THE SHIPWRECK PROJECT

Just need some sensible weather!

2012-01-20T09:00:00.004Z

The weather has killed us yet again this weekend which is a shame as we have plenty to look at. Only managed a day with the sidescan last week however we located what we were looking for and hopefully this should make a nice little story later in the year after a few dives. We find all kinds of stuff with the sonar other than wrecks and most of it we can discard as junk but when we get an image like this our curiosity gets the better of us and we will be diving this mass of similar targets just to see what they are. If I had to guess I would say they are munitions but there are literally hundreds of them scattered over a third of a mile in an area of shifting sands. The image is 100 metres across so they are substantial objects and they are not in any designated firing or target area, could even be illegal dumping. A few years ago we dived a line of targets bigger than these that turned out to be a dozen or so body shells of Lada cars which the Russian fishing fleet had dumped over the side after stripping them for parts. At that time spares were scarce in Russia and they would buy Ladas in the UK strip them and dump the shells at sea.

click on image to enlarge

Wey Chieftain for diving, Chesil Chieftain for searching.

2011-12-31T11:27:00.001Z

The brief was, we wanted a stable platform with low speed stability for sonar work, we also needed a turn of speed to get on site quickly and take advantage of the little bit of good weather we get. Additionally we also required a vessel that we could dive from occasionally. Economy was another major factor as it is me that is funding all this! After searching the UK we have come up with this little catamaran “Star” to be renamed Chesil Chieftain and stuffed full of electronic wizardry. She is a fantastic little vessel built by BW Seacat the builders of Wey Chieftain 4. At last we will have a search vessel fully and permanently equipped ready to go at the press of a button. Her navigation and data acquisition systems mimic those of her big sister so a flash card transfers the data from search boat to dive boat instantly and we get to dive exciting new sites. Not bad me thinks and I am already turning my attention to the next project. Diving might be going through a bad time right now but I have never been one to give up or let the grass grow. 2012, bring it on.

The real threat to our underwater heritage

2011-12-28T15:56:00.004Z

Our open access to the underwater world is under threat on the basis that divers/treasure hunters are destroying our underwater heritage. The photograph courtesy of Jason Brown is an illustration of what is really destroying our heritage, trawling, dredging and this is a supposedly protected site (Protection of Military Remains Act 1986). This aircraft site and a two hundred year old wreck nearby are covered in rope, wire and net, both of these sites are uncharted and were found by us using sidescan. You can’t be too hard on the fisherman if they didn’t know they were there, why don’t we put our efforts into locating sites at risk so we can protect them from destructive commercial operations such as fishing and dredging? Rather than talking about them and then restricting access even though we don’t know where they are. Ah problem, we would need the help and cooperation of amateur divers and amateur marine archaeologists, Catch 22 comes to mind.

Chesil Project 2012

2011-12-21T18:27:00.000Z

Over the last seven years we have been gathering sidescan data out to a distance of a mile off Chesil beach. It has been interesting to see how the beach constantly changes and pieces of wreckage come and go all the time. That said we now have enough pointers in the form of cannons anchors etc to be able to pinpoint some specific wreck sites. This has come about from our own discoveries and that of local historian and diver Selwyn Williams, Selwyn and I will be working together on this project over the next few years. Knowing where these sites are such as the Piedmont from Christian’s fleet wrecked in 1795 will enable us to watch them as the beach moves back and forth, some years hardly anything will show, other times there will be much to see and investigate. When parts of wooden ships become dislodged and uncovered sadly they don’t last long and after the winter storms many pieces such as in the photograph are exposed and soon degrade. Interesting little design on this piece can you see it? I have spent a lot of time recently mapping out sites from sonar contacts and diving information and slowly we are starting to unlock the Chesil, 2012 will for sure turn out to be our best year yet, watch this space.

"It's just an old fishing boat not worth diving" Is that so.

2011-12-16T18:03:00.004Z

Most of our time is devoted to hunting for old shipwrecks but occasionally we digress. The Rowella sank in May of this year and not long after she went down we located her with sidescan. I thought divers would be all over her during the summer when the position became known but imagine our surprise when in September looking for a photo opportunity Simon and Jason Brown were able to descend to an untouched wreck. The images across the deck and from inside the wheelhouse are very eerie and I defy anyone to say that this old fishing boat isn’t a magnificent sight in her new underwater world. The BSAC magazine Scuba features the Rowella this month and a nice piece by Simon Brown.

To dive or not to dive?

2011-12-09T08:53:00.002Z

Running the boat single handed, following a track and operating the sidescan at the same time does tend to make things a little busy. I leave the analysis till I have time to sit down and go through the data on the big screen at home. Just lately due to the weather I have had chance to start catching up. The image is 75 metres across left to right and shows an area of Stenis ledges west of Portland Bill. On the left of the image you can see a straight line sticking out from the ledge which doesn’t look natural and top right you can see four similarly shaped objects in a group, this also doesn’t look natural. Didn’t see it on the boat, stands out like a sore thumb now. So are we going to dive it? Of course we are that is what the Project is all about, you don't know for sure till you look and you have to be in it to win it.
Click on the image to enlarge.

Images of sound

2011-12-06T17:14:00.003Z

Jason Brown and I have been experimenting with some of our sonar images for a project related job. It's fun but time consuming however I think we are getting some interesting results, click on the image to enlarge.

Making the most of the rubbish weather

2011-12-05T12:03:00.000Z

I am surrounded by charts, documents, scraps of paper and hours and hours of sidescan images as I build a new database, reckon it will take most of the winter on and off. Folk still find it hard to understand that anything is left undiscovered which amuses me. On the last official survey around here in 2009 the survey team rang me up because they couldn’t find a particular wreck and just going through some of the data from that survey I see they have a wreck site down as a natural feature! Granted we aren’t going to find a dozen ten thousand ton ships but with the equipment now available we are about to enter a new age of shipwreck discovery, It’s all out there.

Looking back

2011-11-25T11:19:00.003Z

While we continue to be hampered by the weather we are checking out charts going back through thirty years of diving. We are on the hunt for a particular wreck which we may have already dived without realising. The chart pictured shows the state of play in the late nineties, everywhere you see writing we have dived. This year’s chart is somewhat more detailed and when you look at all the marks the tendency is to think just about everything has been found, how wrong you would be. With the odd exception i.e. about two all these wrecks post date 1860. The amount of ships that sank between Roman times and 1860 are many fold more, so what happened to them all? In reality many are lost forever however from our experience wrecks dating from the early 17th century are still there readily detectable and waiting to be discovered. As an example of how things have changed back in about 93 I put a very well known diver on an old wooden wreck mid channel. On surfacing his comment was "What a pile of shit!"

Click on image to enlarge.

Sometimes it's just junk.....

2011-10-17T10:48:00.001+01:00

When I first saw this image I was intrigued, do we have cannon here? Turned out they were shells fired from the long gone Admiralty gunnery range. The shells are five feet long, weigh the best part of a ton and were fired from a fifteen inch gun. The gun turret was mounted on a land based moveable platform that mimicked the deck of a rolling ship. It has taken me two weeks to work this out and ended in a very interesting discussion with a guy that used to operate and look after the gun. It will soon be forgotten by most what a vital part Portland played in defence research, enough for it to be worth spying on. I bet not many remember or have even heard of Ethel Gee and the Portland spy ring. Click on the sonar image to enlarge.

Yet another site for investigation

2011-10-15T17:43:00.002+01:00

Here we have yet another cannon, click on the sonar image to enlarge. What makes this site very interesting is if you look around the cannon you can see some darker shapes with straight edges. On the seabed you can see nothing but just below it is the side of a ship!

Surveys made easy

2011-10-05T11:57:00.000+01:00

So we find a wreck, we carry out a pre disturbance survey, then we grid it off, draw sketches, take pictures, write notes, ......Zzzzz.. Yawn. No we don’t we do this, or Simon Brown does. Couple of hundred photographs, five days work stitching them together and at the full resolution (This is nowhere near) we can zoom in for fantastic detail whilst sat on our bums drinking red wine job done, what’s next? Oh yeah a license from the MMO, oh shit.

Bringing the wrecks to life

2011-09-15T15:46:00.004+01:00

The Shipwreck Project is gathering momentum as we scour the seabed to find what others have missed. However, as with most things in life, you can’t do it all on your own. I am indebted to several key people one of them being journalist and photographer Simon Brown who brings to life the sonar images. I am putting together a series of talks about the Shipwreck Project and my adventures over the last thirty years, Simon’s fantastic photographs will be part of the show. Worth remembering not everything is on the internet. The picture shows a cannon with Jason Brown in shot another great supporter of the project, thanks guys brilliant.

Wings museum West Sussex

2011-09-06T09:34:00.002+01:00

We recovered this tail wheel assembly complete with steering and retraction system from an American P47 Thunderbolt. It was in remarkable condition after seventy years immersed in salt water and following discussion with the Receiver of wreck it has now been presented to the Wings museum for conservation and safe keeping.

Is anything worth a closer look?

2011-08-29T15:28:00.000+01:00

Having worked hard over the last year or so and located five cannon sites on a six mile stretch of the Chesil beach and then almost falling over a wreck right on our doorstep (See September Dive news section) What do we do next? Just investigating the inshore sites we have already located is a life time’s work. What I now have to do is contemplate if any of these sites are likely to create enough interest for us to investigate further. In the short term my plan as far as further sidescan work goes is to move to deeper water and we have already started this process. This time rather than just a blanket search we are looking at hot spots we have researched over the last few years. Potential targets range from 17th century shipwrecks to modern day aircraft however in all cases there is a tale to tell. If we do decide to take a closer look at what we have found so far first thing I have to decide is do I want to pay (In the form of a license) to investigate a site that we found??

.

Some things we find then lose again quick as you like!

2011-08-24T16:53:00.000+01:00

All change and a bright future

2011-08-15T14:24:00.001+01:00

The dive charter scene is going through a very rough time. The economic situation and general down turn in our sport has spelt the end for some well known boats and skippers. At the same time, just as diving itself has evolved, new technologies are opening up opportunities to discover exciting new sites, many of them right on our doorstep. I have over the last couple of years tried hard to move things along and to do something different with the Shipwreck Project but struggled to find the time and money to develop things as I wished as the financial burden of the boat has always had to come first. That has now all changed with the help of locally based diver Richard Bright-Paul. Richard shares my passion for shipwrecks and exploration and has made the very bold step of buying the Wey Chieftain and keeping me on as her Skipper. This assures the boat’s future in Weymouth, and gives me the flexibility to plan projects and spend more time and money at sea with sonar, remote cameras, mag etc. Wey Chieftain will continue to operate as a regular dive charter boat but have more availability to carry out further exploration and project work. Wey Chieftain has always been at the cutting edge of dive exploration from the M1 discovery, first dives in the Hurd deep, early expeditions such as HMS Charybdis, the list goes on. Richard investing in the way he has will ensure continued success and Wey Chieftain sails on. As for the Shipwreck Project we have only just started with the discovery of five canon sites and a Napoleonic wreck!

It just doesn't get any better than this, what vis we had.

2011-08-10T13:44:00.004+01:00

What a great month, more success on the Shipwreck Project front and a fantastic trip to Guernsey where we based ourselves for dives on HMS Charybdis and HMS Limbourne. We also managed dives on a couple of big unknowns and SV Pangani. What made the week was the weather (at last) and unbelievable vis, twenty five to thirty metres in eighty metres with ambient light. Just look at the picture taken by Tim Wallis of the stern of the Limbourne with diver in the distance (click image to enlarge). If you are wondering what the bent object is? That is the one of the propeller shafts, just think of the forces that did that! Some big changes are about to happen with Wey Chieftain and the Shipwreck Project. Watch this space.

Busy at last

2011-07-12T18:35:00.002+01:00

Happy to say that it’s full steam ahead even though the weather since the great start to the season hasn’t been particularly kind. We have gathered another mass of sidescan data and in the last month have found yet another cannon site on the Chesil. Not to be out done the east side of Portland has now produced a couple of sites for us in the shape of two small wrecks, one site containing four cannon. Jason and Simon Brown have captured a number of fantastic images some of which I will be showing during the coming winter talk programme. Back into deeper water over the next couple of weeks and I am looking forward to a trip to Guernsey where we will be based as we explore some of the wrecks off the Brittany Coast.

Mapping the Chesil

2011-06-07T18:29:00.004+01:00

With the help of local man Selwyn Williams (he really is a walking encyclopedia couldn't do it without him) and our efforts over the past years we now have definite wreck sites along the Chesil and convincing evidence to suggest we have located further sites. The wrecks concerned are Lanoma wrecked 1888, Piedmont, Catherine, Venus, all wrecked in1795, De Hoop wrecked 1749, The Marquis of Worcester wrecked 1797and very tentatively possibly a canon from the Zenobia wrecked in 1762.Not bad considering we still have over 200 sonar marks to look at but then again still plenty to do as there are literally hundreds of wrecks along the Chesil from the Cove to West bay although at this time we are concentrating our efforts up as far as Langton Herring. We start diving again soon and this year Selwyn will be joining us, I will be getting me old bones in the water again as well so watch this space and give me a shout if you want to join us. The picture shows how our sonar contact map is now building as we identify targets, the area covered is approx seven miles long

Moving forward, I mean how hard can that be?

2011-06-07T10:29:00.002+01:00

Having removed certain information from the website and closed the forum a few are wondering why I have done this. Firstly as I have said before on this blog there was no doubt that the format didn’t work and secondly I have had to until I can come up with a solution to several problems. I shall be very careful in future what information I put on the site which is really sad as it is that very information that gets folk interested in shipwrecks. In an ideal world all information should be in the public domain however acquiring this information does come at a cost so surely in fairness I should have some say on where it goes and how it is used. For example every time I go out with the sidescan it costs me a hundred quid in fuel plus the wear and tear on the equipment and the boat. If I find a canon site worthy of further investigation I have to pay a one thousand pound fee to the MMO (Marine Management Organisation) for a license to remove anything from the site that may help us identify it. The one thousand pounds is used as a fund that various experts.... can draw from at the rate of eighty pounds an hour so the site that I discovered can be assessed from an office! If they don’t use all the money I get some back, if they use more then I will have to fork out so what am I going to do? Yes you guessed it keep my mouth shut. Aside from this after many years diving deep channel shipwrecks one of the divers now retired has been passing on information about the wrecks dived from my boat and others to salvage men. This has resulted in the total destruction of one wreck and major damage to at least five others with more no doubt in the pipeline ,so what am I going to do? You guessed it again I keep my mouth shut. So what’s the answer? Well as yet I don’t know but for sure Bureaucracy and the stupid actions of one greedy individual shouldn’t penalise everyone else so trust me I am thinking hard.

So what was I doing in Malta?

2011-05-28T15:58:00.001+01:00

No point in me writing it up just follow the link to the Techdiver site and Howard Payne will take it from there in only the way that Howard can.

Unlocking the secrets of Chesil beach

2011-05-06T16:10:00.001+01:00

We are continuing work along the chesil, its easy diving (25 metres max) and good fun. We give you a camera; you jump in on a sidescan mark and take pictures. Sometimes we drop on nothing in particular but you don’t know till you look. We are at this present time however having a lot of success. The gloomy pictures show our fifth canon site discovery and an anchor site all of which need further investigation once the plankton bloom has gone. We really are making some excellent discoveries and have teamed up with Chesil Beach wreck historian Selwyn Williams. With our capability and his knowledge we are starting to make major inroads towards identifying many long lost wrecks. Selwyn will soon be publishing a book about one of the treasure ships to fall foul of the Chesil bank. Anyone wanting to get involved contact me through the website.

Costa del Lyme bay

2011-05-06T15:10:00.002+01:00

I haven’t seen it this calm in Lyme bay for a few years. Paul Duckworth took these pictures as I picked them up after a dive on the Scaldis looking for evidence of the German bomber that sank her. We have a bit of an aircraft theme going on at the moment as we have been side scanning and photographing an unknown aircraft wreck just outside Weymouth bay. I am told the July edition of Sport Diver will be featuring our efforts.

Making changes

2011-04-26T16:08:00.001+01:00

In my last post I said keep an eye on the forum for info on the Shipwreck Project. Sorry skip that any info will be on here as I have decided to close the forum due to lack of interest. Writing a blog is a lot less work than keeping the forum going and you do get a little down hearted when nobody reads it. The sun has shone the vis has been fantastic but we still don’t have many divers! My goodness things do look a little bleak however a bit of commercial work has kept food on the table and I fear that very soon this work will take priority over the diving, times are really that hard. On the bright side we had a great time in Malta getting Project Pedastal underway and very soon you will be hearing all about it in the diving press. The Chesil beach project is progressing well and I will be back in the water myself trying to push things along so we are still having fun despite all the doom and gloom. As ever if you want to get involved give me a call, be glad to have you along.

I just can't win!

2011-03-29T12:02:00.002+01:00

At the end of last year I made the decision to let the Shipwreck Project take a bit more of a back seat. I was constantly being told that folk didn't understand it and thought it meant I wasn't doing regular dive charter anymore which of course was not the case. So we rebuilt the website firmly under the Wey Chieftain banner and now everyone is asking me what happened to the Shipwreck Project? We thought that was a great idea! So to be absolutely clear The Shipwreck Project is alive and well and we are still operating regular charters. This blog will keep you up to date with what is going on project wise and at this time we are concentrating our efforts along the Chesil bank, last weekend we located our fifth cannon site. Weekend charters are already up and running and there are still plenty of dates available, check out the online diary for details. April starts with the sad task of attending the inquest for Steve Cheshire who tragically got into difficulties whilst diving with us last year. Despite our best efforts Steve succumbed to his injuries and after recounting events for the coroner I will be glad to move on free of the need to constantly remind myself of events. Then it's off to Malta for a few days to see how the diving scene is there and carry out a bit of a mission, more about this later. On my return the season will be well and truly underway and I can't wait, still love it after all these years.

July August 2012 avoiding Olympic chaos

2011-02-18T17:31:00.001Z

Quite a few of the local boats have managed to secure some work over the period of the Olympics. I applied and was told if I didn’t own three boats or more I couldn’t bid for work. The rules then changed and somehow I lost out mainly down to the fact that I relied on someone else! Blimey at my age I should have known better. So Weymouth will be in chaos over this period and I am going to up stumps for a few weeks and work from another port. Anyone interested in diving somewhere else let me know, I am thinking Guernsey, Salcombe, Falmouth, Scillies etc or anywhere folk would like to go within reason. If I can get a feel for things I will set something in stone so shout up please.

Preparing for the season

2011-02-07T12:04:00.001Z

Wey Chieftain has been back to the factory in Portsmouth for some modifications, I now have more storage space and she is quieter and smoother than before. Not that anyone complained but the builders just wanted to make some improvements based on the knowledge gained from later boats, the guys at BW Seacat are great and so conscientious. We have been back to the Chesil this month and had a bit of fun and we have now started praying to the Weather Gods for a good season. We still have plenty of availability which is a little worrying but I guess a sign of the times. Have a look at the link for weekends still available which includes Easter and a couple of Bank holidays.
http://www.weychieftain.com/bookings.php

We are getting wet again

2011-01-23T19:27:00.003Z

First dive of the year on the dredger St Dunstan in 30M. The hardy crew braved freezing temperatures and my soup to kick off this years diving. The longest run time was 80 minutes so couldn't have been that cold?? Come on guys it's warming up the diving season is here.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

2011-01-09T12:15:00.025Z

AWAY WE GO 2011 IS HERE
Wey Chieftain is fully operational for dive charter and we still have plenty of dates left.
The Shipwreck Project didn't have a broad enough appeal, so we moved it undeground??? "What the hell does that mean" Gonna have to ask the skipper.
We have several projects we are working on with like minded folk, more as and when.
Most of all we just want to go diving, be glad to have you along.
Wrecks, reefs whatever you want to do. Top boat, top skipper, great prices.
2010 didn't end too badly, it looks like we located the apparently long lost Dutch ship De Hoop (the Hope). The pictures above show two of her cannon.