40 miles off Bridlington

[Ali]

What a day this was!
Set off to get to Brid at 5am, the boat was loaded and we set off at 7:15am. Wow, you should have seen all the kit on the boat. 10 twinsets, 1 bcd with an 18 & 15L tank and 1 rebreather & 9, 25L tanks for topping up the twins! Oops nearly forgot 8 or so ponys. The boat pulled out of the habour and then opened up 2 Volvo Penta engines pumping out 600+ bhp. It was mega, 40 knots I think they said.
We went out and out, first the land disapeared, then we saw oil rigs and then they disapeared. We got to the dive site for around 9:30am and dived around 10am. The sun was out and the sea like a mill pond, there was a bit of bloom in the sea but that disapeared when we got deeper! The wreck was a liner (35-40 miles off shore) and is the largest wreck on the east coast, at 155 yards in length, 10 yards  smaller than the Zenobia! We went down the shot and landed on the bow and headed back down the ship. Unfortunately it had been blown to bits and had wires dragged through it to break it up. I could see some of the floors and the ribs of the ship but most of the hull had corroded away. Then after 20 mins we seemed to dive away from the wreck and loose it (the word B****CKS springs to mind). So we had a look at some marine life instead. It was fun watching my buddy Robin chacing a Hemit crab about. End of dive 38 mins, max depth 32m, vis 10m. Wicked dive, will have to do it again one day.
Dive two after a 4 hour SI, we dived a ship with arms on it, I didn't see too much of this ship but what I did I liked. We got some shells off big bullets with a 4 inch diameter. So i used my goody bag for the first time and Robin's lifting bag which was fun. Dive time 30mins, depth 25m, and the vis 12-15 meters. I wish we could have this a bit more often.
We go back to shore at 5:30pm and couldn't get the kit off the boat unill 6:45pm due to low tide :(. Set off home, bloody #### you should have seen the traffic, the first 20 miles took me 1 hour. I got home at 9:15pm (to Leeds). It was a long day but I would say worth it.
Will post ship names later.
Trip was run by Duck 'n' Dive.

[Eddie]

Great report, sounds like you had a ball! just one thing, that wasn't live ammunition you retrieved was it? and no I'm not a spoil sport! just that I know someone who lost his hand doing the same thing.... be carefull with that stuff...

(Edited by Eddie at 11:07 pm on July 15, 2002)

[Ali]

No all the ammo is well past it's best. No head, gun powder, even the detonators have corroded away. They are sat in Lemonade at the mo cleaning I hope.
The names of the Ships were..... The Liner was the Pilsudski and the other ship was the Cadmus.

[andy2tanx]

I would definitley like to go on the next one from Brid.  An hour in the car will make a change to 3 plus to abbs.

[Jay]

Me too - what was the cost Ali? I'd love to be in on this one! Be careful with shells - if they have cordite charges, these do not corrode so easily and are still (more) volatile after many years in the water.

[Ali]

The cost for the boat was £450 and will take 12 people @ £37.50 each. The dive charter was Seacat, Brid and the skippers name was Graham.

[Eddie]

Info on Ali's wrecks:
CADMUS
1879-ton steamer, built 1911. 279ft x 40ft. Armed. Cargo: Empty used shellcases for renovation in Britain. Dunkirk to Blyth. Position: 53 50.92N; 00 12.45E. Depth: 25m.
Sunk: 18 October,1917, by torpedo 20 miles south of Flamborough Head. No deaths.
Diving: Broken into two main parts near boiler and engines. Spare iron prop lying aft of boiler. Much debris including coils of wire between two sections. Main interest is holds, where cargo of 18-pounder shell cases were carried. Despite commercial salvage, local divers call this a "shellcase supermarket" and ration divers to two shells each!
Launch: Bridlington.

PILSUDSKI
14,294-ton twin-screw Polish liner converted by Admiralty to troopship at start of WWII, built 1935. 526ft x 70ft. 2516hp diesel engines. Armed: AA guns. Cargo: In ballast, Tyne for Australia. Position: 53 45.75N; 00 45.67E. Depth: 33m.
Sunk: 26 November, 1939 after striking German mine 25 miles off Withernsea. 10 crew lost.
Diving: Biggest Yorkshire wreck. Bow section 9m proud, broken off and listing 45¡ to port. Embossed letters of name on starboard side. Three decks to explore - with care. Stern upright, but more broken, 5m proud. Both props buried in shingle. Beware very strong currents on seabed and overfalls above.
Launch: Hull; Bridlington; Scarborough.

[Ali]

Just beat me to it there eddie. I found that info too on the Divernet site I think it was.

Cheers, Ali

Can anyone give me some sort of idea how long it will take for the coke and lemonade to clean off these Cases. Also is the cheap coke as good as coca cola, please remember we are dealing with a real tight ass YORKSHIRE man here! ;)

[parahandy]

Ali,
Reminds me of the incident at a well known family caravan site in Anglesey N.Wales.  

Picture the diver sat on the steps of his caravan proudly removing the crud of his piece of booty( a shell case) he's just liberated from a local wreck. Yes he's there happily scrubbing away with his wire brush, much to the concern of the other campers.

Following a phone call to the police from a concerned camper the Bomb disposal were there in 20mins and the site was evacuated. He wasn't the most popular guy!!!!!!!!

On a more positive note an aquaintence of mine and port hole officianado, used to clean his brass up in some sort of acid potion in the back yard.:scared:

[Ali]

Today I have just seen some of the shells the others brought back. They are mint! They were in wooden boxes under the sand, I didn't think it look there! Never mind I will just have to go back another day.