NE Scotland

[Paul Haynes]

Just completed a tremendous series of deep shipwreck dives off the North East coast of Scotland so I thought I would provide a report of the week. However, before you read further let us remember that this wonderful recreational past time of ours is possible in part only as a result of the vast human sacrifice made by the merchant and naval forces of various nations. In particular the civilians crews of the merchant navy who often do not receive just recognition for the critical part they played in both world wars. Let them not be forgotten.

Sunday 29th July 2012

Dive 1: SS Creemuir, maximum depth 71m. Approximate position 12 miles SE of Aberdeen, Scotland.

Previously dived only once by our group in 2009 in very poor conditions preventing any appreciation or exploration of the wreck. In addition I had to bailout due to an electronics failure; not a great day. However today was going to be very different. A forty-minute RIB ride out of Stonehaven, a small fishing town in NE Scotland, in flat calm conditions put us on site over an hour ahead of slack water. A systematic sonar survey of the site commenced to help identify the orientation of the wreck. The shot was then dropped onto the highest point, which stood at one end of the wreck some 15m off the seabed. Was this the bow or stern? However with the tide running harder than anticipated, the shot had been dragged off our chosen location onto a flat area and we were concerned it was off the wreck. It was therefore re-located by pulling it off the seabed and slowly motoring back over the original location before dropping it back to the wreck. All this was additional work but we all wanted to avoid a 70m dive on SS Inthevacinityof.

The small fishing float previously secured to the shot line at the surface after it was deployed was still being dragged under by the tide. The wait was now on for it to float to the surface indicating slack water. In the mean time the decompression lazy shot was prepared and 15 minutes later the fishing float appeared. Slack water had arrived - dive on.

Kitting up with full technical CCR and the necessary open water diving accessories in a RIB is always a challenge, however our coxswain for the day Rod Macdonald was on hand to assist. Pre-breathe completed, three divers, Gary Petrie, Greg Booth and myself were dropped at the shot and immediately commenced the descent with a quick bailout valve functionality test at 10m before continuing down. The visibility was looking promising. At 55m wreckage could be made in the gloom so a strobe was attached to the shot-line by each of us at various depths providing a string of flashing beacons to help re-locate the shot from all directions.

The shot line sinker was clearly visible from above in the 20m visibility and ambient light. It had landed on a large flat hull plate a few meters off the seabed close to a tangled mess of wreckage. After a quick team and bailout valve check, we moved off and I scootering towards the large lump I could see to my right. As I got closer it quickly became apparent this was the stern section rolled onto its port side with the highest point some 15m off the seabed. The area we had descended onto was therefore the collapsed rear holds. Continuing aft brought me to the stern where a four inch gun was still attached to the deck in an elevated position poised waiting to fire. We proceeded onwards around the stern to the starboard side slowly returning to the shot line, pausing to look at points of interest such as the rear mast and winch gear and to memorise the scene for later recollection. With eyesight now fully adjusted to the reduced light, across a flat seabed I could make out the forward section of the vessel sitting on an even keel. The ship had clearly broken in two as a result of the torpedo striking the engine room mid-ships. With structural support provided only from the stern, this must be why the rear holds had collapsed down to the seabed. With seven-minutes of bottom time still left and with the rest of the team visible, I headed towards the forward section. As I approached, a clean break became apparent allowing ready access into the engine room and upper mid-ships superstructure rooms. With bottom time beginning to run low, I headed up and scootered through what was likely a mess hall / dining room on the starboard side indicated by the large quantity of crockery lying around. Passing out through a rotted bulkhead I re-appeared mid-ships and turned left across the fallen funnel to the port side. Scootering up onto the engine room pitched roof, with the string of strobes on the shot line visible some 30m away, I scootered towards the shot where a team head count was conducted and ascent commenced. With the deep stops finished, a jump over to the lazy shot was made at 25m before disconnecting it from the main shot rope to begin drifting stops in the tide. Looking up from 20m the dark undeside of the RIB could be seen above us, fantastic, how rare to have such visibility. 70 minutes later a mile and a half away from the dive site, three very happy divers surfaced.


Footnote: Following a direct hit by aerial launched torpedo on the 11th November 1940, armed merchant vessel SS Creemuir sank in 3 minutes with the lose of 26 crew and one gunner. Today only one survivor is still alive, Noel Blacklock, the ships radio operator who now in his nineties travelled to Aberdeen last year on his way to Sheltand and met with Rod Macdonald, who first discovered and identified the shipwreck. A detailed story of the Creemuir and her sinking can be found in Rods latest book The Darkness Below (Life Journey), a great read for those who love CCR technical diving and shipwreck research and discovery.

Tuesday 31st July 2012

Dive 2: Unknown Shipwreck, Maximum depth 86m. Approximate position 25 miles NE of the fishing town of Peterhead, Scotland.

Intention was to catch the 8am slack so up at 4am to drive 60 miles North to meet with our good friends from Buchan Divers (* *Buchan Shipwrecks * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *www.buchandivers.com - Buchan Shipwrecks), a group of very capable wreck researchers / divers with whom many an adventure and virgin shipwreck has been shared by Rod and I over the years. 6am we departed aboard Buchan Elle, a Buchan Divers privately owned 11m Procharter Offshore hardboat with a 370HP inboard diesel and jet-drive. Having a large choice of new marks to dive as a result of a recent hydrographic survey of the area, with a number of missing U boats from both world wars still to be accounted for, we opted to run 20 odd miles out to what the survey described as a U boat like sonar image suggesting a submarine lying on its side (narrow hull with midsection structure). We quickly made it to site and picked up a large return from the sonar. After assessing that the tidal rate was sufficiently reduced, the shot was deployed. With glorious early morning weather, flat calm seas, blue sky and a large pod of dolphins providing our very own Sea World show, it promised to be a good day. We briefed the dive plan as we waited for slack water and then kitted up. Jim Burke, Mike Wilcox and myself were to dive, Roger Mathieson skippering. Besides our personal open circuit bailout and decompression gas cylinders, we each carried an additional 12lt cylinder to secure to the lazy shot on the descent (80% at 9m, 50% at 15m and a normoxic trimix at 50m). In addition Jim and Mike took the lazy shot in, secured it to the main shot line and deployed it prior to descent.

We descended as a group down a near vertical shot-line in zero tide, which took us directly to the seabed mid-ships next to the wreck. Initial impression was smooth hull in good condition with little or no superstructure apparent. Was this a U Boat? Turning left we followed the smooth hull along to the end where upon it became apparent this was no submarine, but what was she? A very unusual hull shape offered no clue until we swam forward on the opposite side where in 15m visibility, a large chain of buckets still secured to a midship support leg / gear mechanism indicated she was a dredger. But what was a dredger doing all this way offshore in 86m? Remaining close together we swam aft past an engine / power plant room to the bow before turning to the shot. Head count and life support checks conducted we began the ascent breaking surface some 100mins later. Water 11C so the decompression was comfortable and another great dive.

On the return passage we surveyed two known but un-dived wrecks. MS Cape York and SS Port Denison both at a charted depth of 95m. At over 5000 tons gross, 150m long and standing 15m off the seabed, these two shipwrecks are a significant size. The Port Denison had been partially salvaged and therefore likely to be in a relatively poor condition. Cape York on the other hand, despite being purchased for salvage, had not been touched. A 100m North Sea dive 20 miles offshore is a serious undertaking and needed to be treated with absolute respect. However we felt sufficiently dived up as individuals and as a dive / surface support team. Therefore of the two possible options, a decision was taken to make the Cape York our next dive.

Footnote: Buchan Elle's co-owner coxswain Roger Mathieson, a former diver and avid wreck researcher, upon hearing our description immediately identified the wreck as Subworker, a dumb dredger that broke its tow and sank in heavy seas in 1913. Not a U boat but at least this mark can be tick off as having been identified.


Wednesday 1st August 2012

The forecast predicted very poor weather so we had decided Tuesday to take Wednesday off. This provided a convenient rest period and an opportunity to prepare equipment and blend appropriate gas mixes for the big dive ahead.

Thursday 2nd August 2012

Dive 3: MS Cushendale, maximum depth 55m. Approximate location 5 miles NE of Peterhead, Scotland.

The poor weather the day before left an energetic sea and so an inshore dive was decided upon, the Cape York would have to wait. Heading initially south against a large south east swell, the rough conditions encouraged a re-think so we turned and surfed our way North to the Cushendale, a well known shipwreck to Buchan Divers but previously un-dived by myself.

Arriving on site, conditions had settled a little and were deemed acceptable so the well-oiled Buchan Elle wreck location and shot deployment machine kicked in and we waited for slack water. Some 30 minutes later the small float secured to the shot at the surface bobbed up, slack had arrived and it was time to kit up. Today Mike Rosie, another very capable and experienced Buchan Diver had joined us, so there would be four diving, a nice even numbered dive team.

With the relative shallow nature of the dive, no additional bailout gas needed to be staged so a simpler and faster descent ensued. We arrived on bottom next to the two large boilers sitting proud amongst the badly broken wreckage. Life support functionality confirmed, with 10m to 12m visibility I scootered towards the forward area pausing to inspect various points of interest such as zinc ingots before heading back past the boilers to the stern area (part of her cargo was copper and zinc ingot) most of which having long been professionally salvaged). With 20 minutes on bottom completed, we re-convened as a group and reluctantly commenced the ascent - another great dive.

Friday 3rd August 2012

Dive 4: MS Cape York, maximum depth 98m. Approximate location 20 miles NE of Peterhead, Scotland.

Another early start to catch the morning slack and the best of the day's weather. Another one of our divers Tony Ray joined us to provide additional surface support and we headed North in much calmer conditions than the previous day, the right decision having been taken to hold off diving the Cape York until the sea settled down after Wednesday's gale. Arriving at site an hour later on a flat sea, the huge sonar image of the wreck jumped out at us. With plenty of time left before slack we re-surveyed the site to identify and choose the best position to dive, preferable the bridge area. The shot was deployed on the high point mid-ships and we waited for the slack water indicator buoy to surface. However, facing an unusually large spring tide, tidal conditions were not in our favour. As the predicted time for slack water came and went, we became increasingly concerned that there would be little or no slack window and would therefore not get onto the wreck.

Eventually the slack tide indication buoy became visible but was not surfacing due to the drag upon it from the still running tide. With the prospect of loosing the opportunity to dive that day, it was decided to kit up and get ready in the event of the tide dropping to an acceptable rate. By the time we were ready to enter the water, the tide indication buoy was just below the surface, this was as good as it was going to get today and with an imminent change in tidal direction looking increasingly likely, following final pre-breathe and equipment checks we entered the water, deployed the lazy shot and commenced the long descent, each of us staging additional bailout gas as per previous dives. Although still running, the descent was not too hard against the tide, a conscious effort being made to minimise work-rate, pausing briefly to undertake a bailout valve gas switch from an off board decompression / travel gas to my hypoxic off board supply and to check bailout valve functionality. At 80m, wreckage became apparent in our torch-light so each of us secured our individual strobes to the shot-line at various depths. Mike Rosie made bottom first and at 92m noticed the shot line sinker, a 30kg link from a large ships anchor, was hanging free off the wreck having been snagged and held only by a single piece of old rope from fishing trawl gear! The bight of rope was under significant strain and if it snapped, the shot was going to be immediately pulled off site by the tide along with our back-up deco gas staged on the lazy shot. Deploying delayed surface marker buoys from 100m was an absolute last resort so we were not going anywhere until this was sorted out. We therefore remained next to the shot whilst quick thinking Mike Rosie improvised a waster line from a near by piece of trawl gear and secured the sinker to a sturdy part of the wreck (note to self: remember to ensure a dedicated waster line is always secured to the shot line sinker and readily available if required). We were now comfortable enough to leave the immediate vicinity of the shot line, confident it was not going to be dragged away taking our back-up bailout gas with it.

Following an initial assessment of the conditions I decided to reel off although this proved to be not necessary in the end, better safe than sorry though. The ship appeared to be heeled over approximately 30 degrees onto her starboard side and so to get out of the tidal stream, I dropped down along the deck into the lee to just off the seabed and then headed forwards to an area of superstructure. Remaining close together and with each others light clearly visible, we individually explored this general area trying to determine where on this huge vessel we were, mentally recording the scene around us for later recall during the debrief.

With the planned fifteen-minutes on bottom rapidly ticking away, I tied off and cut my reel line to avoid wasting time recovering it. Having now turned the dive, the location of the shot line was clearly visible in the distance thanks to the string of flashing strobes - a very comforting sight. A quick team head count and OK signal exchanged, the long ascent commenced whilst collecting our strobes on the way up. After some deep stops, at 50m we jumped across to the lazy shot and disconnected it from the main shot line. An uneventful and peaceful decompression ensued with us making surface after a run time of around 2 hours. Another fantastic dive onto a new wreck in challenging conditions. We will definitely to be re-visiting her in the future.

Footnote: MS Cape York was attacked August 1940 by German aircraft, caught fire and sunk under tow a day later. There were no casualties.

Saturday 4th August 2012

Dive 5: SS Creemuir, maximum depth 70m. Approximate position 12 miles SE of Aberdeen.

My turn to coxswain, however divers Rod Macdonald, Gary Petrie, Greg Booth, Simon Carter and Demetris Papakonstantis surfaced having had a great dive following further exploration of forward section of this large shipwreck. At the surface, very strong spring tides were taking their toll again and the shot proved too difficult to recover. Before someone was injured or the RIB damaged, it was decided to abandon the shot, which along with its buoy was subsequently dragged under with the force of the tide.

Sunday 5th August 2012

Dive 6: SS Creemuir, maximum depth 70m. Approximate position 12 miles SE of Aberdeen.

Our RIB Stoney Haar (haynesmacdonaldservices.com) was put on her mooring Saturday night. With an unusually large tidal range, to catch the morning low water slack, before the tide dropped too far the intention was for me to get down to Stonehaven harbour early morning to get her off the mooring and along side the harbour wall where the rest of the team would meet me later in the morning. On arriving at 7am the tide had dropped further than anticipated and Stoney Haar was partially grounded. With the tide rapidly dropping there was no chance of getting her afloat. A quick series of phone calls and the day was re-planned to catch the evening high water slack. Tony Ray volunteered to cox with myself, Gary Petrie and Demetris Papakonstantis diving (Rod was off to Scapa Flow to promote his new Scapa Flow wreck chart - any Scapa fans out there should check it out). After meeting late afternoon and loading the RIB, a thick sea fog had wrapped itself around the coast of Aberdeenshire - conditions against us again. However I took the decision to proceed, believing that we would likely punch through the fog into a clear sky some 5 to 6 miles offshore. It's perhaps worth mentioning here that Stoney is the local name of our home town of Stonehaven (http://www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/webc...]Aberdeenshire Council - Stonehaven Webcam) and Haar is the name given to the thick sea fog typical of the east coast of Scotland, hence the RIB's name Stoney Haar.

We departed two hours ahead of the predicted slack tide with the intention of either deploying a new shot, or if the shot from the previous day surfaced during slack water, we would use that again. Moving cautiously through thick haar, we proceed eastwards. After six miles it was still just as thick and with visibility down to 50m in places, diving was looking increasingly unlikely. Surely this fog bank can't be much wider than this? At slow speed, straining to see any vessel ahead of us we proceeded. With the occasional fog horn heard from distant shipping, at eight miles there was no change, however by mile nine, to our relief we suddenly breached the fog bank, braking out into a clear blue sky and bright sunshine. The easterly breeze was holding the fog bank hard against the coast to the west of us so it was considered safe to continue with the dive. Two miles later and well away from the edge of the haar we arrived on site and quickly deployed the new shot. However within a few minutes and much to our delight, with the tidal rate dropping off, yesterday's shot and buoy suddenly appeared at the surface in front of us. We therefore quickly recovered the new shot and re-rigged the original. After the usual RIB kit up challenges we descended and not wanting to loose the shot like the previous day, the plan was to tie the main shot to the wreck with a waster and recover the shot line sinker with a 50kg lift bag filled from a dedicated 2 litre lift bag air inflation cylinder I carry. All this was undertaken as efficiently and safely as possible but unfortunately took up 12 minutes of valuable bottom time leaving only 8 minutes to further explore the area immediately aft of the bridge. Although dark due to the low evening light, the visibility again was a very good 15m enabling another section of this wreck to be mapped. On return to the shot, pausing to look down through the pitched roof into the engine room, in the torch light a catwalk over the engine was clearly visible within a cavernous compartment that descending well below the level of the sea-bed. With ready access via the break in the ship, the engine room offered great potential for exploration on future dives.

Returning to the shot, again we reluctantly left bottom but with more of the wreck now familiar to us. After an hour of decompression we surfaced at 8pm with big smiles. The next dive will provide the opportunity to make it forward of the bridge to the bow completing the mapping of this large wreck site. We can then move on to other un-dived marks we have in this area.

Report Addendum - Additional Dives On SS Cremuir

Saturday 11th August 2012

Dive 7: SS Creemuir, maximum depth 70m. Approximate position 12 miles SE of Aberdeen, Scotland.

A weekend weather window provided an opportunity to return to the Creemuir to explore the bridge, forward section and bows. Tony Ray volunteered to cox, Rod Macdonald, Jim Burke and myself would dive. With neap tides the slack water window would be two hours long so timings were not so critical compared to planning for spring tides. We decided to catch the morning slack, which also offered the best of the weather. We departed at 9am and sped out on a flat sea pausing to watch another dolphin show and a pod of Minke whales arriving on site after 25 minutes. Assessing the tide was already less than 0.5knot, we deployed the main shot onto the bows, avoiding what were considered likely to be snagged trawl nets visible on the sonar above the wreck at a depth of 50m. Next the decompression lazy shot along with additional bailout gas was deployed in one to save us wasting time staging gas on the decent.

With only three diving, kitting up on the RIB was a little easier and we soon entered the water. Again visibility looked very good as we descended. At 50m the snagged trawl nets hanging vertically were clearly visible some 10m away along with the bows below us so we each started positioning our strobes down the shot line. At 60m we paused, adjusted buoyancy, checked bailout valve functionality / PO2 and hovered mid water in negligible tide enjoying the scene around us. It was apparent that the bows were bent backwards pointing upwards at an acute angle twisted to starboard displaying the large port anchor still secured in its hawse. Below us the deck and forward hold and seabed were clearly visible and so we descended down the deck of the fo'csle, across the collapsed forward mast to explore this area. The forward holds were open and as anticipated, empty (SS Creemuir was in ballast when she was sunk). We moved aft to the bridge superstructure and spent some time exploring this area. Below me a telegraph was lying on the deck having fallen or perhaps dragged by trawl net off the now rotten and long gone wooden wheelhouse. Moving aft we explored the galley midships and then the engine room with another ships telegraph being seen. With bottom time running low, we made our way slowly back to the shot line, stobes clearly visible over 20m away. As we headed back, we all noted the abundance of life on this wreck, shoals of fish, numerous large lobster in all direction and conger eels partially protruding from every nook and cranny. A peaceful decompression in calm seas ensued making surface after a 90 minute run time. Another fantastic dive and pleased we could share it with our good friend Jim Burke from Buchan Divers.

Sunday 12th August 2012

Dive 8: SS Creemuir, maximum depth 65m. Approximate position 12 miles SE of Aberdeen, Scotland.

With one last opportunity to dive the Creemiur for a number of weeks, Gary Petrie offered to coxswain with Rod and myself diving. Due to other commitments, the evening slack was planned for and we departed at 4pm heading east into a heavy sea that was resulting from a brisk SE wind. Surface conditions were marginal when we arrived on site 40 minutes later and likely to deteriorate so a short dive was decided upon; we'd shot the bow and remain in this immediate area.

Having come to know the layout of this shipwreck very well over the last two-weeks, we were confident that we could place the shot where we chose and so deployed the main shot on the bows, starboard side away from the snagged trawl nets. With this done the decompression lazy shot complete with back up bailout and decompression gas was secured to the main shot and again deployed in one go. Despite having plenty of space, the lumpy sea provided a few kitting up challenges, but after the usual pre-breathe and equipment checks we entered the water and began the descent. The tide was still running but nothing too challenging and as we got deeper it eased off. Visibility was less than the previous day as a result of a layer of thick plankton. However as we passed the lazy shot at 25m, this began to clear and at 50m, the bows came into view 10m below. Strobe secured to main shot we continued down and I wrapped the main shot line around a sturdy part of the bows machinery. Having decided to keep the dive short, we stayed off the bottom and explored the forward area for 15 minutes before releasing the main shot line from the bows and commencing the ascent. With time to surface around 30 minutes we passed the lazy shot before the first decompression stop. With a heavy sea now above us we remained deep and completed our decompression at 9m breaking surface after a 45 minute run time. With Gary skillfully handling the RIB in a heavy sea, as is our standard practice, when along side he secured a 2m line between the handles of our rebreathers and the RIB to ensure we remained alongside allowing us to de-kit without having to struggle holding onto the RIB tube grab lines. As predicted the wind and sea had picked up and de-kitting in 2m waves was the usual fun, however despite this the lazy and main shots were recovered without too much trouble. It was a long 12 miles slog back to Stonehaven in a rough sea but worth the effort. Another two days of exceptional diving and with the mapping of SS Creemuir completed, we now had sufficient data to sketch and paint the whole shipwreck.

[Andra]

Fantastic report, thanks for posting.

Andrew

[Clare]

Great trip. Great read.

[Garspeed]

Excellent write up Paul which gives all some feeling of the excitement we were sharing exploring the Creemuir, which for me is by far the best local diving I have ever done. We were so lucky with the topside conditions and the underwater ambient light and viz which contributed to allow us the opportunity to see this wreck in all her glory. I am now desperated to return to her and explore the forward section from bridge area to bow, as well as futher exploring the mid sections and engine room. 3 dives done and many more to come I hope - dives like this remind us all what it is all about and why we do it!

Gar

[Kieran Hatton]

Thanks Paul.

Great to see some folk are having some luck getting out and doing stuff.

Is the Port Dennison on you to do list up there? Looks like it should be a cracker though I did hear it had been hit by Dutch salvours by mistake.

Keep up the good work!

[Ivan Calcoen]

A very nice read indeed !

Thanks for the report!

Ivan

[dimitris]

It was indeed an awesome weekend and I am really looking forward to diving the Creemuir again.!

Next time (hopefully) I am not going to be diving "retro" or "vintage" (as Rod calls my diving) !!!

Many thanks again for the last minute gas blending without which I wouldn't have made Sunday!!!

D

[JacobT]

Very nice report!!!

After reading this I can't help think: Why oh why did I not get into technical diving before AFTER I left Scotland/Dundee

-Jacob

[grumpy1]

Nice read Paul, great to see you are getting your New Boat out...hope to catch up soon, as usual our Annual Gas Week at Eyemouth with Marinequest will be weather affected with SE winds forecast, as you know SE can be a real problem down there with Big Seas...although Tue Wed onwards now looking a bit better.
Great Site and hope to get up to Stoney for a bit of Gas Diving in the next few months

cheers
G1

[Paul Haynes]

Quote: (Originally Posted by Andra)

Fantastic report, thanks for posting.

Andrew

Thanks to yourself and everyone else for the positive feedback. I've added another few paragraphs describing some additional dives last weekend.

Rgds Paul