DIR-UK - Weymouth - 10-11 June 2006

iainmsmith · June 12th, 2006, 02:51 AM

Scooter Team
Bob Cooper
Greg Roach
Andy Carroll

Swimmer Team 1
Clare Gledders
Al Pooley
Fraser Jordan

Swimmer Team 2
David Martin
Owen Petchy
Iain Smith

Saturday 10 June 06

Planned dive: Aparima – a cargo/passenger ship torpedoed in 1917, lying in 42m, with bows at 31m. New to most of us, hence eagerly anticipated.

Actual dive: Something rather more familiar…

Due to the rough sea conditions we were forced to dive the Salsette. For David (the veteran of three Salsette dives), Owen (two dives) and Iain (two – one with severe narcosis and one with sod all visibility) this was no great hardship, however from some of the more experienced divers, the groans were audible. Unfortunately until we acolytes of the almighty George gain mastery over the elements we can only dive where wind and wave allow us.

Obviously wind and wave also have other effects which are worse for some individuals (who shall remain nameless) than for others. The results can be worse for those who have their sea-legs than for the sea-sick, as demonstrated by David who, having just kitted up, vomited into the wind and gave Clare’s wing a whole new multicoloured look…

Despite the familiarity of the site, a good dive was enjoyed by all. Viz was reasonable (though apparently poor for the site) at around 5m. Descent was onto the deck, roughly half way along. The Salsette lies on her port side and both swimming teams headed forr’ard. The resulting light-show would have done many theatres proud, with multiple bright beams lancing through the gloom, an effect enhanced with the Scooter Team buzzed past above.

Iain, leading the second swimming team, came to an apparent breach in the structure and wondered whether he was about to lead David and Owen into the wild green yonder, but was able to trace spars with his light beam and follow them until they coalesced into the bow section of the wreck

Some lengths of railing remain around the deck. Winch-gear, bollards and a davit were all identified, as was a medium-sized spider crab. At the bow, Iain resisted the temptation to do a “Di Caprio”, feeling that as a now all-grown-up Tech I diver, he ought to behave himself [Bob later wondered what on earth gave him that idea!] and found a large shoal of fish under the bow. He was also able to resolve a question left over from his first dive – was there an anchor in place or not? Answer – yes, there is, sitting on the starboard bow. Once round the bow, a significant current was encountered, and both teams elected to come back round to the deck. David decided to reverse round and unsurprisingly backed straight into the davit, having not quite caught Iain’s “watch out” light signal. Clare, in Position 3 of Swimmer Team 1, found that, yet again, her team had turned round before she got to the bow, which apparently remains an as-yet unknown sight for her. Unconfirmed rumour has it that a teddy went sailing out of the pram after a vigorous exchange of signals…

Heading aft, the missing decking left an apparent swim-through running most of the length of the ship, with multiple exits to clear water. This, together with the potential for entry at the gap in the hull exerted a Siren-like influence on Iain, who could hear the wreck calling clearly, “Penetrate me, penetrate me!” in an excessively seductive fashion. However, his awareness of his lack of recent diving experience and the potential for huge embarrassment on a first post-qualification dive exercised a measure of restraint.

Planned as a 45m dive, an average depth estimated at 42m allowed bottom time to be extended by a few minutes for the same deco profile and at 30min, Swimmer Team 2 headed up. Leaving from 39m, Iain’s fins caught some “overhanging wreck” – fortunately he avoided the temptation to kick clear of it…as his tanks promptly hit something else...and it became apparent that he had ascended straight into Clare! Oops…

Around this time, her team had been trying to explain something to her…the later re-enactments on the boat seemed very obviously to be miming pistols and machine-guns, but at the time, all attempts to show her the gun mounted on the Salsette’s stern failed.

Ascents were remarkable only in that the current made it impossible to hold a star formation.

Back on board, normal post-dive activity took place, with the mandatory ribbing of one-another, David kindly feeding the fish once more and talk…unsurprisingly, mainly about diving.

Having moved the cylinders to Old Harbour Dive Centre for fills, the group dispersed for the afternoon – Bob and Andy kindly staying back for a while to help Iain get his scooter weighted properly.

The afternoon was spent in various ways – Iain and David got “Team Haircuts” and, on the way back to the B&B, were treated to the magnificent sight of a Spitfire pulling a high-speed yo-yo over the centre of Weymouth, accompanied by the unforgettable roar of a Rolls-Royce Merlin engine. The remainder of the afternoon (inevitably, but far less interestingly) involved fiddling with kit. Others watched football. Bob slept.

Evening meal at the Balti house was typically pleasant, though we really must find an alternative to provide some variety.

Sunday 11 June 06

Dive: Avalanche

Avalanche was a rare example of an iron-hulled three-masted sailing ship, built in 1874. On a voyage to New Zealand, carrying 63 emigrants, she was hit by another ship and sank with the loss of all but three lives. A church was built by public subscription in memory of those lost and an anchor, raised in the 1980s, sits outside. Coincidentally, our skipper, Grahame Knott, was one of those involved in raising it. The remains of Avalanche now lie in 50m of water (chart depth 42m), and is described as tilting to port in Dive Dorset which contains a full page and a half summary. However, it seems to have collapsed somewhat and probably now tilts more to starboard.

Viz was a pleasant 5m. On arrival David, Owen and Iain, headed for the bow. With an expressed intent of taking something home for dinner

, Iain was tempted to collect some of the large edible crabs of which there were many, arranged in a line of hollows along the starboard gunwale. Off the starboard bow, a fluke of the Avalanche’s second main anchor protrudes from the seabed, rising perhaps a metre out of the silt. A spar of some nature points forward and to port and may be either bowsprit or mast. Off the port bow, inside the main body of wreckage, another, smaller anchor is visible.

Passing astern, a lobster was spotted, hiding under a beam. Iain tried to persuade it to attach the bottom of his catch-bag, so that the remainder could be rolled over it. However, after an initial threat with claws, the lobster backed away…and backed out from under its spar, allowing Owen an easy pickup. A brief attempt to cable-tie its claws was abandoned when the beast seized the cable-tie loop in one claw…then helpfully proceeded to attack it with its other claw as well. Thus occupied, it failed to notice that it was being passed into a catch-bag until it was too late.

Several further lobsters were spotted, but neither David nor Owen seemed particularly keen to have one on this occasion. As we approached the stern, the Scooter Team passed by, seemingly enjoying themselves and managing to avoid stirring up the silty bottom. (Much appreciated!) Clare, meantime, had also been hunting, but was scared away by an excessively aggressive target. Clearly her team had been inadequately briefed for this - Al being too busy laughing to launch the surprise attack from the rear and Fraser “Bunny-hugger” Jordan disapproving of the entire affair.

Swimmer Team One reached minimum gas and maximum time simultaneously and headed up. After a near perfect ascent to 21m and gas switch, the third DSMB up the line tore the spool from David’s hand, After watching the spool drift higher and further away, they concluded that the situation was not going to be recoverable and Iain launched the team spare.

Back on the boat, in discussion with Grahame, we discovered that he had not realised that we were all sending bags from 21m and, given that this is the second consecutive trip with multiple bag problems, he has suggested that he would be happy with a single bag from 21m, with the remainder being shot from 6m. If nothing else, this will give us something to do to while away the time.

After recovering all divers and kit, we returned to harbour. Iain texted his wife to suggest lobster for dinner – a suggestion well received – kit was transferred to cars and people started to disperse. Clare, Al, Fraser, David and Iain headed to Portland for fills. Swimmer Team One went to visit the Avalanche memorial chapel while waiting. Iain and David sorted kit out and acquired a cool box and ice for the lobster which was, by this time, looking rather languid. Conveniently, this allowed claws to be cable-tied, before a miraculous recovery was effected by placing it back into a coolbox of seawater.

Not much else to say except apologies for grammatical and factual errors. If I don’t post this now, it won’t get finished – it’s 0115 local time and I’ve only just got home – 270 miles in 9 hours thanks to typical South Coat traffic. My wife gave up and had something else for dinner and is asleep. Larry the Lobster is still alive in his coolbox, having vented some aggression on the bag of ice. He’ll keep until tomorrow night.

Thanks for a great weekend. Good night, sleep tight and have fun in July.

Iain

[cross-posted to YD]

**neilh** · June 12th, 2006, 10:08 AM

Nice report Iain, sounds like a bundle of laughs and some good dives!

fraser · June 12th, 2006, 10:44 AM

Nice report mate.

It was indeed a good weekend, on the Sunday after diving the Avalanche we went to the memorial church to pay our respects and then ate ice cream overlooking Chesil Beach from the top of the Bill. Almost made it worthwhile sitting in the traffic home

Cheers,

Fraser.

jamesd · June 12th, 2006, 12:32 PM

Hi,

Thanks for the report. It was a great weekend to be out diving. I was diving from Skin Deep. I saw lots of DIR marked bottles in Old Harbour Divers under the waycheiften 3 tag when we turned up for gas. I thought that DIRUK may be in town!

I dived the St Dunstan and the Skye. Despite expectations the St. Dunstan was a better dive with fewer divers and far more life.

There is a chinese in weymouth if you are fed up with the curry house. However, some of the dishes taste of gravy

jd

wilbo · June 12th, 2006, 04:09 PM

Quote: (Originally Posted by iainmsmith)

Swimmer Team One reached minimum gas and maximum time simultaneously and headed up. After a near perfect ascent to 21m and gas switch, the third DSMB up the line tore the spool from David’s hand, After watching the spool drift higher and further away, they concluded that the situation was not going to be recoverable and Iain launched the team spare.

Back on the boat, in discussion with Grahame, we discovered that he had not realised that we were all sending bags from 21m and, given that this is the second consecutive trip with multiple bag problems, he has suggested that he would be happy with a single bag from 21m, with the remainder being shot from 6m. If nothing else, this will give us something to do to while away the time.

we nearly had a similar event on the sky a month or so back.. sent up a 4.5, then a 3 clipped on and then a 4.5 clipped on - from 21ish metres.. The friction of the last took me up about 3-4 metres during its ascent..

common sense would say to send the other two up from 6 metres wouldn't it.. It just didn't occur.. How I long for some common sense..

good report ian - thanks for sharing..

*Clare Gledhill* · June 12th, 2006, 05:18 PM

It was indeed a fun weekend. The groans from our team when finding out that the Salsette was the destination were indeed audible. For a combination of blown out dives, rescheduled dives and Fraser’s absence in New York, Fraser has dived the Salsette four times out of his last 7 mix dives. The last two times had between 10 and 20 meters viz – so the dive on Saturday with, at best, 5 metres was not exactly in our top ten dives – but we did have a laugh nonetheless.

I did actually get to see the bow this time, sitting about four meters off it (right beside my teddy which, as Iain rightly suggests, was tossed firmly out of the pram when I thought that, yet again, the dive would be turned just before). I was wrong, Al had merely held the team up as Iain, Owen and David were hanging there and he wanted to wait for a bit of space before we moved forward – so I got to hang off it for a while – a good place to take in the size of this wreck and the way that she lies on the bottom.

Back towards the stern Al and Frase were indeed trying to mime gun at me. Whilst I got what they were saying, I couldn’t work out which bit of the jumble in front of us that they were talking about – it turned out that it was all of it! Bah – guns – boys’ toys indeed

)

Back on the surface I found it hard to get on the lift which was too deep for my legs! I kept asking Tom to raise it up until I could make contact – which led to rather a lot of teasing about hobits again.

Sunday brought calmer weather and a run, to the east again, to the Avalanche. Grahame had a wealth of information about this wreck on his computer and we were able to look at pictures and reports of the accident prior to jumping in.

During the last century hundreds of thousands of people undertook a sea journey of quite unimaginable proportions, they sailed to the new colonies of Australia and New Zealand - a distance of some 13,000 miles. Most of these intrepid emigrants previously had hardly ventured far from their towns, villages and hamlets before embarking on such a sea journey, which would take three months or even longer. Such dauntless voyagers faced a long period of isolation from all that they knew of the old world, with only their fellow passengers as company. They were forced to suffer the rigours and perils of a long sea journey - storms, icebergs, fever and sickness and shipwrecks - when many had never even seen the sea before let alone sailed upon it.

Some of the worst shipping disasters of the last century involved emigrant vessels, and many artists' lurid impressions of these wrecks had inculcated grim foreboding in the minds of all but the most sanguine souls. Those who finally made such a long and perilous sea journey would probably have subscribed to Dr Johnson's view,'...a ship is worse than a jail. There is in a jail, better air, better company, better conveniency of every kind; and a ship has the additional disadvantage of being in danger...'

Nevertheless the chances of being wrecked at the outset of such a voyage were relatively slight as most of the wrecks had occurred off far distant shores when the poor emigrants were almost within sight of their new home. In the case of one vessel in 1877 the exception almost disproved the rule. The Avalanche was an iron sailing ship of 1,210 tons, built for Shaw Savill & Co only three years earlier and considered to be one of the finest and fastest vessels operating to New Zealand. Shaw Savill & Co were one of the leading shipping companies in the emigrant trade; Robert Shaw and Walter Savill had founded their partnership in 1858 with the express purpose of consolidating the British connection with New Zealand, and it maintained this vital link for the next 125 years.

The Avalanche was only the third vessel to be built for the young company. It was a fine clipper ship and a fast sailer, having consistently managed to make Wellington in New Zealand in 90 days on its three previous successful voyages. It was not strictly an 'emigrant' ship in the true sence as it also carried a fair amount of general cargo. The vessel left London on 8th September 1877 bound for Wellington under the command of Captain Ephraim Williams and with a crew of 43. On this voyage it also carried 63 emigrant passengers - men, women and children.

During its journey down the Thames the vessel was in collision with a foreign barque and although superficial damage was caused - the Avalanche lost its figurehead - many of its crew considered this to be an ill-omem for the forthcoming voyage. In this instance they were proved right. Late on the evening of the 11th the Avalanche was sailing about 15 miles south of Portland in quite atrocious weather. A force eight gale was blowing, there was heavy driving rain and the seas were high and rough. The vessel still had the Channel pilot on board, well experienced in all the problems of the Dorset coast in such conditions. Sailing towards the Avalanche was a slightly larger wooden sailing vessel, the Forest, built in Nova Scotia, in ballast and bound for Sandy Hook, New York. It had a crew of 21 men under the command of Captain Lockhart.

It was the lookout on the Forest who first sighted the light of another vessel, which appeared to be sailing on a port tack. As the Forest was on a starboard track, under the Rules of the Sea, it would have the right of way. Nevertheless Captain Lockhart ordered a flare to be burned to warn the oncoming vessel. But within minutes the Forest struck the Avalanche right between the main and mizzen masts, almost cutting the vessel in two. The force of the impact caused the Forest to rebound and it struck the Avalanche a second time slightly further aft.

(Southampton City Art Gallery)

Despite being constructed of iron, the Avalanche did not stand a chance and sank almost immediately. There was no hope at all for any of the passengers, most of whom were asleep below decks, and only three members of the crew - the third mate and two seamen - escaped by jumping on to the Forest as it backed away. In minutes the Avalanche had become a terrible shipping tragedy - 103 people were drowned.

The Forest itself was also in serious difficulties; it had suffered badly in the collision and water was pouring into its holds. Within 15 minutes Captain Lockhart decided to abandon ship, and its three boats were launched after great difficulty. One was quickly overwhelmed in the heavy seas and the second was later washed ashore but with no survivors. The third boat contained the Captain and 11 seamen, including the three men who had escaped from the Avalanche.

Just after dawn this boat was sighted off the Chesil Beach. Apparently the Captain was afraid of making an attempted landing on this dreaded stretch of coast for fear of foundering in the very heavy surf. Two of the famous Portland 'lerrets' were launched, each with a crew of seven staunch fishermen and with great bravery and skill they managed to bring ashore the 12 survivors of this terrible collision. The fishermen were awarded £140 for their brave rescue and their actions, which received much press publicity, did much to improve the somewhat tarnished reputation of Portland men.

The battered Forrest eventually grounded near Chesil Cove and it was decided to blow up the remains of the vessel. The task was given up to a Naval vessel HMS Defense but unfortunately the Naval men experienced considerable difficulties, and their abortive attempts created much public interest - even the local coast paddle steamers ran special excursions to view 'the fun'! The captain of the Defense became so embarrassed about the whole affair that he towed the Forest out into the Channel and finally sank it away from prying eyes.

Walter Savill was stunned by the dreadful news - not only at the high loss of life but the destruction of one of his finest and newest ships. But he wrote quite simply in his Sailings Book 'Foundered off Portland - Sept 11'. So determined was he never again to risk the lives of his passengers through collisions in the English Channel he resolved that most of the passengers would in future embark at Plymouth.

This sad shipping disaster was not destined to be quickly forgotten. Some of the bodies that were later washed ashore apparently were treated with a scant lack of ceremony by the local parish authorities, whose responsiblity it was to bury them. The Times newspaper picked up the story and roundly condemned the authorities for 'the hasty and shameful treatment of the dead'. Quite a furore broke out and as a result of all the publicity, the relatives and friends of the unfortunate passengers and crew of the Avalanche launched a memorial fund.

A public subscription was started with the help of the press and contributions were quickly forthcoming from all parts of the country as well as from New Zealand and Australia. In a relatively short time sufficient funds had been collected not only to purchase a site at Southwell, Portland, which overlooked the spot where the Avalanche had foundered, but also enough to build a memorial chapel. This small church - St Andrew's - was consecrated and opened for worship in 1879. The church still stands high above the sea and was, for a long time, known as the Avalanche church. It is the only church in this country built to the memory of the poor and unfortunate victims of a shipwreck.

Text taken from website on Dorset shipwrecks

We are getting better at speedy descents, just under 3 minutes got us to 51 meters including a speedy but necessary check at 6 metres. Fraser who was leading down the shot had slowed a bit at one point so Al helped him out a bit by lying on his twinset ;o)

This was a sweet dive. There is a huge debris field around the wreck and the holds are exposed. There are 1877 Don Pereignon champagne bottles in one hold, I did find one intact but it had so many sea creatures living on it and in it I left it there – I would have stank! Fraser found some very impressive bits of china ranging from plates to large platters – broken unfortunately. Al found some small ink bottles and I found a stopper which were small and intact so we brought them up. I was quite choked to think that they have lain there undisturbed for 130 years, probably uncovered only very recently.

The life was astounding in its proliferation and variety. Rainbow wrasse, shoals and shoals of bib, more edible crabs than spider crabs for once and lots of lobsters. I did get a hand on one – but it whipped round ready for a scrap and I chickened out fast! A huge (and I mean HUGE) conger stared out of one hole – there really be monsters living in our seas you know ;o)

We thumbed the dive when maximum deco (based on gas carried) was reached – all too soon for all of us – and had a smooth ascent with no issues.

I moved to the back of the boat and straight on to the lift without any problems. Turns out Tom had seen it was me coming and had only lowered it half way

)

We had all been very aware of the history of the wreck when diving it so were delighted to have the opportunity to visit the church and pay our respects to those who perished before leaving the island. That, and ice cream, meant a perfick ending to a perfick day out.

Role on the next weekend.

PBrown · June 12th, 2006, 06:21 PM

Quote: (Originally Posted by Gledders)

This was a sweet dive. There is a huge debris field around the wreck and the holds are exposed. There are 1877 Don Pereignon champagne bottles in one hold, I did find one intact but it had so many sea creatures living on it and in it I left it there – I would have stank! Fraser found some very impressive bits of china ranging from plates to large platters – broken unfortunately. Al found some small ink bottles and I found a stopper which were small and intact so we brought them up. I was quite choked to think that they have lain there undisturbed for 130 years, probably uncovered only very recently.

ahh, but did the champagne bottle still have a cork in it?

The Avalanche is Angie's favourite wreck, I'll probably get an ear bashing all night long now - "why aren't we diving it this year?"

also got chased by a large squid last year, complete with squirted ink everywhere!

cheers,
Paul

iainmsmith · June 13th, 2006, 12:18 AM

Quote: (Originally Posted by iainmsmith)

Larry the Lobster is still alive in his coolbox

Hmm...not any more. Larry was well and truly cooked by my wife this evening and, on splitting, turned out to be more of a Loretta than a Larry, judging by the bright red roe.

Regardless, she tasted very nice indeed. Apparently I'm allowed to carry on doing mix dives!

Iain

***Bob Cooper*** · June 13th, 2006, 12:35 AM

Quote: (Originally Posted by wilbo)

we nearly had a similar event on the sky a month or so back.. sent up a 4.5, then a 3 clipped on and then a 4.5 clipped on - from 21ish metres.. The friction of the last took me up about 3-4 metres during its ascent..

common sense would say to send the other two up from 6 metres wouldn't it.. It just didn't occur.. How I long for some common sense..

We discussed this with Grahame at the weekend and we will be revising our procedured accordingly.

Remember though, that on a 45m dive, the 6m stop would be about 10mins (depending on BT) with a further 5 mins to the surface. This means that we will be on the surface 15mins after the 2nd and 3rd DSMB's are deployed.

Personally, I have never had a problem with sending up markers up an existing line at 21m. However, I can see that it is a potential problem.

Neil S · June 13th, 2006, 01:01 PM

Sounds like you had a great weekend folks

As a man who loves a bit of seafood it was great to see that you were lifting lobsters aswell. I have always been led to believe that this was not DIR.

Are there any specific DIR skills that could be used when catching crabs, lobbies etc. Maybe GUE could start a workshop in teaching such skills. I like to bag up a load of scallops when diving in Liverpool bay but am not sure of the correct way of transporting them when caught. Should i be sending them up with a lift bag or carry them on a D ring- got into a bit of mither with a large edible crab in scapa when he refused to go into my right pocket (lesson learnt)
Diving up in seahouses at the weekend so any hints will be put to use.

Neil

June 12th, 2006, 02:51 AM	#1 (permalink)
iainmsmith(Offline) Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Glasgow Posts: 152	DIR-UK - Weymouth - 10-11 June 2006 Scooter Team Bob Cooper Greg Roach Andy Carroll Swimmer Team 1 Clare Gledders Al Pooley Fraser Jordan Swimmer Team 2 David Martin Owen Petchy Iain Smith Saturday 10 June 06 Planned dive: Aparima – a cargo/passenger ship torpedoed in 1917, lying in 42m, with bows at 31m. New to most of us, hence eagerly anticipated. Actual dive: Something rather more familiar… Due to the rough sea conditions we were forced to dive the Salsette. For David (the veteran of three Salsette dives), Owen (two dives) and Iain (two – one with severe narcosis and one with sod all visibility) this was no great hardship, however from some of the more experienced divers, the groans were audible. Unfortunately until we acolytes of the almighty George gain mastery over the elements we can only dive where wind and wave allow us. Obviously wind and wave also have other effects which are worse for some individuals (who shall remain nameless) than for others. The results can be worse for those who have their sea-legs than for the sea-sick, as demonstrated by David who, having just kitted up, vomited into the wind and gave Clare’s wing a whole new multicoloured look… Despite the familiarity of the site, a good dive was enjoyed by all. Viz was reasonable (though apparently poor for the site) at around 5m. Descent was onto the deck, roughly half way along. The Salsette lies on her port side and both swimming teams headed forr’ard. The resulting light-show would have done many theatres proud, with multiple bright beams lancing through the gloom, an effect enhanced with the Scooter Team buzzed past above. Iain, leading the second swimming team, came to an apparent breach in the structure and wondered whether he was about to lead David and Owen into the wild green yonder, but was able to trace spars with his light beam and follow them until they coalesced into the bow section of the wreck Some lengths of railing remain around the deck. Winch-gear, bollards and a davit were all identified, as was a medium-sized spider crab. At the bow, Iain resisted the temptation to do a “Di Caprio”, feeling that as a now all-grown-up Tech I diver, he ought to behave himself [Bob later wondered what on earth gave him that idea!] and found a large shoal of fish under the bow. He was also able to resolve a question left over from his first dive – was there an anchor in place or not? Answer – yes, there is, sitting on the starboard bow. Once round the bow, a significant current was encountered, and both teams elected to come back round to the deck. David decided to reverse round and unsurprisingly backed straight into the davit, having not quite caught Iain’s “watch out” light signal. Clare, in Position 3 of Swimmer Team 1, found that, yet again, her team had turned round before she got to the bow, which apparently remains an as-yet unknown sight for her. Unconfirmed rumour has it that a teddy went sailing out of the pram after a vigorous exchange of signals… Heading aft, the missing decking left an apparent swim-through running most of the length of the ship, with multiple exits to clear water. This, together with the potential for entry at the gap in the hull exerted a Siren-like influence on Iain, who could hear the wreck calling clearly, “Penetrate me, penetrate me!” in an excessively seductive fashion. However, his awareness of his lack of recent diving experience and the potential for huge embarrassment on a first post-qualification dive exercised a measure of restraint. Planned as a 45m dive, an average depth estimated at 42m allowed bottom time to be extended by a few minutes for the same deco profile and at 30min, Swimmer Team 2 headed up. Leaving from 39m, Iain’s fins caught some “overhanging wreck” – fortunately he avoided the temptation to kick clear of it…as his tanks promptly hit something else...and it became apparent that he had ascended straight into Clare! Oops… Around this time, her team had been trying to explain something to her…the later re-enactments on the boat seemed very obviously to be miming pistols and machine-guns, but at the time, all attempts to show her the gun mounted on the Salsette’s stern failed. Ascents were remarkable only in that the current made it impossible to hold a star formation. Back on board, normal post-dive activity took place, with the mandatory ribbing of one-another, David kindly feeding the fish once more and talk…unsurprisingly, mainly about diving. Having moved the cylinders to Old Harbour Dive Centre for fills, the group dispersed for the afternoon – Bob and Andy kindly staying back for a while to help Iain get his scooter weighted properly. The afternoon was spent in various ways – Iain and David got “Team Haircuts” and, on the way back to the B&B, were treated to the magnificent sight of a Spitfire pulling a high-speed yo-yo over the centre of Weymouth, accompanied by the unforgettable roar of a Rolls-Royce Merlin engine. The remainder of the afternoon (inevitably, but far less interestingly) involved fiddling with kit. Others watched football. Bob slept. Evening meal at the Balti house was typically pleasant, though we really must find an alternative to provide some variety. Sunday 11 June 06 Dive: Avalanche Avalanche was a rare example of an iron-hulled three-masted sailing ship, built in 1874. On a voyage to New Zealand, carrying 63 emigrants, she was hit by another ship and sank with the loss of all but three lives. A church was built by public subscription in memory of those lost and an anchor, raised in the 1980s, sits outside. Coincidentally, our skipper, Grahame Knott, was one of those involved in raising it. The remains of Avalanche now lie in 50m of water (chart depth 42m), and is described as tilting to port in Dive Dorset which contains a full page and a half summary. However, it seems to have collapsed somewhat and probably now tilts more to starboard. Viz was a pleasant 5m. On arrival David, Owen and Iain, headed for the bow. With an expressed intent of taking something home for dinner , Iain was tempted to collect some of the large edible crabs of which there were many, arranged in a line of hollows along the starboard gunwale. Off the starboard bow, a fluke of the Avalanche’s second main anchor protrudes from the seabed, rising perhaps a metre out of the silt. A spar of some nature points forward and to port and may be either bowsprit or mast. Off the port bow, inside the main body of wreckage, another, smaller anchor is visible. Passing astern, a lobster was spotted, hiding under a beam. Iain tried to persuade it to attach the bottom of his catch-bag, so that the remainder could be rolled over it. However, after an initial threat with claws, the lobster backed away…and backed out from under its spar, allowing Owen an easy pickup. A brief attempt to cable-tie its claws was abandoned when the beast seized the cable-tie loop in one claw…then helpfully proceeded to attack it with its other claw as well. Thus occupied, it failed to notice that it was being passed into a catch-bag until it was too late. Several further lobsters were spotted, but neither David nor Owen seemed particularly keen to have one on this occasion. As we approached the stern, the Scooter Team passed by, seemingly enjoying themselves and managing to avoid stirring up the silty bottom. (Much appreciated!) Clare, meantime, had also been hunting, but was scared away by an excessively aggressive target. Clearly her team had been inadequately briefed for this - Al being too busy laughing to launch the surprise attack from the rear and Fraser “Bunny-hugger” Jordan disapproving of the entire affair. Swimmer Team One reached minimum gas and maximum time simultaneously and headed up. After a near perfect ascent to 21m and gas switch, the third DSMB up the line tore the spool from David’s hand, After watching the spool drift higher and further away, they concluded that the situation was not going to be recoverable and Iain launched the team spare. Back on the boat, in discussion with Grahame, we discovered that he had not realised that we were all sending bags from 21m and, given that this is the second consecutive trip with multiple bag problems, he has suggested that he would be happy with a single bag from 21m, with the remainder being shot from 6m. If nothing else, this will give us something to do to while away the time. After recovering all divers and kit, we returned to harbour. Iain texted his wife to suggest lobster for dinner – a suggestion well received – kit was transferred to cars and people started to disperse. Clare, Al, Fraser, David and Iain headed to Portland for fills. Swimmer Team One went to visit the Avalanche memorial chapel while waiting. Iain and David sorted kit out and acquired a cool box and ice for the lobster which was, by this time, looking rather languid. Conveniently, this allowed claws to be cable-tied, before a miraculous recovery was effected by placing it back into a coolbox of seawater. Not much else to say except apologies for grammatical and factual errors. If I don’t post this now, it won’t get finished – it’s 0115 local time and I’ve only just got home – 270 miles in 9 hours thanks to typical South Coat traffic. My wife gave up and had something else for dinner and is asleep. Larry the Lobster is still alive in his coolbox, having vented some aggression on the bag of ice. He’ll keep until tomorrow night. Thanks for a great weekend. Good night, sleep tight and have fun in July. Iain [cross-posted to YD] Last edited by iainmsmith; July 13th, 2006 at 11:42 PM.

June 12th, 2006, 10:44 AM	#3 (permalink)
fraser(Offline) "I'm only late on your timescale" Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Kent, UK Posts: 463	Nice report mate. It was indeed a good weekend, on the Sunday after diving the Avalanche we went to the memorial church to pay our respects and then ate ice cream overlooking Chesil Beach from the top of the Bill. Almost made it worthwhile sitting in the traffic home Cheers, Fraser. __________________ Damn it feels good to be a gangsta

June 12th, 2006, 04:09 PM	#5 (permalink)
wilbo(Offline) Chimp 4 Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Swindon, UK Posts: 873	Quote: (Originally Posted by iainmsmith) Swimmer Team One reached minimum gas and maximum time simultaneously and headed up. After a near perfect ascent to 21m and gas switch, the third DSMB up the line tore the spool from David’s hand, After watching the spool drift higher and further away, they concluded that the situation was not going to be recoverable and Iain launched the team spare. Back on the boat, in discussion with Grahame, we discovered that he had not realised that we were all sending bags from 21m and, given that this is the second consecutive trip with multiple bag problems, he has suggested that he would be happy with a single bag from 21m, with the remainder being shot from 6m. If nothing else, this will give us something to do to while away the time. we nearly had a similar event on the sky a month or so back.. sent up a 4.5, then a 3 clipped on and then a 4.5 clipped on - from 21ish metres.. The friction of the last took me up about 3-4 metres during its ascent.. common sense would say to send the other two up from 6 metres wouldn't it.. It just didn't occur.. How I long for some common sense.. good report ian - thanks for sharing.. __________________ Cheers! Wilbo DIR explorers: DIR Yorkshire Divers: YorkshireDivers One of the Foxturd chimps

June 12th, 2006, 05:18 PM	#6 (permalink)
Clare Gledhill(Offline) GUE Instructor Site Admin Pacman Champion! Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: UK Posts: 1,541	It was indeed a fun weekend. The groans from our team when finding out that the Salsette was the destination were indeed audible. For a combination of blown out dives, rescheduled dives and Fraser’s absence in New York, Fraser has dived the Salsette four times out of his last 7 mix dives. The last two times had between 10 and 20 meters viz – so the dive on Saturday with, at best, 5 metres was not exactly in our top ten dives – but we did have a laugh nonetheless. I did actually get to see the bow this time, sitting about four meters off it (right beside my teddy which, as Iain rightly suggests, was tossed firmly out of the pram when I thought that, yet again, the dive would be turned just before). I was wrong, Al had merely held the team up as Iain, Owen and David were hanging there and he wanted to wait for a bit of space before we moved forward – so I got to hang off it for a while – a good place to take in the size of this wreck and the way that she lies on the bottom. Back towards the stern Al and Frase were indeed trying to mime gun at me. Whilst I got what they were saying, I couldn’t work out which bit of the jumble in front of us that they were talking about – it turned out that it was all of it! Bah – guns – boys’ toys indeed ) Back on the surface I found it hard to get on the lift which was too deep for my legs! I kept asking Tom to raise it up until I could make contact – which led to rather a lot of teasing about hobits again. Sunday brought calmer weather and a run, to the east again, to the Avalanche. Grahame had a wealth of information about this wreck on his computer and we were able to look at pictures and reports of the accident prior to jumping in. During the last century hundreds of thousands of people undertook a sea journey of quite unimaginable proportions, they sailed to the new colonies of Australia and New Zealand - a distance of some 13,000 miles. Most of these intrepid emigrants previously had hardly ventured far from their towns, villages and hamlets before embarking on such a sea journey, which would take three months or even longer. Such dauntless voyagers faced a long period of isolation from all that they knew of the old world, with only their fellow passengers as company. They were forced to suffer the rigours and perils of a long sea journey - storms, icebergs, fever and sickness and shipwrecks - when many had never even seen the sea before let alone sailed upon it. Some of the worst shipping disasters of the last century involved emigrant vessels, and many artists' lurid impressions of these wrecks had inculcated grim foreboding in the minds of all but the most sanguine souls. Those who finally made such a long and perilous sea journey would probably have subscribed to Dr Johnson's view,'...a ship is worse than a jail. There is in a jail, better air, better company, better conveniency of every kind; and a ship has the additional disadvantage of being in danger...' Nevertheless the chances of being wrecked at the outset of such a voyage were relatively slight as most of the wrecks had occurred off far distant shores when the poor emigrants were almost within sight of their new home. In the case of one vessel in 1877 the exception almost disproved the rule. The Avalanche was an iron sailing ship of 1,210 tons, built for Shaw Savill & Co only three years earlier and considered to be one of the finest and fastest vessels operating to New Zealand. Shaw Savill & Co were one of the leading shipping companies in the emigrant trade; Robert Shaw and Walter Savill had founded their partnership in 1858 with the express purpose of consolidating the British connection with New Zealand, and it maintained this vital link for the next 125 years. The Avalanche was only the third vessel to be built for the young company. It was a fine clipper ship and a fast sailer, having consistently managed to make Wellington in New Zealand in 90 days on its three previous successful voyages. It was not strictly an 'emigrant' ship in the true sence as it also carried a fair amount of general cargo. The vessel left London on 8th September 1877 bound for Wellington under the command of Captain Ephraim Williams and with a crew of 43. On this voyage it also carried 63 emigrant passengers - men, women and children. During its journey down the Thames the vessel was in collision with a foreign barque and although superficial damage was caused - the Avalanche lost its figurehead - many of its crew considered this to be an ill-omem for the forthcoming voyage. In this instance they were proved right. Late on the evening of the 11th the Avalanche was sailing about 15 miles south of Portland in quite atrocious weather. A force eight gale was blowing, there was heavy driving rain and the seas were high and rough. The vessel still had the Channel pilot on board, well experienced in all the problems of the Dorset coast in such conditions. Sailing towards the Avalanche was a slightly larger wooden sailing vessel, the Forest, built in Nova Scotia, in ballast and bound for Sandy Hook, New York. It had a crew of 21 men under the command of Captain Lockhart. It was the lookout on the Forest who first sighted the light of another vessel, which appeared to be sailing on a port tack. As the Forest was on a starboard track, under the Rules of the Sea, it would have the right of way. Nevertheless Captain Lockhart ordered a flare to be burned to warn the oncoming vessel. But within minutes the Forest struck the Avalanche right between the main and mizzen masts, almost cutting the vessel in two. The force of the impact caused the Forest to rebound and it struck the Avalanche a second time slightly further aft. (Southampton City Art Gallery) Despite being constructed of iron, the Avalanche did not stand a chance and sank almost immediately. There was no hope at all for any of the passengers, most of whom were asleep below decks, and only three members of the crew - the third mate and two seamen - escaped by jumping on to the Forest as it backed away. In minutes the Avalanche had become a terrible shipping tragedy - 103 people were drowned. The Forest itself was also in serious difficulties; it had suffered badly in the collision and water was pouring into its holds. Within 15 minutes Captain Lockhart decided to abandon ship, and its three boats were launched after great difficulty. One was quickly overwhelmed in the heavy seas and the second was later washed ashore but with no survivors. The third boat contained the Captain and 11 seamen, including the three men who had escaped from the Avalanche. Just after dawn this boat was sighted off the Chesil Beach. Apparently the Captain was afraid of making an attempted landing on this dreaded stretch of coast for fear of foundering in the very heavy surf. Two of the famous Portland 'lerrets' were launched, each with a crew of seven staunch fishermen and with great bravery and skill they managed to bring ashore the 12 survivors of this terrible collision. The fishermen were awarded £140 for their brave rescue and their actions, which received much press publicity, did much to improve the somewhat tarnished reputation of Portland men. The battered Forrest eventually grounded near Chesil Cove and it was decided to blow up the remains of the vessel. The task was given up to a Naval vessel HMS Defense but unfortunately the Naval men experienced considerable difficulties, and their abortive attempts created much public interest - even the local coast paddle steamers ran special excursions to view 'the fun'! The captain of the Defense became so embarrassed about the whole affair that he towed the Forest out into the Channel and finally sank it away from prying eyes. Walter Savill was stunned by the dreadful news - not only at the high loss of life but the destruction of one of his finest and newest ships. But he wrote quite simply in his Sailings Book 'Foundered off Portland - Sept 11'. So determined was he never again to risk the lives of his passengers through collisions in the English Channel he resolved that most of the passengers would in future embark at Plymouth. This sad shipping disaster was not destined to be quickly forgotten. Some of the bodies that were later washed ashore apparently were treated with a scant lack of ceremony by the local parish authorities, whose responsiblity it was to bury them. The Times newspaper picked up the story and roundly condemned the authorities for 'the hasty and shameful treatment of the dead'. Quite a furore broke out and as a result of all the publicity, the relatives and friends of the unfortunate passengers and crew of the Avalanche launched a memorial fund. A public subscription was started with the help of the press and contributions were quickly forthcoming from all parts of the country as well as from New Zealand and Australia. In a relatively short time sufficient funds had been collected not only to purchase a site at Southwell, Portland, which overlooked the spot where the Avalanche had foundered, but also enough to build a memorial chapel. This small church - St Andrew's - was consecrated and opened for worship in 1879. The church still stands high above the sea and was, for a long time, known as the Avalanche church. It is the only church in this country built to the memory of the poor and unfortunate victims of a shipwreck. Text taken from website on Dorset shipwrecks We are getting better at speedy descents, just under 3 minutes got us to 51 meters including a speedy but necessary check at 6 metres. Fraser who was leading down the shot had slowed a bit at one point so Al helped him out a bit by lying on his twinset ;o) This was a sweet dive. There is a huge debris field around the wreck and the holds are exposed. There are 1877 Don Pereignon champagne bottles in one hold, I did find one intact but it had so many sea creatures living on it and in it I left it there – I would have stank! Fraser found some very impressive bits of china ranging from plates to large platters – broken unfortunately. Al found some small ink bottles and I found a stopper which were small and intact so we brought them up. I was quite choked to think that they have lain there undisturbed for 130 years, probably uncovered only very recently. The life was astounding in its proliferation and variety. Rainbow wrasse, shoals and shoals of bib, more edible crabs than spider crabs for once and lots of lobsters. I did get a hand on one – but it whipped round ready for a scrap and I chickened out fast! A huge (and I mean HUGE) conger stared out of one hole – there really be monsters living in our seas you know ;o) We thumbed the dive when maximum deco (based on gas carried) was reached – all too soon for all of us – and had a smooth ascent with no issues. I moved to the back of the boat and straight on to the lift without any problems. Turns out Tom had seen it was me coming and had only lowered it half way ) We had all been very aware of the history of the wreck when diving it so were delighted to have the opportunity to visit the church and pay our respects to those who perished before leaving the island. That, and ice cream, meant a perfick ending to a perfick day out. Role on the next weekend. __________________ Clare . "Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions....Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you too can become great." Interested in DIR dive training? Always happy to chat/answer questions so get in touch via PM or visit www.dirdiver.co.uk

June 13th, 2006, 01:01 PM	#10 (permalink)
Neil S(Offline) New Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Liverpool Posts: 275	Fruits de mer Sounds like you had a great weekend folks As a man who loves a bit of seafood it was great to see that you were lifting lobsters aswell. I have always been led to believe that this was not DIR. Are there any specific DIR skills that could be used when catching crabs, lobbies etc. Maybe GUE could start a workshop in teaching such skills. I like to bag up a load of scallops when diving in Liverpool bay but am not sure of the correct way of transporting them when caught. Should i be sending them up with a lift bag or carry them on a D ring- got into a bit of mither with a large edible crab in scapa when he refused to go into my right pocket (lesson learnt) Diving up in seahouses at the weekend so any hints will be put to use. Neil

June 12th, 2006, 10:08 AM	#2 (permalink)
neilh(Offline) Haemoglobin on the bus... Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Barnsley, UK Posts: 1,900	Nice report Iain, sounds like a bundle of laughs and some good dives!

June 12th, 2006, 12:32 PM	#4 (permalink)
jamesd(Offline) New Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: London Posts: 54	Hi, Thanks for the report. It was a great weekend to be out diving. I was diving from Skin Deep. I saw lots of DIR marked bottles in Old Harbour Divers under the waycheiften 3 tag when we turned up for gas. I thought that DIRUK may be in town! I dived the St Dunstan and the Skye. Despite expectations the St. Dunstan was a better dive with fewer divers and far more life. There is a chinese in weymouth if you are fed up with the curry house. However, some of the dishes taste of gravy jd

June 12th, 2006, 06:21 PM	#7 (permalink)
PBrown(Offline) New Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Wiltshire Posts: 198	Quote: (Originally Posted by Gledders) This was a sweet dive. There is a huge debris field around the wreck and the holds are exposed. There are 1877 Don Pereignon champagne bottles in one hold, I did find one intact but it had so many sea creatures living on it and in it I left it there – I would have stank! Fraser found some very impressive bits of china ranging from plates to large platters – broken unfortunately. Al found some small ink bottles and I found a stopper which were small and intact so we brought them up. I was quite choked to think that they have lain there undisturbed for 130 years, probably uncovered only very recently. ahh, but did the champagne bottle still have a cork in it? The Avalanche is Angie's favourite wreck, I'll probably get an ear bashing all night long now - "why aren't we diving it this year?" also got chased by a large squid last year, complete with squirted ink everywhere! cheers, Paul

June 13th, 2006, 12:18 AM	#8 (permalink)
iainmsmith(Offline) Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Glasgow Posts: 152	Quote: (Originally Posted by iainmsmith) Larry the Lobster is still alive in his coolbox Hmm...not any more. Larry was well and truly cooked by my wife this evening and, on splitting, turned out to be more of a Loretta than a Larry, judging by the bright red roe. Regardless, she tasted very nice indeed. Apparently I'm allowed to carry on doing mix dives! Iain

June 13th, 2006, 12:35 AM	#9 (permalink)
*Bob Cooper*(Offline) Moderator - "Don't stop me now!" Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: South East London, UK Posts: 681	Quote: (Originally Posted by wilbo) we nearly had a similar event on the sky a month or so back.. sent up a 4.5, then a 3 clipped on and then a 4.5 clipped on - from 21ish metres.. The friction of the last took me up about 3-4 metres during its ascent.. common sense would say to send the other two up from 6 metres wouldn't it.. It just didn't occur.. How I long for some common sense.. We discussed this with Grahame at the weekend and we will be revising our procedured accordingly. Remember though, that on a 45m dive, the 6m stop would be about 10mins (depending on BT) with a further 5 mins to the surface. This means that we will be on the surface 15mins after the 2nd and 3rd DSMB's are deployed. Personally, I have never had a problem with sending up markers up an existing line at 21m. However, I can see that it is a potential problem.