Warwick Deeping on the YD Shandy Portsmouth Gig July 23, 2006
Posted by Mark Gilmour in : Dive Reports, UK diving, Wreck Diving , trackbackI booked onto this weekends worth of diving as soon as Paul emailed me last year and said “we going to do the isle of wight wrecks again, are you up for it?” Following on from last years Selsey Gig and stunning diving, I made no hesistation in booking on. I put myself down for two days worth, Friday and Monday.
Friday was Warwick Deeping and Louis.
With a leisurely meet time of 10.45 and ropes off at 11.45 I meandered over to Otterbourne to pick up my twinset from being filled and made my way down to Gosport. On the way I met up with Sean whose cylinders I had picked up on Wednesday at Wraysbury. After all that I was still down there for 9.45. I met up with the other early bird Dave Archer and started to slowly load my kit onto the boat.
THE BOAT Trojan is moored at Haslar Marina in Gosport. Parking is across the road from the marina in the main car park where it cost £2.40 for the day, I had made sure I had some change available for the machine and also the trolleys. With it being a little walk from the car park to the marina and down to the boat, they have set up a trolley system, much like at big supermarkets where you put a £1 coin in the latch to release a trolley, ideally suited to a twinset, stage and kit. Getting kit onto the boat probably takes 20 minutes and so after doing all that, we still had time to wander into town to get an ice cream as the temperature was starting to climb.
Slowly the rest of the group arrived and got all their stuff on board and off we set for the 2 hour ride in perfect conditions, hot, sunny and calm, around the isle of wight to the spot of the Warwick Deeping. As we rounded the southern tip of the Island, the water was like glass it was so calm. We were hopeful of good vis, however the weekend before put slight doubts in the mind.
The Warwick Deeping is an armed trawler sunk on the 11th October 1940 whilst in action with German E class boats. Resting in approximately 36m off the south western coast of the Isle of Wight. She lies with the tide which apparently makes it difficult to shot, not for Pete (skipper or Trojan - Wightwreck) and his trusty assistant Lou!. The tide was running slightly still but Pete signalled for Howard and Mark Chase, the two CCR divers that they could go on in, and make sure the shot was secure. Paul and I followed in shortly afterwards as we were operating as a loose foursome. Actually I think Paul and I were just extra bailout for the CCRers!
This was my first time in the sea with the new strobe for the camera, so it was a little daunting for me. I am still not entirely comfortable with it but getting there. So in we went and down the shot, the tide was still running so we had to pull ourselves down a bit but at 22m the lights of Howard and Mark came into view and at 30m we hit the top of the armed trawler Warwick deeping. I needed a moment to get myself set, at this point Paul dropped another couple of metres off the stern to get a good look at the props. I joined him a few moments later after working out where everything was, camera, strobe, etc.
From the props we came back over the stern through the wheelhouse and across the top of the deck dropping into the hold, where I was attacked by the aforementioned shot-putter-iner Lou who was on a mission to liberate a lobster from one of the pots inside the wreck. She was also trying to protect it from Mark she said later on the boat. Anyway I stood to the side as she dropped into the hold and headed off in the opposite direction to Paul, so I followed in and around through the hold to a hole in the side of the wreck. Finning forward towards the bow we passed the gun still on it’s mount and to the covered bow. Finning over the bow I spyed the anchor still in situ and then we made our way down the starboard side of the wreck until we reached back to the wheelhouse and stern section playing the free swimming congers as they swam around us. Whether they had been extricated by the Dude’s conger prodder or not I am not sure but there were a couple of big congers making their way around the wreck also probably trying to avoid him. Sadly I didn’t get any pictures of them as unfortunately my exploits with the camera and strobe have been not so successful but I am getting there. All to sudden we had reached the end of the boat and our bottom time, Paul valiantly offered to send up the SMB so I let him and we made started our ascent after 45 minutes bottom time. I was a bit perturbed that my computer was showing 32 minutes of stops but knowing that I had sufficient gas to complete that on backgas was comforting especially when I was to change gases at 20m, which we both did. Deco obligation fell to 22 minutes following the gas change and we made our way gently to 6m where we waited to clear our computers and then completed the 3minute 3m stop aswell for extra safety. We eventually surfaced on 86minutes. A very enjoyable dive, shame the pictures didn’t quite work as I wanted them too.
Our Second dive was the Louis, which I have dived a couple of times before. This one sits in about 16m but in one of the bays on the south eastern coast of the island. Our planned time in the water was 1700. We arrived on the spot about an hour before but instead of going further into the bay to get any sort of shelter as Pete would normally we do he cut the engines a little way before the mark and we slowly drifted on it, such was the sea state. Paul and I went in with Howard and Mark and promptly lost them, so we carried on our merry way. Only the boilers stand proud of the sea bed on this wreck but they are pretty decent sized boilers still. The normal shoaling group of Bib were on site as were a couple of small lobster, I used this dive to try to get to grips a bit better with the camera and strobe. I am quite happy with ambient light photography and offsetting the white balance underwater, but adding the strobe is completely different thing altogther. I am struggling to stop the strobe from causing a complete whiteout on the picture. Especially with amount of “stuff” in the water that we have in the UK. So any tips would be gratefully appreciated. After 35 minutes pottering around the plates and boilers I signalled to Paul that it was probably time for me to go as I had 25 bar left in my twins. So I sent up the SMB and a slow steady ascent completing our safety stop and then a bit meant us surfacing on 49 minutes.
Even though this was my third time on the Louis, it was still enjoyable for finding out a little more about the camera.
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