Luis - yesterday (after THAT sub)

[MATTBIN]

As U90 has its own thread I thought I'd post about the second dive, the one where we DID find the wreck. The Luis (16/17m odd).

I drained my 10's on dive one, Tom reduced the contents of his 12's and Ian didnt use any gas at all, well not much anyway. So during the Si I swapped out my twins for a 15 (with a side slung pony for company). First off I put the wing on back to front (it was also upside down in my mind - I dive the single valve up), after much barracking from Tom I decided right way round was a good idea so that the dump/corrugated hose would be in the right place.
Next up my son's regs have a different d/s hose, so that had to come off too and be replaced, what a pain in the arse. Eventually and I suspect to everyone's amusement/horror I was as near ready as I was going to be.

In we go, drop down and find a wreck, viz wasnt great on top of the boilers but OK, after a few more divers dropped in and we all seperated I'd lost Tom and Ian, then out of the gloom I spotted Tom's 3 bulb torch, very distinctive.
I had considered a solo dive but we hadnt agreed beforehand so I was relieved not to have to abort. It was of course at this point I decided that I hated my boys hose arrangements and that I was a tad underweighted. Having a 15 meant I wasnt too worried about getting overly light at the end as Tom had whipped his 15 into his 12's and was lower on gas than me before we started so I thought I'd still be OK at the end 'if' I could find something heavy, else I was going to abort before it became an issue. The boat had a very small supply of 02 as it had been used previously and I didnt want to need it. We had a general scoot round ferretting as you do and I spotted a knife in the gloom. OH JOY!!!! Something good from the days diving, so I dropped and collected, Tom indicated to me he would carry it as it had no sheath and I didnt have a goody bag, to my absolute horror, he placed it in the waistband sheath he has - bollox it was his!!! It must have fallen out. Damn and blast. Then I spotted a few little round balls, excitedly I flashed the other guys, they didnt share my enthusiasm, then I spotted about a million more. We progressed around the wreck which is fairly flat but OK, not much sea life on it, too early in the season? Out of the gloom I spotted a dinner plate with legs and things, oh shit its a BIG crab, the guys were impressed too. Previously I had found a nice long heavy thing which made my bouyancy just right so I tucked it into the crutch strap, nah it was loose, so I bungeed it to my side slung pony, perfect. Tom thumbed the dive, suggested I stay with Ian as we still had gas but I wanted to end it anyway, dont like leaving a buddy to solo ascend. Ian agreed. Ian and Tom deployed, I thought I'd free ascend, then changed my mind. I was a bit slower on getting the blob up, first I put a small amount of gas into it to get it to float nicely, then a bit more of a squirt as I released the reel, at which point the cord wrapped itself around the handle, just released it in time. My spare was on the boat, good thinking!!!! I gently rose and wandered into a monster shoal of Bib, I seriously wanted to stay down and play as they swam all around me. I was mystified I thought they didnt like noisy OC, this lot were fine with it. Thinking the guys would see the fishes if I lit them up I turned on my torch, the shoal moved away, I turned it off again, they came back. It made the whole days diving worthwhile. A complete non event on dive 1 and the whole day turned around by a few fishes. For me that's why I go diving. Ascent completed dive over, head home.

Of course I did surface with the log thing and everyone on the boat kindly asked if I thought it was a shell, there were two at the end of the boat in a goody bag. So THAT'S what they look like.

Matt

[Andy the Coastie]

Good report , Matt.

What was the round ball things then ?

[tom]

Originally Posted by Andy the Commie

Good report , Matt.

What was the round ball things then ?

Yep. Good writeup, will add some stuff later when I have a bit more time...

Andy, the little lead balls are apparently the nasty hurty bits from inside WW1 shells or something - there are mounds of them lying round on the wreck, and also loads of corroded things that look like munitions of some sort with the balls still inside them. About the size of a small marble.

[Ted]

The louis was carrying anti personel shells and the balls are the lead shot fron inside them. The shells were salvaged, the ends knocked off and the shot, cordite ets from inside just thrown back in.

Matt, if you'd have collected a few handfulls of the balls and could have carried them you could have melted them down when you got home and made a new weight.

[MATTBIN]

Ted
I lent KimH my 2Kg spare lead as I didnt think I'd need it ;(
Now you know I dont lift stuff off wrecks .......

Matt

[Isley]

If anyone's interested, if you ever get the chance to go and do a tour of the ww1 battlefields of France I recommend to do so. I went on a day trip which was to tour the battlefields of the Somme. This was arranged by a friend who is a teacher at a local school.

Part of the trip was a visit to the town of Albert to visit the Basillica and have lunch. Underneath the Basillica (which is a big church) there is a small museum which has been built in the crypt of the church. This is focussed on the first world war and has lots of stuff which has been recovered from the surrounding areas. In one of the displays clearly to be seen is a load of the shells just like the ones which the Luis was carrying. Some of them have been cut away to reveal the how the lead balls were packed within the shell. I found this really interesting as the day before we'd been picking up these lead balls from the sea bed and Ted had been trying to free some from within the wreckage.

At the end of the musuem on the way out you could even buy some polished up brass shell cases (spent ones) . Apparently they are regularly uncovered by the French farmers (unexploded) and piled up at the roadside to await disposal.

Ian.

[TerryH]

Originally Posted by MATTBIN

A complete non event on dive 1 and the whole day turned
around by a few fishes. For me that's why I go diving. Ascent completed dive
over, head home.
Matt

Saturday 30th and the Luis was murky and gloomy, not much viz and
a bit of a rummage. Very much a So-So dive.

Sunday 1st and as a second after the Polo which again was So-So, it was
the Luis again. This time viz was VERY different at least 8-9m and quite
bright. Only needed torches for the fireboxes etc.

How many times have I dived the Luis? At least 30 dives maybe more.
So I should know it pretty well then. Not quite ............

On Sunday I saw the engines for the first time!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dispite being close to the boilers where the shot is always placed I have on
all those dives missed it. So Sunday not only was a first, but a stunning dive
on a wreck you would have thought would have no more surprises.

So my day was turned round by seeing something on a wreck I thought I
knew. Moral of the story? Diving will always pleasantly surprise you, even on
a well known wreck!

Havnt done the pics yet, but here is the last time we did it.
http://www.bsac1624.co.uk/Trojan_17_04.shtml

TerryH

[Ian@1904]

Originally Posted by MATTBIN

I drained my 10's on dive one, Tom reduced the contents of his 12's and Ian didnt use any gas at all, well not much anyway.
Matt

This was my third sea diving day on the twins. The first dive took my gas from 230 bar to 130 bar with an SAC of about 19. This is fairly high for me, but given the hard swimming we had done plus lack of sub adding to the stress seems justified. The second dive was a extremely relaxing, especially after we had relocated Matt. My gas went from 130 bar to 80 bar with SAC 12, which was very good for me. (Average is about 14)

Finding the lead balls was initally quite interesting. Having scooped an handful I realised that wings don't have many pockets and the goody bag was left at home. Never mind.

There were some nice wrasse lurking and the usual congers and lobsters. But in general not much wildlife. The spider crab was big, very big, probably the biggest spider crab I have seen.

As for the school of bib in midwater, this is probably another diving myth.

Footnote
Still worried about being overweighted, partly as I rarely get down to less than 50 bar in the twins to do a seawater buoyancy test. Currently using 10kg and no backplate on the twin 12s.

[Steve S]

Good report Matt but I have to confess being a little worried about the fact that your booked on the U90 selsey trip

Safe diving,
Steve.