Gledders
06-27-2006, 12:32 AM
This trip has been planned for a while now - DIR UK have taken the whole boat but two of those coming may have to pull out so I'm looking for two to replace them. Divers coming on board must be suitably qualified for multi stage dives in the 60 - 70 metre range.
http://www.divesitedirectory.co.uk/images/photo/ireland/malin%20head/wrecks/laurentic_bow.gif (http://www.deepimage.co.uk/)
We have Loyal Watcher, an ex-Royal Navy fleet tender with a range of more than 2500 miles, comfortably accommodates 12 heavily equipped divers. Converted with the needs of serious wreck-divers in mind, it carries adequate supplies of oxygen and helium. Unlike conventional liveaboards, Loyal Watcher leads a nomadic existence. The crew live onboard, and the vessel could visit several locations throughout Europe during a single season.
Wrecks include:
Dive Site: HMS Audacious
Location: Malin Head, Ireland
Description: 23,000 ton battleship
Depth: 64 metres (210 feet)
HMS Audacious
The first major warship casualty of the Great War, Without warning HMS Audacious struck a German moored mine on her port side a short distance from the safe entrance of Lough Swilly North West Ireland. As part of an impressive fleet in line ahead she was preparing to engage in target practice with her 13.5inch guns Sea conditions on the 27th Oct 1914 were considered rough and it didn't take long for the battleship to fill with water. Audacious was approached by the passing White Star liner Olympic and taken into tow however after several unsuccessful attempts she was lost sinking in 215ft. The wreck was first investigated by Technical divers on the 9th April 1995. Please use the navigation bar below to circumnavigate our Audacious pages as well as our Awesome image gallery's. Click on the thumbnails to enlarge each image for a better perceptive.
Dive Site: Justicia
Location: Malin Head, Ireland
Description: 32,232 ton liner
Depth: 70 metres (230 feet)
Here's a piece from Divernet....
Quote:
The Justicia, a 32,234 ton White Star liner lying in 70m of water, was possibly the most impressive wreck any of us had dived since the Britannic project of '98. My Top 10 list of wreck dives changed at once - even the Lusitania took a drop down the rankings.
The Justicia is worth taking a trimix qualification to see, even if you never use trimix again! This 750ft giant was the third largest liner sunk during World War One. The wreck lies fairly broken and listing to port some 21 miles north-west of Malin Head, on the edge of the area in which the U-boats of Operation Deadlight were lost.
Blessed with almost 40m of viz and bright rays of sunshine, we marvelled at the intact bow with its safety rail still attached and a massive housed anchor on the starboard side. I shot the images you see here fluctuating around 1/60th on the shutter speed, bracketing through the apertures as I went. This was big-time exposure country, and had I known in advance I would have brought my tripod and a stock of fast film!
Swimming over and down the foredeck we could see winches, anchor chains and capstans fitted to an intact deck, as if on the day the Justicia was lost. Where the bow had broken away, we could see within the below decks untouched hand-lamps and the machinery that once drove the huge capstans above.
Heading from the fo'c's'le towards amidships, 12 huge boilers were visible in the distance, with many donkey boilers beyond them. A service tunnel runs most of the length of the ship, broken at strategic points and big enough for a technical diver to penetrate.
The bridge rests to port. It is so big, it could easily be mistaken for the starboard hull. And we saw more porthole windows and ventilation systems than we had ever seen on a wreck. I made three dives, but with so much to photograph never made it to the stern. My friends on scooters had the time of their lives. Their reports suggest that the port prop lies beneath the wreck, while the centre prop shows only its blade-tips above the sand and the starboard prop rises impressively high above the remaining wreckage.
We came away from Justicia and our week diving the wrecks of Donegal with fabulous memories and a determination to return soon.
There's more though
Dive Site: Empire Heritage
Location: Malin Head, Ireland
Description: 15,000 ton wreck
Depth: 66 metres (217 feet)
The Empire Heritage had a cargo of Sherman tanks when it sank. The depth is 66m and it can be dived at any state of the tide.
and the....
Dive Site: Laurentic
Location: Malin Head, Ireland
Description: 1500 ton liner
Depth: 36 - 42 metres (118 - 138 feet)
The Laurentic, built for to White Star Line liners, was wrecked in 1917 whilst carrying a cargo of gold ingots stowed in its second class baggage room. It took seven years to salvage the gold and to this day the amount recovered is the most ever taken off of a wreck.
Appetite whetted?
This is a DIR trip and you must be suitably qualified to take part. If you would like to come along - please PM me.
http://www.divesitedirectory.co.uk/images/photo/ireland/malin%20head/wrecks/laurentic_bow.gif (http://www.deepimage.co.uk/)
We have Loyal Watcher, an ex-Royal Navy fleet tender with a range of more than 2500 miles, comfortably accommodates 12 heavily equipped divers. Converted with the needs of serious wreck-divers in mind, it carries adequate supplies of oxygen and helium. Unlike conventional liveaboards, Loyal Watcher leads a nomadic existence. The crew live onboard, and the vessel could visit several locations throughout Europe during a single season.
Wrecks include:
Dive Site: HMS Audacious
Location: Malin Head, Ireland
Description: 23,000 ton battleship
Depth: 64 metres (210 feet)
HMS Audacious
The first major warship casualty of the Great War, Without warning HMS Audacious struck a German moored mine on her port side a short distance from the safe entrance of Lough Swilly North West Ireland. As part of an impressive fleet in line ahead she was preparing to engage in target practice with her 13.5inch guns Sea conditions on the 27th Oct 1914 were considered rough and it didn't take long for the battleship to fill with water. Audacious was approached by the passing White Star liner Olympic and taken into tow however after several unsuccessful attempts she was lost sinking in 215ft. The wreck was first investigated by Technical divers on the 9th April 1995. Please use the navigation bar below to circumnavigate our Audacious pages as well as our Awesome image gallery's. Click on the thumbnails to enlarge each image for a better perceptive.
Dive Site: Justicia
Location: Malin Head, Ireland
Description: 32,232 ton liner
Depth: 70 metres (230 feet)
Here's a piece from Divernet....
Quote:
The Justicia, a 32,234 ton White Star liner lying in 70m of water, was possibly the most impressive wreck any of us had dived since the Britannic project of '98. My Top 10 list of wreck dives changed at once - even the Lusitania took a drop down the rankings.
The Justicia is worth taking a trimix qualification to see, even if you never use trimix again! This 750ft giant was the third largest liner sunk during World War One. The wreck lies fairly broken and listing to port some 21 miles north-west of Malin Head, on the edge of the area in which the U-boats of Operation Deadlight were lost.
Blessed with almost 40m of viz and bright rays of sunshine, we marvelled at the intact bow with its safety rail still attached and a massive housed anchor on the starboard side. I shot the images you see here fluctuating around 1/60th on the shutter speed, bracketing through the apertures as I went. This was big-time exposure country, and had I known in advance I would have brought my tripod and a stock of fast film!
Swimming over and down the foredeck we could see winches, anchor chains and capstans fitted to an intact deck, as if on the day the Justicia was lost. Where the bow had broken away, we could see within the below decks untouched hand-lamps and the machinery that once drove the huge capstans above.
Heading from the fo'c's'le towards amidships, 12 huge boilers were visible in the distance, with many donkey boilers beyond them. A service tunnel runs most of the length of the ship, broken at strategic points and big enough for a technical diver to penetrate.
The bridge rests to port. It is so big, it could easily be mistaken for the starboard hull. And we saw more porthole windows and ventilation systems than we had ever seen on a wreck. I made three dives, but with so much to photograph never made it to the stern. My friends on scooters had the time of their lives. Their reports suggest that the port prop lies beneath the wreck, while the centre prop shows only its blade-tips above the sand and the starboard prop rises impressively high above the remaining wreckage.
We came away from Justicia and our week diving the wrecks of Donegal with fabulous memories and a determination to return soon.
There's more though
Dive Site: Empire Heritage
Location: Malin Head, Ireland
Description: 15,000 ton wreck
Depth: 66 metres (217 feet)
The Empire Heritage had a cargo of Sherman tanks when it sank. The depth is 66m and it can be dived at any state of the tide.
and the....
Dive Site: Laurentic
Location: Malin Head, Ireland
Description: 1500 ton liner
Depth: 36 - 42 metres (118 - 138 feet)
The Laurentic, built for to White Star Line liners, was wrecked in 1917 whilst carrying a cargo of gold ingots stowed in its second class baggage room. It took seven years to salvage the gold and to this day the amount recovered is the most ever taken off of a wreck.
Appetite whetted?
This is a DIR trip and you must be suitably qualified to take part. If you would like to come along - please PM me.