Delta Diaries "Ding Dong" :D

**Mark Chase** · 07-07-06 05:12 PM

Delta Diaries “Ding Dong”

Slightly pissed off that we were not going to stay out in Cherbourg as planned a very very tired Simon (Padowain) and I set off for Littlehampton at 4:30am. Simon had asked if I had any spare catheters for the pee valves. So I gave him my extra large one I usually leave on the boat to impress people. This kept me giggling all the way there. John (Mdemon) was driving straight there from Plymouth which is fairly epic as both he and Simon did a weekend of diving on the Afreak and the Silver Loral.

Needles to say having loaded the boat and sorted out the kit sleep was the first order of the day.

Seas of oily calm awaited us and the sun beat down on some very happy divers. Today’s wreck was an unknown in about 60m. John Simon and I were diving as a three and were going in last so no jobs to do apart from strobes and clips. We hit the water together and dropped to six for a bubble check. Simon and I were fine but John had a little Jacuzzi going on and decided to can the dive. He went up we went down.

Once down Simon thankfully noticed John had changed his mind and decided to pop down to at least see the wreck so we set off with Simon laying the line. The wreck was fairly well collapsed and listing over to port. The collapsed plating formed lovely swim through areas and I was pleased that we had good viz of around 10m and reasonable light to navigate. Our first sortie left into quite a strong current very quickly found the end of the wreck. Doubling back we passed over a large boiler which I compared against my last dive and estimated the ship to be about twice the size at 4000 tons. Strangely I didn’t see the engine as we followed past the boiler and John had had enough and decided to go back. This was planned as he wasn’t feeling great due to an eye infection so Simon and I carried on.

Graham:

A lobster was bagged but we were struggling to find interesting things worth lifting. Finally Simon decided to attempt a swim through over the boiler and I just happened to glance down and see a brass gauge about 8” across. It was intact and even had the glass in but it was going to be very hard to reach.

I waited for Simon to give up on his idea and then I flashed him to bring him back. We both looked at the lovely gauge and the tight hole and scratched our heads. Simon tried and failed to get in from another angle and I shook off my half assed plan of de-kitting and going in with my OC stage to get it. I am after all a big woos.

Having decided to give up we headed back to the shot. A final swim through following the prop shaft was brought to an abrupt end by a Simon Conga interface situation and it was decided to go home with about 45mins on the bottom. The current had never let up and I was spending a lot of the dive crawling hand over hand on the wreck so as to avoid over exertion.

Deco was deco I had to cut the station loop as the tide was way to strong to unclip it but apart from that it was fine. Run time about 145mins I bobbed about off the station trying to hold 6m without using up all my dill and Simon just hung there playing Sudoco looking cool and pissing me off.

Me (God dont those HH cables look awful I stowed them on the next dive.)

The gang:

No brass on the dive but I liked it anyway. A long haul out so perhaps not worth another visit but well worth a look this time.

Back on land and we drove home with high hopes for tomorrow. John was pretty rough and half way back I had to take over driving for him as his eyes were rely bad.

Day Two:

Simon taps on the window again at 4am and his timing is improving as for once I am not on the loo when he pitches up. I am still in my boxers though so Simon made the Coffee whilst I got dressed. My turn to drive so we load the Jeep and set off.

The weather is brilliant again and we head out into even flatter sea than yesterday. Today we long way out again to a mark with a name but no history of being dived. Sadly John is feeling worse so decides on the way out he is not diving. I really felt for him after all the effort he put in to be there but it was the smart move.

Simon and I dropped in second and clipped in the deco station. My turn to lay line and we set off toward the bow. There was fishing line every where. I hade never seen so much on a wreck I could have opened a tackle shop with the amount of gear on the wreck. I got tangled up several times and once so badly I waited for Simon to notice and come back to rescue me. Fortunately 15m+ viz made the dive doable but in low viz it would be lethal.

The triple expansion engine was fantastic and I really enjoyed drifting over it on our way forward. Simon found the anchor in place on the bow whilst I rummaged under the wreck to see what had dropped off. I tied off the line and we headed back with the excellent visibility allowing us to cover the starbed side of the wreck. Finally we came across two portholes. One on a big bit of the wreck that wasn’t going anywhere and another on a chunk of plate that looked easy to break off.

Well we worked that plate up and down until both of us were puffing like trains but the dammed thing wasn’t coming off. It was annoying as the porthole was lovely with intact glass and a brass back. Ho hum maybe next trip it will give up.

With 40odd mins on the clock we headed for home this time in lovely slack conditions.

Darren on deco:

A Simon self Portrait:

It was a really good dive and I felt it was well worth another visit despite the line. Simon and I were last out again and we emerged from the water to the sound of the dinner bell. A large dinner bell.

Trevor (left) Darren and a Receiver of Wreck form waiting to be filled

Trevor had finally beaten Darren to the touch and he was the proud owner of a brass bell naming the wreck as the Progress 3. (totally different to the name of the mark).

Spirits were high and loads of photos and back slapping followed as Trevor told any one that would listen the story of the epic dive for the bell which included fighting off some Elquieda terrorists saving Darren from drowning and sucking air from a trapped air pocket to fill the lift bag.

We bumped into Paul and Blanaid unloading from Ivan’s boat in the estuary and I couldn’t resist showing them the bell. I was chuffed to just be on the same boat as a new bell let alone to have actually brought one up.

Later in the pub Trevor was seen to trap people at random and tell them all about it and he was even scaring the pub dog’s away. I wish to god I had the video running as he said to the dog sitting patiently in front of him. Have I told you about how I found my bell? The dog instantly stood up and sulked away leaving the rest of us collapsed in fits of laughter.

Day Three

Undived mark no name in 62m

John had admitted defeat and sadly gone home. Simon and I headed out for a much later go time of 9am for a shorter run out and we were both very excited. I don’t know why but seeing someone get a bell gets you thinking you’re going to get one soon too.

I had got my under suit wet on the last dive so was planning on using my forth element base layer and arctic top. Unfortunately due to a packing error I ended up with two tops and no leggings. Not good. Fortunately Darren had a pair of storm trousers he was willing to lend me so apart from looking a bit stupid the day was saved.

On the boat and soon the slight chop and overcast sky is gone and were back on flat sea and blue sky past the storms. Paul called time for the dive and Simon and I being first in panicked with only 30mins to go. We rushed around like idiots to kit up not noticing that nobody else was moving much and we ended up sitting there rigged and ready to jump with yet another 30mins to go

Much piss taking and dousing with buckets of water followed.

We finally get the go and Simon jumps and I hold on to the video and follow. As I hit the water I had a free flow. I had to ditch the video and go for the diligent shut off but it wasn’t that so it was the deep bailout. Ten turns later it was off but I had missed the shot and despite my best effort I couldn’t get back to it.

Paul swung round and picked me up and I hit it on the next go.

I dropped to 6 and took a rest to get my breath back. The water was clear and cool and I felt great. Simon and I were first in on a small wreck standing only a few meters proud on the sonar so we had a good chance of getting to the good bits first. I was soon struggling to drop as fast as Simon.

We hit the bottom of the shot at 62m with ambient light and 20m viz and we couldn’t believe what we could see.

Unfortunately I can write no more about it as it has been decided that for the good of the team the information should remain confidential. Suffice as to say I had never seen anything like it before in the UK. I christened it the Bolder Wreck.

I do have a heavily edited video clip which has all parts which would identify what it was we found deleted.

Pease enjoy this but again I am sorry the team threatened to do me over if I gave out more info than this.

So another three Delta dives done and at least I have been on the same boat as a bell. Simon was a good laugh and a great buddy to dive with even though he is annoyingly good at 6m hangs. I swear if I hear him snoring as he hangs there all horizontal, Ill dump his bloody wing for him.

Role on August

ATB

Mark Chase