September 9th 2009

Stoney Cove has announced a date this month for the planned sinking of its latest wreck for visiting divers.

“There will be an evening event with fireworks to which all divers are invited,” said Stoney Cove director Martin Woodward.

He added that visitors should check before travelling in case of unforeseen problems with transport of the tugboat to the site on the Wednesday.

At the bottom of the flooded Leicestershire quarry the Defiant will join another steel tugboat, the 71-ton Stanegarth, which has proved a major attraction at Stoney since its sinking at a depth of 20m in June 2000.

To check on timing, contact Stoney Cove on 01455 273089

Divers Claim Landing Craft Find

18th August 2009

A British diving club has investigated wreckage off Selsey, West Sussex thought to be that of a WW2 landing craft.

Divers from the British Sub Aqua Club’s Southsea branch examined what they believed to be a Landing Craft Tank (LCT), which sank while transporting tanks and bulldozers to northern France’s Juno Beach for the D-Day Landings.

Diving over the second week of August, they noted features that, according to team-leader Alison Mayor, “provided much evidence” that the wreck is that of an LCT sunk on 6 June, 1944, four miles south of Selsey Bill.

The dives were a continuation of a project begun last year when the Southsea divers surveyed a known site where two tanks, two bulldozers and a field-gun lie in a jumbled heap at 20m, eight miles out in Bracklesham Bay.

This time, the divers were out to confirm any wreckage that might be that of an LCT noted by war records to have sunk while under tow after suffering engine trouble. It had first lost its listed cargo of two Centaur tanks – consistent with the tank wrecks found last year.

Having “identified a number of potential wreck sites to investigate” the divers were, therefore, delighted to find that one of their new targets, seemed to fit the bill.

“The divers found the same 95mm high-explosive ammunition at the landing-craft dive-site as that used by the Centaur tanks at the tanks and bulldozers site,” said Mayor. “This evidence, along with other data collected from the site, has almost certainly proven the wreck site to be that of LCT(A) 2428.”

Further, the absence of any other wreckage at the LCT site tallies with the record of tanks lost from an LCT that sank later while under tow.

While working at the LCT site, the divers found an unexploded bomb, more than a metre long. It was not necessarily linked with the LCT, they thought, but possibly a German aerial bomb which had happened to sink on to the wreck.

The find was reported to Royal Navy bomb disposal experts, who intended to investigate it with a view to possible removal and detonation.

The team also investigated two other wrecks in the area. The barges, called dumb lighters, were used to transport assorted D-Day supplies.

At each site teams of 12 divers took measurements, photos and video footage. Some divers also conducted a survey of attendant marine life.

The project has received a grant from the British Sub Aqua Jubilee Trust. It is supported by Portland’s Silent Planet dive centre which, as last year, provided its boat Top Gun for the surveys.

Southsea SAC plans to complete a project report by the end of the summer.

The club would appreciate any information about D-Day activities in the Bracklesham Bay area.

Email secretary@southseasubaqua.org.uk

It has been reported by Divernet that the dive charter boat Aquanaut has sunk after taking on water rapidly off Salcombe, Devon.

Two crew and ten divers abandoned ship into the stricken vessels liferaft, before being picked up.

The 12m-long Nelson-class vessel had left its base in Plymouth and was on its way to Salcombe’s “Maine” wreck, with a group from London’s Wimbledon Divers. The wind was blowing a southwesterly 4-5 with moderate seas.

Without warning, the boat started taking on water near Bolt Head at a rate too fast for its bilge pumps to manage. The cause, suspected skipper Dougie Allen, was a broken skin fitting (pipes exit the hull via stop-cocks) or a leaking gland at prop or rudder.

Allen put out an emergency call, let off flares and launched the liferaft. Fortunately the divers were already kitted up in their suits, ready to dive.

All abandoned successfully without injury, before Aquanaut went down, it was estimated, within 10 minutes of first taking on water.

A nearby yacht, Dutch Angel, came over and took aboard two people. Salcombe Lifeboat arrived to recover the remaining ten. A rescue helicopter was scrambled but was not required.

Following the sinking on Saturday, five divers from Plymouth’s Barbican-based Aquanauts Dive Centre returned yesterday to dive the boat, which lies in 18m. They were able to recover from the cabin personal effects for the London group.

They noted some damage to the wheelhouse and stern area – probably caused, thought diver Brian Allen,  by “wave action overnight”. The boat was still rocking back and forth in the swell.

More dives were planned for today. It is too early, centre manager Noeleen Allen told Divernet, to know whether salvage of the vessel will be feasible.