifests and crew registers available for any native Dutch speaker to find, presuming the records survived the First World War, it would be fascinating to see the extent of the Betsy Anna’s travels, sadly I have no Dutch and can find nothing easily available through the usual myriad sources. The Betsy Anna would definitely have seen some service in the Nordic States as on the 29th December of 1915 she was sold to a Norwegian Company, this again from the Dutch Maritime History site: “The steamship BETSY ANNA, of the shipping company W.H. Berghuis, over here, was sold to Norway for, it is said 350,000 NLG” Even allowing for a decimal place being out (35,000) 35,000 Dutch Guilders in 1915 would be equivalent to just over a million UK£ today

Betsy Anna Stranded at Prawle Point Devon 1926 (Web Photo: Courtesy marhistdata.nl)

What is abundantly clear is that Betsy Anna continued to cross the North Sea to the UK as, on the 17th August of 1926, whilst in ballast (empty of coal or cargo) and travelling from Fleetwood in the UK back to Rotterdam, she ran aground at Prawle Point in Devon. I can only imagine Betsy Anna had been carrying coal for the Fleetwood steam trawlers and had unloaded there, the weather on the outbound journey was calm enough but towards Devon she ran into a dense fog, this was all before RADAR or GPS, at that time navigation was by Chart, Compass and Sextant…..or dead reckoning, line of sight essentially, and coast hugging, for some that perhaps lacked sufficient formal maritime navigation training. Betsy Anna ran aground in dense fog at Prawle Point, more specifically just past Gammon Head and Maceley cove on the rocks between Elender Cove and Black Cove, you can clearly see Gammon Head behind her in the photographs taken at the time of her stranding 

Betsy Anna on the rocks at East Prawle, likely Maceley Cove (Web Photo: Courtesy tynebuiltships.com)

As in the Egmond incident, Betsy Anna would be re-floated in an attempt to salvage her, and plans were laid to get her to Cowes in the Isle of Wight for repair. On the 03rd October of 1926 she was towed off the rocks by the tug Trustee and beached at Salcombe, in order to make temporary repairs before making the onward journey to Cowes

Betsy Anna Beached at Salcombe with her Tug alongside (Web Photo: Courtesy michaelmcfadyenscuba.info)

By the 12th of October the temporary repairs at Salcombe were complete, Betsy Anna was ready and prepared for the Cowes journey. Towing her to Cowes would mean a journey of around 115 miles, taking her past Portland, sadly Betsy Anna did not make Cowes, barely half way and taking on water her towing lines would break off Portland Bill, she would drift the few more miles to The Needles, East of Swanage, where she sank and lies broken apart to this day  

One of Betsy Anna’s Boilers Recently (Web Photo: Courtesy underwateradventures.co.uk)

I dived the Betsy Anna in September of 2007 on the Inspiration with Mike Baker, visibility was not great, which is something you put up with fairly often in UK diving, but it does mean you get quite zoned in on smaller areas of the wreck, anyhow the Green Navy Log records: “BETSY ANN SWANAGE DORSET Very Dingy dive – glad of the torch – great hunt round over a very broken old steamer hawse & chain still in place and so was the prop – shaft tunnel very broken up but a full boiler had 2 conger in one small & one which was very large – small lobster under the prop tunnel buddy Mike Baker Viz 2m” I clearly enjoyed the dive even though there was a great deal of debris and you had to make out what you were looking at because of the low viz and lack of wider context, she’s a wreck I’d like to see again in better light, sadly to date that’s the only dive I have done on Betsy Anna……..but you never know!

Resident Conger Eel (Web Photo: Courtesy Dorset Diving)

The loss of the Betsy Anna gets scant mention, although there is an entry in the Dutch Shipping Journal of October 1926:

Het Schip (The Ship) P300 Shipping & Shipbuilding 01 October 1926

“Ship losses. The sea freight steamship Betsy Anna, size 880 bru to reg. to show 1300 ton deadweight, in 1890 by W . Dobson & Co. in New castle built on Tyne belonging to Berghuys’ Kolenhandel te Amsterdam, recently stranded at Prawl point, must be regarded as totally lost“

As always this piece is greatly enhanced by those who illustrate it so beautifully, I am immeasurably grateful for the photos and illustrations of Dorset Diving, underwateradventures.co.uk, michaelmafadyenscuba.info, tynebuiltships.co.uk, marhistdata.nl, Billy Embleton, Ashington Colliery Railway, disusedstations.org.uk, northtynesiderailway.blogspot.com and Lloyds Register Foundation and the Tyne & Wear Archives

Filed Under: The Wrecks

EL Minya

May 21, 2023 by Colin Jones Leave a Comment

Soviet T-43 Class Minesweeper- Hurghada- Egypt

Soviet T-43 Class Minesweeper El Minya Sistership (Web Photo: Courtesy: history.navy.mil)

The Russians built 178 T-43 Class Minesweepers during the latter stages of WWII, they were based on a design variously attributed to either the UK or the US. Presumably, as the Soviet Union was an ally to the West at the time, the design was shared freely, although there seems to be no definitive record of that or the specific design origin either. The Soviet T-43 minesweepers were built in Russia (Leningrad & Kerch), in Poland and even in China (Licensed kits at first and then wholly locally). The Russians sold or gifted 44 of these vessels to Pro-Soviet regimes or satellites, with Egypt receiving 7 of them after the Moscow-Cairo arms deal, of 24th of September 1955, negotiated between  Russia’s First Secretary of the Communist Party, (the country’s leader) Nikita Khrushchev and Egypt’s President Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser

Egypt’s President Nasser Nationalises the Suez Canal 1956 (Web Photo: Courtesy ahramonline)

The Egyptian declaration nationalising the Suez Canal Company 26th July of 1956 provoked swift retribution, Israel invaded, backed by Britain and France (Operation Musketeer) in an attempt to oust Nasser and re-establish control over the strategic maritime highway and trading route. The Soviet Union, seeing this as an attempt to undermine their own efforts to increase their influence in the region, began to make serious threats to back Egypt, this pushed the United States to issue stern warnings to Moscow to stay out of the conflict, it looked like a Third World War was imminent

A Coy 3 Para at El Gamil Airfield Port Said 05th Nov 1956 (Web Photo: Courtesy Imperial War Museum)

It took the threat of economic sanctions against Israel, Britain & France by Eisenhower (US President) to end the conflict. Britain & France withdrew in December of 1956 and Israel followed shortly after leaving a United Nations peacekeeping force in the area to monitor the situation and allow Egypt to re-open the Canal in March of 1957. It seems the region has always been and perhaps always will be just “one step closer to the edge” than the rest of the world…….but let us steer back towards the El Minya, newly delivered to the Egyptian Navy and, as far as I can determine, playing no part in the Suez Crisis other than perhaps as a catalyst to the wider picture in terms of international political allegiances…….

T-43 off Crete 27 June 1967 (Web Photo: Courtesy history.navy.mil)

El Minya was delivered in spring 1956, one of four T-43 ocean-going minesweepers built in former USSR, and delivered as part of a $120 million arms supply. The four T-43 minesweepers delivered in 1956 were named after four different Egyptian cities: Minya, Bahaira, Gharbia and Assiout the hometown of President Nasser himself. For those of you who love the technical details Minya & the T-43 minesweepers were configured like this:

If you thought the end of the “Suez Crisis” would bring about peace in the area events would prove otherwise and although Britain and France withdrew, as the Israeli’s did, eventually, really what ensued was just a lull. The area was rife with tensions, the Israeli’s were on the verge of becoming a nuclear power, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) were named as an official body by the areas Arab League, a loose confederation of Middle eastern Nations supposedly sharing power in the region. The source of the Jordan River was to be diverted into Syria to the benefit of Syria and the Lebanon, but to the detriment of Israel, and Syria was sponsoring PLO attacks into Israel to weaken its hold on Gaza (“The Six Day War (1967)” Ynetnews Online resource: https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3611488,00.html Accessed: 18/05/2023). April 07th 1967 heralded the shooting down of six Syrian MIG fighter jets by Israel, following a border incursion over Israeli territory, Syria turned to Egypt for support

Israeli Soldiers of the IDF at Suez in 1969 (Web Photo: Courtesy Ynetnews)

By May Egypt’s response and it’s rhetoric was ramping up, President Nasser sent nearly 1000 tanks and seven divisions of Egyptian troops into Syria. That move was somewhat influenced by Russia’s insistence to Egypt that the Israeli’s had deployed in force along the Syrian-Israeli border, Nasser demanded the removal of all UN troops from the Sinai and Gaza, immediately following that evacuation Jordan deployed troops along Amman’s Israeli border and war was inevitable. Egypt closed the Straits of Tiran to Israeli ships, a direct provocation to Israel “if IDF Chief of Staff Yitzhak Rabin wants war, then he was welcome to it.” (Nasser quoted in “The Six Day War (1967) Ynetnews) Jordan pledged its troops to Egypt, Iraq and her allies followed suit and in answer Israel formed a new government and made the now global figure, Moshe Dayan, its minister of defence. June 4th Israel carried out a pre-emptive air strike and by the next day had destroyed 350 Arab Alliance aircraft and obliterated their airfield runways for the loss of only 20 of their own jets. At first Egyptian airfields were hit, closely followed by those of Syria and Jordan in what was called “Operation Focus”, when it ended over 450 alliance aircraft were destroyed giving Israel almost complete air superiority for the loss of just 46 IAF jets

Israeli Fighter Crews of 201 Tayeset “Ha’Akhat” (The ‘One’) Squadron (Web Photo: Courtesy IDF Spokespersons Unit)

Whilst the air battle was swift and decisive, the war on the ground was a more drawn out affair. This is mainly a tale of the Air and the Sea more than it is of land battles, suffice to say that despite very large Syrian, Egyptian and Jordanian forces the Israeli’s strategy and execution overwhelmed the alliance force. I suggest those of you who want to learn more of the land conflict read the Ynet news pieces quoted in this text, but I will leave you with this quote from the 6 day war article: “The Six Day War saw the military advantage held by Israel’s neighboring Arab countries annihilated as hundreds of tanks were destroyed, over 15,000 enemy soldiers were killed or wounded and some 6,000 were taken prisoner”. A decisive victory for Israel

Israeli Air Force “Kurnasse” c1970 McDonnell Douglas F4E Phantom air-frame (Web Photo: Courtesy IDF Spokespersons Unit)

Eventually, what started as a violent war fell again into a lull, now known as “The War of Attrition” and, although there is no officially recognised start date, it can be considered in effect from around March of 1969. (“War of Attrition (1969-1970)” Online Resource: Ynetnews 22/10/2008 Accessed: 18/05/2023). Nasser was determined to regain Sinai and started shelling the Israeli’s, and both sides executed raids and incursions, but no land was won or lost and the fighting concentrated around Suez. In October of 1967 the Egyptian Navy sank the Israeli destroyer INS Eilat off Rumani and in 1968 Egyptian forces bombarded IDF outposts in the Suez Canal and in 1969 the Egyptian Navy took possession of the Soviet T-43 Class Minesweeper El Minya………

Soviet T-43 Class Minesweeper General Arrangement (Web Illustration: Courtesy drive2.ru)

Now there isn’t a great deal I can say about El Minya’s journey to the Red Sea port of Hurghada, there isn’t a great deal available to review and I’m sure what was available at one time, and likely classified information at that, was very limited. The Egyptian Navy would keep vessel movements limited to those who needed to know to avoid military compromise but by whatever means El Minya arrived in the Southern Red Sea port of Hurghada and anchored off the commercial dock to the South of what was then a small fishing village and port, what has become in more recent times a busy tourist area and diving resort

Egyptian Navy T-43 Class Minesweepers c1978 (Web Photo: Courtesy navypedia)

201 Squadron originated as a result of the Suez Campaign, using Kurnasse Phantom 4E aircraft deployed to Ramat David in October 1956. They were the first Israeli Air Force (IAF) Squadron to operate F-4E Phantoms. In September of 1969 they were under the command of Shmuel Hetz, the unit was tasked to carry out anti-RADAR and anti-Surface to Air Missile site attacks against the alliance bases in Suez and the Red Sea coast. Operation Priha (Blossom) was planned as a series of strikes against targets in the Egyptian heartland. The strikes were carried out by the 201 sqn Phantoms and the squadron achieved its first IAF kill (11th November 1969) against an Egyptian Air Force (Soviet) Mig-21, one of the Priha attacks is known to have been executed against a SAM site near Abu Sueir in October 1969

201 Ha’Akhat Squadron Kurnasse F4-E Phantoms 1970 (Web Photo: Courtesy IDF Spokespersons Unit)

On the evening of the 06th February 1970 Kurnasse Phantoms of 201 squadron streaked low over the gulf from the East, beneath Egyptian RADAR capability, giving them the element of complete surprise as they attacked the Air Base and nearby air defence systems at Hurghada. It isn’t known if the Israeli’s knew in advance that El Minya was anchored in the harbour, but her anti-aircraft guns would have made her a significant threat and a high value target of opportunity in any case. It was only 15 hours earlier that Egyptian commandos had attacked two Israeli naval vessels moored in Elath harbour in the Gulf of Aqaba, one of the vessels, a 500‐ ton supply vessel, sank within an hour after magnetic mines attached to her hull exploded, reports say most if not all her crew escaped the sinking ship. El Minya would meet a similar fate that day, hit by at least one charge on her starboard side at her bow, probably another landed in close proximity as there is clear percussion damage toward her stern, likely from air to ground missiles from the 201 squadron “Heavy Hammer” (Kurnasse) Phantom’s

El Minya Starboard Bow Attack Damage (Web Photo: Courtesy divermagazine.com)

New York Times reporter James Feron made the first page with his report from Jerusalem:  (Feron.J. New York Times Feb 07 1970 (P1)) “JERUSALEM, Feb. 6 — Israeli jets attacked and sank a 700‐ton Egyptian minelayer with a crew of 80 in the Gulf of Suez this evening, the Israelis reported. The attack apparently was in retaliation for the sinking of an Israeli coastal vessel in Elath harbor before dawn. The Israeli planes were reported to have caught the Egyptian ship about 35 miles south of Shadwan, the Egyptian island occupied briefly by Israeli commandos recently, at the entrance to the Gulf of Suez. Military officials here said that the minelayer was used in antisubmarine warfare. They said that she carried two gun turrets with double-barrelled 37‐mm cannons and other armament.”

El Minya’s Anti-Aircraft Guns Eternally Silenced (Web Photo: Courtesy divers-guide.com)

I first dived the El Minya in November of 2008, by this time my “Little Red Wreck Book” was full and the dive is written up in the Green Navy Log and records: “El Mina – HURGHADA HARBOUR Sunk in the Arab Israeli War in 1972 whilst at anchor the wreck lies on its Port Side from the bows @ 17m to the stern @ 32 we opted for 32% mix and Decoplanner software led by the dive guide Nick. The wreck is fantastic – an Egyptian minesweeper. We finned off the shot and up the Port side from the stern to the bow. Open hatches show the mess of debris & wiring collapsed inside. There are 2 wire winches for the towed sweep – one is big – very large bore cable. There are 50 cal AA guns and smaller AA machine guns. Along the deck there are two different sized tow buoys. There is little damage to the main structure and we swam up along the deck to the forward guns and the bow. Six Lion Fish & a shoal of Glass Fish resident at the anchor chains. The starboard side has the blast hole just forward of the bridge area & that opens up the main hull. Would be a good penetration & overall this was a great dive. 32% Nitrox Gas In 220 Out 110 50% Deco for 41 mins (40 on bottom) Buddy Craig/Mark”

El Minya Lying to Port (Web Illustration: Courtesy Rico Oldfield)

I have been lucky enough to visit the Red Sea many times, it’s a place of contrast, from the occasional soldiers isolated for a tour of duty on the Brothers Islands, squat campfire and meagre rations, to the ever developing markets and hotels at Sharm El Sheik, when I first visited Hurghada it was little more than a fishing village and one road town, still distinctly “Arab” despite the two modern hotels stuck at the far end of the quay between the town and its harbour, now Hurghada has swelled and there are new areas of development with more up market hotels and the ubiquitous Hard Rock Café diners, it’s not bad to see, just different. In 1970 when El Minya was attacked Hurghada was a very different place, no hotels, a shanty town road of poor quality buildings and the fisherman’s quay, but perhaps that is a little disingenuous, it was after all not yet a diving resort destination, just an Egyptian fishing village, now even the Brothers Islands sell T Shirts and tourist bracelets….But I digress…..

El Minya Starboard Percussive Impact (Web Photo: Courtesy divers-guide)

I next dived El Minya in August of 2011: “Red Sea “El Minya” in Hurghada harbour. The ex-Russian mine-sweeper given to Egypt in the ‘60’s on her Port side about 60 m bow to stern! Sunk by missile from Israeli Phantom Jets. We dropped on the stern & past the props through the rudders to get to the deck area and went to the bows along the sea bed past the Stern Guns (AA) and bridge to the deck 50’ cal’s with cases of ammo in a speed loader nearby. From the bow back down the deck at centre line& over the funnel & bridge looking for entry/exits then back from stern to mid-ships where we entered the forward missile damage & went down the ward room to its bulkhead & turned round to swim back through & exit at the bow section bulkhead through a million & more Glassfish in huge shoals which made a great exit & lovely dive end. Air In 200 Out 70 Viz 20m Buddy Craig VR3 deco 2@12 then 8 @ 4.5 W Temp 27’”

“We dropped on the stern & past the props through the rudders…” (Web Photo: kiwibavarianphotography)

I dived her again in 2013 and once more on my last Red Sea trip in 2015. Every time there is something new to see or something different about her. The 2015 dive we took a look at the barge not far from El Minya, I’ve no idea if it was sunk in the same attack or a later event but there is always something that makes you want to dive her again, she’s a small boat but she has a big piece of history surrounding her and is the only vessel I have dived sunk as a result of a modern rocket attack by Iconic Phantom jets…….

El Minya Funnel (Web Photo: Courtesy kiwibavarianphotography)

Each dive I have done on El Minya has been a good one, the visibility sometimes in harbour areas can be poor, I’ve been lucky every time on her. The interior has limited opportunity to penetrate but there are places you can get in and swim through, which makes her a challenge on occasion as, by her size, the spaces are somewhat confined. I will post a GoPro dive from 2015 with this piece and you can see one of the routes for yourselves, you can tour the barge too on this one. I do love diving El Minya, there are some who overlook her on the Liveaboards in the area, I don’t understand them, I love rounding off a dive trip with a last dive round this brave reminder of a war most have forgotten long ago

El Minya’s Stern& Sweep Array Deck (Web Photo: Courtesy kiwibavarianphotography)

I will leave you with my last dive on El Minya taking in the barge and described in my Navy Log as: “El Minya – A visit to the brave little ex Russian 6 day war victim caught by Israeli Phantoms at anchor – she went down with her anti-aircraft guns blazing & shell cases still remain on the sea bed at her bows in evidence – guns are pointed airborne!! In and out of her along the length from her props at the stern to the bow past the shattered hole in her starboard hull – along the main corridor to exit at the bridge area & back to the stern – I love this dive – Air in 230 Out 100 Buddy Craig”

Type T43 Minesweeper off Hurghada (Web Photo: Courtesy Divers-Guide)

As usual this piece is only possible due to the generosity of those who bring it to life and I am grateful for the use of photos taken by kiwibavarianphotography.com, ahramonline, Divers-Guide, the IDF Spokespersons Unit,Ynetnews, navypedia, The Imperial War Museum, history.navy.mil, Diver Magazine and the brilliant illustrations by Rico Oldfield and courtesy of drive2.ru

Now why not enjoy a dive with me on El Minya

Filed Under: The Wrecks

Cita En El Mar

May 3, 2023 by Colin Jones Leave a Comment

Faro de Punta Rasca Tenerife

Cita En El Mar (Web Photo: Courtesy Ministerio De Agricultura Pesca Y Alimentacion)

The Cita En El Mar was a typical Canaries Tuna Vessel, built in 1961 in Madeira, Portugal….. apparently, although to date I can find no evidence of that, nor can I find a reference to a shipyard or shipbuilder in Funchal, or any other Madeiran Port that might have constructed her, so we begin this story with a conundrum, the bigger mystery becomes how and why she sank off Punta de Rasca in 1995. Even the date of the sinking of the Cita En El Mar (City on the Sea) cannot be comprehensively evidenced, I have seen 3 different dates quoted on the few diving sites that are local to the wreck, as the most invested in the sinking, Sergio Hanquet, a local Los Cristianos diver is likely the most accurate and he has the sinking on the 14th of May of 1995

The Canary Islands, Africa, Portugal & Spain Inset (Web Photo: Courtesy European Parliament Policy Department)

Sergio was confronted by two of the crew, still wet from their ordeal, arrived from the sunken vessel in his Los Cristianos shop, and, as a well-known local diver, was asked to dive the wreck and recover documents on behalf of the captain and crew. Sergio dived the wreck that day, so I believe he is likely to be most accurate in reference to the sinking, his photos of the wreck are a record of her condition immediately after her loss and are visually quite stunning. The Canaries and their surrounding Atlantic waters have three national maritime (jurisdictional) borders, with Portugal, Morocco and Western Sahara (Africa). In its 2014 study on Tuna fishing in the Canaries the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna stated: “The location of the Canary Islands (between 27°N – 29°N and 13°W – 18°W) and their oceanographic characteristics, which are shaped by the cold Canary Current, the trade winds and proximity to African shores (particularly the easternmost islands), attract most species of tuna from both the temperate-albacore (Thunnus alalunga) and Atlantic Bluefin (Thunnus thynnus)—and the typically tropical groups—Bigeye (Thunnus obesus), Skipjack (Katsuwonus pelamis) and Yellowfin (Thunnus albacares). These highly migratory fish reach the islands from several areas of the Atlantic at different times of the year and are the main fishery resource of the Canary Islands”. (“ATLANTIC BLUEFIN TUNA (THUNNUS THYNNUS) (LINNAEUS, 1758) FISHERY IN THE CANARY ISLANDS” Delgado de Molina. A, Rodriguez-Marin. E Delgado de Molina. R and Carlos Santana. J: Online resource https://www.iccat.int/Documents/CVSP/CV070_2014/n_2/CV070020499.pdf Accessed: 24/04/2023). The report goes on to detail trends in the Canaries Fishing from early data sources reaching as far back (Blue Fin Tuna) as 1965, but more on that later…….

Yellowfin Tuna, Thunnus Albacares (Web Photo: Unknown Origin)

The seafloor “bathymetry”, the contours representing the same detail as used in an Ordnance Survey Map on land, show the Ocean around the islands has a typically abrupt fall away to the depths, with a narrow shelf surrounding the Islands but a steep slope dropping to over a 1000 m depth. This produces conditions similar to the open ocean very close to the Island’s shores. The Island group or “archipelago” is conveniently located in a cold water current which, in a similar fashion to the UK’s Gulf Stream Gyre (rotating current), acts as a moderator to the Islands and their maritime climate. The European Parliamentary Fisheries Policy document “Fisheries in the Canary Islands” (2013) piece states, in its executive study: (Part 3)  “The presence of upwelling along the West African coast brings deep cold nutrient-rich waters to the surface and stimulates primary productivity. As compared with the very rich fishing grounds in the upwelling area, waters around the Canaries are relatively poor(er)…….” (https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/note/join/2013/495852/IPOL-PECH_NT(2013)495852_EN.pdf On-Line Resource: Accessed 24/04/2023). This is clearly concluding the Tuna fishing in the region is better off the African Continental shelf than it is off the smaller Island masses of the Canaries

For those of you who I know will need the details:

Cita En El Mar Registration (Web Data: Courtesy Ministerio de Agricultura Pesca Y Alimentacion)

The same report goes on to detail some of the more recent figures in regard to Tuna fishing (P10: Para 9) “Tunas have constantly formed the large majority of the landings in recent years. Bigeye tuna was the most common species in 2011, with 31.7% of the total quantity and 26.7% of the value. Skipjack tuna represented 12.5% of the production and 5.1% of its value, but significantly increased in 2012 – up to four times the 2011 figure. Yellowfin tuna and albacore are also major species in terms of value (10.4% and 6% respectively)”. The European Parliament, or at least the Fisheries Policy Department, identifies the deeply rooted reliance the Canaries have on fishing and especially smaller scale, family type businesses: “The structure of the Canarian fishing fleet shows a high social and economic dependency on small-scale fishing. Apart from some specific areas such as Las Palmas and Arrecife, small vessels are the most important segment. The boats less than 12 m long represent 86.7% of the number of vessels and account for 7.8% of the total capacity”  Which confirms the Cita En El Mar as one of the larger of the Canaries Tuna Fleet as she was around 21m in length with a beam around 6m

Representation of Oceanic Upswelling at a Continental Shelf (Web Illustration: Courtesy NOAA)

The Cita En El Mar was a typical trawler of the day and of her region, the Tuna fleet of the Canaries were largely very similar, if not actually sister-ships of the Cita, having long rising bows and fairly open stern decks, ideal for deploying deck mounted or hold stored nets Port or Starboard, using the main mast and derrick gear aboard. The typical type of fishing carried out by these vessels in and around the Canaries and African coats is known as “Purse Seine” netting and uses large scale synthetic nets which can be deployed quickly by a fast boat around shoals of Tuna which can be drawn closed at their base before being hauled aboard. The Tuna boats spray water onto the surface which is an artifice to attract shoals of Tuna by simulating the disturbances made by small fish feeding at the surface. The top of the nets have floats attached, and the bottom have weights, the “Purse Line” is a line running round the base of the net through “Purse Rings” which, when reeled in, closes the bottom of the net on itself trapping the Tuna. It is also highly likely one of the reasons we continue to use the expression “keeping your purse strings tight” as early money purses used the same method of closure

Purse Seine Net Deployed (Web Photo: Courtesy DanSea)

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (“Fisheries and Aquaculture: Tuna purse seining, Handling Mode” Online Resource: https://www.fao.org/fishery/en/fishtech/40 Accessed 02/11/22) details the method as described above but also goes on to describe the difficulties of storing the catch “Storage of tuna once it is caught presents a problem, for the size of the fish is large. Some vessels are equipped to bulk-freeze the catch, but the commonest method is to keep the fish in refrigerated brine tanks (brine at 0 °C), which form much of the lower parts of the hull and are equipped with batteries of seawater pumps for circulation” The Cita En El Mar, although not strictly speaking, a “large Vessel” nevertheless had seawater tanks for keeping the Tuna catch fresh on the journey back from the North African fishing grounds that she frequented

Purse Seine Caught Yellow Fin Tuna (Web Photo: Courtesy WWF)

The American Institution NOAA (National Oceanic Atmospheric Association) describe Yellowfin Tuna as: “……torpedo-shaped, they are metallic dark blue on the back and upper sides, and change from yellow to silver on the belly. True to their name, their dorsal and anal fins and finlets are bright yellow, Yellowfin tuna can be distinguished from other tunas by their long, bright yellow dorsal fin and a yellow strip down the side, they are also more slender than Bluefin tuna. Yellowfin tuna grow fairly fast, up to 400 pounds, and have a somewhat short life span of about 7 years” The Atlantic population are not considered at risk or overfished at the time of writing this so they are “sustainable” and an important source of both income and nutrition to a wide sector of the population (Online resource: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/atlantic-yellowfin-tuna Accessed 25/04/2023). The fishing fleets of the Canaries have hunted Yellowfin Tuna off the Saharan African Coast, formerly known as the “Spanish Sahara” (since Spanish occupation in 1884, up until 1975 when Spain abandoned the Western Saharan region) “Canarian fishermen had been working in these waters since the 16th century (Rumeu de Armas, 1956, 1977), when the population in such coasts did not carried out fishing activities” (La web de los “artesanos del Mar” grancanario: Online resource: https://www.grancanariapescaenred.com/en/about-us/brief-history/ Accessed 25/04/2023)

Shipyard at Balanciaga c1956 (Web Photo: Courtesy astillerosbalenciaga.com)

There are very few references to the build location of the Cita En El Mar, as I said at the beginning of this piece I found it difficult to state with any level of confidence that one was definitive whilst researching the vessel. I should state now and for the record that, despite several direct requests to the shipyards I suspected likely to have built her, none have responded and so there is at present no confirmed builder for this workhorse of the Canaries Tuna fleet which I find rather sad. The locations stated for her build include Madeira (Aquarius Diving Tenerife) which I would expect to be Funchal (the main port), the only reference I could find to shipbuilding there was in the time of Henry the Navigator, when Madeira wood was used on Caravels for sailors such as Vasco De Gama

Astilleros Balenciaga Wooden Hulls Under Construction c1956 (Web Photo: Courtesy Balanciaga S.A. 90 urte anos)

I can find no shipyard in the 1950-1960’s associated with the Port which makes it seem unlikely the Cita En El Mar was built there. I corresponded with a Senor Gutierrez Gimeno, who is involved with the history of Canaries Fishing vessels and has a great archive of photographs of various Tuna Boats. Senor Gutierrez Gimeno believes the Cita En El Mar to be from the Astilleros Balanciaga (Balenciaga Shipyards) on the Urola river mouth at Zumaia in Spain. The Balenciaga yard began by building wooden fishing vessels in 1921 and still builds ships, although now much larger vessels, but still heavily involved with the fishing industry. I have to say, the similarity in the historic photos of wooden hulled Balenciaga Tuna vessels shows a very close similarity to the lines of the Cita En El Mar, sadly the yard did not respond to my requests for confirmation or information, so up to now although “likely” there is nothing to categorically state the Cita En El Mar was built at Balenciaga

A Balenciaga Tuna Vessel Launch c1970, The Gure Cita (Web Photo: Courtesy Emmanuel Gutierrez Gimeno)

So from her launch around 1961 the Cita En El Mar operated off the Spanish Saharan continental shelf and, over her 34 year career, no doubt brought home many thousands of Tons of Tuna from the rich grounds off the African Coast. The times were to change over that period and quite considerably so. What was a traditional and deeply rooted cultural occupation for the Canary Islands would come under attack from several directions, eventually becoming a paradigm shift that had unparalleled consequences for the Islanders and their way of life. In 1975 Spain withdrew from the Western Sahara region, this heralded a change to the fishing areas of the traditional Canary Fleet “The change was traumatic for the Canarian fishing sector, in particular for the artisanal fleet, as it led to the loss of the rich Saharan fishing grounds. Spain signed an agreement with Morocco and Mauritania in 1975, through which a fishing franchise was established for 20 years on the Saharan coastline for vessels based in the Canary Islands. As a result of the agreement, many vessels from other Spanish communities registered in the Canaries, which caused an artificial increase of the fleet and led Morocco to reconsider the agreement” (European Parliamentary Policy Report: Ch 2 Fisheries Management, Para 2: https:// www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/ etudes/note/ join/2013/495852/IPOL-PECH_NT(2013)495852_EN.pdf On-Line Resource: Accessed 24/04/2023)

“Tons of Tuna from the rich grounds off Africa” Typical Canary Catch (Web Photo: Unknown Origin)

It isn’t a surprise to find the situation changed again following the Canary Islands achieving a “State of Autonomy” from Spain in 1982. This brought some control over their fishing and allowed them exclusive rights to inland waters. In 1986 Spain joined the European Community, although it would not be until 1991 that the Canary Islands became subject to the EU Common Fisheries Policy and accepted the 3 maritime “Zones” contained in the agreement limiting inland waters to to the Canary Islands, the 12 miles from the limitation line becoming Spanish waters and the area from the 12 mile to 200 miles offshore belonging to the EU member countries as common fisheries

Canary Tuna Boat Seine Netting (Web Photo: Courtesy Pintrest)

These zone changes and the shift in access to the traditional Moroccan and Saharan continental shelf grounds undoubtedly had an effect on the Tuna fleets although it would not be until a similar shift in policy by Morocco in December of 2011 when the Canary Islands Government would quantify the impacts on the fishing community such a change imposed “The rejection of the agreement on 14 December 2011 prevented 26 Canarian vessels from fishing in Moroccan waters (20 tuna vessels and 6 artisanal vessels). The Canarian Government showed that the rejection negatively affected the fishing sector and the related economic activities, and estimated a decrease of more than 50% of the landings at first-sales points, a loss of 250 direct jobs and more than 1000 indirect jobs, as well as a loss of more than 11 million EUR for the fishing companies and of more than 18 million EUR for the Producers Organisations and commercial agents”

Declining Canary Island Tuna Fleet (Web Illustration: Courtesy European Parliament)

It doesn’t take much imagination to understand what impacts such changes had on the Canary Islanders and their traditional way of life, fuel prices were going up, catch sizes were going down, and slowly but surely those families and fishermen started to look to other ways of earning a living. Coincidentally albeit anecdotally the Canary Island Tourist Industry began to bloom, as air-fares decreased and budget airlines like Easy Jet entered the market bringing cheaper, and more accessible Island Holidays with them

Canaries Tuna Boat Aground at Punta De Rasca (Web Photo: Unknown Origin)

So, to the story of the loss of the Cita En El Mar, an ignominious end for such a vibrant and vital part of the Canaries psyche for over 3 decades and the lifeblood of an economy intertwined with the Island life, its simplicity, and its obvious attraction to those of us with hectic treadmill like existences. There are three versions of the loss, all have a central thread and all have an air of authenticity…….which is the absolute truth?……I doubt any but the captain of the vessel on the day truly know. So version one of the sinking of the Cita En El Mar goes that her crew were celebrating a catch far better than they had seen in a long time, heading back for the fishing quay at Puerto Las Galletes. A storm caught the Cita En El Mar as she headed back loaded down with her catch and, with the crew and obviously the Captain somewhat distracted, their navigation fell short and the Cita En El Mar hit the headland at Punta Rasca. Her hull breached, the plucky little boat sat on the rocks as the Captain sent a mayday call out, the call brought other vessels to her aid but the damage to her bow had been too great to survive and, despite being dragged back off the rocks successfully, she foundered pretty much against the headland. The water is deep fairly close in at that spot, the Cita En El Mar took her fishing gear and her catch down with her to 50m, where the sand met the rocks of the headland just a few tens of meters out, and there she lay until her wooden hull was torn from her steel bridge, her wheelhouse and crew accommodation, and was smashed to matchwood over the coming years, leaving only her superstructure on the seabed

Cita En El Mar, Bow Split and Gear Adrift (Web Photo: Courtesy diariodeavisos)

Perhaps the only luck to come from the wreck of the Cita En El mar came to Diver Sergio Hanquet, (I believe the photo from diariodeavisos to be one of his superb shots taken the day after the sinking) when, whilst behind the counter in his sweetshop in Los Cristianos, Sergio was confronted by two fishermen from the Cita En El Mar who had asked a friend of his if anyone could help retrieve the ships documents from the wreck. Sergio was a well-known diver locally and must have thought all his birthdays had come at once as the story unfolded. I doubt it took more than a couple of seconds for him to agree to dive the wreck and we are left with some of the most eerie and artful photos any wreck diver has probably seen

Stern Deck of the Cita En El Mar (Web Photo: Courtesy Sergio Hanquet)

Version two of the sinking of the Cita En El Mar has the same core, navigational error, but has the crew simply too insensitive from celebration to notice their course onto the Headland at Punta Rasca, so no storm……just a combination of enthusiastic reverence and a complete disregard for either time, or distance, the end result, the vessel and catch lost to the depths in the same place and manner as version 1. Whilst “possible” (in a similar manner to the Italian Job and the bus ending up hanging over the cliff edge) it is unlikely that a crew, dependent on the revenue from their supposedly record catch, would start to celebrate before that catch was safely landed and the money in the bank…….It’s entirely “possible”, but I find it rather unlikely

The Cita En El Mar Bow (Web Photo: Courtesy Sergio Hanquet)

So version three of the story again has the same core, the Cita Loaded with a record catch heading back to her Quay to unload, however this version has it that the storm and the sheer size of the catch made her hard to control and, nearing the headland, that situation got worse and she became unmanageable and was essentially driven onto the rocks by a combination of weather and an unusually large catch, in one telling of this version by our dive guide there was a possibility the nets became tangled in her prop as she approached the headland in the storm, pitching and rolling due to the size of her catch……..so it seems the Cita En El Mar, a perfectly sound fishing vessel, having just made a fabulous catch and about to land that catch and make her crew a lot better off, found her way onto a headland that it is hard to imagine a radar would miss, let alone an auto-pilot, or even a Captain & crew somewhat worse for wear and celebration……….or…….. there is another possibility, that despite a good catch, perhaps exactly because of that catch, the owner of the vessel had decided enough was enough, that Tuna fishing had run its course and that it was time to bow out and cash in………I have no idea if the Cita En El Mar carried insurance, I am not for one moment suggesting that a vessel laden with a record catch of Tuna, and clearly beyond any real suspicion in light of that catch, would have been purposefully driven onto a shore, in sight of a lighthouse, placed there to warn vessels away from a treacherous headland……….but you never really know…..do you

Cita Stern Wrapped in Purse Seine Netting (Web Photo: Courtesy Sergio Hanquet)

I was lucky enough to dive the Cita En El Mar in August of 2005, the Green Navy Dive Log records: “08/04/05 Tenerife CITA DEL MAR Los Galletas Great Descent, whole wreck was visible from about 20m down & lies bow deep to 53m stern at approx. 40m, large wooden fishing trawler which the wood has mostly broken/rotted away from but the metal is fully intact bridge & railings, fuel tanks etc – very picturesque dive nets wound as if caught in the prop (a theory as to its demise from one local diver). Huge shoal of local tropical fish at stern & 1 large Ray swam off as we arrived – beautiful & well worth 15 mins deco! Viz 30m Air In 230 Out 75 Buddy Pieto (Polish dvr)” She was a deep dive and I relished the clear warm Blue of the Atlantic off Tenerife, the long descent with the spectacle of the disembodied superstructure visible very early on, the abandoned nets still evident around the bridge and trailing out to where the stern used to be. It was very odd to see such a strange sight, if anything I had been used to the remnants of ships’ hulls, far more often than their superstructures. In most wooden shipwrecks, if anything, the deck houses and wheelhouses are the first to become flattened or dislodged, usually during the initial sinking. It is a short time below the waves until the surge of current and tide carries the smashed remains away from the hull and therefore these pieces of the ships structure are often absent, but to see an absent hull, that was a different thing altogether………

Cita En El Mar Bridge (Web Photo: Courtesy Holidaydiver)

I hope, in the future, I get confirmation of the shipyard that built the Cita En El Mar. I would very much like to confirm that and perhaps even get hold of her plans……but until that happens I will just thank those who’s help with this piece cannot be underestimated, the wonderful & haunting photos of Senor Sergio Hanquet, Holidaydiver, DanSea, astillerosbalenciaga.com and the photos, information and help provided by Senor Emmanuel Gutierrez Gimeno to both of whom I am very grateful and without whom this piece would be a far lesser telling of the story of the Cita En El Mar

Filed Under: The Wrecks

The Wrecks of The Adriatic

December 16, 2022 by Colin Jones Leave a Comment

Vassilios T

Vasilios T in 1919 as Eastern Temple (Web Photo: Courtesy wrecksite.eu)

Vasilios T would start her life in Osaka, Japan as Yard Number 10, she would eventually be named Eastern Temple and become part of the war requirements of the USA, following their entry into World War 1, 02nd April of 1917. For those of you who love the technical detail:

When The USA finally joined the First World War in 1917 it was after a series of meetings between the First Sea-Lord of the British Admiralty, Winston Churchill, and the US President Woodrow Wilson, Wilson did not want to commit US troops to the war in Europe however Churchill was desperate that he did….. Some say it was no co-incidence that two years earlier, in 1915, the Luxury Liner Lusitania continued to cross the Atlantic carrying American citizens aboard despite the war, and despite the Germans declaring unrestricted warfare on the high seas

Lusitania Enters New York 1907 (Web Photo: Courtesy HistoryHubUlster)

Lusitania’s owners, the Cunard Line were British and trade was brisk, Lusitania was one of the fastest ships afloat, between 1907 & 1909 she had won the Blue Riband for the fastest crossing between Queenstown, Ireland and Sandy Hook in New York, no less than 4 times, a crossing of 2780 Nautical Miles, completed in 4 days Sixteen hours and 40 minutes, almost a full 12 hours better than the previous holder, the German Liner Deutschland. There was something to be said for Cunard’s assertion that Lusitania, capable of 25 Knots (47 MPH), could outrun any U-Boat, but the Lusitania didn’t have to outrun any German U Boat……She had to outrun their torpedo’s

Kapitanleutnant Walter Schweiger (Web Photo: Courtesy Das Bundesarchiv)

It only took one of those torpedo’s, from the German Type 19 U-Boat, U20 on the 07th May of 1915, to send the Lusitania, to the bottom of the Atlantic off Old Kinsale Head in Southern Ireland, just a couple of hours out of Liverpool and safety. Lusitania had been carrying 1266 passengers with a high contingent of US citizens aboard it, 123 of whom perished in the attack, Germany issued a statement in which they claimed that because Lusitania “carried contraband of war” and that she “was classed as an auxiliary cruiser,” which, in the eyes of the German’s meant U20 had a right to destroy her regardless of any passengers aboard

Germany’s Warning to US Travelers 1915 (Web Photo: Courtesy wikimedia)

Germany also pointed to warnings printed in the US papers, alongside all advertising by Cunard and the major passenger liner companies, stating any passengers sailing on British ships did so at their own risk, it didn’t stop international outrage at the sinking of the Lusitania, but it is doubtful Kapitanleutnant Walter Schweiger or the crew of U20, suspected they had sewn the seeds that would bring the US into the war on the side of Britain and her allies almost two years later

Headlines in the New York Herald May 08th 1915 (Web Photo: Courtesy wikipedia)

Why did Woodrow Wilson wait two years to enter the war, with 123 US citizens at the bottom of the Atlantic you could be forgiven for thinking an act of war against the US had been carried out, and immediate response was necessary, as I am sure Winston Churchill believed, but Wilson was determined to stay neutral and act as nothing more than peacemaker between Britain & Germany, Germany apologized for the loss of American lives on the Lusitania and pledged to end unrestricted submarine warfare in the Atlantic from that point

U20 Safely Alongside in 1915 (Web Photo: Courtesy US Library of Congress)
US Lusitania Propaganda Poster (Web Photo: Courtesy W A Rodgers Library of Congress)

In 1917 Germany, suffering from the effects of British sea blockades around their very small coastal region, and, with a population on the verge of starvation, declared a return to unrestricted submarine warfare and worse, the Germans were caught red-handed (Zimmerman Telegram) offering Mexico support for any action towards the return of Texas, Arizona and New Mexico (if they supported Germany against Britain and her allies) should the US join the war on the side of Britain…….

1915 Poster Compelling the USA to enter WWI (Web Photo: Courtesy W A Rodgers Library of Congress)

Enough was enough it seemed and despite the obvious reluctance to join the “European” conflict that had coloured US public opinion for the intervening years, in April of 1917 Woodrow Wilson went to the US Congress and asked for a formal declaration of war against Germany & her allies. The request went to Congress and the House of Representatives but, after both agreed, on the 07th of December 1917 The United States finally declared war on German and her ally Austria-Hungary

US Pacific Marine Review 1917 (Web Photo: Courtesy Unknown Unattributable)

So what has U20, the sinking of the Lusitania, and the USA’s entry into World War I got to do with the Vasilios T, or as she was known in 1918, The Eastern Temple? To understand this we need to go back a little, before the sinking of Lusitania, indeed to 1914, at the outbreak of World War I, when it seemed the USA had little ambition for international ocean trading (Day, Edmund E. “The American Merchant Fleet: A War Achievement, a Peace Problem” in The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol 34, No 4, pp1-41. Aug 1920. Oxford University Press. Online Resource: https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/1885158.pdf Accessed 26/01/2022) “In 1910 the American fleet had fallen to one-twentieth the size of the British; and less than one-tenth of American seaborne foreign trade moved under United States flag. For years before the war, attempts to foster merchant shipping met with stolid indifference when not with vigorous opposition. The business men of the country were convinced that ocean transportation was an industry in which American labor and capital could not profitably engage” As the conflict in Europe became more and more likely to drag the US unwillingly, and ill-prepared into war, the Americans, perhaps realizing their merchant fleet was unlikely to serve their needs in regards to increasing trade between the US and the needs of those in Europe (on both sides, for supplies and materials to immediately sustain their populations, and to enable them to continue fighting) opened their merchant shipping registry (Day, Edmund E. “The American Merchant Fleet: A War Achievement, a Peace Problem” in The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol 34, No 4, P570. Aug 1920. Oxford University Press. Online Resource: https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/1885158.pdf Accessed 26/01/2022) Edmund Day has it that the Panama Canal Act of August 24 1912, supplemented by an act of August 19, 1914, removing a five year age limit on vessels applying for registry, accepted that: “Foreign-built vessels thereafter could obtain American registry upon passing the Steamboat Inspection Service test for seaworthiness. Numerous owners of foreign-built vessels quickly took advantage of the free registry act. The greater safety under neutral flag was apparently more than an offset to more expensive American operation.”  Meanwhile cries were going up in the US press for more home built ships…..

The US California Paper, Morning Union, January 1917 (Web Photo: Courtesy cdnc.ucr.edu)

Although the US Government took up the cries for merchant shipping production, with ship-yards such as Philadelphia’s Hog Island turning to mass-production techniques and making a significant difference to the speed of construction, the US simply could not keep up with demand for shipping to replace losses, and cope with the increased trade demands of the Allies necessary for the war effort: Charles Geisst, writing in the Encyclopedia of American Business History, “….The domestic yards were swamped with orders and had a backlog of many years. Another shipbuilding boom, reminiscent of that during the civil war, had begun, but builders could not produce ships fast enough to end the crisis” (Geisst, C.R. & Gargano, C. “Encyclopedia of American Business History. P386. Shipbuilding industry, Para2.” Online Resource: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=5dGig0fYlj8C&pg=PA386&lpg=PA386&dq=US+cries+for+shipbuilding+1917&source=bl&ots=2vqI-8zYhB&sig=ACfU3U2MYROQVyH0dS2XtDAT7CgGbhmRXA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjLsd_239H1AhVPf MAKHZrABxoQ6AF6BAg7EAM#v=onepage&q&f=false  Accessed 27/01/2022) There would have to be another way to ensure the need for merchant shipping was met by the supply of merchant ships

Toyo Kisen Kaisha, Japan 1917 (Web Photo: Courtesy iconspng.com)

When WWI broke out in 1914 the Japanese had not long ended their war with Russia (the Russo Japanese war of 1904-1905), Russia was an ally to Great Britain against the Austro-Hungarian & German Empire in what was, at that time, mostly a European war as far as the US was concerned. Japan was also an ally of Britain, despite serious misgivings at their motives by the British Foreign Secretary, Sir Edward Grey, however his caution was not shared quite so explicitly by Winston Churchill, obviously losing patience with Grey in a terse telegram of August 1914: (Saxon, Timothy, D. “Anglo-Japanese Naval Cooperation, 1914-1918 In: Naval War College Review. Vol 53, No 1, P66, Para 2” Online Resource https://www.jstor.org/stable/44643068?seq=16#metadata _info_tab_contents Accessed 27/01/2022) “I think you are chilling indeed to these people. I can’t see any half way house between having them in and keeping them out. If they are to come in, they may as well be welcomed as comrades. This last telegram [to Japan] is almost hostile.” Churchill rounded off with “You may easily give mortal offence_which will not be forgotten_we are not safe yet_by a long chalk. The storm has yet to burst”

Japan’s Shipyards in 1914 (Web Photo: Courtesy history.navy.mil)

Despite Grey’s obvious concerns, Japan was both an ally and a ready and willing supply source of available merchant shipping, desperately needed for the war effort, there was little choice and an easy decision to be made: “In 1917, Japanese shipyards hastily constructed (in five months) twelve destroyers identical to the Japanese Kaba class for France: Japanese sailors delivered the ships to French forces in the Mediterranean. In December of 1916, the British chancellor of the exchequer sought and gained the War Cabinet’s approval for the purchase of six Japanese merchant ships, totaling 77,500 tons, The British further requested in May 1917 that the Japanese supply shipping for Chinese workers recruited to work in Europe: Japanese warships helped to escort the convoys to France. Later in the war, Japan and the United States agreed that Japanese shipyards would produce 371,000 tons of shipping for the U.S. Shipping Board.” 

(Saxon, Timothy, D. “Anglo-Japanese Naval Cooperation, 1914-1918 In: Naval War College Review. Vol 53, No 1, P77, Para 1” Online Resource https://www.jstor.org/stable/44643068?seq=16#metadata_info_tab_contents Accessed 27/01/2022)

Mitsubishi Shipyard, Nagasaki Japan (Web Photo: Courtesy oldtokyo.com)

The Japanese had capacity to help the allies and were willing to turn their impressive and modern shipyards to the war effort too, “Across the harbour from Nagasaki are the Akuno-ura Engine Works, and the Mitsubishi Dockyards, the latter one of the largest of its kind in Nippon [Japan]. It was established in 1856 by the Tokugawa shogunate, under the tutelage of Dutch engineers, but was transferred to the Mitsubishi Co. in 1877; since then its growth has been rapid. Battleships and ocean going steamers of large tonnage are built here (ships like the Tenyo Maru and the Chiyo Maru of the Toyo Kisen Kaisha) and upward of 5000 men are employed. There are 3 dry-docks, salvage steamers, etc” (Terry, Philip. “Terry’s Japanese Empire” Houghton & Mifflin Co, Boston & New York, 1914. In “Old Tokyo Mitsubishi Shipyard, Nagasaki, c1910”. Online Resource: http://www.oldtokyo.com/mitsubishi-shipyard-nagasaki-c-1910/ Accessed 27/01/2020)

Mitsubishi Shipyard, Nagasaki, c. 1913. The Katori Maru launched 1913 (Web Photo: Digitally Cleaned Courtesy oldtokyo.com)

So, it was to Japan that the US Shipping Board turned to in 1916 following the introduction of the Shipping Act of September 07th 2016: “The Shipping Act was a compromise between those favoring a comprehensive program of government ownership of merchant shipping and those advocating continued reliance upon private initiative. Under the provisions of the act, the United States Shipping Board was empowered to build, repair or alter, buy, lease, or charter merchant vessels.” (Day, Edmund, E. “The American Merchant Fleet: A War Achievement, a Peace Problem” in “The Quarterly Journal of Economics Aug 1920 Vol 34 No 4 P 571.” Oxford University Press. Online Resource: https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/1885158.pdf Accessed 28/01/2022). The year following brought an even more significant act of congress when the US introduced the Urgent Deficiencies Appropriation Act of June 15 1917 authorizing Woodrow Wilson, amongst other things, to: “To place an order with any person for such ships or material as the necessities of the Government, to be determined by the President, might require during the period of the war;” Congress authorized $250,000,000 for the spend and Wilson signed an executive order delegating his powers under the act to the Emergency Fleet Corporation and the Shipping Board

US Shipping Ordered from Japanese Yards by 1918 (Web Photo: Courtesy fmc.gov)

As it was clear there were insufficient ships available from the US yards to meet the requirements of war, even with the transfer of part constructed merchant shipping to the war effort, it was necessary to buy from foreign sources, and Japan could help……..Edmund Day (P586) notes “From the Japan- ese, however, it was possible to purchase thirteen steel cargo vessels already constructed and to contract for the building of thirty others.” The Thirteen Japanese ships already complete were given a classification “Eastern” of which the Eastern Temple would become the Vasilios T

USS Eastport, Pictured in c1920 (Web Photo: Courtesy shipscribe.com)

Of the Japanese ships from the 1917 contract, there were only the thirteen which had been available from the outset (none of those who’s keels were on the slip, or that were ordered to be built were delivered in time to see service), but of the thirteen that were contracted, only three from the Osaka Iron Works seem to have been delivered in time to take part in the war, the Eastport (Yard No 907), the Eastern Star (Yard No 915) and the Eastern Light (Yard No 951), (McKellar, N.L. The Belgian Shiplover No96, 09/1963, P503. Osaka Iron Works: in “Steel Shipbuilding Under the U.S. Shipping Board, 1917-1921” Online Resource: https://www.shipscribe.com/mckellar/Contract6.pdf Accessed: 29/01/2022) so we know that Vasilios T (Eastern Temple) did not see service in WWI. Information on these ships is elusive; the few sources available hold little information, perhaps due to the tenuous nature of the initial contractual arrangement with the US, perhaps due to the scarcity of remaining WWI records    

Eastern Light, Rotterdam 1919 (Web Photo: Courtesy shipscribe.com)

The Eastern Temple eventually arrived in the US to no small fanfare, following her departure from Osaka on the 18th of June of 1920, it seems three vessels were departing for the USA at the same time, each with a Japanese crew and each with a captain determined to make the crossing and arrive on US soil before either of the others, so much so there was a wager between them (Editorial: Morning Oregonian June 24 1920 P20 Online Resource https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn83025138/1920-06-24/ed-1/seq-20/ocr/ Accessed 09/02/2022)

 “With a prize of $3000 at stake, three Japanese-built freighters for the account of the United States shipping board are racing across the Pacific from Yokohama with San Francisco as their goal. The vessels are the Eastern Leader, Eastern Soldier and the Eastern Temple, and all three left Yokohama within 48 hours of each other. According to reports dispute arose between the skippers of the respective crafts as to their steaming capabilities. It was finally decided that each of the captains put up 91000 In American gold, the vessel making the best elapsed time between the two ports to receive the wager. The vessels sailed from the oriental port June 18”

I have nothing but admiration for the 3 captains who’s names have disappeared into history so far, the vessels were pretty much identical, I suppose the speed of crossing was down to the routes the captains took and their navigational skill, rather than any particular advantage from the vessels themselves, sadly history does not record who actually won the wager

USS Easterner, Dazzle Paint Scheme, c1918 (Web Photo: Courtesy shipscribe.com)

The Eastern Temple’s arrival was announced in the 03rd August edition of the Morning Oregonian, without fanfare, it could be assumed therefore that she had perhaps not won her captain the wager: “The 5500-ton steamship Eastern Temple, which arrived here last week, will be delivered to the fleet corporation Thursday or Friday. She is a product of the Osaki yard of the Nitta Kisen Kabushiki Kaisha, but will be delivered by the Suzuiki company, which brought her across the Pacific”

The General Arrangement Draughtsman’s Drawings for the Eastern Temple (Photo: Courtesy Lindsay Muha & Frankie Witzenburg of the US National Archives at College Park)

It did not take long to put Eastern Temple to work and again the Morning Oregonian (14th September 1920) has her: “To load lumber for Peru & Chile the Eastern Temple is loading at the Danaher mill. She is taking 60,000 feet there. She will also take 100,000 feet at the St. Paul mill export dock” The mills identified would be Washington Lumber Mills, Danaher’s was a significant operation beginning in 1893 “Danaher had purchased a mill from Abraham Coon Young after the panic of 1893. Danaher eventually acquired mills in California, large tracts of timber throughout the Northwest, and logging camps at Darrington and Port Orchard, Washington. During 1918 and 1919 his mill turned out forty million feet of cut lumber making it the fourth largest mill in Tacoma” (Holcomb, J. “Lumbermen and the Four Ls: It’s Time for All Lumbermen to Spruce Up!“: Pacific University, May 1999 Online Resource: https:// commons.wikimedia.org/ wiki/File: Logging_crew_and_donkey_engine,_Danaher_Lumber_Company,_ca_1916_(KINSEY_139).jpeg Accessed 09/02/2022)

Lumber Awaiting Loading at Tacoma Washington c1920 (Web Photo: Courtesy M. D. Rowland UW Special Collections)

Lumber was a huge export from the US in the early 1900’s, by 1924 Grays Harbour celebrated loading its billionth foot of board, and the seemingly inexhaustible forests and associated logging trade had named it “King Timber”: (Caldbick, J. “Deep-draft Ports of Washington: King Timber and the Growth of Ports” HistoryLink.org Online Resource https://www.historylink.org/File/9529 Accessed: 09/02/2022) “In the early decades of the twentieth century the forest resource in Washington still seemed infinite, and the magnitude of the harvest each year was staggering. Billions of board feet of lumber and countless tons of raw logs were shipped through the state’s deep-draft ports, and they all cut their teeth on the timber trade.” It couldn’t last, but the US was certainly making hay whilst the Sun shone, and the Eastern Temple would play her part in that

Eastern Temple Departs Tacoma Sept 1920 (Web Photo: Courtesy San Francisco Call)
Stevedores Seattle Washington 1920’s (Web Photo: Courtesy Asahel Curtis & Washington State Historical Society)

The Eastern Temple was set to the South American trade by her managers, the General Steamship Corporation, her first trip would be carrying the Washington Lumber from Tacoma to Peru & Chile. It seems she narrowly missed a devastating explosion when, on the 10th September 1920 two barges, both carrying Dynamite, collided in the port of Callao (Peru’s main Port & Docks) and exploded. The blast killed fifty people in the port and surrounds and was reported in the Chicago Daily Tribune (11th September 1920 P1). Wherever she was headed the Eastern Temple seems to be at the heart of some type of drama from the start of her career……

Callao Port, Peru c1920 (Web Photo: Courtesy artgallery.yale.edu)

Even though Eastern Temple had left the US and was now in the South Americas controversy was not far behind her. The arrangement that the US Shipping Board had bought her under was explicit, the ship would be delivered to the US by the selling yard, Osaka, that’s fine, the crew would therefore be Japanese and likely the Captain (although not compelled to be), a US citizen. It clearly had not been lost on the Japanese crew that the US offered a potentially better life than that they enjoyed in Japan, the Oregon Daily Journal of 03rd August of 1920 (P3): “…..eight Japanese members of the crew of the Japanese liner Eastern Temple were in custody here today charged with attempting to smuggle themselves into this country”. The crew of the Eastern Temple, or at least the eight in custody clearly believed the US was a better prospect than a return to their native Japan. If nothing else, this shows the times were fast turning in favour of the US, immigration into America was on the increase, and it wasn’t just Europeans that believed it to be the land of opportunity. The US immigration officials clearly believed this was a common occurrence, the Oregon Journal goes on to note: “This means of entry, according to immigration officials, is common. Japanese, for a suitable consideration, are said to be signed as part of the ships “crew”, this being merely a ruse.”

Oregon Daily Journal, 03 Aug 1920 (Web Photo: Courtesy University of Oregon Libraries)

Whilst the USA dealt with the problem of absconding crew from the Eastern Temple and other fleet ships bought from Japan in the closing year or so of World War One, other countries were challenged by the conflict, in ways they had not dealt with beforehand, one of those countries was Greece. First we go back to 1917 when Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, known to most as Lenin (embracing the theories of the German philosophers Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels), Leon Trotsky and the Bolshevik workers of Russia overthrew the Romanov Dynasty and brought Communism, with its idealistic socialist rhetoric and its revolutionary fervor, to a huge swathe of Eastern Europe. No one knew of the murders being committed at the time, and seemingly, no one noticed the disappearance in July of 1918 of the entire Romanov family, Tsar Nicholas, Tsarina Alexandra and their 5 children, Olga 22, Tatiana 21, Maria 19, Anastasia 17 and Alexi only 13, who had been herded into a basement room in Ekaterinberg, shot and bayoneted to death….. The murder did not stop at the Tsar and his family, their physician Eugene Botkin and servants Anna Demidova, Alexei Trupp and their cook Ivan Kharitonov were also murdered with them, and then buried in woodland in the Koptyaki forest, but not before grenades were used to ensure identification would be impossible should they be exhumed. To overthrow oppression in the name of human rights it seems first you have to remove the human rights of those that you wish to depose…….

Olga, Maria, Tsar Nicholas II, Tsarina Alexandra, Anastasia, Alexei, and Tatiana Romanov (Web Photo: Courtesy wikimedia)

The ripples set in motion by the overthrow and murder of the Romanov family reached far and wide, not just in terms of the next hundred plus years, but likely for generations to come as the insipid reverie & barbarism of “socialism” replaced the hubris and, in Russia’s case, failure of Royal sovereignty. One small country that would feel the fall of the Tsar was Greece, or to be more specific the merchant fleets of the Greek Islands. As Greek merchant shipping was used to transport goods during WWI it is unsurprising there were heavy Greek shipping losses during its 4 year period. Following the war the Greek merchant fleet was considerably reduced but an even greater impact, perhaps, was that of the fall of the Russian monarchy. Traditionally the Greek merchantmen had traded the Black Sea via the Aegean Sea and the Bospherous, the narrow entrance between the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea at Constantinople, now Istanbul, a Turkish territory from Byzantine days (following the fall of Constantinople to Sultan Mehmed II, of the Ottoman Empire, in May of 1453)

Mediterranean to the Black Sea (Map: Courtesy Google Earth)

The Bolshevik revolution would bring about changes to the traditional relationships in the whole Black Sea region, the establishment of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) under Marxist/Leninist doctrine, latterly known as Communism, would oust the traditional carriers to and from the region, and impose restrictions that pushed the Greek steamer fleets making it difficult to trade profitably. It did not help that in May 1919 the Greeks, persuaded largely by the British, had landed a military force in Izmir in the Anatolian region of Turkey. This was an allied attempt to take advantage of the 1914-1918 World War defeat of Austro-Hungary and its Ottoman Turk allies, but also a reaction to the Turkish advances into allied areas. The Turkish military, despite being ordered by the Ottoman Government to stand down following the war, refused and, in an atmosphere of nationalism and resistance to the Allies, had advanced into Greece, French held territories and Armenia (Macfie A. L. “The Chanak Affair” P1 Para1 Online Resource: https://ojs.lib.uom.gr/index.php/BalkanStudies/article/viewFile/5126/5155 Accessed: 15/02/2022). The Turkish Army headed by Mustafa Kemal Pasha would be a rallying call as Turkish nationalists rose against their Government, carrying out massacres of Christians to purge the area, and establishing the boundaries of what is modern day Turkey. Turkish control of Constantinople (Istanbul) was re-established and the Greek push into Antalya not only halted, but, in what the Turks called “The Great Offensive” was routed completely, giving the Turks complete control of the Chanak region, the entry to the Sea of Marmaris and, therefore, by extension the Bosphorous. Not only did this lead to an enduring mutual loathing between Turkey & Greece, but also to the Greek merchant fleet removing itself almost completely from the region in favour of other cargoes and ports…..

Coaling, Swansea Docks (Photo: Courtesy Jeff Manning swanseadocks.co.uk)

Greek vessels of the time were largely family owned, a family would pool together funds, go to the Greek government for a low interest loan and then buy second hand ships, often not in particularly great condition, man and run the vessels with family members throughout. As the Greek mainland is surrounded by Greek Islands, most of the merchant vessels were owned by traditional Island sea-farer families “Almost all of them come from the rocky Greek islands. The neighboring islands of Chios and Inoussai, for example, have produced such shipping families as Lemos, Kulukundis, Pateras, Carras, Papalios—who collectively own more than one-third of Greek shipping” (Editorial “Shipping: The other Greeks” P1. Para3. 15 August 1969. Online Resource: http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/ 0,33009,901268,00.html Accessed: 15/02/2022). Some Greek owners had bought before the end of the war, when shipping was scarce, hoping to capitalize on the high price commanded for running supplies between the allies and their critical supply-chains, once the war ended those high priced cargoes were scarce, merchant shipping was in decline and some of those expensive investments started to flounder in fairly suspicious circumstances, so much so that British Insurance Companies apparently “Black Listed” Greek merchant vessels from 1920 (Editorial “From a War to a Crisis (1919-1929)” Para 8. Online Resource https://greekshippingmiracle.org/en/history-2/1919/ Accessed: 15/02/2022)

Eastern Temple 1st Registry (Photo: Courtesy National Archives & Records Administration. Wa.)

Now let us return to 1920 and the voyages of the United States Vessel the Eastern Temple! With the help of the US Coastguard and the US National Archive it is possible to dig out the various registration and transfers of Trade routes for Eastern Temple, and that begins with her original registration and the issuing of a Department of Commerce, Bureau of Navigation Number, 31st of August 1920. The official number was requested for her by Celias Miller of Seattle Washington, her declared purpose was “Ocean Freight”, Celias Miller was acting on behalf of the US Shipping Board, the original purchasers. Eastern Temple had only reached the USA from Osaka in late July of 1920, her first voyage from Tacoma 16th September of 1920 which would have meant some time for her new crew of 36 and her Master to get the feel of her before departure

SS Eastern Queen, Docked & Unloading (Web Photo: (Digitally cleaned) Courtesy Naval History & Heritage Command)

The Eastern temple was engaged in Ocean Trade under Master Albert E Winslow out of Seattle in September of 1920, then under Master Constantine Philip Zannaras out of New York in September of 1927, then under Master George D Skeriot out of Norfolk & Newport News in December of 1927, and, then under a Master T Nelson (likely Thorvald) out of Miami in July of 1929 and finally, as far as I can determine, under Master Thorvald Nelson out of Norfolk & Newport News in November of 1935, all the other masters were under registry licensing for coastal trading from the various ports noted. The means of determining this is by no means certain, it is assessed against the registry purpose stated on the license and the Captain and port noted on the license, I’d be delighted if any of the families or descendants of these Masters or crew can enlighten me with more detail from personal archives?

The Eastern Shore 1918, “USS Eastern Shore” 1919 (Web Photo: Courtesy shipscribe.com)

The Eastern Temple continued in both Ocean & Coastal roles between 1920 and 13th December of 1922 when an entry in the Consolidated Certificate of Enrollment & License, the yearly record of inspection and licensing for the USA has her “To be towed to the James River to Lay Up. No Inspection in Force” The US Shipping Board, presumably running out of cargoes or taskings by this time. It had largely been expected that a huge programme of re-building would take place and that there would be a continued need for shipping, this doesn’t seem to have materialized and the US Shipping Board has clearly got more ships than it requires

The James River Ghost Fleet c1948 (Web Photo: Courtesy The Mariners Museum & Park)

The laying up of the Eastern Temple would have been a new phenomenon after WWI, with a surplus of merchant shipping the US created the James River Reserve Fleet, wooden & steel ships moored up on the James River from Hampton Roads, at its height, the fleet consisted of somewhere around 800 ships. With such a huge fleet and the potential problems surrounding maintenance, access, up-keep etc the administration of the reserve fleet was given to the US Maritime Administration, a division of the US Department of Transport, not a military dependency, a civil authority who assigned it to the National Defense Reserve Fleet

The Mallows Bay Steamers 1920 (Web Photo: Courtesy Don Shomette)

Colloquially known as the “James River Ghost Fleet”, not particularly surprisingly, the vessels were gradually reduced in number with some of the wooden boats ending up in the Potomac River. In 1920 around 169 of 218 vessels brought to the Potomac were beached in Mallows Bay (Shomette. D. “The Archeology of Watercraft Abandonment: The United States Shipping Board Fleet at Mallows Bay, Maryland: Inventory & Assessment” Abstract. Online Resource https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4614-7342-8_6 Accessed 15/02/2022) sadly most did not find further employment “….most were sold at auction in 1922 to the Western Marine and Salvage Corporation for reduction and salvage of the metals” despite several attempts at salvaging from the fleet, eventually they were lined up in rows and burned to the waterline, they rest where they sank, as a macabre but colourful nature reserve to this day

Mallows Bay, Potomac River, Ghost Fleet Marine Sanctuary (Web Photo: Courtesy National Geographic)

In what must have been a very close run thing, with so many vessels to choose from, the Eastern Temple would be fortunate enough to not share the fate of the Potomac Fleet, and would be brought out of the James River Fleet to go back into service after 5 years at anchor. The Eastern Temple is mentioned this time, 16th September of 1927, as a “Surrender of Ownership and Change of District” which sees her pass the into private ownership when a mortgage was arranged to the tune of $76000 at a rate of 5% interest on behalf of the High Seas Transportation Inc of 1819 Broadway, New York, a reasonably prestigious address by all accounts, at the Columbus Circle end of Central Park. Her new Master, Constantine Philip Zannaras, would have probably had his work cut out getting her crew to bring her back to inspection standards for her new owners the High Seas Transportation Inc of New York

Columbus Circle Looking up Broadway c1927, Offices of the High Seas Transportation Inc @ No 1819 (Web Photo: Courtesy Pintrest)

So Eastern Temple returns to the US Merchant fleet, purchased for the princely sum of $95000 with a balance due by mortgage (Judge Northcote: “The Eastern Temple in The Eastern Temple Zannaras v. United States.” Case 4223   13/01/1938 Online Resource: https:// www.leagle.com/decision/ 193846894f2d3741363 Accessed: 17/02/2022) “The amount secured by the mortgage had been reduced and amounted, in March, 1936, to $34,742.72. The vessel was purchased by High Seas Transportation, Inc.” It would seem that Constantine Philip Zannaras held a position as president of the purchasing company (High Seas Transportation Inc) and had also been employed as chief engineer on the Eastern Temple between September of 1927 and December of 1935 when the Eastern Temple was sold on by the US Marshall and the mortgage was to be cleared. Constantine Philip Zannaras claimed a debt against the sale value (closure of the mortgage) in respect of “wages owed” for the performance of duties other than those of chief engineer, it does not say anywhere I can find that Mr Zannaras was successful in his claim………. If nothing else, the claim of Mr Zannaras, and the various changes of Master and Ports of Registry during these years indicate that the Eastern Temple was at work, occasionally Ocean trading, more often Coastal Trading

The use of “to” dates is not exact, however they are dates we can definitively say those captains had charge, even if some were named “in Lieu” of the former captain as noted when documentation (Port Registry etc) took place in the various ports identified. What this demonstrates id the varied Ports Eastern Temple was operating from and to during her US career. There is no account I can find of cargoes except for the arrival where she brought with her (according to the Morning Oregonian of 23rd July 1920) to the US “a full cargo of oriental merchandise”. As already noted, the Eastern Temple departed Tacoma with a full cargo of lumber when she left for her first voyage from the US 16th September of 1920. We can of course speculate at other cargos because of the nature of the major exports of a country from particular ports, it is likely The Eastern Temple carried Nitrates from Chile as that was the sole export at the time: “For years the Republic has enjoyed a monopoly of nitrates and supplied the entire world with this product. Chilean prosperity depended almost entirely upon this single industry….” (Green. S. & Lane. R. M. “Trade of the Pacific Coast States with the West Coast of South America: The present economic Condition of Chile” US Dept. of Commerce, Jan 1928, P12 Para1 Online Resource: https://books.google.co.uk/ books? id=F19zJ8JTZFoC&pg=PA1&lpg=PA1&dq= Trade+of+the+Pacific +Coast+States+with+the+West+Coast+of+South+America&source=bl&ots=sAhgsSm0xR&sig=ACfU3U2py0JLwGWRmyJk9wMT7Mywzil2uw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjj__KXl4n2AhVSXMAKHUHKBGgQ6AF6BAgrEAM#v=onepage&q=Trade%20of%20the%20Pacific%20Coast%20States%20with%20the%20West%20Coast%20of%20South%20America&f=false Accessed: 18/02/2022)

George D Skeriot, Certification for Ocean Freight (Scan: Courtesy Kim McKeithan NARA)

It is at this point we circle back to the Greeks, by 1925 Greece has moved a high percentage of its sea trade to the routes outside of the Sea of Marmaris, leaving the ports of the Black Sea to the Turks and the colonial companies still trying to establish relationships with the USSR and its communist leadership. Despite the move, perhaps because of it, the Greek shipping business was in crisis, the situation wasn’t helped by Britain recognizing the impact of Greek shipping in the 20’s entering their traditional markets for grain, and produce in Argentina and other South American ports, and raising insurance premiums on the Greek fleet. By 1925 with insurance of cargo’s going up and a market in decline: “The commercial secretary of the British Embassy in Buenos Aires reported that ‘the depressed condition of the market resulted in many steamers laying up in the river, and at one time some thirty Greek vessels alone were tied up at Villa Constitucion for several months’. After a short upheaval in 1926, freights fell again in 1927” (Harlaftis. G. “A History of Greek Owned Shipping: The making of an international tramp fleet 1830 to the present day” Routledge 1996. Online Resource: https:// www.academia.edu /5607030/3. _Gelina_Harlaftis_%CE%91_%CE%97istory_of_Greek-Owned_Shipping._The_Making_of_an_International_Tramp_Fleet _ 1830 _to_the_present_day _London _Routledge_1996 Accessed: 18/02/2022). By 1929 major ship-owners submitted a memorandum to the Greek Prime Minister laying out reasons the majority had moved their business to London as a trading base, and suggesting a re-flagging of all Greek shipping was imminent (Editorial “Greek Shipping Miracle: From a War to a Crisis (1919-1929)” Online Resource: https://greekshippingmiracle.org/en/history-2/1919/ Accessed 18/02/2022)

1919 to 1935 Interwar Greek Steamship Losses (Courtesy: Australian Association for Maritime History)

The First World War years saw the Greek fleets hit by torpedo, mine, lost in action etc…. following the losses of  World War I, the World’s Port’s rapid growth was reversed, the USA was not the only country with too many ships and not enough cargo to keep their fleets viable. International trade declined as ravaged countries spent meager funds on reconstruction, then, in the 1930s, came the great depression in the USA and international trade plummeted as a result.  It is surprising to see at least one Greek ship owner seemed to be unconcerned, a Senor E.M. Tricoglu of Eleftherios, Ándros Island, a visionary perhaps? The alarming rate of Greek Shipping  losses of the First World War did not slow in the interwar years and was cause enough to see studies and even books & articles written (“Α history of Greek-Owned Shipping. The Making of an International Tramp Fleet, 1830 to the present day”: Harlaftis, G. Publisher: Routledge, 1996. And “At THE MERCY OF THE WAVES MANAGING RISK AT SEA IN THE GREEK FLEET OF THE INTERWAR PERIOD”: Harlaftis, G. In “The Great Circle” Journal of the Australian Association for Maritime History, Vol. 19, No. 2, 1997: 73-92) in later years trying to explain the unusually high loss rate

Ranked Greek Owned Shipping Losses 1918 to 1939 (Courtesy: Australian Association for Maritime History)

The Eastern Temple had operated under the ownership of the United States Shipping Board – USSB, Washington D.C. from 1920 to 1927, being sold on to another American concern, the High Seas Transportation Inc. of New York in 1927 and sailing under their flag until being sold on again by the US Marshall on behalf of the US Secretary of Commerce in 1935 to a Senor E.M. Tricoglu of Andros Island……. Now there had been several ships in the ownership of Senor Tricoglu that came to ignominious ends for one reason or another, the Filia E. Tricoglu, a 274hp, single screw, 3 cylinder steamer of 2489 grt, launched at Bremen 02/12/1895 (formerly the SS RUDELSBURG: 1895-1907, then the BABYLON: 1907 – 1923), which wrecked, “run aground” 27/01/1926 on Siphanto Island on passage from Sulina for Sweden with grain (http://www.teesbuiltships.co.uk/). Then, again in 1926, there was the ELEFTHERIOS M TRICOGLU, another single screw, 3 cylinder Steamship of 269hp & 2659grt (Launched as the SS BEEFORTH: 06/02/1894 – 1908 then as the PRODUGOL: 1908 – 1920, then becoming the ERGINUS 1920 – 1925), wrecked 29th January ’26 on Aranmore Island, County Donegal, on a voyage from Braila to Sligo with a cargo of maize (http://www.tynebuiltships.co.uk/). Finally there was the MINA E. TRICOGLU (Launched as the SS HAWKSER in 1915, becoming the SHEAF MEAD: 1919 – 1930) engaged in ‘deep sea tramping’ along the Pacific coast of North and South America with forays to Australia and the Far East until 9.10.1933 when she became “stranded at Civitavecchia” en-route from the Tyne carrying coal, then being a write-off, scrapped at La Spezia in 1934 (http://www.wrecksite.eu)

Sheaf Mead, later to become the Mina E Tricoglu in 1930 (Photo: Courtesy wrecksite.eu)

Now a loss rate such as that for one ship owner would raise eyebrows under almost any circumstances but war, and, following a global shipping crisis such as that seen between the wars, it cannot have gone unnoticed, however, it is not legally sensible to suggest anything more than a “healthy interest” in what my old boss would have called “previous” whenever such circumstances arose in the behaviors of those engaged in somewhat “concerning” activities…….

Stupišće promontory, in a direct line with the Harbour entrance, Komiza, Viz 2022

Suffice to say there are various theories as to the sinking of the Vassilios T, and a variety of possible causes noted:

 (https://dive.site/explore/site/vassilios-t-wreck-q7vR:)

“Vassilios T. is a well-preserved wreck located off Vis Island, Croatia. In 1939, the 105-meter-long steamer loaded with coal was swept by strong winds on its way to Venice. Officially, it hit some rocks and sank off the western side of the island, but rumor has it that the crew sank the ship on purpose to receive compensation from the insurance company”

(https://divingvis.com/vassilios/:)

“In the stormy conditions the rudder of the ship – built in 1920, belonging to Greece and called Vassilios T. – got destroyed. This 104 m long steamer hit the rocks and finished the cruise on the western side of the island of Vis. There is a rumour that the crew specifically caused the accident so that the owner could have received compensation from the insurance company. Although in times of accident such delusions were commonplace, these are only anecdotal conjecture”

I will leave the reader of this piece to come to their own conclusion in regards to the loss of the Vassilios T, so recently the Eastern Temple, bought by a Senor Tricoglu in 1938, having run against the spit of land at Stupišće, within sight of Komiza harbour, indeed within around a 20 minute walk from the town itself, off the island of Vis, 19th March in 1939………

Portside Rail, Vassilios T Komiza (Web Photo: Courtesy Scuba Diving Croatia)

I first dived the Vassilios T in September of 2016 and have dived her regularly over the last 6 years, she is an outstanding dive lying on her Port side some 50m or so off Stupišće, a promontory just two miles or so out of Komiza, you could shore dive her from the steps leading to the shipping light placed on the spit to prevent other “accidents” to large, old coal carriers absentmindedly passing such a well charted and, even in 1939, well populated island…….Back in my old Navy Log I recorded: “07/09/16 WRECK OF THE VASSILIOS T off Komiza on Vis Island Croatia. This wreck hit the main part of the island in fog with damaged steering & now lies from 30 -55m on its side close in to shore I had serious tooth pain @ 32m descending along the port side towards the stern & had to stay above that to avoid pain. Swam back along the Port rail over 70 or so m of the 100m long wreck and it is a fantastic ship with so much to penetrate as it was an open hold steamer two front two rear this is one to do again. Viz 25m Air In 230 Out 150”

Lifeboat Derrick, Vassilios T (Web Photo: Courtesy Manta Divers)

I only got the one dive on that holiday as my tooth really had a problem, it took root canal extraction to sort out and it would not be for another 3 years that I could get back to dive her again, by that time I had moved on to the Blue Dive Log and it records: “15/07/2019 VASSILIOS T KOMIZA CROATIA Redemption following 2016 tooth issue! This is an awesome wreck on its Port side from around 30m down to 50m we dived over the bridge just for’ard & dived along to the stern & over the rudder & prop & back along the starboard rail & in and along the promenade. Passed the bridge and up to the bow then back to the bridge and over the side to decompress the only issue is thick oil inside & tourist beaches don’t mix  so penetration is prohibited Great Dive!”

Vassilios T Bow & Anchor Chain (Web Photo: Courtesy iliveunderwater.com)

I managed to get back to Vis in August of 2021 following the Covid 19 outbreak over Christmas of 2019, when I got seriously ill and had a bad couple of months recovering some semblance of respiratory function, one of the few times I wondered if I was going to pull through an illness to be honest. I eventually felt well enough to dive again and arranged a week of diving with Andi & Aniska, the Blue Log recalls: “28/08/21 VASSILIOS T KOMIZA back to this wonderful 1939 wreck another navigational error! On her way from Swansea with a hold or 3 of coal she is sunk on her port side – Dropped in to the buoy on the anchor & swam the bow all down her length with stops at her bridge & mast & funnel, on to her stern mast & up over her railings to the rudder & prop. Carrying a side-mount for deco not room enough to pass between them went back over the side to swim the stern to forecastle & take a trip through the walkway up to the bow then on to deco a wonderful dive”. I dived her again three days later when a turn in the weather prevented us going to the Brioni which lies another hour round the headland, the Blue Book says “31/08/21 VASSILIOS T KOMIZA Back to Vassilios T  for another dive as we cannot get round to Brioni. This time decided to stay around the bridge & forward end & got permission to enter the bridge area. Swam down to midships and over the starboard side& onto & into the bridge deck. Descended to the sea bed & swam round & through on various paths, great picking ways through easy to see & navigate as she is bare of wooden decking. Swam to the bows lighting up the forward hold on the way!”

Why not join me on that dive?

As I had not got much diving done in the August of ’21 I persuaded Ellie to go back in October for a second crack at the B17 and Brioni, as usual I started to work down to the depth taking another dive on the Vassilios: “11/10/21 KOMIZA CROATIA VASSILIOS T Trimix dive 19/19 to use up some of Andi’s spares from last week. Down to the bow then along her from stem to stern, plenty of wonderful fish shoals and Yellow/Purple coral growth on her superstructure & masts. A brief stop @ her bridge then down to her rudder & prop. Up & over her stern to the emergency steering locker & on to her holds & down her length. Another stop to swim through the promenade starboard deck & into the bridge over her spare anchor. Through the bridge & on to her bow & deco” 

Spare Anchor, Vassilios T Bridge, Komiza (Web Photo: Courtesy iliveunderwater.com)

And so to this year’s escapade and my last dive to date on the superb wreck that is the Vassilios T and was, so recently before her demise, the Eastern Temple…. I failed to mention earlier that following the October dive on her of 2021 I once again succumbed to Covid 19, this time I was in Komiza and taken seriously ill with what I thought was Diverticulitis, something I have occasionally suffered from over the last ten years or so, I couldn’t stop violent stomach cramps for 4 days and sacked any idea of trying to get into a dry-suit and put on a weight belt….it wasn’t until we got back to the UK I found out it had actually been Covid…..again! Anyhow, I digress, this year everything went perfectly and I started the diving on the pinnacles to break in gently and followed that with Vassilios……. “29/08/22 VASSILIOS T ( EASTERN TEMPLE)  Another fine dive on the Vassilios dropping in to find the anchor & chain then following the bow & starboard side down to the stern, a drop down to the sea bed & then a view of the prop & back up gently past the emergency steering room deck & up to the bridge. A quick swim through the bridge passage then on to the bow & back up for 11 minutes of deco” On this dive I noticed the impact to the bow, and the minor crack in her that eventually led to her demise, such a gentle and almost superficial break which would indicate a very slow speed when she hit Stupišće, perhaps caution in the fog had driven the captain to “slow ahead”…..perhaps…….

You can take a look for yourself on the dive, where you will perhaps also notice the Vassilios rudder looking completely untouched and serviceable……..

I have to say, Vassilios T is an amazing wreck, if there had not been so much doubt about her sinking, and perhaps such restrictions on penetration, maybe she would have been an equal favourite to the Brioni……….

The Bow of Vassilios T sitting at 22m (Web Photo: Courtesy of iliveunderwater.com)

Once again I am indebted to those who have taken or, where I was able to contact them, allowed the use of their photos for this piece, specifically those of the iliveunderwater.com dive blog site, Lindsay Muha & Frankie Witzenburg of the US National Archives at College Park, Scuba Diving Croatia.Com and Andi & Aniska of Manta Divers in Komiza

Filed Under: The Wrecks

The B17 Flying Fortress

October 28, 2022 by Colin Jones Leave a Comment

B17G 44-6630

Diving in Viz, Croatia was no accident, I heard, whilst diving the Baron Gautsch (out of Pula in 2015), that there was an Island down the coast which had several wrecks, some of them WWII Aircraft, and I could not have let that go without investigation. I was also directed to an I-Pad app written on the wrecks of Croatia by a local diver Danijel Frka, it turned out to be far too tempting, with half a dozen of the wrecks around Viz featured, I couldn’t resist, especially as one of those wrecks was a B17 Flying Fortress that had only just been discovered and was, if Danijel’s illustration was to be believed, almost pristine. I’d recently dived a Messerschmitt BF109G off Crete, and my profound sense of physical connection to history was clearly not confined to shipwrecks, I had the same feeling touching the downed Messerchsmitt that I had with every shipwreck I have dived

Boeing B17G lining up on a bomb run c1944 (Web Photo: Courtesy USAF: Wikipedia)

The B17 is one of those Aircraft, like the Spitfire, or the Lancaster, that truly deserve to be called “Iconic”, designed by the American company Boeing, it was the largest heavy bomber of the European Theater in WWII. The B17 prototype design was completed in the 1930’s and eventually introduced to the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) as Model 299 in 1938. The B17 was capable of high altitude, 3000m for up to 10 hours with a bomb load of 2200Kg, and it was fast, flying at 400Kmh with a range of around 3200Km…….It earned the nickname “Flying Fortress” from a reporter’s piece (Richard Williams) in the Seattle Times, when described as “…..a 15-Ton flying fortress” (Freeman, R.A: “B-17 Fortress at war” P8. Doubleday, New York, 1974). Clearly the armaments of the prototype, five 30 calibre (7.62mm) machine guns, one in a nose turret, one behind the cockpit, one either side of the fuselage set in metal & Plexi-glass “Blisters” and a final gun under the body, had impressed Williams at the Boeing press review the day before its inaugural flight, 28th July of 1935 at the USAAC evaluation preliminaries

Boeing Prototype Y1B-17 (Web Photo: Courtesy Wikipedia, USAF, media.defense.gov)

The B17 finally went into service, with what had become the United States Army Air Force or “USAAF”, after several improvements, including a change of engines from the original Pratt & Whitney R-1690 to Wright R-1820-39’s and, in 1937, the B17-B variants were fitted with GE Superchargers allowing the B17 to reach a further 8000m of altitude taking her capability to 38000m. Full scale production of the Boeing B17 B variants commenced in 1937 and Boeing would eventually reach the highest ever output of a large aircraft, averaging 14-15 B17’s per day, although it isn’t clear if that was from a single production line as B17’s were produced by Boeing, Lockheed and Douglas under contract to the USAAF

Early Model 299 Waist Gunner’s Blister, Abandoned in Production Aircraft (Web Photo: Courtesy Wikipedia, USAF, nationalmuseum.af.mil)

The outbreak of WWII in 1939 and the subsequent attempts to have the USA join in support of Britain and her allies Poland, Belgium and France, against Germany and the Axis countries Austria and Italy, went unheeded until Japan entered the war in spectacular fashion by attacking the US fleet and air-base in Honolulu, Hawaii, specifically “Pearl Harbour”, 07th December of 1941. It should be noted the USA had been giving assistance to Britain in the year before under “Lend Lease” an arrangement, whereby US equipment was essentially “loaned” or “leased” to the Allies at favourable terms, and many American citizens had already taken it upon themselves to travel to the UK to enlist and serve in the fight against the Nazi’s. The first B17’s arrived on Lend Lease in 1940 when 20 were transferred to the RAF and used on a raid on the German Kriegsmarine (Navy) port of Wilhelmshaven, 08th July of 1941

B17G of Bomb Group 493, During a Bombing Run, c1943 (Web Photo: Unknown Origin)

The raid did not achieve much, the B17’s were flown high and their guns froze, worse still, the bomb runs missed most of the targets and the British relegated the B17’s (which they had designated “Fortress 1”) to coastal duties. The aircraft shortfalls were fed back to Boeing and modifications were quickly made, including the most advanced aiming system using the “Norden” Mk XV bombsight, a stabilized unit that automatically adjusted the aim without the need for human calculation, which could take control of the Aircraft during the bomb run from the Bomb Aimers position in the nose of the B17’s……. although definitely not as accurate as claimed by Norden (accurate to 23m), it was certainly better than earlier bomb aiming sights averaging accuracy around 370m (On Line resource: Wikipedia “Norden bombsight”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norden_bombsight Accessed: 06/10/22) .  It would not be until 1942 that the B17 would “officially” join the war in Europe, when 12 B17-E’s of the 97th Bomb Group, flew to Rouen, France, 17th August of 1942 to bomb railway marshalling yards there

Norden Mk XV Bombsight (Web Photo: Courtesy IWM Duxford, Rama, CC BY-SA 3.0)

Specifications B-17G Flying Fortress

By 1943 the B17 had established itself as the pre-eminent daylight bomber of the war, the RAF keeping to night raids to reduce the loss of valuable aircraft to as few as possible. The American 8th Airforce, then commanded by Lieutenant General James Doolittle  (famed for planning & leading the Doolittle B25 Raid on Tokyo, Japan April 18 1942, following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour), continued to prefer daytime raids, which they believed gave better chance of success aiming their bomb runs, the escort fighters could only protect the B17’s to the German coast, or a little beyond, before having to return to re-fuel and join the returning bombers over the channel, this left the B17’s vulnerable to German fighters as well as the Flak over their targets.

P51 Mustangs Escort a Mission (Web Photo: Courtesy IWM)

The loss of 60 B17’s raiding Schweinfurt’s ball bearing factories in August of 1943 and a further loss of 60 B17’s in a second raid on Schweinfurt in October of 1943 forced a re-think, (overall in October of 1943, the USAAF lost 176 bombers) and long distance raids were curtailed until longer range Mustang P51’s, fitted with additional underwing fuel tanks, could escort the bombers throughout the whole raid, reducing the casualties significantly

Dense Flak over Merseburg, Germany (Web Photo: Courtesy USAAF, Wikipedia)

The B17 had been given a rather dubious reputation in the press as an almost “impregnable” battle titan, perhaps because of the legendary B17’s that had managed to struggle back across the Channel in appalling condition, and in states that defied all logic as to how they had maintained flight in such terrible circumstances. Damage from a collision with a Messerschmitt BF109 over Tunisia February 01st of 1943 had left the B17 “All American III” with its tail literally hanging on by prayers alone. Pilot Kendrick Bragg Jnr had completed his bomb run on Bizerte & Tunis and was returning to base at Biskra in Algeria when two BF109’s attacked from head on. One was downed by machine gun fire, likely a combination from the All American’s and her “wing” B17’s forward gunners

Erich Paczia (Right) c1942 a BF109 in the background (Web Photo: Courtesy images.findagrave.com)

That BF109 is reported as being flown by Oberleutnant Julius Meimburg who was serving with JG 53 (but from II JG 2) and who was wounded in the attack, the second ME109 is believed to have been flown by Eric Paczia of II JG 53 (On Line resource “12 O’Clock High: II/JG 2 Tunisia 1 Feb 1943” Etgen, L. 09/01/2014 16:04. http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/archive/index.php?t-36402.html Accessed 06/10/22) where Leo Etgen states “1 February 1943: Feldwebel Erich Paczia of 6./JG 53 killed in Bf 109 G-4/Trop “Yellow 1” (W.Nr. 16 093) in aerial combat with B-17 four-engined bombers over Pont-du-Fahs….” Which includes reference to “Die Jagdfliegerverbände der Deutschen Luftwaffe 1934 – 1945”. The BF109 of Erich Paczia began attacking from the front of the All American III, it took fire during the attack and, as it broke off to roll out over the All American, Paczia, perhaps incapacitated, or dead, lost control & it’s wing struck the tail section of the B17 causing the loss of the Messerschmitt & Paczia, who was later recovered & buried in Bordj-Cedria War Cemetery, Ben Arous, Tunisia

Ralph Burbridge 19/02/1920-03/02/2013 c1942 (Web Photo: Courtesy bartonfuneral.com)

Bombardier on the All American III, Ralph Burbridge, recalled in an interview with “The Waterland Blog” (Nichols, R. in the B Town Blog: https://b-townblog.com/2012/09/21/local-b-17-bombardier-recalls-wing-and-a-prayer-mission-on-the-all-american/  On Line Resource, Accessed 08/10/22) in 2012 “When the German pilot was about 300 yards away he began a roll to pull down and away from the All American after his attack, but about halfway through his roll either my fire or fire from the lead ship must have killed the pilot or disabled the plane. He never completed his intended roll and rapid pass under our ship, for one horrible instant he was right there – inches in front and above us. He passed over us with a distinctly audible swoosh followed by a tremendous jar and a whoomp.’”

All American III showing the BF109 Wing Collision Impact (Web Photo: Courtesy 1st Lieutenant “Cliff” Cutforth USAAF)
 
Mail from Lt Harry Nuessele, photo by 1st Lieutenant “Cliff” Cutforth, USAAF Tunis 1943 (Web Photo: Courtesy warbirdsnews.com)
 
The Extent of Damage to All American III (Web Photo: Courtesy ww2db.com)

The All American III landed back at her base, the tail section holding even through the landing itself, and the All American III was not the only “miracle” that built the reputation of the B17 for taking incredible damage but managing to return home. 20th December 1943 on a raid over Bremen, Germany, in B17 “Ye Old Pub”, 2nd Lt Charles L Brown was piloting his first ever combat mission with 527th Bomb Squadron when attacked by the anti-aircraft Flak gunners surrounding the heavily defended city. The B17 was hit in the nose on its bombing run taking out its nose gun and bomb aiming position, also damaging it’s No 2 and No 4 engines, leaving it still flying, but crippled and almost defenceless as only 2 of the 11 guns remained operable, although it is not clear if that was due to crew injuries or battle damage

B17 Heavily Damaged at the Nose & 2 of 4 Engines Out (Web Photo: Courtesy worldwarphotos)
 

I have not found a verified photo of “Ye Old Pub” despite extensive searching, however the one above (digitally cleaned up a little, simply marked “Damaged B-17 Flying Fortress 8AF”) carries damage consistent with Charles Brown’s B17, and, where all similar I have found can be identified as “other” aircraft, I cannot discount this one as a “possible”. Charles Brown’s ill-fated B17 was trailing well behind the main group of aircraft on the return from Bremen to England, and was attacked by 15 Luftwaffe fighters, managing to fight off the attack, downing one of the attackers and damaging, if not downing a second. It would seem Ye Old Pub had finally run out of luck when Luftwaffe Pilot Franz Stigler finished re-arming and re-fuelling his BF109 and had scrambled to meet it…….

The view Charles Brown Would Have of Franz Stigler, a Messerschmitt Me 109 G-6 fighter of Jagdgeschwader 27 (Web Photo: Courtesy Deutsche Bundesarchiv)

Stigler recalled after the war (Williams, J “Franz Stigler, Charlie Brown, And a Friendship Born From The Horror Of War” in https://allthatsinteresting.com/franz-stigler-charlie-brown On Line resource: Accessed 08/10/22), “When I got near it, I could see that there was much damage to the nose and tail sections. I flew in behind the plane, and I could see the gunner lying across his machine guns. There was a huge hole in the side of the fuselage, and the rudder was almost blown away. It was in very bad shape” Stigler, in an unparalleled act of mercy, at a time when it would have been simple to finish off the crippled B17, instead chose to escort the aircraft until it was over the channel and safe from further attack, he said of the incident “To me, it was just like they were in a parachute. I saw them and I couldn’t shoot them down”. Franz Stigler’s act of Chivalry, one that could easily have seen him shot as a betrayer of Nazi Germany,  meant 9 of the 10 crew of Ye Old Pub (although some, including Charlie Brown, were badly wounded), would survive the raid, sadly tail gunner Hugh Eckenrode had been killed over Bremen. Both Pilots searched each other out following the end of WWII, it is a testament to the futility of war, and to the spirit of humanity, that both became good friends for what remained of their lives, Franz Stigler & Charles Brown both dying within months of each other in 2008. Those of you who, like me, love the details of such stories can find the full account in Adam Makos’ book “A Higher Call” (ISBN -10 178239253X)

Franz Stigler & Charles Brown (Web Photo: Courtesy largescaleplanes.com)

Now to our aircraft and it’s story, B17G 44-6630 was brand new when she was delivered to 340th Bomb Squadron, 97th Bomb Group, 15th Air Force, at Amendola in Italy 03 November of 1944. There was no time to name her or even paint her in unit colours when Pilot Irving G Emerson & Co-Pilot Ernest Vienneau took ownership, and her crew checked her out for the up-coming raid. Her first mission would be 3 days later, 06th November of 1944 and she was destined to bomb Vienna, the standby target would be the heavily defended railway junction at Maribor, Slovenia. Vienna had been hit hard the day before, by 500 B24’s and B17’s of the 15th Air Force, their target was the Floridsdorf Oil Refinery, it was the largest ever raid against a single target of WWII (“Mediterranean Theatre of Operations (MTO): WWII, Strategic Operations (Fifteenth Air Force” On Line resource. https://www.aircrewremembered.com/USAAFCombatOperations/Nov.44.html Accessed 10/10/2022) On the 06th November, bad weather over Vienna as they arrived would mean Irving Emerson & Ernest Vienneau would be bombing the Railyard at Maribor

B-17s form up and begin their climb to altitude from Amendola Airfield, 1944 (Web Photo: Courtesy IWM, wikimedia)

Apparently Military Intelligence believed Maribor was only lightly defended, as is often the case this turned out not to be true. Maribor had been annexed by Hitler back in 1941 and had been defended and fortified to protect its rail infrastructure and lines with many 88 and 105 anti-aircraft installations

Hubert Schmidt Mans a 105mm Flak Installation, Zrkovcih, Protecting Maribor, 1943 (Web Photo: Courtesy Saso Radovanovic, Maribor_pod.pdf)

Maribor would be targeted 22 times between January of 1944 and April of 1945 (Radovanovic, S: “Maribor Pod Toco Bomb Taborisce Smrti” Online Resource: http://www.zalozbaroman.si/maribor_pod.pdf Accessed 10/10/2022), the Drava River Rail bridges were an important target and it was known there were prisoner of war internments in the area with Allied and Russian PoW’s held captive

Bombs Rain on Maribor Railway Yard 1944 (Web Photo: Courtesy Saso Radovanovic, Maribor_pod.pdf)

Following Hitler’s annexation of Maribor in 1941 there had been ongoing elimination programmes against the local Slovenian population, prisoners not executed directly were also held in the area, but none of this would stop Maribor from being targeted by the Allies, it was crucial to prevent Germany from having any chance of moving troops or equipment at this point in the war. The raids went well for the Allied Bomb Groups as the aftermath, with the bomb hits of 1944-1945 marked over the area of Maribor (below) show

Bomb Strikes on Maribor January 1943 to April 1945 (Web Illustration: Courtesy Saso Radovanovic, Maribor_pod.pdf)

Although the B17’s had a reputation as “tough to kill”, and despite being heavily defended from almost every direction, they were still vulnerable, as the losses of Schweinfurt and the early raids had shown. Losses continued from the introduction of the B17 in 1940 with the RAF and then through the later war years with the US Airforce. You can see the effect of battle damage on the photo of a B17 looking back along the fuselage from the cockpit (below)

B17 Battle Damage September 1944 (Web Photo: Courtesy worldwarphotos)

While the B17’s were state of the art aircraft for the time, they were commanded by real inputs from the pilots hands and feet via control cables, rods & linkages, it didn’t take much for a Flak explosion to sever cables as can be seen hanging from the top left of the photo, likely a rudder control cable for the tail-planes or rudder itself. It can also be seen that hydraulic pipework was vulnerable too, there is a major dent in what looks like an oil pipe (could be cable ducting) and a thinner, perhaps hydraulic pipe below has been hit too, all this from debris blown inwards from attacking enemy fire or exploding ordnance fired from the ground defence installations during an attack in September of 1944 

Photo of the Drava River Rail Bridge, Maribor, Following a 1944 B24 Raid (Web Photo: Courtesy Michals, K. Flikr)
 

For our B17G the November 06th raid was little short of a nightmare, a Flak explosion in front of the aircraft mortally wounded Co-Pilot Ernest Vienneau, shrapnel from the blast leaving Irving Emerson in sole control. The B17’s hydraulics were damaged and one of her four Wright R1820-97’s, Engine No 3, caught fire. Emerson shut off fuel to the engine, feathered the prop and activated the Fire Extinguishing equipment on that engine which, luckily, still functioned and shut the fire down. By now Emerson had flown out of the formation and made the decision to head for the emergency airstrip at Viz, the Navigator, Bruce MacFarland, worked the heading, passed the details to Emerson and he headed the B17 out towards the Croatian coastline

A B17 of 95th Bomb Group with No3 Engine Damaged (Web Photo: Courtesy nationalmuseum.af.mil wikimedia)

Holding the B17 in the air on three engines was no little thing, it would take Irving Emerson all his skills and no small amount of luck too to maintain the course for Viz, an emergency airfield held from the Nazi’s by partisans of Tito’s resistance fighters throughout WWII, and, by 1943, Tito’s main operational base for planning attacks on Italian and then Nazi troops and strongholds (“Tito’s Cave” sits just a mile or so from the end of the emergency airstrip to this day and is marked as a tourist attraction seeing military tours every week). Things would get worse for Emerson and his crew during the odyssey, everything that could be jettisoned was, to lighten the aircraft and reduce the fuel needed to get as far as Viz, at some point in the flight they lost a second engine leaving them flying on two

Bomb Aimer in his Nose Position (Web Photo: Courtesy Roger Freeman collection, Imperial War Museum)

Approaching the airfield Emerson circled to assess the best option to land, his hydraulics had been hit and only one wheel would deploy despite the efforts of his crew to lower the second, as Emerson was making his approach another engine died and it became clear the B17 wasn’t going to make the airfield. At this point, apparently unknown to Emerson, there were issues on the ground, the airfield had sent up a Red flare to warn the B17 off (stories have it they did not want a wreck on the runway as there were several other expected landings), unaware, and with the third engine now dead, and worse yet, rapidly running out of fuel, Emerson turned the stricken B17 parallel to the shore and ditched perfectly into the Adriatic, his B17 miraculously in one piece and his crew safe (Emerson, I.G. “Interview with Irving G. Emerson” Veterans History Project. Online Resource: Accessed 11/10/2022)

A Ditched B17 Going Under in the North Sea (Web Photo: Courtesy ww2aircraft.net)

Local fishermen had seen the aircraft as it circled the emergency landing strip, several had taken their boats out when it was clear the B17 was unlikely to make it, Emerson and the other 9 of his crew were rescued and taken to shore safely, only Ernest Vienneau, his body having been moved to the bomb aimers position in the aircraft for the flight to Viz, would remain on the B17 as she took on water and sank

Ernest Vienneau (Web Photo: Courtesy historyandwar.org)

Ernest Vienneau had been hit in the head by shrapnel and was seriously injured, by the time the B17 reached Viz Irving Emerson believes he was dead, although Merrle Sieling, Starboard Gunner on the aircraft is quoted in one account as having said “When I jumped into the sea, the nose of the aircraft was sinking. I heard the copilot moaning in the cabin, so I hurried back. But I was too late, the aircraft had sank. My clock had stopped, showing 13:30” (“History and War B-17G Wreck Near Viz” https://historyandwar.org/2022/07/31/b-17g-wreck-near-vis/ Online Resource: Accessed 11/10/2022)

B17’s & B24’s on Viz Airstrip 1944 (Web Photo: Courtesy r/WWIIplanes)
 

Hearing there was a B17 in such condition and off a country I was already familiar with, and had managed to convince Ellie (my wife) to visit, gave me an opportunity to explore her tolerance with my obsession with diving. I suggested an “island holiday” a little off the beaten track, where there were still far fewer tourists to contend with, in a country she had visited, which was only a couple of hours flight time away….it didn’t take long for Ellie to start looking at the island of Viz and possible hotels (thin on the ground) and….more interestingly, something called “Air BnB’s” whatever that might be….Ellie has always been the more adventurous of the two of us when it comes to holidays! It wasn’t long until we had a holiday suite booked on the other side of Viz Island in Komiza, a small fishing village more recently used as a holiday destination for Croatians, and the odd German or Italian adventurer, and more often, the yacht fleet-hire aficionados! As I mentioned earlier, we had visited Pula back in October of 2015 (see the “Best Ever Dives” section of this blog) to dive the Baron Gautsch, I had sold that holiday to Ellen based on my memory that late season was pretty warm in Croatia until November set in, it hadn’t been as warm as expected to be honest and a little rain had dampened Ellie’s enthusiasm for so late a trip, but as I had taken her to Mexico in February and the Red Sea in August, she had been sanguine about it, although in planning Viz, Ellie was determined it would be no later than September that we went this time

Manta Dive Centre, Komiza 

It would turn out to be an abortive attempt to dive the B17 in September of 2016, despite having spent time looking at three dive centres in Komiza, the first two discounted by a process of elimination, they were not as kitted up as I’d like for a dive of 70 plus metres, neither having twin manifolded cylinder sets for hire, nor on-site Tri-Mix facilities, but the third, Manta Dive Centre, at the extreme of the bay, that was a different matter entirely. Fully kitted for technical diving, rebreather s catered for, everything now aligned nicely and Andi & Aniska, the brother & sister owners of the dive centre were both helpful and professional from the off, with information about pre-lim dives to build up to the B17 and slots I could fit into, first being the Vassilios T, formerly the Eastern Temple, a wreck lying from 20m down to 50m, ideal to settle in to the area and a new wreck to explore….perfect…..or it should have been had a tooth not practically (it seemed at the time) imploded at around 28m whilst finning down the wreck’s Starboard side…….Thus ended the 2016 expedition, and all diving until I could get a replacement filling completed back in the UK

Compressor & Gas Mixing Room, Manta Divers

The abortive dive of 2016 did not lessen my desire to dive the B17, but it would be another three years wait before I could return to Viz, in July of 2019! I had arranged with Andi Marovic to have a twinset and sidemount available at Manta diving, I book in advance as Andi has a busy schedule with divers from Germany, Italy and, more recently, from the USA coming across to dive…… As in 2016 I started with Vassilios T and moved from her on to Theti, another local wreck to Manta, both wrecks built up nicely to follow on to the B17 on a light Tri-Mix of 16/45 with 50% as deco, my new Blue Log takes up the narrative: “16/07/2019 B17 G KOMIZA CROATIA B17G Flying Fortress (Boeing) which narrowly survived a raid over Nazi occupied Europe, losing one crew member to flak & being flown on 3 engines trying to land on Viz which was a partisan stronghold & emergency landing strip – Flagged off on landing its last engine died & it was ditched on final approach which was the saving of all other crew – a superb piece of flying in the circumstances! A deep dive, my first Tri-Mix for 15 years plus – apprehension was high but the dive went perfectly, a great descent to the cockpit, a fly down the hull Port to Starbord round the tail then across both wings & up to deco! Bloody Marvellous dive! Buddies Andi & Franco, Air In 230 Out 100”

B17G 44-6630 Lying at 72m Rukavac, Viz (Web Photo: Courtesy of Franco Banfi Wildlife Photo Tours) 

  It shows that the dive was a stunner, the usual descriptive has definitely ramped up even for someone who tries to remain objective rather than effusive! I took the time to include the story as I often do on a first dive (and sometimes forget I have done on subsequent dives to a wreck), but I was also keen not to lose sight of the drama of the B17 wreck, however briefly. I also mention my apprehension at a deep tri-mix dive after 15 years or so without using the gas, there’s a lesson there, I am happy to be apprehensive, it keeps my preparation & execution focussed. Tri-Mix is a serious gas, misuse can (and will) seriously ruin your dive and your day, and if you are not careful a bunch of days afterwards…….

No 2 Engine & Cockpit, Port Wing Elevated by the Deployed Wheel (Web Photo, Unknown Origin)

Suffice to say, I do not get enough opportunity to deep dive these days, and so build-up and preparation I take very seriously, every time. It doesn’t help that Andi considers me a dinosaur for using open circuit tri-mix, all his other tri-mix divers are on rebreathers. You will pick up why I am not still on a rebreather elsewhere in this blog if you look, nothing sinister, just my perspective….and I will remain a dinosaur until my last breath….which won’t be on a rebreather, I assure you Andi!

Looking Down over the Viz Airstrip & B17 Ditching Site

The preservation of the B17 is remarkable after 70 plus years underwater, there are 3 dive centres locally that dive her, all are aware she is an important draw for their businesses so all will hopefully continue to ensure Irving Emerson’s amazing achievement saving his crew and, almost, his aircraft, after defying such desperate circumstances, remains in the condition she is in today. I returned to dive her this year (2022) in August, the Blue Book records the dive: “30/08/22 B17 MANTA/KOMIZA Return to the B17 which was long overdue! A drop down the shot & gas switch @ 18m from 50% to 17/46 then on down to the Aircraft sat in a haze with her tail & rudder just visible from the cockpit & wings. This time just a photo scan of the wings & engines then a run front to tail on her Starbord side to take a look in the mid-gunners position then to the tail & a run back up her fuselage to peak in the hull half way up – on up to deco for 25 mins Superb dive! Air in 200 Out 140” 

B17 Tail & Rudder, Port Wing Elevated (Web Photo: Courtesy Martin Strmiska)

I hope I can continue to return to dive to her silent resting place in the Adriatic, where B17G 44-6630 sits in the Blue, a monument to the heroism of those who flew, despite knowing the odds of return were stacked heavily against them, many of them never to return…….In total, the 8th Air Force received 6,500 B-17G’s, by the end of the war a total 1,301 B-17G’s had been shot down or reported missing in action

B17G 44-6630 Rukavac, Viz, Croatia (Web Photo: Courtesy IWM)

This Piece is dedicated to the memory of those crews mentioned in its lines, and to all of those unmentioned who gave their lives partly or completely to fight for the freedoms we take for granted…..All gave some…..Some gave All!

At the going down of the Sun….And In the Morning……

B17 Crews

Franz Stigler & Charlie Brown’s own account of Ye-Old Pubs Mission from their first meeting in 2012

Irving Emerson’s own account of the 44-6630 mission: Veteran’s History Project recording from 2011

http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/vhp/story/loc.natlib.afc2001001.20754/mv0001001.stream

As ever I am indebted to those whose excellent photographs have made this piece what it is, Franco Banfi, Martin Strmiska, Saso Radovanovic and, although I can’t positively confirm it I believe Steve Jones photo appears too

Why Not Join Me Diving B17G 44-6630

Filed Under: Best Dives Ever

The Cenotes of Yucatan

September 26, 2022 by Colin Jones

Tulum: Dos Ojos

In 2015 when the subject of holidays came back around Ellie had, I think, already decided where she wanted to go….I had mentioned to friends from our dive group that one of my longest serving diving mates Eric “Budgie” Burgess had become a cave diver & guide out in Mexico on the Yucatan peninsula when they mentioned they were off on holiday there, I’d said look Budgie up if you are thinking of cavern dives as he will know the right people to go with in the area. On their return a few weeks later sat at one of our regular Chinese meals in Stafford, Chris was waxing lyrical about the whole Mexican holiday from Bull Sharks to White sand beaches and pure Blue seas…..I think that had a profound effect on Ellie as all I heard from then on was….can we look at Mexico this year…….

Tulum Watchtower Ruin, Guard to what was a coastal trading port (Web Photo: unknown origin)

I had no objection to a holiday that had been described as “unbelievable” I just hoped it lived up to Chris’ description and Ellie’s expectations, I knew I would be happy, I was straight on e-mail to Budgie to let him know we were coming and to see when was best for diving…….. I also needed to know what diving was available to a non cave certified diver in what I knew was not a wreck infested coastline! Budgie had no problem setting me up some sofnolime for the trip as I was on the Inspiration by this point, although it had not always been an easy marriage, I had already run through the standard equipment failures the early models were prone to, battery bounce, dual handset failure, and a couple of odd issues too, one at least “self-inflicted” when I had a CO2 breakthrough and started to lose visuals, luckily I bailed out quickly enough to open circuit on that occasion. I’d had the odd cell anomalies too, which had eventually prompted me to change to a Juergensen Hammerhead controller, that had stabilised the unit as far as I could tell and I had decided to persevere, what better time to fall back in love with it than in the Cenotes of the Yucatan!

Cenote Dos Ojos, Mexican for “Two Eyes” The main Platform Entry (Web Photo: Unknown Origin)

Budgie chose Dos Ojos as an introduction to the Cenotes and I met him at the front of the hotel on a gloriously hot February morning in 2015 for the ride in his truck to the site. I had a reasonable understanding of Cenotes from geography lessons decades before, along with history it was one of the only two subjects I actually enjoyed in school. I knew that Limestone areas were ancient, that they were once under Oceans and that the entire of the rock was made up of tiny dead crustaceans, compressed for millennia under the weight of those Oceans, eventually becoming a form of solid rock and that the structure was easily eroded by rainwater and that when a land mass raised from the sea, once released from the weight of glaciers after an ice-age passes, or when land is raised due to subduction of tectonic plates in volcanic regions, the exposed limestone becomes subject to rain erosion, where water has already permeated through the limestone by the action of freshwater streams and rivers. When that water level is dropped by the lifted land or lowered sea levels, then the waterways leave air spaces above, caverns and tunnels close to the surface. Those airways lead to rainwater permeating through the limestone to drip from the exposed ceilings of the caves and tunnels, the water that drips carries Calcium Carbonate, the residue from the limestone trapped in minute quantities within the leached water, when that water drips from the ceiling some of that residue sticks and builds down forming Stalactites, some is deposited on the cavern or tunnel floor, leaving what becomes over eons of time Stalagmites, given long enough these hanging and towering limestone forms can join together to become pillars from floor to ceiling. Should the water level rise again these forms become submerged and the process stops, leaving pilars, Stalactites and Stalagmites under the submerged Cenote water table in the flooded caves and tunnels of the Yucatan and similar areas worldwide. In geological terms it doesn’t take long before the surface erosion of the limestone can cause collapse of the cavern and tunnel ceilings that are closest to the surface, leaving Cenotes, or holes in the land, thought by the Aztecs and Mayan locals to be passages to the afterlife and held as sacred

Dos Ojos Cavern System (Web Photo: Courtesy Local Guide Maps)

Dos Ojos, or “two Eyes” when translated literally reflects the two openings that show at the surface resembling eyes when you approach from the main entrance, although the left and bigger opening is far more obvious, I don’t recall seeing the other myself until under the water on the return leg of the run. I was still in the Green Navy log in 2015 and I recorded: “24/02/15 DOS OJOS (Two Eyes) Cenote Mexico The Barbie run – through the first cenote I have dived with Budgie – the first dive we have done together despite 25 years in the business together!! A small cavern entrance with a wide pool to descend then winding through the caverns through the tunnels & into air bells. The scenery is fantastic the Stalagmites & Stalactites everywhere with shapes cut into the Limestone by water & the rains when the caves were dry hopefully captured some of this on the Go-Pro – Awesome experience but the rebreather is still a maul – still a pain re- buoyancy Viz unlimited Air In 3L 180 bar out 80 bar Buddy Budgie”  As an introduction to caverns & cave diving Budgie couldn’t have chosen better, the “Barbie” run (so called because someone, I will not lower myself to insults, for whatever incomprehensible reason, tied a plastic Barbie into the cave line half way around) starts with the main pool and then winds left past the ceiling where it dips below the surface in some places and is above it in others making ideal sites for snorkelers and also making an amazing play of light onto the surface and in shafts and holes of light, it’s a truly beautiful visual treat, one which I will never forget and which brings a smile whenever I think back to Dos Ojos and that first Cenote dive!

Dos Ojos, Impossible to Convey in a single Photo (Web Photo: Courtesy Reddit)

The next dive was still at Dos Ojos but a different run known as the Bat Cave for reasons that not only sound obvious but become even more so in the descriptive, and no, there are, thankfully, no plastic bats attached to the cave lines on that run! We had a little break between dives and I wandered around and took some photos and checked over my kit in preparation. All runs at Dos Ojos are shallow, I doubt we passed 10m at any point, I can’t honestly recall, suffice to say I knew I would be fighting the solenoid and buoyancy again at some points of the dive even at 1.3 set-point

Dos Ojos, The Bat Cave Run (Web Photo: Courtesy Local Guide Maps)

Now I was looking forward to this dive after the Barbie run, the sheer excitement of being both underwater and underground was a thrill, the play of light in the system, often a single shaft of pure sunlight from a collapsed roof above, could create amazing effects when passing through the water and illuminating hanging tree roots which had worked their way  over decades through the Limestone ceiling surrounding the opening and extended down into the crystal clear cenote stream below, looking like weird underwater plants reaching down to touch you as you swam under them, especially odd when you had missed a root set looking in another direction with your torch and they gently brushed your face……

Cenote Tree Roots (Web Photo: Courtesy earthmaho.com)

The log book records: “24/02/15 The Bat Cave – the second run on Dos Ojos Cenote Mexico a reverse of the first run but a passage off it into a lovely overhead cavern which has hundreds of Bats living in the ceiling – we surfaced after a 20 minute swim through the same wonderful Cenotes caveways & passages mostly black but for our torches and the odd shafts of light from collapsed roofs or jungle breaks into the caverns – another great dive Air In 80 out 20 Buddy Budgie” I have to say I loved the dive and the rebreather wasn’t quite the maul it had been on the Barbie run, perhaps it was mostly me, perhaps I lacked the subtlety needed to operate the unit, perhaps it was the limited use I had been able to give the Inspiration in the years following closing Deep Blue Diving and putting so much into my working life? Whatever the case, the Bat run had lived up to my expectations entirely, a beautiful and gentle swim through tunnels that expanded and contracted in size as if breathing underground as we passed through, patterns of erosion embedded into the walls, black as pitch for most of the run, there were less shafts of light on this dive, but when they came through they were mesmerising. I guess just over half way the dive shallows out as you make your way up an incline and realise you are going to surface

Dos Ojos, the Bat Cave (Web Photo: Courtesy Niall Corbet Flickr)

You are on the debris pile of rubble from the ceiling collapse which you haul up on, above you is a single shaft of light surrounded by an almost domed roof, lower than, but bearing a passing resemblance  to St Paul’s, but with Bats hanging from the ceiling nooks and crannies between the Stalactites and flying around before exiting through the open roof portal, or dropping in, to fly, almost erratically, until locating their favourite perch and joining those others just hanging around in the sunlight of the outside jungle

Dos Ojos, Light plays on the line (Web Photo: Courtesy Coline, Minube)

The dive out starts to show more light as you wind your way through the tunnels in and out of rock-falls and around Stalagmites and Stalactites lit by your torch beams, and occasionally from the surface through openings to the surrounding jungle. The Bat cave is perhaps just over half way on the run so there is plenty to see on the journey back to the main pool and cavern entrance, all things said there is little between the two different runs other than the enjoyment of a hidden cavern which, were it not for diving and snorkeling, would probably never have been seen by any but the Mayans, a beautiful way to spend a day……..perfect!

Dos Ojos Pool, at the end of the Line (Web Photo: Courtesy voyageinstyle.net)

It is especially difficult to meaningfully portray dives in words, especially those that are particularly spectacular visually, so  images make all the difference and I am indebted to those who took the images used to illustrate this article on-line, especially Naill & Coline, the only attributions I could find specific to photo’s!

You can see what I mean, and you can look for Stalactites, Stalagmites and Limestone Pillars if you take the dive with me, this dive is on open circuit in 2016:

Filed Under: Caverns & Caves

Rebreathers

September 22, 2022 by Colin Jones

AP Valves Inspiration Mod 1

2005 brought about significant change in my diving and personal lives, I had been told I was at risk of redundancy, quietly, by a friend at Finning, and without the knowledge of those bringing about such change. That kind of thing is a significant wake-up call, I had been made redundant once before, by JCB, a couple of weeks before Christmas, a time when I was relying on the JCB Christmas bonus to take care of the family celebrations and presents…I got by, just, but it meant using the credit card heavily and that teaches you a hard lesson. Anyhow, I took the redundancy tip-off seriously and got a job which, sadly, would not allow me the luxury of teaching diving at the weekends, as I’d have to travel down to Andover every Sunday evening to be at work Monday morning…..that meant Deep Blue Diving had to close. I hated that, I’d loved everything about training and those who came to the dive club at Fenton Manor, I couldn’t avoid the feeling I was letting them down, these had been friends, some of them for ten years now, but it couldn’t be avoided and there was no one else to take up the club, so, with the heaviest of hearts, I closed Fenton Sub Aqua Club and Deep Blue Diving in the September of 2005

2005……This Time The Sun Set……
 

 The exercise of closing down involved selling off the training equipment and, as there was no one taking up the activity anytime soon, I decided on putting sets of kit together and using a new (to me) but well established on-line market to make things a little “e-asier”, as it happened one frequent buyer was based on the route to Andover, which helped us both with “postage” fees…… The kit went, bit by bit, and I had already decided I wanted to put whatever I made back into my own diving for once. I’d wanted to try rebreathers out for a while now as the introduction of the AP Valves “Inspiration” had captured my attention since its appearance on the diving scene in 1996, the year I’d set up Deep Blue Diving on leaving the army….. Now the Inspiration was Ten years in, and had established a small but dedicated following in the technical dive arena, it had proven itself both controversial and, with the increasing interest in deeper and more challenging environments like long cave penetrations, a very capable, if somewhat continually developing piece of “uber-tech” that had definitely piqued my interest

The AP Valves Inspiration 1996 (Web Photo: Unknown Origin)

I started to spend time looking for a used Inspiration on the same platform I’d used to sell-off the Deep Blue Diving equipment, there were a few to choose from and I didn’t see there would be any issue if I picked up a decent enough unit and had it serviced by AP to ensure it was in good order. I had a trainer in mind too, Richie Stevens and I had crossed paths a few years back when he had opened “Deep Blue Diving” just a few miles up the M1, much to my dismay at the time. I had thought there would be competition for any diver training or retail outfit, I had not thought that there would be two businesses calling themselves exactly the same, basically on each other’s doorstep! I had spoken to Richie and he came across as a decent enough bloke, ex-military, no harm intended, didn’t even know there was another business called Deep Blue Diving in the UK either. Richie had set up as an exclusively technical operation, his ambitions were beyond those I had for those I trained in the PADI system, even those in the IANTD Nitrox world, Richie was all about Tri-Mix and deep tech diving, so we let things lie between us and eventually Richie moved his business to Plymouth, I didn’t overly miss him at the time to be brutally frank

The AP Valves Inspiration Rebreather (Photo: Courtesy AP Valves Manual)

I had something in mind which could benefit both Richie and me, I had the deepbluediving.co.uk e-mail address (and all the “at’s” eg: [email protected] etc)  and I figured, with me closing the business, Richie could take it on and perhaps discount me a place on one of his Rebreather courses down at Plymouth…..I got back in touch with Richie and he was up for it, there was a space on an upcoming course, all I needed now was to get my recently acquired, newly serviced, AP Valves Inspiration down to Richie and things could begin. I had the unit shipped down to Richie’s direct from AP valves, it had been fully serviced and checked over and everything was ready to go, Richie was off to Malta to teach a course over there and had a failed unit which could not be properly looked at in time and asked if he could use mine for the trip, I thought that was the measure of the man as he could have used it and I’d have been none the wiser, he chose to be up front about it and of course I said sure, no problem! Now I’d added a personal touch to the case before it went off to AP Valves, a 12” Playboy Bunny….when Richie got back from Malta it seemed that had been declared a casualty during a dive and somehow dislodged….no accounting for taste eh!

Handsets on the 1996 Inspiration Rebreather (Web Photo: Courtesy PIM’s TEKDIVING)

So what was it that sparked an interest in rebreathers, before we head into training territory? I suppose I am naturally curious in the main, any “new” equipment coming into diving would obviously be of interest, but such a profound and ground breaking piece of kit just couldn’t be ignored. The idea that you could have 3 plus hours underwater on one cylinder fill was quite something. Now I understood the basics, exhaled, carbon-dioxide rich, air was “scrubbed” of the carbon-dioxide by a chemical reaction (to soda-lime which absorbs it) and then Oxygen was added back into the air to raise it back to a partial pressure set by the diver as “optimal” for the dive, known as a set-point, and typically 1.3…….All that Nitrox and Tri-Mix training had not been lost on me, I was reasonably confident with the “mechanics” of the rebreather function, what I had no idea about was the physical operation of the units and the failure mitigations……..what did you do if it went wrong?  Let’s be honest, open circuit scuba equipment has a likelihood of failure too, leaks & free-flows can quickly loose your gas, whatever you are breathing, a failed regulator can seriously ruin your day….but those things were pretty easily rectified, twin-sets & travel gas increase your gas supply, manifolds allow you to shut down a free-flow, two regs are always dived as a matter of course and have been for decades now……but a closed loop, driven by an electronic solenoid and oxygen cells that were only recently NASA “Space” technology…..and that requiring an electric current to read Oxygen levels…….there was a lot to go wrong and, typically, no matter how good your waterproofing, electricity and water do not go well together….especially salt water! 

Teledyne Oxygen Cells, 3 in the Inspiration, 4 in the Hammerhead (Web Photo: Courtesy Juergensen Marine

I finally managed to get down to Plymouth in June of 2006 and met Richie Stevens face-to-face for the first time, he didn’t disappoint, years younger than me, (far prettier too) but direct and unassuming with an engaging demeanor, I couldn’t help myself liking him, I also seriously respected his military past which far surpassed my own service, I was going to be trained well, I knew it, and looked forward to the course from the off. I was introduced to the others on the course and hit it off with another trainee Mike Baker, a studious and intelligent guy who would buddy with me on the training and diving sections of the weekend. Mike had the brand new AP Valves “Evolution” which had different handsets, and a temperature stick through the Soda-Lime to indicate when the Carbon-Dioxide scrubbing was becoming carbon-dioxide “saturated”…..a leap beyond my “standard” Inspiration unit. The first morning was hectic, demonstrations on the units, sofno-lime (Soda-Lime by any other name) filling, electrics & pressure checking cycles, dive-set up & pre-breathing the units, it was fast paced for a reason, we would be out in Cawsands Bay for a check-out dive later in the day and my Green Navy Log records “19/06/06 Plymouth Cawsands bay Rebreather trg with Richie 11m bailout drills time after time! Swimming the line – good drills air in “who cares” out – loads! Buddy Mike” The unit had impressed me, clearly

Cawsands Bay at Rame Head, Fort Picklecombe (Web Photo: Courtesy Simplonpc)

The next dive was on HMS Scylla, there is a piece on here dealing with the difference between what is and what is not a wreck as far as I am concerned, suffice to say Scylla is not on my to do list, and never was, but the Log records: “20/06/06 Scylla Plymouth Bigbury awkward descent, mask was flooding constantly, poor feeling throughout but skills were good on dill flush Scylla was boring. Buddy Mike” seldom has a ship been described so briefly in my diving history…..Dill is the “Diluent” which is a balancing gas, air, until you take the second or third closed circuit rebreather module courses for the Inspiration when it will become Nitrox or Tri-Mix depending on the module taken. The Inspiration has 2 off 3L cylinders either side of the Soda-Lime canister, one is Diluent and the other is Oxygen. Our third dive on the afternoon run out was again Cawsands bay, nothing to see on the bottom but muddy sand and the odd crab or small fish scattering off as we swam, with Richie showing prompt cards stating various failure scenarios on the rebreathers, which we reacted to according to the training we had been given during the weekend, the next dive records: “20/06/06 Cawsands Bay Plymouth Skills & drills – failed solenoid (closed) diluent flush – several times including bail-out to O/C then solenoid open – Oxygen Off bail to O/C & then return to loop. After this running the line manually injecting to keep 1 bar (on 0.7 set-point) batteries failed & had to bail early but completed 3 runs. Air In – Sure was – Air Out – !! Buddy Mike” I had nearly used all the Air diluent flushing the system for the drills and definitely did not have 50 bar remaining on surfacing…….

Inspiration Mouthpiece, Closed Loop, One Direction of gas flow (Web Photo: Unknown Origin)

I was becoming more confident in the Inspiration with every dive and I was beginning to understand the various failures that can occur when using the units, a sobering thought considering the relative simplicity of open circuit when compared to the multiple and immediately life-threatening potentials of the rebreather, the units were not for those inclined to just kit up and drop-in….. I wasn’t fazed by the potential for failures, every dive, on any equipment, can easily become your last……however I was beginning to understand why the units had earned themselves the rather dark reputation as the “little yellow box of death” or YBoD for short. It is also a sobering thought to remember that there were no specific “unit” failures recorded, so far as I know, rather the underlying “operator error” attribution, to those who had lost their lives over the decade as the units had established a presence in the diving world. I was, by this time, a keen lurker on Rebreather World, the on-line forum where any and all incidents became the topic of heated conversation, often in the earlier days, before there had been any “official” statement as to the circumstances under which the unfortunate diver passed. There wasn’t only the Inspiration either, there were other makes (although the only CE marked unit was the Inspiration) there were, Kiss, Megalodon, CIS Lunar, Prism, Draeger and rEvo’s to name but a few that I recall from the time, those would be followed by the Poseidon, the Abyss and the Oruborous and now several more too! It seemed you could pick your favourite from those that electronically controlled (ECCR) all but minor manual functions like the Inspiration, to those that were almost exclusively manually controlled like the Kiss, and a range of “in-betweens” like the Megalodon and rEvo although I have no personal experience on any of the other models mentioned here

The boiler on HMT Elk, Sunk by Parachute Mine a Mile or so off the Plymouth Breakwater (Web Photo: Courtesy P Mitchell RIP)

The next dive on the Inspiration was HMT Elk, you can find the write-up elsewhere on this blog (you know where to look) and the Green Navy Log records a great dive too: “21/06/06 HMT Elk – Plymouth Sound – 30m rebreather dive – descent was ok, wreck was fine with the usual Bib & Pollack & one Cuckoo Wrasse, Viz ok @ 3m or so & silty but ok, dive was simple getting used to the Inspiration ascent was ok but last 6m was a nightmare fighting the solenoid – the loop & the suit Buddy Mike” Now it bears saying the most dangerous part of the dive on a rebreather is potentially the ascent…… as the ambient water pressure reduces all your buoyancy will increase as the suit and your buoyancy aid (wing, stab, counter-lungs….whatever) volume increases proportionally. With the rebreather there is an added hidden danger because the partial pressure of the Oxygen in your breathing loop will drop, it’s a physics thing, increase depth, increases pressure, then partial pressure of Oxygen in your breathing gas increases….on ascending where the pressure drops, very quickly in the last 10m or so, then the reverse occurs and your partial pressure of Oxygen decreases…..and can do so to the extent you are breathing too little Oxygen and become unconscious with the potentially terminal effects that can have in water. Here’s the “rub” if you will…..to counter that effect as well as electronics can in the circumstances, the Inspiration solenoid, the means of controlling the injection of Oxygen into your breathing gas, fires and adds Oxygen to try to maintain the reducing level as you ascend (to the set-point you have selected, 1.3 or 1.5 etc)…….anything but the slowest of ascent becomes a fight between the sensor telling the solenoid there is insufficient Oxygen and the solenoid injecting Oxygen into the loop which increases your buoyancy, and your innate sense that increased gas in the system is speeding your ascent, along with swells in the sea, increased suit volume, increased wing/counterlung volume and decreasing depth……..so an ascent becomes a balancing act of air and breathing gas management…..not as easy as it sounds, as I was beginning to understand as I ascended from decompression after an hour on the Elk!

The Tug Minster, eventually HMT Rosehill, Torpedoed by U40 (Web Photo: Courtesy P Mitchell RIP)

Our next dive was another skills & drills run in Cawsands Bay and went like this: “21/06/06 Cawsands Bay Plymouth Again Skills & Drills – High 02 warning whilst swimming the line – fine – bail out – back on & dill flush then running Po2 manually off the cylinder – no problems, repeated several times on the run then flooding drills – no prob ascent was great till 6m then same issues – fighting it all the way to deploy – pants Buddy Mike” Was I ever going to master the solenoid versus buoyancy issue….I wasn’t sure, but I wasn’t through just yet! The next day we would be on the Rosehill, not a wreck to write-up in this account, one I will look to do in the wreck section of the blog some time perhaps. The dive was recorded in the Green Navy log as: “ROSEHILL WHITSANDS Bay Plym Slow descent – ears taking time to clear – finally enjoyed the Inspiration a great dive even though I was feeling poor! Did the whole wreck – prop – stern gun – up to the boilers & back great dive & buoyancy was 100% better – DSMB up properly at last about time! Buddy Mike & Pete” It seemed I was finally getting the hang of the ascent on the Inspiration and, as the dive record says, about time too! The last dive of the Mod 1 course was on the James Egan Layne, one of my favourite South Coast Wrecks, it has everything, history, drama, and wonderful presence where she sits, skeletal now, in Bigbury Bay split from the emergency steering room and stern with about 100m between her main hull and a myriad of swim throughs and nooks and crannies waiting to be sifted through if the often huge Atlantic swells don’t make the dive too exciting……..This was a very brief description of a great dive on her beautifully rounding off the Inspiration Mod 1 course, the log records: “22/06/06 JAMES EGAN LAYNE a great dive round all of the Layne – much more of a collapse than ever before but great running through the holds & off to the stern then back in  & through to Oxygen flush @ 6m stop to prove linear continuity on the sensors – DSMB & off – great dive Buddy Mike & Pete”…….That was it, it was done and Richie certified me as a Mod 1 Inspiration diver……..where would it all lead from here?

The only photo I know of me with the Inspiration, Pool Training!

As always it is a privilege to use photos others have taken to illustrate such pieces as this and I am indebted to the late Peter Mitchell for the Elk & Rosehill pictures

Filed Under: Training

Children & Diving

June 19, 2022 by Colin Jones Leave a Comment

My Family & Underwater Animals

To Train or Not To Train….PADI is the Question

When PADI introduced the “Seal Team” dive experiences for children of 10 years old in 2001, I was teaching scuba in Fenton Manor Pool, undertaking diver training courses with Deep Blue Diving, and running Fenton Sub Aqua Club. Several parents in FSAC had children and, quite naturally, were interested in diving experiences for their kids (as divers themselves), however this also raised some significant moral issues for me personally, and some underlying physiological issues for the diving industry in general. Firstly let’s take the moral issue up and clear the air on this……. How young is too young? That has to be question one, and it is a corker, it is easy to see that not every child grows at the same rate, it is fairly easy to identify that not all children grow emotionally at the same rate, perhaps even in the same way too. Then there is the physiology behind the growth, just to complicate matters at a more scientific level, primarily because no two doctors seem to agree on specifics to do with heart strength, lung capacity, muscle functionality and a whole host of other serious considerations, inner ear robustness, Eustachian tube development, cardio-pulmonary function, asthma and respiratory performance, patent foramen ovale development (closure rate/efficiency etc) ….etc. All of that is only one facet of the moral dilemma facing a parent’s concerns, and, as I have three of my own kids, this was of paramount importance to me personally, and to Ellen, who was by far the more cautious about the level of involvement Lee, Lewis & Kai could ever have in my hobby

Lee at 14, Lewis at 12 & Kai at 10 years old, Sharm el Sheikh 2006

I had other factors in the moral dilemma of dive-parenting to consider too……notwithstanding physiological, psychological and emotional maturity concerns, I trained for 3 agencies, PADI, BSAC and IANTD, all of which had distinctly differing direction on what age could be considered as lower limits for diver training. As a parent, and hopefully one with a very determined sense of safety where my kids were concerned, it seemed to me that doctors would never offer solid guidance on physiology, that no psychologist would give general direction on emotional maturity, and that no training agency would agree on age limits in regards to training, unless their insurers could be convinced the risk had almost entirely been removed from a liability perspective. So it seemed that PADI were taking a risk by encouraging 10 year olds to start learning to dive, and that, consequently, those training divers under the PADI system would be taking enormous personal risk, should they start to involve kids as young as 10 in any type of scuba diving training

Lewis in Fenton Manor Pool….On Any Sunday……..

Things weren’t any easier for me as Ellen was not a particular fan of the water, having been nearly drowned in a swimming pool whilst very young, playing the usual silly games with her peers and almost coming unstuck under an inflatable “lilo” as we used to call them back in the day……So all pool activities with the kids were seen as “nerve-wracking”….something the lads had become incredibly good at taking advantage of, in the usual manner of children trying to scare their mother’s to death at every possible opportunity. It was not unusual at all for the dive-masters, helping out with training courses on a Sunday, to be tapped on the shoulder by any one of the lads, who would then give the “out of air” signal, knowing the Divemasters had no choice but to offer their alternate air sources, much to the delight of each of the three of them, (knowing they would get a royal bollocking off me about interfering with training, possibly distracting from a real event….. etc, if I saw what they were up to, or if any of the rather amused dive-masters would actually tell me what had happened……..). It’s not a surprise there are no photos of the lads piggy-backing down the pool on a spare regulator (I’d have had the evidence if there had been….), strange that, considering how many of my team had cameras with them in the pool…….You can imagine Ellen’s face as any one of them jumped in (I found out later that they would often put a 2 Kg loose weight in their shorts pockets to help them get down quicker too…crafty monkeys), and did not return to the surface for several minutes, eventually surfacing with a huge cheesy grin on their faces, then to add insult to perceived injury, pretending they couldn’t hear their mother scolding them from the pool-side…..

It wasn’t just Lee, Lewis & Kai “Out of Air” in Fenton Manor……

It wasn’t just the lads that delighted in a bit of what they considered “harmless fun” either, it didn’t surprise me that the other kids quickly copied them, in the manner of any peer group of youngsters, “daring” each other to push the envelope…….So the “emotional maturity” level had already been established, and the bar had been set somewhat low in my opinion, however, I had grown up in pools since I was a toddler. I remember trying to drown my dad with my brother Mike (on many occasions) in the Victoria Baths, on the front at Southport, and eventually listening to his advice on how to dive in, how to swim underwater, and slowly realising he knew a whole lot more than me or my brothers ever would about swimming. I also remember it was my own mother who was far more cautious and restricting of our swimming both in the pools and, later, as we swam in streams and then rivers, and eventually the sea off beaches and then off the rocks at Moelfre, in Anglesey, whilst on family holidays

Me Snorkeling the River Dove at Norbury Back in the 1980’s

I understood the PADI basis for introducing younger children to the underwater world, commercially it makes sense to try to ensure you have “early engagement” in an arena where there are many interests and hobby’s in contention for market share, surfing, football, baseball, skate-boarding, BMX….etc. It also means you have customers for longer, which means you will sell more support materials and more dive equipment through each stage of diving undertaken from childhood all the way through to adulthood, however I knew I did not, and never would condone the commercial aspect of training children. I did not want the responsibility implicit in that on my conscience, should something tragic ever occur to a child I had trained, or to have to face the parent of a child I had trained, lost whilst diving, under any circumstances. These were issues bad enough in situations where any adult was injured or lost whilst diving, let alone those where a young life might be taken, and parents be denied the joys of watching their child through all the years of this journey humanity undertakes. I would not train young divers, those below an age I considered realistic enough for them to take on the serious nature of the wonders of the deep. I (privately) believed that to be around 16 years or so, depending on the individual maturity displayed by those asking for courses at the try-dive stages, or in the early lessons of the Open Water Diver courses run at Fenton under the Deep Blue Diving banner

Lee at Horsea Lakes, Early on c1996 when he would be about 4….
 

I had more than a little trouble with my conscience over other people’s children than I admitted I had towards my own though. Ellen’s concerns were sufficient to begin with, however, my own kids had been around me at every level of my diving, joining me with Ellen at dive sites all over the country from when we were dating, whilst I was in the Army, and continuing through my setting up and taking on Deep Blue Diving and FSAC. It would not be easy for me to deny them a chance to dive with me should they ever express an interest, and that was what I relied on, interest! I had decided I could avoid the question for as long as none of the lads actually asked me if they could have a go at diving, I almost got away with it……..Almost

Portland, Lewis at around 4 and Lee now 6 in 1998

It would not be until 2006 that any of the lads really expressed any interest in actually giving diving a go, we had decided on a family holiday in Sharm el Sheikh, and were there with Mark & Kerry Hill and their young family. Mark, his daughter Kelly and her sister Alycia had taken courses with me, and we had become firm friends with Mark and Kerry, their mother, over the last few years. It turned out we were all going to be in Sharm at the same time, it was never planned that way, it just ended up “co-incidentally”, as a kind of joint holiday and Mark and I had decided to take a day boat (The “Wind K”) to Thistlegorm whilst we were there. Lee had just turned 14 and the two year gap between each of them put Lewis at 12 and Kai at 10

Day Boats on Far Garden Reef, Crowne Plaza, Sharm el Sheikh

Now Alycia wanted to dive the Far Garden reef, off the beach near the front of the Crowne Plaza, where we were staying (Mark & Kerry and their family were down the road at the Hilton Sharm Dreams), and that raised the question…. “Why doesn’t Lee join us” from Alycia as, with Alycia around 16, the two of them were very close in age. That question was nuclear…..it must have been 30 seconds later when Kai piped up…. “Why can’t I go if Lee goes….” And that just meant Lewis wasn’t going to be left out “You’re not going if I’m not…..”   and that is where Ellen and I might have ended up divorced. I guess the Red Sea has a lot to thank it for in reality, Ellen had taken the plunge only the day before, and snorkeled with me off the floating piers in front of the Crowne Plaza, seeing millions of beautiful fish beneath her, and even Ellen could not deny the water was warm, crystal clear, and reasonably shallow there…….I suggested the lads tried a pool session before anyone decided anything, but that if they liked it, and did OK with the hotel instructor, then I would take them in with the instructor….. and we would see how it went from there…… Ellen, very reluctantly agreed…eventually!

Lewis Consults Ellen, Kai Adjusts his Mask, Sharm el Sheikh 2006

I never doubted for a moment that any of the lads would fail to impress the hotel Instructor, and I was not disappointed. Despite three very different sizes, and three distinctly different personalities (Lee the aloof surly teenager, Lewis the eager and matter-of-fact consummate water-baby, and Kai determined not to be out of whatever depth he’d got himself into…..), each of them took to the kit like it was second nature, even Kai, and it was nice to see Lewis carefully helping Kai to kit up too! I think even Ellen was beginning to relax as she saw them drop easily under the water and swim about, stopping to take off their masks, and then put them back on with the ease of kids with no fear of the water whatsoever, it might be that “indestructible” attitude we had to be most careful of when they each got out of the pool into the Red Sea itself…….

Swimming Around With Not a Care in the World…….
 

I had agreed with the instructor that the decision would be hers on all three of the boys, and when it came to it she was more than happy all three would be safe doing a shore dive off the steps down the rocks in front of the Hotel’s dive centre, and along the inshore reef where Ellen had snorkelled with me so recently. We swapped the cylinders from the boy’s kit, and traipsed enthusiastically down the stairs to the wooden pier, and short steps into the Sea…….My Log book records it: “FAR GARDEN – SHARM EL SHEIK – Diving with Kai and Lee & Lewis Fantastic experience to show Kai and the boy’s truly beautiful fish and a marvellous reef. Everything was there, Parrot Fish, Butterfly Fish, Dorys – allsorts!! Wonderful! Air in 220 Out 100” Now as you will by now know, I am not given to long and descriptive dive log entries (partly because I listened to Chuck Russett at Bovisands all those years before when he said, “…..it won’t take long to fill these logs up if you gush at every dive, make it count, remember it from the description don’t try to get everything in there!” I’d listened, and it works…), I can remember feeling excited for the lads, and feeling I had to be on my top game, just to ensure not a single expression from any of them was missed, that nothing would be allowed to cause an issue, and that I was responsible for the 3 most precious lives I’d ever known, through every second of this dive….. I also remember checking with each of them to make sure they were OK, that they didn’t miss anything I spotted, and that, more important than anything else, they were looking relaxed and enjoying this……

Crowne Plaza Dive Centre, Sharm el Sheikh 2006
 

When they got out of the water there was a different expression on each face, the surly “cool” of Lee’s teenage disdain for adults was replaced with one of an excited kid again, Lewis was beaming from ear to ear and even Kai, smaller, and therefore a little chilled by this time, was babbling through chattering teeth about how cool it was on the reef, whilst the fierce Egyptian Sun warmed his bones back up! I was elated, I had finally shown my kids what an awesome thing diving was, and how beautiful it was under the sea, I couldn’t have been happier and I couldn’t wait to hear what they told Ellen……..would she believe them….. or, would she just be relieved that they were all back in one piece, who knew!

Post Dive Drinks with the Team, Lee being too cool to be in shot!

Lee must have enjoyed it, Ellen let him take a second dive with us that afternoon, Lewis & Kai stayed on shore as Ellen thought it “a bit too much” for them to do two dives in one day, I think she’d been worried when they said they had been a little chilled towards the end of the dive, but Lee wanted to join Mark and Alycia for one last dive, so my log goes on to say: “FAR GARDEN – SHARM El SHEIK – Lee’s second dive along with Alycia and Mark, again so much to see, Lemon Ray & Fan Coral – Anemones – Just about everything!! Wonderful dive in 28’ water Fantastic!! Air In 220 Out 110 Buddy’s Mark Lee & Alycia” Another abridged descriptive to capture a thousand moments, within a 35 minute dive, in the most beautiful of places, and another shared experience with my eldest son, after a dive with all 3 of my sons, a truly special time!

Clown Fish and Anemones, Red Sea, Egypt (Photo: Courtesy Derek Aughton)

I started this piece as a look at Children and Diving and have detailed my own experiences as a parent of three young kids, one at the lowest of the age groups determined suitable to dive in open water. My lads represented a range stretching from the PADI’s youngest dive age to the lowest age I honestly believe it “might” be practical to consider teaching a child to dive, although, even that is two years before I would look at teaching anyone to dive in UK waters. The piece is, in a way, “hypocritical” insomuch as I clearly took my 10 year old youngest son and his 12 year old brother diving in the Red Sea. I also said, earlier in the piece, that I personally think 16 is the lowest age I would consider “professionally” training a youngster to dive, so why the hypocrisy then? This isn’t “Do as I say….. Not as I do” as far as I am concerned, the difference between a dive in the crystal clear, and very warm, prolifically abundant eco-system of the Red Sea, and a disused quarry in the UK cannot be understated. The equipment required, the visibility, and the temperature alone make it an obvious and expressly different environment training and diving in the UK, to that of the more benign, perhaps more benevolent Red Sea. It is, however, a hostile and life-threatening place to be in either case, the saltwater of the Red Sea is just as un-breathable as that of the South Coast or the Welsh beaches, but the nature of the Red Sea, with little tidal range, with often 50 or 60 meters of visibility, in water warm enough to wear the thinner, more flexible and less restrictive shorty suits, and the beauty of the often sheltered and shallow reefs, makes the decision a far less risk-oriented exercise, one that you can see children being not only able to cope with, but one that will serve their generation far better than ours, once it is experienced  

Moray Eel amongst Red Sea Coral (Photo: Courtesy Derek Aughton)

At the end of the day, the decision comes down to the parents, and the physical abilities and intellectual maturity of the child themselves, not the arbitrary and maybe even largely commercial decision placed on age limits by Diver Training Agencies

Filed Under: General Diving

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