,..." ,...1. Contractors to Admralty, Mnstry of Supply, Foregn Governments, Dock and Harbour Authorte

Transcription

1 DIVING APPARATUS OF ALL TYPES based. MARCONI - SIEBE, GORMAN UNDERWATER TELEVISION EQUIPMENT EQUIPMENT DIVER'S LOUDSPEAKING TELEPHONES Davs Submarne Escape Apparatus CONTRACTORS TO THE ADMIRALTY FOR OVER A ( INHIRy 1/- TOLWORTH SURBITON SURREY,4 Royal Naval '/e+v H.M.S. VERNON PORTSMOUTH,**77 MAY 1955 Vol. 3, No. 2 Orgnal Desgners and Manufacturers of " Self- Contaned " Apparatus on whch all types are CUTTING AND WELDING UNDERWATER LAMPS, etc. SIEBE L Gp11 &CUP EVERYTHING FOR SAFETY EVERYWHERE 7

2 ,..." ,...1. Contractors to Admralty, Mnstry of Supply, Foregn Governments, Dock and Harbour Authortes, Pearlng and Sponge Fshng Industres FIRST DIP TAILORS AND 1955 CONTRACTORS TO THE R.N.. STILL DEVELOPING 1955 C. E. HEINKE & Co. Ltd. LONDON, S.E. 1! Phone Ber. 4461/5 Manufacturers of HIGH QUALITY DIVING GEAR nterchangeable wth all other makes HELMETS. DRESSES HEINKE LONDON q K HOSE DIVERPHONE SETS. COMPRESSORS, Etc.. Expermental Desgns Developed a ,S ,...1 MASKS TUBES FINS etc. BATHING SHORTS & TRUNKS by " Jantzen " and c Bukta " CUIEIUN1!DIU LTD. Underwater Swmwear Stocksts QUEEN STREET, PORTSMOUTH (and Branches) BLAZER BADGES MADE TO ANY DESIGN

3 EDIToRIAL CONTENTS TREASURER'S NOTES 3 A NOT So BRIEF ENCOUNTER 4 H.M.D.T " CLEARWATER " 6 CRUISE OF H.M.S. " RECLAIM " BOMB AND MINE DISPOSAL NOTES 11 A DIP IN WOOI(EY HOLE 13 ODD ODE 16 OBSERVATION CHAMBER AND ARTICULATE6 ARMOURED DRESS DIVING 17 " of MARINE SALVAGE ,11 11\ A I. 11 I 1\,,11, - 29 In\ ml 1, u \ I 1 \ IN1 1)1 \ \. I, 11,1 \I 11,Am 31. II I' ' 1111' nt \.1.1, Acton 1 1 :12 R.N. Dvng Magazne Dear Readers, EDITORIAL STAFF Edtor: Petty Offcer R. L. Benfeld Treasurer: S. f. NeWnan, Snr. Cmd. Gnr. (TAS) R.N. May, 1955 No. 2 EDITORIAL Once agan there has been a change n the edtoral staff due, I am sorry to say, to servce requrements. Our last Edtor, Lt. Sagar, has departed for Canada to start lfe afresh n the Canadan Navy. The, last Treasurer, Mr. Curre-Davs, has departed for the dstant outpost of Portland, Dorset. ' Ths, our frst magazne under the new staff, I trust contans news /for all, but Oh! the pan of obtanng t. May I remnd every one that the future of ths magazne rests n your hands, so please let us have your support. Send, any materal you have to R.N. Dvng Magazne, H.M.S. Vernon, Portsmouth. I would lke to thank all those who have gven us support In'ths our frst ssue by sendng n stores and photographs, not forgettng our cartoonst. Let us hear from a few more of you lads, t does not matter how tall story mght sound, we wll fnd room for t. EDITOR. MI ol, I I \ \ 11.1NI 36 t r\ru 36 I l',ah I NI 37 I N. TECHNICAL ADVISOR I I UPLIFTER " AT BLYTH,111 50TH C.D.T. H.M.S. " DIVER " 42 A FISHY STORY - 43 AND HERE IS A FISHY STORY TO END ALL 11)..S41" 6" TREASURER'S NOTES As mentoned h\ the!here has been complete change of staff for ths magazne. Many of you wll have receved a letter and new subscrpton fotm from me; there are stll many to go out, but t s a long job. Nevertheless the response so ht s very encouragng, and I trust that n the very dear future olr crculaton wll have more thavdoubled tself. ;Remember t s your magazne, and you can help n ncreasng the sze and crculaton by sendng n your contrbutons, also pss.ng your magazne on for others to look at and nterest them n becomng a subscrber -also. Pletse remember to let me know any: change of address, t s qute a problem to keep n touch wth you all especally,these days wth shorter conunsous, etc. All for now, S. J.N. 3

4 A NOT SO BRIEF ENCOUNTER By knd permsson of portsmouth Evenng Naar We came alongsde her under the crtcal gaze of the entre German crew, who were then treated to the mpressve sght of Mr. Walker swarmng aboard by means of a rope. A rope ladder was then lowered and I ascended n a more sedate and less precarous manner. On deck we were greeted by Captan Herman Eggers and Staff Captan Helmt Gruppe and after much salutng and handshakng, we retred to the wardroom where the tradtonal Schnapps was produced. We learned that Pamr, an all steel four-masted barque of 3,103 tons, was bound from Hamburg to the Rver Plate ; hef crew consstng manly of cadets. Whlst proceedng down Channel one of the mzzen course (or lower sal) sheets had carred away and fouled the screw of her desel auxlary. It was absolutely mperatve that the auxlary should be functonng, as wthout t she would be unable to dock or proceed up rver unaded, and the cost of engagng a tug would be prohbtve. Already Clearwater was moored n a poston on Pamr's port sde adjacent to her counter, bottom lnes rgged, and the frst dver n Mk. I.U.W.S.S. and gas mask nspectng the task. Some 30 feet of steel wre rope was then removed from the propellor shaft, enablng a more detaled examnaton to be made. Ths revealed that the offendng wre had worked up underneath and nsde the rope guard, and as ths was not a standard fttng but was welded drectly on to the hull, t was evdent that a secton would have to be cut out of t. As I had only come out for an afternoon, the gear I had was what I stood up n, and a battledress and rancoat was not an deal dress for a three-day task such as ths one turned out to be. However, the crew of Clearwater ralled round and soon I was attred n seaboots, khak slacks, two blue jerseys, the P.O's jacket and my R.A.F. beret an odd but workable assortment of clothng. At the request of her Captan we had our meals on Pamr thank goodness, as corned beef and bscuts can soon get monotonous! enormous steaks, eggs, etc., washed down wth Rhne wne, excellent coffee and the nevtable Schapps. The Pamr's cadets were very nterested n the dvng operatons and t was qute a task gettng nto a sut as there were so many pars of keen but amateursh hands tryng to help. We also had a German offcer on duty wth us for the purpose of producng anythng we needed from Pamr's resources. On the second day, Staff Captan Gruppe was down on Clearwater when an R.A.S.C. launch came alongsde. A naval helcopter was closely nspectng Pamr and at the same tme I was beng hauled out of the water; he'looked at me and shook hs head n a puzzled manner and sad n hs very good Englsh: " I don't understand t the Ar Force s workng under the water, the Army are salng about n boats, and the Navy are n the ar." I could not attempt an explanaton! On the thrd day, wth the completon of the task almost n sght, I had to take my leave; so wth my souvenrs, tally bands, autographed photographs, a par of wre-scratched hands and a most enjoyable nsght tr After a pleasant luncheon n Vernon's wardroom, I had arrved back on Deepwater and was contemplatng the cold muddy waters around the stern wth lttle enthusasm for my forthcomng dp,' when I was haled from Clearwater and asked f I would lke a run out to have a look at the German tranng shp Pamr whch was lyng n St. Helen's Roads wth a fouled screw. Havng obtaned the reluctant approval of my dvng nstructor, I was soon aboard Clearwater and headng out towards Spthead and the Pamr.

5 nto lfe on board one of the fastfdsapp6arng wndshps," I 'left the excellent comradeshp of all on Clearwater, and wth the shouts of " Coward! " and " Keep 'a level head " from,mr. Walker-I reluctantly returned to Vernon. C. T. LYNAS, Squadron Leader,Royal Ar Force. H.M.D T. CLEARWATER , 111 of 'OrtNn nth lve ng NTIVS \ c1 111ec,I l lesday. \. ( /, 0/ //, ew,le concerned, I br re are'now two Mondays (11,1 111,-,1,1\ ), \\,1.1\, 1111H.d,(\', Hr., Tuesday hayng been...unapmow,' ", 1111, I,,.1 " 11,,111 (he weck. Hrr been thsfatelul day.that,,1111,, (he mole (1m1,-,11,11 jobs have been undertaken 1)y. H.1 \\ \\.11 mlesweeper n Southampton wth more than ,111 dm l,,1 (hedge' 's cable around her screw.. The usual " faster 1, c MIS undertaken n somewhat chlly condtons and a mass,; Hon cable was fnally cleared, the job takng two days am! much 11.1sh to complete. Damage to the C.M.S. conssted of half-ado/c11 Hamar chps from the port screw. A matter of nterest the captan, of. ths partcular vessel was. one of the two survvors of H.M.S. Hood; whch was sunk,on Empre I )ay, 1941 by the German battle cruser Bsmark. The followng Tuesday, at almost the same tme, we were off agan, ths tme somethng really unque. A foul screw on the four masted barque Pamr, a German cadet tranng vessel of 3,103 tons net. 6 e Thgturned out to be a " Pg's Orphan " of a job, due to the extreme coldness of the water and a constant rse and fall under the counter of some' three' to fve feet, gvng the dvers a steady " shoulder massage " aganst the hull and rudder, n the best tradtons of a Peruvan yo-yo champon. (In fact, lfe became a seres of ups and downs!) Through-theeffects of the above, work progressed panfully slowly, one dver beng knocked out, one havng a fnger severely gashed (later operated on by the German doctor on Pamr), and all havng a generous proporton of cuts and bruses. The barque had been on her way down channel on what promsed to be a record run to the Rver Plate. Her speed was a steady 16 knots, when she ran nto head wnds. Startng her auxlary desel to assst her, she was unortunate n havng the mzzen course sheet pendant (24- wre) carry away and foul the screw. The wnds forcng her back up channel, she put nto St. Helen's Roads, and requested help from Commander-n- Chef, Portsmouth. Strangely enough, on the day Clearwater went to Pamr's assstance; we had, already been out n the vcnty of the Nab Tower, assstng the B. & M.D. Unt under Mr. Curre-Daves. On returnng we crcled Pamr for a closer look. Lttle dd we know then that our servces were so urgently needed. The hosptalty of the German captan and hs crew was overwhelmng. They gave every possble help, even to unoffcal " dver's attendants," and ncludng as lason offcer, the thrd mate. Truly, 'as hs nckname. mpled, " A man and a half." Standng sx foot four, and bult accordngly, he had a frendly habt of'pckng up our cox'n wth one hand, and wshng hm " Guten Morgen." Meals always hurred busness became somethng of, an,errbar, rassment, for, f one faled to consume enough for sx, our generous hosts became alarmed, thnkng we were ll. (The mracle was why we never were!) 9 Whlst the job progressed, sound frendshps were made, and much regret was expressed _by a certan ` Alexander the Great " (and one other), at not beng n a.. poston to accompany Pamr's crew on ther voyage. It was noted that the lngustc capabltes of one other provoked great envy n the leadng stoker mechanc of Clearwater, whose grasp of the-german language after four days was lmted to the equvalent of " mouse-hound." On Pamr fnally contnung her voyage, her crew gave the team a wonderful " Chuck-up " whch was heartly recprocated, both vocally and on the Clearwater's sren. To such good effect that the L.S.M. had to keep up pressure by runnng, the compressor. (Ths, aded by much basc Englsh, nterspersed wth hs own brand of " German " curses, turned the atmosphere of the engne room a beautful shade of Royal Blue.) The eager frendlness and unbounded hosptalty of Pamr was emphaszed by a most complmentary sgnal of thanks to the Commandern-Chef, Portsmouth.

6 0 Bergen proved to be a very old and pcturesque town, founded n 1070 by Kng Olaf Kyrre. It s reputed to have the heavest ranfall n Norway, 74" annually, but Reclam struck lucky; the weather durng our stay was cold, but n the man dry. The cty s practcally solated from the hnterland by tall mountan ranges. Ths has led to an ndependent sprt among the nhabtants, and they tend to regard all other Norwegans as " Furrners." In fact, ask a local f he's from Norway, and the chances are he'd say " No, I am from Bergen." A rugged mountan, Floyen, towers over the cty, and s to Bergen what the Peak s to Hong-Kong, or Table Mountan to Capetown. The summt s reached by a very modern funcular ralway, and at week-ends most of the populace ascend n the tran for the favourte Norwegan sport of sk-ng. Through the good offces of our estmable lason offcer, Leutenant Commander Peter Salen, a number of pars of sks were allocated to Reclam. Needless to say our salors took to the sport lke ducks to water, and made up n enthusasm what they lacked n skll. The locals were hghly amused to see No. 8 clad Brtsh tars chargng down steep slopes, go flyng nto snowdrfts, and then doggedly pck themselves up and start all over agan. Luckly durng our stay we had no serous accdents, the only casualty beng Leadng Seaman Puttock, who spraned an ankle. Meanwhle the dvng went on apace, and we were able to demonstrate our technque to the Royal Norwegan Navy. The water was 5 C on an average but, despte ths, we eventually acheved a depth of 411 feet, erroneously clamed by some journalsts as a world record. Ths was rather embarrassng, but then we must remember that newspapermen have to lve too. The captan, Leutenant Commander C. R. Sms, was n great demand as a lecturer. Other offcers attaned fame or notorety by more unorthodox means, notably our number one, Leutenant Hefford, who was well known for hs propensty for stckng slver paper cups on the deck-heads of certan well known hotels. However, all good thngs must come to an end, and we prepared for salng. The nght before we left, your correspondent went to the top of Floyen to have a last look at the faryland that s Bergen by nght. A carpet of velvety darkness stretched away to the waters of the fjord, the blackness releved by seemngly mllons of twnklng damond lghts, lke reflectons of the stars. A golden half-moon, floatng serenely n the sky, sent a shmmerng path of soft lght across the cold black surface of the Byfjord. It was breath-takng and unforgettable. The dawn came round much to quckly, and n very bad vsblty we saled from Bergen for Copenhagen. Blndng snowstorms and blzzards met us as we entered the North Sea, and once agan our Decca faled; hut men saled the seas before Decca was nvented, and we ploughed on. Sant Patrck's day came and wth t the announcement that one of our company had become the proud father of a daughter. Followng the Nemedr routes we felt our way round the Skagen Horn and nto the Kattegat. Early on Frday mornng we passed Helsngor, the Elsnore of Shakespeare's Hamlet, and anchored untl daybreak. Wth the lght we weghed anchor and before another hour had passed we were secured alongsde the whsperng pnes ' of Langelne. 9 To work on one of the last salng shps was truly a memorable and unforgettable experence. It may be added that everyone managed to " keep a level head " although t was a dstnct stran on occasons. HOOKY. CRUISE OF H.M.S. " RECLAIM " On Monday mornng, January 17th we slpped from the North Wall, Portsmouth and set off on the frst lap of our Scandnavan cruse. Our frst stop was Portland, where for ten days we worked up, performng A/S exercses, meetng old shps, and generally gettng our sea legs. From there we saled to Fort Wllam, at the head of Loch Lnnhe, where we arrved on Monday 31st after a rather a rough passage. Wthout wastng any tme we started our dvng, the frst dve beng to 200 feet. Gradually workng down the gauge for the next three weeks, we exercsed all our dvers to 50% fathoms. Naturally there was some play between the work, the Hghland populace of Fort Wllam provng wonderfully hosptable and knd. The lasses were very co-operatve too, many a buddng romance havng ts concepton durng our three weeks there. Reclam's farewell dance was held n the Grand Hotel on the nght of February 14th, and a wonderful dance t was. Then wth regret we sad goodbye to our frends n the Hghlands, and set off for Port Edgar. Roundng Cape Wrath was an experence. We met howlng gales and hurrcane force wnds, some of the gusts beng more than 70 m.p.h. We had some navgatonal dffcultes, our gyro compass and Decca navgator packng up when both were most needed. The worst was yet to come. Suddenly the engne telegraphs clanged and regstered STOP. It seemed at that precse moment that the sound of the wnd changed from a howl to a hgh-ptched scream. The helm was quckly put over to brng our head to the sea. Helplessly we wallowed n the grp of the waves beatng n from the north, and pushng us steadly towards the black forbddng rocks of Cape Wrath. The N.U.C. sgnal was hosted and frantc phone calls went on between the brdge and the engne room. The reason was that we had lost sucton owng to the terrfc rollng of the shp. Outwardly calm the captan rested hs arms on the brdge screen, and watchng hm we could feel the responsblty that rested on hs shoulders. Half an hour went by and bt by bt we were beng drven nshore. All eyes were on the telegraphs and suddenly, unbelevably, they clanged from STOP to HALF-AHEAD. There was a lftng of tenson and the captan laughed wth relef as he shouted a magnetc course to the quartermaster. Next day, havng weathered the worst storm n most of our memores, we thankfully passed over our berthng wres at Port Edgar. A week there lckng our wounds and makng ourselves look pretty agan, and we set off for Norway, the land of the Vkngs. Ths tme the weather proved knd to us, gvng a lttle push f anythng, and after a couple of days we steamed through the Pudde and Byfjords, and secured alongsde n Bergen harbour a.m. Saturday, 26th February.

7 I The B.N.A. Commander Potter and our Dansh lason offcer, Leutentant Pelle Mosbech, made us extremely welcome, and organsed dversons lke vsts to the Carlsberg and Tuborg Breweres, whch were thoroughly enjoyed by the lucky types who went. Your unfortunate correspondent was otherwse employed each tme. The Royal Dansh Navy was very nterested n our dvng. Restrcted to comparatvely shallow depths, helum dvng proved rather a novelty. Mr. Otley, D.0.1, proved an able lecturer to the squads of Dansh offcers and doctors who vsted us. Here, too, we had some very good journalstc frends. Ngger, our shp's cat, was sadly lbelled, beng credted wth nnumerable felne wves from Sptzbergen to Shangha, and wth more offsprng than Solomon. Poor old Ngger, he's been a eunuch for years! Salng day came round just as we were gettng to know the place, and on Wednesday we found ourselves ploughng through the Southern Baltc en route for Karlskrona. Our objectve was a buoy a few mles south of Karlskrona, where we should pck up a plot. A Decca fx put us rght on the buoy on the mornng of Thursday. Unfortunately, no buoy had been lad and, after crusng round searchng for t n obvously dangerous waters, the captan thought t more prudent to drop anchor and wat for the plot to come to us. Eventually a small boat chugged out and we embarked the plot and Leutenant Lennart Malmborg, our Swedsh lason offcer. What a sght awated us as we entered harbour. The whole area was absolutely ce-bound. Reclam proved an effcent ce-breaker, however, and we carved through t lke a hot knfe through butter. Gettng alongsde was no easy task, as the shp compressed the ce nto one mghty fender. By dnt of sea-sawng wth the head and stern wres we eventually got near enough to put a brow out. As usual, the frst ashore was Ngger, followed closely by the postman. The Royal Swedsh Navy, thorough as usual, had left nothng to chance, and a rather full programme was lad on. Part of ths was a vst to the Swedsh Tranng Establshment, whch proved very nterestng. About 60 offcers and men were conducted round and were very mpressed by the brghtness and cleanlness of the classrooms and workshops. The porcelan factory was another attracton whch proved of great nterest. The Swedsh dvng shp Belos, commanded by bluff Commander Holger Donhammer, very quckly became our chummy shp. A demonstraton of the Swedsh rescue bell was lad on for our dvers by Belos, and Reclam's dvng offcers had the experence of descendng n the bell to a submarne, transferrng, and comng back nto harbour on the brdge of that craft. We dd a demonstraton of deep dvng and a surface recompresson, and now Commander Donhammer feels he has a good lever wth whch to pry a new dvng vessel from the Swedsh Admralty, hs own beng somewhat ancent, more than 70 years old. The Brtsh and Swedsh chefs and petty offcers became frends quckly, the one learnng to say " Skaal " and the other to say " Cheers " n rapd tme, whle large quanttes of aquavt and beer were consumed. A dance was held at the Savoy Hotel where Brtsh tars were welcomed wth open arms, and on Sunday nght many a fond adeu was taken of Nordc lady frends n quet solated corners. " Partng s such sweet sorrow." 10 Early on Monday mornng we left Karlskrona to a volley of freworks from our frends of the Royal Swedsh Navy. It was a pleasant day as we saled through the mnefelds of the Southern Baltc, bound for home va the Kel Canal. A glorous dawn heralded our entry nto the canal, but the promse ddn't hold good and before long we ran nto blzzards that reduced vsblty to a few yards. The Kel Canal wnds and twsts for 98 klometres, roughly 60 mles, and the whole length of t s covered wth as much shppng as Pccadlly Crcus s wth motor traffc. On a fne day t would be a wonderfully nterestng and beautful trp, but the bad vsblty made t a nghtmare. However, magnfcent shp-handlng by the captan got us through safely, and at 4 p.m. we entered the estuary of the Elbe. Mraculously, the weather cleared and we had a comparatvery nnocuous passage through the Nemedr routes untl we cleared the mnefelds. Good tmes were had, frends were made, nterestng places were seen, and at tmes t saddened one to say the eternal goodbye. The cruse was now a pleasant memory, somethng to talk and thnk about n future days. The man concern now was the state of the No. l's and the tme of the frst lberty boat when we arrved n Pompey. There was a keen feelng of antcpaton as that old frend the Nab Tower loomed up on the horzon. As we passed Dophn and Vernon, and the ppes whstled and trlled, there was a pleasant glow n our hearts " Here we come, Pompey, the Smoke, Brum, the salor s home from the sea." BOMB AND MINE DISPOSAL NOTES Snce our last ssue the New Year found command teams rather busy dealng wth a varety of mnes, mssles and projectles washed up or uncovered as a result of the rather heavy gales, abnormal for even that partcular tme of the year. Senor Commssoned Gunner (C.D.) " Jacke " Rae, fresh (?) from the Goodwn lghtshp search, spent a busy tme n the Nore commond, the hgh-lght of whch was a Mk. 17 at Margate. Nothng qute remarkable about ths except that the party tackled the job under arduous weather condtons after 60 hours wthout sleep. So f you see any of the Nore team wth " bags " under the eyes, that's the reason. The Plymouth command team also sometmes have ths optcal afflcton but for totally dfferent reasons. However, 3 jobs n 5 days, entalng a dstance of 1,400 mles, s pretty good gong, and t can well be magned that " Bluey " and hs team made ther usual mpresson on the Welsh mountans and Lancashre mud-flats. 11

8 Photo by knd permsson Lalonette, West Street, Bognor Regs 12 gr Fnally we should lke to record that our lason wth the bomb busters at Broadbrdge Heath s stll on an excellent bass. Thanks s expressed for ther very knd assstance on more than one occason, and the value of ther experence has helped n the dealngs that we have encountered n somewhat lmted B.D. work. The Jont Servces Advance B.D. Course held last December at the Army School was a great success and the " Sappers " as usual made everyone feel more than " at home " and so to them and to you all, cheero tll next tme. C.D. A DIP IN WOOKEY HOLE By BUBBLE AND SQUEAK 13 The nom-de-plume under whch ths artcle s wrtten s justfed not only on the grounds of anonymty but also because of the dvergence of opnon about breathng apparatus on the part of the two spelean dvers. Bubble s a whole hearted compressed ar fanatc (he s ncdentally an amateur) for he consders that for nearly all peaceful uses the followng advantages fully outwegh the dsadvantages: (a) No rsk of oxygen or carbon doxde excesses or defcences. (b) No danger f nternal parts of apparatus are accdentally flooded. (c) Mnmum of drll requred for use. (d) No reasonable depth lmtatons. (e) No rubber counterlung to tear. (f) Greater ease of depth changng when swmmng as there s no counterlung whose buoyancy vares when subjected to fluctuatng ambent pressures. Squeak (a professonal) on the other hand was fully aware of the one great advantage of the pure oxygen regeneratve type of set endurance. He realsed that for a dve to 33ft. for nstance, about 1/50 of the quantty of gas only need be carred as compared wth the C.A.B.A. type for a dve of gven duraton. Lnked wth ths he realsed that the bulk of hs apparatus would be very much less than that of Bubble's an mportant pont when squeezng through narrow rocky passageways. They dd not come to blows over ths dvergence of opnon they merely turned up at Wookey Hole one Saturday nght wth ther respectve peces of apparatus. Bubble had a 2,400 ltre Sebe Gorman C.A.B.A. and a cut-down D.S.E.A. set for emergency use. Ths gave hm an estmated 80 mnutes' endurance at 10 feet wth a completely alternatve 20 mnutes' emergency oxygen supply. Squeak has a standard U.B.A. rgged for use wth pure oxygen on hand demand. By usng hs emergency bottle hs endurance would be over 120 mnutes. The only other gear that they had besdes swm suts and fns were dver's knves, D.S.E.A. torches and some hanks of codlne. It s of nterest that though they both favoured neck seals, Bubble had to use a hood as hs 11" neck becomes uncomfortable n the neck seal made for the so called " average man." It s no hardshp n Wookey to have one's hands or head n water as the temperature throughout the year remans n the regon. Scottsh command had a G.Q. late last year and have been qute busy wth a consderable varety. " Pete " Messervy and hs team of Scottsh country dancers have a large and rugged parsh to cover, and despte the slence from them we are sure they are well engaged. We have, alas, heard lttle from the Medterranean team, apart from a bref paragraph n the natonal dales about a German bomb beng found and recovered from the clear depths of Grand Barbour at Malta G.C. We here n Portsmouth, the smallest, but I don't thnk least n mportance of the command areas, have had a far share of the harvest; but then, as we always have bags under our eyes, t's dffcult to decde when and what we have been dong (no cracks please). In passng, we menton a couple of 1,000 lb. bombs and a German G.V., the latter at Bognor Regs where, I mght add, the hosptalty of the local nhabtants was qute overwhelmng. The appontment of Senor Commssoned Gunner E. Plapply as the Far East Staton Bomb and Mne Dsposal Offcer has just been announced, thus now makng our responsbltes " world wde." We wsh hm luck n hs new job, and congratulate hm on hs recent promoton. We are soon to say goodbye to Commssoned Bos'un S. Curre-Davs who, havng completed hs sentence at Portsmouth, leaves for Portland. No not the Borstal nsttuton but as offcer-n-charge of the clearance (lvng team. The " bandt " had a good nnngs of over two years (no remsson) and has vastly benefted by hs experence many and vared they be. No, we couldn't qute pn hm down on what sort of experences (nuff sad)! Senor Commssoned Gunner D. Donoghue takes over n Portsmouth and we wsh hm equal success.

9 14 the prevous evenng the resdent ' archaeologst and hearng hs tales of fndng human skulls and mscellaneous relcs n that area. It was thought that the very heavy ran of a month before whch had swollen the Axe mght have uncovered more bones on the rver bed, so they decded to have a look. Unfortunately the ' squarng off ' operatons further upstream were now havng ther effect lower down. Vsblty was very bad so after a short search they returned to the surface. The Wookey Hole area was fnally left wth the feelng that the overall ar of a frst dve n a pothole of that nature had been acheved. Lessons Learnt: 1. An underwater compass would have been a most useful addton to the dvng equpment. 2. Some means of communcatons should be worked out n advance between the dvers on the buddy lne. Once beyond the ffth chamber there are very few ar surfaces the use of whch would permt speech and to fnd these requres a most ntmate knowledge of the cave, for once the water has been dsturbed t s practcally mpossble to locate anythng. 3. Bubble took hs wfe to the cave and a very useful Sherpn she made, transportng gear from the entrance of the cave to the rver. She also asssted wth dressng and Bubble suspected that t was the mancured nals of the dresser that perforated hs Cuff before the Sunday mornng dp. At all events hs sut was flooded throughout on emergng from the rver some :30 mnutes later! Phone 6908 BAUN R CO I tablshed 1880 Naval Talors and Outftters 172 & 182 QUEEN STREET, PORTSMOUTH (Members, Interport Naval Traders' Assocaton Ltd.) NAVAL ALLOTMENTS ARRANGED PRICE LIST ON REQUEST FIRST IN THE FIELD FOREMOST EVER SINCE 5 Wookey Hole has been known to exst for centures and has a most nterestng hstory whch can be looked up at any publc lbrary. For many years the rver Axe whch flows through the cave system has been used to provde water for a paper mll stuated n Wookey Hole vllage. Dvng has been carred out n the rver rather ntermttently for the past 20 years and t s by no means fully explored. The cave s hghly commercalsed and for a small sum the publc can vst the frst, second and thrd chambers. On occasons when the rver level s low t s possble to go by small boat to the fourth and ffth chambers. Bubble and Squeak started by havng a trm dve n the open water of the frst chamber and then proceeded upstream through beautfully clear water under about 100 feet of rock at an average depth of 10 feet to the thrd chamber. The second chamber has a very small ar surface whch was gnored but the " dry party " from the banks were able to check the progress of the dvers. They saw the torches flashng and heard occasonal rushes of ar from Bubbles' apparatus eventually fndng ts way va the rocky celng to dsturb the mrrorlke surface. The dvers dsappeared agan at the top end of the thrd chamber and swam steadly upstream. Morale was so hgh on reachng almost the end of one hank of codlne that they wondered what was the " problem " of Wookey. They felt confdent and warm. They could see wthn the range of ther D.S.E.A. torches about 15 feet and t was a most nterestng " landscape." A mxture of rocky walls, valleys and crevces and, beneath, a rppled sandy bottom of varyng gradents broken by outcrops of rock. They had, guded by the groundlne that runs through from the thrd to the nnth chamber, successfully negotated one narrowlookng hole (n spte of the D.S.E.A. set and C.A.B.A.). It was soon after ths, from a place about 150 feet beyond and 15 feet below the thrd chamber, that they saw the groundlne dsappear down a dark lookng ravne to a lower level. They hestated, and as they dd so they were mmedately surrounded by a thck reddsh slt that reduced vsblty to nl. In spte of care, the movement of fns, knees and elbows had dsturbed the bottom of ths very slow-flowng rver. The next (10 seconds lasted far longer than one mnute. Bubble dd not know whether Squeak ntended to go on or back. Bubble had dropped hs spare reel of codlne and had got t caught up wth body, apparatus and rock. Squeak cautously pulled n about 10 feet of the 12 feet buddy lne whch they had between ther wrsts. Feelng no resstance he thought that Bubble had burst! In fact he was only about a foot away! They soon afterwards groped ther way out, back along the codlne gude and rather thankfully surfaced n the thrd chamber. Over an enormous steak n the Wookey Hole Inn they decded durng a post-mortem that they had n fact mssed the fourth and ffth ar surfaces and had swum beyond the waters of the sxth. A resoluton was made to return to the cave after breakfast on Sunday to locate these " mssng " ar surfaces, recover the abandoned lnes, and generally tdy up after the nght before. Havng acheved ths they decded to have a fnal dve under the rock between the frst and second chambers. Ths was prompted by meetng

10 ODD ODE Ths s the tale of Dver Perce, Who wore a dvng dress and spurs. A lttle man just short and stocky, Before he joned, a famous jockey. He'd managed to survve the war, Yet went to sea to ask for more, And beng keen to fll S.9's He volunteered for, Clearng Mnes. It shall not be recorded here How he cleared a mnefeld. n Korea. Workng on a mne beneath the ocean, He saw a bg shark was approachng. No more to-do at all made he, But smply gave a loud whoopee, And swmmng n the darn thng's track He straghtway mounted on ts back. Then dggng n hs starbord spur, He felt the shark beng to str And gve a roar so aggravated, All mnes were trggered and actuated. Poor Perce flew hgh nto the sky, Wavng hs pals a fond goodbye. Whlst up aloft he scored a ht, Upon a MIG and damaged t. Returnng late that afternoon He landed on a met. ballot', And thnkng he was n the saddle, He quckly had hs legs astraddle. He dug hs spurs n at ths juncture And caused a rather large-szed puncture. He came down wth an awful Wheck Upon the flagshp's quarterdeck. It was a perfect three-pont landng On what he used when not standng. Our old frend Perce just sat and hollered, He'd mpaled hmself upon a bollard. Hs explot caused a great sensaton, And earned for hm a decoraton. And now at last I'm greved to say, He's had to put hs spurs away. He'll never rde agan I doubt, Hs stern's too badly knocked about. T.E.T. The Medcal Offcer of A.E.D.0. has the wrter under close observaton. 14 TYPES OF OBSER- VATION CHAMBER Observaton chambers are of two standard types, frstly wth jettsonable sold ballast and secondly wth fxed sold ballast and water ballast controlled by compressed ar. They are made by Brtsh and Contnental manufacturers, both types havng ther adherents. Successful salvage operatons have been carred out n depths of over 400 feet, notably the Egypt and Nagara gold recovery enterprses, to name but two, and very much deeper and exploratory projects are envsaged n the future. 17 OBSERVATION CHAMBER AND ARTICULATED ARMOURED DRESS DIVING By LIEUTENANT C. W. CHADWICK, ROYAL NAVY (RETD.) Deep Dvng Offcer The use of observaton chambers and mproved artculated armour s gong to ncrease for deep and ultra-deep dvng and salvage purposes n future, n spte of the great advances made n late.years usng the flexble dress and synthetc mxtures. The latter technque, lnked wth physologcal and decompresson handcaps, wll rarely prove an economc soluton to the deep sea salvor, owng to lmtng tme factors on the sea bed. For ths reason, the followng gude for the use of chambers and dvng armour s provded for deep dvers, dvers, and qualfed personnel whose actvtes are engaged n the submarne world.

11 DESCRIPTION OP OBSERVATION CHAMBER SUSPENSION EYES. Two eyes are ftted on the upper part of the body of the chamber to facltate lftng on deck wthout placng on the dome or ld. FENDER. At the maxmum dameter of the chamber a substantal rubber fender s ftted for protecton aganst damage when the shp s rollng and the chamber s n operaton. HOOK FOR CABLE WAY. A specal hook s ftted, operable from wthn the chamber, for securng a wre dstance lne to the shot-rope. Ths can be slpped at wll by the dver. BREATHING APPARATUS. There are many varants of self-contaned breathng apparatus that are applcable for work n observaton chambers, the standard supply beng a 6 volt D/C motor fed by 4 x 1.5 volt electrolytc batteres whch draws the chamber ar through a charge of CO, absorbent, thus removng accumulated carbon doxde. Oxygen s suppled, hand operated by the dver, from one or two flasks of oxygen, whch should be freshly charged to 120 atmospheres (1,800 lbs/sq. ns.) pror to each dve. Another method s for the dver to wear a nose mask, secured by lght elastc webbng, the mask beng attached by corrugated tubng to a CO, absorbent canster. The duraton of submarne operatons s solely governed by the supply of oxygen and CO, absorbent taken down by the dver. Fresh protosorb should be used for each dve, the endurance of the exstent fxed and portable canster beng one hour of CO, free breathng. TELEPHONE EQUIPMENT. The telephone equpment most sutable has proved to be the laryngophone type, gvng the dver absolute freedom of rotable observaton wthn the chamber wth no hamperng mouth pece. Sound power telephones can also be utlsed. GAUGES. A pressure gauge s ftted wthn the chamber, lumnous and calbrated to 1,000 feet n pounds per sq. nch and feet. Care must be exercsed n seeng the external orfce to the gauge wth the fne gauze cover s free from obstructon. TRIM. The chamber, wth dver and necessary equpment, wll reman suspended vertcally wth lght ballast n a stream up to 11 knots. The heavy ballast should enable work to be carred out n a stream n excess of 2 knots. The chamber n all cases, wll emerge and float wth about 10 lst when the ballast s released and the suspenson and telephone cables are cut n emergency. BUOYANCY. The chamber has a reserve of buoyancy n excess of 180 pounds, and n later versons ths s further mproved. DRAIN. A dran s ftted at the bottom of the chamber n the sde wall, operated externally by box key, n order to clear any water whch may have ganed admsson to the chamber. Water Ballast Type Observatons chambers n general, ftted wth water ballast arrangements, are chefly cylndrcal n secton, of steel, and constructed wth ballast compartment encrclng the upper part of the chamber. Hghpressure ar cylnders are provded ether nternally or externally for the dscharge and regulaton of ballast, and an anchorng snker operated by the dver can be provded. Wth such chambers, the dver can be rendered Sold Ballast Type. The most wdely used type of observaton chamber, constructed by a Contnental manufacturer, has the followng broad characterstcs, but modfed mproved types are n course of development. Tested depth... 1,148 feet Workng depth 984 feet Safety rato Weght n ar wth ballast... 1,637 pounds Weght n ar wthout ballast 977 pounds Weght of heavy ballast pounds Weght of dome or ld 75 pounds Heght base to upper eye bolt 5 feet 11 nches Heght wthout ld... 5 feet Maxmum dameter... 3 feet Insde capacty 19 cubc feet Dsplacement 21.9 cubc feet The chamber s ftted wth the followng equpment to afford maxmum vson, comfort for the operator, and faclty for every seamanlke manoeuvre under water. THE CHAMBER. Is constructed of hgh tensle steel plate on a sphercal zone system, wth forged nteror renforcement plates, the whole jontng beng electrcally welded. OBSERVATION PORTS. Ffteen n number, stuated sx n upper top zone, sx n lower top zone, and three n the ld for upward vewng. The glasses, 1k" thckness, are tested to a workng pressure of 45 atmospheres (or 1,485 feet), wth specmen glasses tested to 60 atmospheres (or 1,980: feet). Each glass has a free floodng protectve glass port, whch s detachable and normally- held n poston by a feather and feather way and sprng plunger. Crcular farng plates to obvate rsk of foulng also surround each port. THE CHAMBER DOME OR LID. Is secured to the chamber by means of a rng of " steel studs, wth throw back hnge, nuts ftted to the ld. Watertghtness s ensured by a crcular secton washer ftted wthn a groove n the ld. In the centre of the ld s ftted a detachable eyebolt for securng the suspenson cable, wth cuttng shears to sever the telephone cable n emergency. A watertght gland s also ftted to entry of the telephone cable, of sze up to 20 mm, wth adjustable rng washers. THE LOWER ZONE. Is closed at the bottom by a heavy base whch acts as fxed ballast, and s recessed to house the removable ballast. ROTARY FRAME AND SADDLE. Wthn the chamber s ftted,40. rotary frame, wth flanged rollers and saddle, steel strrups and the housng for oxygen cylnders. The frame can be dvded n two parts for removal by unscrewng two nuts on the roller frame. BALLAST. The chamber s provded wth removable ballast, of two types, lght at 330 pounds, heavy at 660 pounds. Ths ballast s controlled by the dver by means of a lever and safety catch, whch operate specal hooked pawls whch engage wthn the recess of the ballast.

12 Weght n ar complete Weght of one leg... Weght of one arm... Weght of ballast chamber Weght of dome or ld Heght overall Heght wthout dome Maxmum dameter Internal capacty... Internal capacty ballast Dsplacement Capacty ar cylnders Capacty oxygen cylnders 860 pounds 121 pounds 101 pounds 60 pounds 55 pounds 6 feet 7 nches 5 feet 8 nches 2 feet 11 nches 800 pounds 150 pounds 960 pounds 1,720 ltres at 150 atmospheres 310 ltres at 120 atmospheres 21 ANKLETS. Ate provded of 50 pounds n weght each, to encrcle the lower legs when workng n a tdeway. They n no way mpede movement or progress, but must be jettsoned f worn and emergency ascent becomes necessary, n order to regan reserve of buoyancy. WINDOWS OR OBSERVATION PORTS. Ten wndows are ftted wth 1k" thck glasses and unbreakable protectve glass. They are dsposed sx to the front coverng all angles of vson, two n rear, and two n the dome. TELEPHONE AND BREATHING EQUIPMENT. Ftted dentcally as the sold ballast chamber prevously descrbed. DETACHABLE EYEBOLT. Is also ftted wth the same regulatons applcable as for chambers. BUOYANCY. The armour s adjusted for buoyancy by the dver, who operates hs blowng and ventng arrangements from wthn the sut to govern condtons of the dve accordng to the tdal factors. Fully vented, the dver can manoeuvre wth ease all hs lmbs, walkng wth a natural gat but bendng slghtly forward. The jonts are smooth n operaton and the tools, wth practce, are easy to operate for grabbng, retenton, or releasng. COMPRESSED AIR. Compressed ar s requred for trmmng the armour durng work at depth and to exhaust the ballast tank f requred to surface n an emergency. Two cylnders are ftted whch carry 1,720 ltres of ar at 150 atmospheres, lnked together and operated by a control valve n front of the dver. The ventng valve conssts of a small lever stuated at the left rear of the dver. The chargng valve s on the rght sde of the dver. OXYGEN. Oxygen s suppled n two cylnders contanng 310 ltres of gas at 120 atmospheres. The dver cracks hs oxygen bye-pass valve as requred for breathng purposes, the same valve beng used when chargng. CO2 PURIFICATION. Is carred out by 6-volt fan motor and protosorb housed wthn the sut, operable by a swtch. It s recommended that dual equpment be used,.e. breathng mask and contaner for long descents, ascents, and prelmnary search; and the automatc absorpton method whlst at work, leavng the dver free of facal obstructon. The dver should wear waders and arm guards, the latter to prevent chafe when manpulatng the tools. A slght leak may be apparent from the jonts on frst mmerson. These are of lttle moment and seal up under pressure durng descent. If a major leak develops n any jont, the dress must be hauled to the surface and the defectve jont further tghtened. After the day's submerson the sut should be thoroughly relubrcated by removal of the man securng rngs, makng sure that the rollng bearngs reman n poston on the rockng jonts. The nner steel surfaces should be kept mmaculately clean and heavly Vaselned, or rust and pttng wll be nevtable due to small ngress of water and condensaton durng storage. The use of slca gel n an open contaner hung nsde the assembled armour s recommended when the sut s stowed for sea between mmune from the movement of the parent shp, ths beng the only recognsable advantage of ths type. Fxed ballast types of chamber obvate ths dffculty by means of a " monkey," or counterweght on deck, whch proves very satsfactory. The whole of the components lsted for fxed ballast chambers are a necessary adjunct for successful operatons n both types. The chamber, sutably ballasted, may be tested for leaks by mmerson to 50 feet, then heaved nboard and examned. Pror to very deep descents t s recommended the chamber be dved to 150 feet n excess of operatonal depth, where possble, but full relance may be placed upon test fgures, subject to the systematc perodc overhaul of the chamber. Ths chamber was used for the salvage of Comet Yoke Peter, January Aprl, ARTICULATED DIVING ARMOUR Ths type of dvng equpment dates back to 1715, and whle the resstance to external pressure has been largely overcome and very great mprovements made n artculaton, free movement s naturally mpeded on a muddy sea bed and n a strong tdeway. Nevertheless, wth ngenous new tools coupled wth the latest development of a Contnental desgner and submarned engneer, much useful work s projected at depths far beyond the capacty of the flexble dress dver. The artculated dvng equpment of latest tested and mproved desgn has the followng characterstcs: THE SUIT. Comprses a man body, wth artculatons of shoulders and thghs of a gymbal type, wth feet ftted wth ankle jonts of rockng and rotatng movement. The dome secures to the man body by r steel studs and throw back hnge nuts. The arms termnate n a ball and socket water-tght jont whch houses the specal tools operable by the dver for sezng, grabbng, or manpulatng ropes, etc. Tested depth feet Workng depth wth full lmb moblty 825 feet Glasses tested to ,650 feet LUBRICATION. Castor ol and pure Vaselne are the only lubrcants to be used wth the entre assembly. 20

13 decks. The dome should be checked clear to allow for ventlaton. To get contnuous satsfactory results wth absence of leaks, great care s necessary n strppng and assembly wth partcular reference to washers and ball bearngs. DIVERS SUITABILITY The dver, f of normal stature, wll fnd the standard assembly an excellent " ft " but, for operators exceedng sx feet n heght, extenson peces are provded for the legs, whch bolt n between the ankle and thgh sockets. Also, n the case of lght men, t s necessary to provde up to 40 pounds of lead ballast, hung about the body of the armour nsde, to attan stablty when at work. HINTS FOR OPERATIONS IN CHAMBER AND ARMOUR The tde, always the handcap of the flexble sut, dver, comes to the ad of the chamber dver, and n a mnor degree to the artculated armour dver. Wth a flexble steel wre shot-rope to whch s shackled a swvel and a one ton " shot," the chamber dver can be connected by wre dstance lne, releasable at wll from wthn the chamber. The chamber must be rgged to travel down tde and wth judcous use of the derrcks wll mantan poston. When dvng at slack water a backhaul must be shackled to the shot-wre to keep dver and shot-rope clear and obvate turns. A lght stop should be secured around the dver's suspenson wre, telephone cable, and submarne lamp cable, at about every 30 feet durng descent, and removed durng ascent, ths ensurng mnum rsk of foulng on wreckage. Knowng the poston of the " shot," and usng t as a gude, t s practcable for the chamber dver to gve orders for shftng shp, derrck, or " shot," n a postve tdeway, relatve to the wreck or other objectve. When usng dvng armour the same rules apply; dstance lne may be slpped f requred and the dver havng moblty on a frm bottom may order the purchase wre to be veered away to attan freedom for search. UNDERWATER ILLUMINATION The whole of salvage operatons whch requre the servces of the observaton chamber or artculated dvng armour are closely lnked wth submarne llumnaton because n the majorty of cases, except n the Medterranean, natural lght s practcally non-exstent below 300 feet. A seres of trals have been carred out on the majorty of feasble types of lamps and flannts and t has been proved that a moderate wattage lamp, wth true parabolc reflector ftted, wll gve the best lght, and n waters where the lght scatter s hgh due to plankton and other mnute organsms the use of an addtonal removable amber glass or plastc flter s recommended. Ths does away wth the complcatons of current supply and vulnerablty of sodum and mercury vapour unts, whch have the added dsadvantage of beng requred to burn n a statc poston. Postonng of the lghts for maxmum vewng effcency has been found to be on the suspenson wre, at a heght where the beams can be dverted around the dver. The lamp unts must be ftted so that they are releasable wth the purchase wre, n order to retan reserve of buoyancy of the chamber or armour. Lghts should be sted to the front of the dome 22 The great pont about clothes made by Flemngs s that each garment s cut to your own personal measures wth the result that there s an ndvdual fnsh and a fttng that s exclusve to yourself. The skll of our experenced craftsmen makes t so. Call or send for styles and patterns FLEMINGS of PORTSMOUTH BRANCHES AT : PORTSMOUTH DEVONPORT CHATHAM WEYMOUTH DUNFERMLINE GIBRALTAR MALTA and H.M.S. MERCURY H.M.S. BLACKCAP H.M.S. GAMECOCK '3

14 ; by NORMALAIR YEOVIL ENGLAND 24 LTD. 1 ; ; ; s faultlessly talored by Bernards of Harwch and s avalable at all Bernard branches n a comprehensve sze range whereby most customers may mmedately obtan a perfectly fttng sut. Where talored to measure clothes are requred, Bernards offer a prompt delvery. Make out your Allotment to Bernards who serve you well wherever you are servng. C. H. BERNARD & SONS LTD. Naval & Cvlan Talors & Outftters 8-9 QUEEN STREET, PORTSMOUTH Branches at: Chatham, Devonport, Deal, Dunfermlne, Falmouth, Grmsby, Helensburgh, Harwch, Invergordon, Londonderry, Mlford _ Haven, Rosyth, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Rothesay, Skegness, Wetherby, Weymouth, Gbraltar, Valletta and Slema, Malta, and at Lossemouth, Arbroath, Abbotsnch, Eglnton, Anthorn, Kete, Brawdy, St. Merryn, Helston, Corsham and Worthy Down HEAD OFFICE: HARWICH, ESSEX. Tel. 880 Members of the I.N.T.A. Is...$11...o.wr ' A 25 Unform and Cvlan Clothng In addton to ths unrvalled clothng servce there are many other Bernard Departments embracng practcally every need of the Servceman and hs famly, and where t s not desred to pay spot cash for orders, advantage may be taken of Bernards Monthly Allotment Servce of whch full detals wll be suppled on request at Branches or Head Offce. r.s ,...o....s..., SIISSO ftwek Sda Sl d cabn I atmosphere 1 control I 1.111,SO.S S 1.1

15 The Specalsts for all Underwater Equpment HARGREAVES OF PORTSMOUTH AND SOUTHSEA Hargreaves (Sports) Ltd. 155 London Rd., Portsmouth Tel /4 (2 lnes) 47 Osborne Road, Southsea Tel P...110, w =40.1., Ord.O.S. 01,=1111:1 n the case of the artculated sut. To obvate blnd spots, f any, the chamber can be tlted by manoeuvrng the shot and dstance lne, or the artculated armour dver can trm ballast to drect the search to the desred target. Blankng off the top wndows to stop ngress of lght to the dver s an asset when workng. Under no crcumstances should the dome or ld ports be blanked externally, as t s frequently necessary to observe through these wndows to see that the suspenson wre s clear pror to ascendng from a wreck. Detals on underwater lamps and submarne llumnaton generally are the subject of a separate report and wll be gven n the next edton of ths magazne. H.M.S. " SAFEGUARD " SCHOOL OF MARINE SALVAGE We have been dggng up the D.G. range here for the last three weeks and deep down n the mud t was too ; ths we wll lay agan as soon as the bllet s dredged so that t can hde tself agan n the next two years. A rather larger operaton took us farther north to vew the harbour defences, and many pleasant hours were spent at nterestng depths n the cold clear Scottsh waters. One pecularty was notced durng these dves, t was that we always had many nqustve eels around our feet and we assume that the attracton was the hghly polshed toe caps of our dvng boots. About a year ago the Natonal Coal Board (Lothans Area) sought advce from Lochnvar on the possbltes of mne rescue work n flooded pts usng self-contaned dvng apparatus. Ths was demonstrated by the 51st flotlla C.D. Team (Lt. Cdr. McLean-Foreman). Snce that perod and durng the absence of the 51st team we carred on wth the job and have had many volunteers of the Coal Board's Rescue Teams strugglng manfully under water, some of them not even beng swmmers. In reply to our efforts we were nvted to become mners for one day. We arrved and were dressed as mners n new equpment, helmets, lamps, elbow and knee shelds, and generally lookng lke a cross between a racehorse and a drt-track rder. We were taken down at terrfc speed to the very bowels of the earth. We walked about half a mle, crawled another half a mle and there found the hewers of coal at the coal face. These chaps were workng n very confned spaces n hgh temperatures dong a very arduous job; we were frayed out merely gettng to the spot. We were all mpressed by the dscplne n the mnes, safety equpment and precautons and smokng regulatons. On return to surface tred, drty, but very much enlghtened, we used the lovely bathng and cleanng arrangements at the pthead. We were taken nto lunch wth the shft n the canteen, ate well and returned to Safeguard stll wonderng what makes a chap want to be a mner. The annual nspecton of dvng equpment n the Scottsh command was carred out by Safeguard; ths conssts of a farly all-embracng tour 27

16 28 WONDER BOY DOES IT AGAIN Petty Offcer J. Burgess, dver 1st class, who won the Goodhart Trophy for the most advanced gldng has agan won t ths year. Congratulatons to hm from us all. Ths s a fne achevement, as t s the frst tme ever that ths wonderfuly trophy has been won for two consecutve years by the same person. 29 A.E.D.U. NOTES A.E.D.U. has now settled down n ts new quarters; nstallaton of varous test equpment has been completed and ths enabled a general speed-up all round. There have been one or two changes n staff; Mr. Cowland, Expermental Offcer, has gone to U.C.W.E.; Mr. Payne has been elevated to the peerage and s now our Expermental Offcer; Mr. Cullen has forsaken the nose and turmol of Whale Island and joned the quet placd atmosphere of our Drawng Offce. Progress s beng made wth the converson of M.R.O. for standard dvng. The man problems are : (a) The method of carryng the weghts. (b) The method of brngng the ar ppe to the helmet. Our deas at the moment are for a belt n two sectons adjustable front and back and slung from the corselet studs. Curved weghts are carred on each sde of the body and are capable of beng slpped. The arppe s brought to a connecton on the rght sde of the belt n a smlar fashon to the A.S.W.D.D. on ar, and thence to an adaptor contanng a non-return valve, at the rght ar nlet of the helmet. The connecton on the belt s capable of beng slpped; ths wll enable the helmet and arppe to be removed complete to facltate undressng when carryng our surface decompresson. A mock-up of ths equpment has been dved afd so far ndcates that we are on the rght lnes. Our man project at the moment s C.A.B.A. (loud cheers). It was recently decded that a dual purpose set for damage control and shallow water dvng would not gve the most effcent answer, so we are now developng two separate sets; ths wll also smplfy matters consderably. We are maltng a departure from the normal type of harness assocated wth C.A.B.A. Our deas are for the set to be slung from the shoulders on two padded hooks. A belt wll hold the set nto the body, and the ends of the belt brought to a common pont wth the ends of straps from the hooks. The advantages wth ths type of harness wll be; comfort n wearng, no restrcton to movement, and ease of jettsonng. H.M.S. Reclam as most readers wll probably know has been carryng out deep dvng trals at Gbraltor and Bergen. Certan modfcatons to deep dvng drll were necessary before the trals could commence; these wll now become standard and wll be promulgated n due course. At Gbraltar the practcal workng depth on oxy/helum was extended to 430 feet for 30 mnutes. At Bergen t was ntended to report the trals n cold water but unfortunately t was not possble to complete the seres due to shortage of tme. Nevertheless, as a result of these two seres of trals, a bg step n deep dvng has been made., Development has been gong ahead for some tme on underwater swm suts. Recently we have come across a new nateral, rubbersed two-way stretch nylon. Ths materal, we thnk, wll gve us the best possble swm sut. A number of suts made of ths materal are now undergong tral wth the Expermental C.D. Team. Other mportant projects have been started but at present they have not yet reached a materal stage. of Scotland from Scapa to the border. We had lunch one day at the " George," Inveraray, and all the good people of that vllage send all dvers ther best wshes. Preparatons are now gong ahead for another range; we have surveyed the area and wth very lttle squarng off to do we shall soon be layng t out wth sprt level accuracy; as t s not deep, we shall, as dear old chads would say, " only need a fanny and a bedcover." The staff now conssts of Mr. W. Barrngton (Q.D.D.) ; C.P.O. " Algy " Ware who has recently releved C.P.O. Gates; L.Sea. Byng, P.O. Foreman's relef; and L.Sea. Skggs who last week releved P.O. Robnson. Well, ths s the place for work and also the place where we empty the snow out of our boots before we start every mornng, not to menton our very exclusve tartan dvng suts. Yours Aye, from the Mac Barrngton Gang, n the land of work, snow-flled boots, and natty exclusve tartan dvng dress. W.B. THE FLYING DIVER of hs club last year,

17 to be found on the quarter-deck of a mnesweeper; then.you wll fnd n Harpoon at a Venture a book wth whch you can " lve " the physcal exertons and the heartbreaks of the toughest job at sea. For good value ths book also encompasses the fght of one man to establsh a new ndustry. Ths part of the story s by no means the least nterestng, so I won't spol t for you by tellng you the dramatc outcome. One of the readng fashons of the day s the pocket edton. Two of these have caught my eye for ths column, though they are both unrepresentatve n that nether of them s a cheap verson of a book already publshed at a hefter prce. Vctory n Australa by E. W. Swanton (The Daly Telegraph: 2s. 6d.) s chosen n the belef that there must be some members of the dvng fraternty who are cvlsed enough to enjoy ther crcket. The story s, as we all know, a pleasant one to read. If you do enjoy your crcket, and f you enjoy the thnkng part of t almost -as much as the actual playng part, then Swanton must be your man. The book s composed of reports and artcles publshed n the Daly Telegraph durng the course of the seres and has the added attracton of a prologue and eplogue by C. B. Fry. Best of the Bedsde Esqure (3s. 6d.) wll need no ntroducton to those of you who know the parent magazne. Just to save dsappontment let me start off by sayng that ths pocket edton s not llustrated. 'Ths apart t has got everythng. You lke Esqure's " classcs? " Ths verson has Hemngway, Stenbeck and Sean O'Faolan. You prefer somethng nearer the bone? Then you wll enjoy " Latns are Lousy Lovers " and " The Wench s not Amused." The only thng you won't get from ths pocketful s bored. That really should have been the end of ths bookshelf. However, strctly STOP PRESS and treated wth very much less space than t deserves, here s the only book n the column of techncal dvng nterest. 2,000 Fathoms Down n the Bathyscaphe by Georges Houot and Perre Wllm (Hamsh Hamlton and Rupert Hart-Davs: 18s.) s the story of the record descent to 13,125 feet made by the two authors, both French Navy, n February, I confess to beng a lttle fed up wth the steady stream of aqua-lung books from French wardrooms. But ths s very, very dfferent ndeed. It s techncally fascnatng, from the pont of vew of one's job t s somethng one ought to know about, and the pleasant thng s that t s very enjoyable readng nto the bargan. Make ths a four-star " must." See you next ssue. THE CLEARANCE DIVING DEVELOPMENT AND TRIALS TEAM Ths s not a msprnt. We are growng and as we grow we seem to become more statc. Those of you who know Ttvulus wll understand why the " Trals Team " has now become the " Development and Trals Team " and anyway, t helps us n our struggles aganst other Establshments. 31 DIVER'S BOOKSHELF By JAMES BENSON It s some tme snce Nevl Shute has ventured nto the world of the Royal Navy to fnd a subject for one of hs best-sellng novels. In Requem for a Wren (Henemann: 12s. 6d.), whch s undoubtedly the most sob-stuffy book ths column has so far revewed, he makes a successful return. I make no apology for callng ths book " sob-stuffy " and then recommendng t n the next breath. It s obvously a book that wves and sweethearts wll enjoy. It s less obvously, but none the less certanly, a man's book. For those of you who know Shute's prevous work let me say that I was delghted, to fnd that the unpleasant cyncsm of In the Wet seems to have been abandoned and that the old master s almost all the way back to the standard of A Town lke Alce and Most Secret. Requem for a Wren s patently a trbute to the W.R.N.S. n novel form. As such t tells a pcturesque and convncng war narratve whch ncdentally s concerned n one very small part wth self-contaned dvng. It s also a book that poses a mystery and sets out to solve t. Ths part of the book s rather ncdental to the man story more correctly t sprngs not from the story tself but rather from the author's way of tellng t and at tmes, I feel, t palls somewhat. The trouble really bols down to the fact that f the mystery could not have been made slghtly less obvous, then t should not have been ntroduced at all. My " not-so-new " book ths ssue s Harpoon at a Venture by Gavn Maxwell (Rupert Hart-Davs: 21s.). Publshed n 1952, ths s a work of much greater stature than Nevl Shute's. It has enough scentfc " breakng new ground " n ts content, enough suggeston of hdden poetry n ts prose style, and enough demonstraton of ts author's " guts " to place t n the same catagory as Kon-Tk. Gavn Maxwell s an ex-scots Guards major who bought the sland of Soay, just to the south of Skye and under the shadow of the Cullns, and started a shark-fshng busness to provde hmself wth nterest and the slanders wth employment. Hs book delghts n so many ways. For those of you who know the lochs of the west coast of Scotland and the beautful slands of the Hebrdes t wll surely suffce to know that the atmosphere of for me at least one of the world's scenc hgh-spots s completely re-captured. If you are also one of the fortunate ones who experence, even though you may not confess to t, the romance of shps and wres that surge and the delght of two quck turns caught on the capstan as a hawser runs out; f you have ever felt that there was any truth n the sayng that the only real seamanshp left n the Andrew was 30

18 From. a total of sx, whch the boss could count easly as t was comprsed of hmself, the chef, Smth and three others, the team has now nearly doubled n sze and countng s left entrely to the new chef (Nck Carter) who, as an Instructor fresh from the school, should be able to do t easly. We have drunk two members nto a state of matrmony n the past few months (Cobb and Whtton) and at least one other s known to have hs foot on the bar. Soon any movement to a trals area wll resemble the march of an ancent Persan army. Durng the wnter months, the annual offcal and unoffcal clothng trals have occuped a large part of our tme and dscussons on " What the Best Dressed Dver s Wearng " have dscovered buddng Dors even amongst the toughest. Startng at the foundatons qute the most mportant you wll fnd that black nylons (not too shear) wth your rayon corns really make you feel dfferent. Then be sure to add three or four layers of thn materal (lght-weght woolly reach-me-downs, etc.) and even n the coldest water ths s all you need whle your fgure wll be just as trm and neat as the baggy folds of the Mk. I wll allow. But, don't despar, really talored garments are on the way whch wll completely elmnate unsghtly folds and bulges brngng to each of you the svelte lnes of a performng seal. Gloves are now the acknowledged wear of anyone who would submerge ntellgently at 40 F or below and the Annet team have undoubtedly produced the best example. For your nformaton they use an ant-gas (lnen lned) shorten t and attach a frog sut cuff. We consder that a thn woollen underglove should also be worn to avod pnchng. For those wth a delcate skn, the Portland team offer a specal Pars Sor face cream whch they clam to have found effectve. Neck seals we clam to be the best wear for all waters of any temperature where a sut must be worn, except when you go bathng n the local sewer or take a bath n a cess-pt. Wth a scarf ' and a rubber cap one s warmer and freer than anyone n a " C " type hood. Try t and see. The merest hnt that we mght not call on all of you agan ths year to borrow gear and lve on your stores and reputatons wll doubtless brng gref and despondency to many-. So far we have confned our attenton to the Home Fleet and Portland teams but we hope somethng wll turn up so that we can extend our hosptalty and brng you welcome once agan. We have got to start movng f we are to approach the 10,000 mles covered gong to trals n REPORT FROM THE SOUTHSEA SECTION BRITISH SUB-AQUA CLUB In 1951 there were few people n England apart from the professonal and Servce dvers who realzed what potentaltes there were beneath the sea's surface, let alone had been under to nspect them. Gradually the number ncreased untl n 1953 the nucleus of the Brtsh Sub-Aqua Club was formed as the future natonal organsaton. Snce then branches have been founded all over the country where-ever a suffcent number of local enthusasts could band themselves together, and not all branches are n 32 coastal regons, for several are nland, lke Nottngham and Northampton. So much for the potted hstory of the club's formaton to serve as an ntroducton to ths magazne. There are two dstnct forms of dvng as practsed by amateur dvers, each havng ts own technques and merts. One beng entrely sportng, the other embodyng the serous aspects of our actvtes. Skn dvng s a term used n ths country to denote the dver usng the basc equpment,.e. mask, flppers and snorkel. The object of ths type of dvng s confned manly to spearfshng. The dve s lmted by the one breath whch has to suffce for the descent, the stalkng, shootng and retrevng of the fsh, and the ascent. Fsh swm at all levels, but the most satsfyng kll, f kllng can be satsfyng, s at a reasonable depth. So by contnual practce n' baths and n the sea the physcal and mental endurance s stepped up. The depth desrable for ths sport to be effectve s at least 30 feet. To take an example of ths pont, the Dorset shore slopes away very steeply and levels out at between 30 to 40 feet. The larger fsh were adequately camouflaged at the bottom n weeds and rocks. Those wth a maxmum dve of 3 or 4 fathoms are fortunate to see these fsh, let alone shoot them. Ths past wnter the practce and tranng has been more ntensve, and armed wth a knowledge of hyperventlaton and anoxa possbltes and of course a harpoon ths summer may prove to be a good sportng season for spearfsherman. Fortunately for the fsh, vsblty and water temperature wegh heavly n ther favour for survval. Before the war there were many adepts at spearfshng throughout the world, except England. However, the slaughter of fsh began to pall, and a Frenchman then redrected the course of man under the sea. Jacques-Yves Cousteau produced the frst safe self-contaned underwater breathng apparatus, known now as the aqua-lung. All the lung dd was to convert hgh pressure ar to ambent pressure and to place the exhaust n such a poston as to permt easy breathng. To those more famlar wth the Servce types of equpment, an attempt s made to summarze brefly the advantages and dsadvantages. As compressed ar s used, all the propertes of ar at pressure apply as n standard dvng, decompresson, requrements, ntrogen narcoss, qualty of ar, ear' clearng, snus, etc. The advantage of havng an automatc ar supply are consderable. No blow ups, squeezes, tangled lnes, no enormous weghts when out of water, no attendants to rely upon, moblty on land and no crucal adjustments to buoyancy; n fact complete ndependence of all earthly thngs. The dsadvantages are that no hard work can be accomplshed, the cold s felt more, as even wth a sut less clothes can be worn. Submerged duraton s less, thus the work at depth would be very lmted and communcatons only possble f a lfe lne s attached; stablty s less and energy has to be used for movement n all planes. Wth closed crcut dvng the advantages of the aqua-lung over standard apply equally wth the excepton of manual adjustment of buoyancy. The nflatable counter lung for surface floatng and controlled surface heght, slence, the warmng effect of oxygen, duraton and the 33

19 obvous lack of bubbles are addtonal favourable ponts. Weghed aganst oxygen sets are the lmtatons to depth and the dangers of 0 2 at relatvely shallow depths, CO2 trouble, the effcency of the canster and the qualty of the contents, the vulnerablty of the counter lung to punctures, the constant mantenance of the set and the need for adjustment n the water and not forgettng the ' drbble ' on the soda lme. After consderaton on the somewhat broad lnes wthout delvng nto mxture and combned sets, and realzng that the aqua-lung s not the last word n dvng equpment, t would be far to state that t s at least sutable for lengthy dves of consderable depth, f need there be, and used as an ad to vsual nterests wth very lght manual work. The open crcut compressed ar set s the only breathng apparatus permtted by the club rules, and the future wth t holds many ntrgung possbltes. There s a colossal amount of work to be done. under the sea by amateurs. To enumerate the varous felds to be nvestgated n a very general way s all that space allows at present. Marne bology s one of the scences n whch the free dver can prove of value. Lttle s known of the habts of the majorty of sea lfe, the mass mgratons of fsh, etc. Just one partcular objectve s nqurng nto the spawnng, etc., of the baskng shark whch nhabts the seas off Scotland. Informaton on ths would probably help the shark ol ndustry. Too bad f the sharks object to pryng eyes 1 Throughout the centures the sea has encroached on the land and n consqeuence there may be remans of past cvlzatons awatng dscovery by dvers. The Cathedral n Deer Park and the possbltes of Belgc remans near Ventnor are but two of many known archaeologcal stes. Of course, all scentfc ventures would be under specalst drecton, as t s essental that archaeologcal stes especally should not be desecrated by souvenr hunters. If anythng has remaned underwater through the centures t wll not dsappear overnght, and s better to leave t untl a thorough expedton wth full equpment can tackle t, even f t means years. Geology s yet another subject whereby aqua-lung equpped dvng teams can be of servce, both for the pure study or as prospectors for mneral deposts. At present we are stll gropng our way forward, ntent on safety and complance wth varous regulatons by authortes and addng n a few of our own. For nstance, huntng fsh whle wearng a lung s not allowed as, apart from upsettng rod-and-lners, strppng the coast of fsh and' possbly causng legslaton, ths s not sport, just a sadstc butcherng of unsuspectng creatures. An unwrtten rule, n Portsmouth, at least, s that lobsters must be hand pcked. Ths actvty s here to stay, and s ncreasng n popularty. Ths country has a lot of leeway to make up on the Contnental amateurs, but gven a few reasonable seasons we wll at least attempt to catch them up. To condense such a large new subject s somewhat a tall order, but I hope that I have conveyed to you some dea of the club and the ntentons of ts members. The surface of the subject has only been scratched and later, perhaps, someone wll offer more specalzed topcs for publcaton. 34 "ARE YOU UP TO DATE WITH YOUR -" XXXXX-RAY 31)

20 Anyhow we have managed to fnd a few dversons, such as the S/M Talent and the South Goodwns, and we hope to be takng part n an operaton on the 2nd Aprl. Its amazng how much n demand we are all becomng snce the fleet have been ssued wth the S.W.B.A.(S) or s t our teams around the statons gvng them somethng to thnk about? Algy Ware has left us for H.M.S. Safeguard and O.P. Ncholls, complete wth new badge, has releved Shan Tuck n H.M.S. Kngfsher. We welcome both Shan and Crasher Gates to the school. For nformaton ; we are now negotatng to use a chalk pt (depth 130 feet) for our deep dves; t's clear water too, so wll be a pleasant change. All the very best to you all from Chatham not so chatty ether. P.S. We haven't reached the bottom of the barrel after all. FAR EAST TEAM Leutenant Wardle took the weght of the Far East Team from Leutenant Gash at the begnnng of By ths tme the latter wth three years plus to hs credt was by far the oldest actve naval nhabtant n Hong Kong. In May, F.C.D.O. and P.O. Butler went over to see 2nd Leut. Davd Brown the local B.D. representatve. He has a nce set-up lackng only a Stout House n the vcnty. It was good to recall the struggle at Broadbrdge Heath. We had a couple of days dong general exercse n Tolo Harbour. Drop and pck up wth an M.F.V. was great fun though hardly the thng. After ths four gunner plots from the local A.O.P. flght came n for a dp. They haven't succeeded yet, however, n gettng the team arborne! In June we dd a nght exercse on two destroyers of Leut.-Cdr. Crawford's squadron. Captan Hopkns D.8 came out n the M.F.V. for the run and was served up wth " Bull " by some of the team that made even F.C.D.O. blush. But he seemed to love t and was pleased by the team's performance. The end of June saw us all at Sngapore for a spell where we began by runnng a converson course to swm for " Terror's shallow water dvers. Our next job was to recover some ammunton dtched n 1942 by the Army n Selerang Rver. Workng from an L.C.A. we rased 500 rounds of up to 6 nch calbre n a week. We couldn't blow n stu because of buldngs alongsde and we ddn't lke to leave the stuff out n the sun by day unless t got angry so we unloaded and countermned each nght on an sland. We were pleased to see the back of the Selerang Rver wth ts two sewers, and monkeys chatterng dersvely to each other about our efforts. At the end of July ll luck struck the team. We were surveyng the nner harbour of Sngapore commercal port when L/Sea. Larkn was taken by a shark n 20 feet of water a few yards from a busy per. He ded n a few mnutes after we had got hm nto the boat. L/Sea Sayer 37 MEDITERRANEAN TEAM Much water has flown and much ' amtoot ' has been lowered snce last gong to press. For the frst, we apologse for the latter, jealous? We are busy as usual wth varous trals and keepng up the hgh standard of the M.F.C.D.T., nter-mngled wth such nterestng jobs as removng pstols, prmers and blowng down ar vessels of torpedos removed from sunken wrecks n Grand Harbour. Earler on we had a nucleons of the Trals Team dsportng themselves n our doman, led by one who s known as foze,' whose theme song from outward appearances seems to be ' slver threads amongst the gold,' tme marches on! We were then graced/dsgraced (delete as necessary) by a flyng vst of Leutenent Commander Warner, D.S.C., who vsted all shps and establshments carryng the unlghtened breatheren and was on the recevng end of more ' drps ' than a broken ' fawcett," He was taken on a run around the more selected dves and duly crowned, wth ceremony befttng the occason and hs old felt hat duly topped up, for callng our establshment a hut or a shack. Half the team ably led by Mr. Lawrence have just returned from a spot of,busness n Cyprus, where the most outstandng dvng took place. Quote " Shackle another couple of bottles on and I wll sort ths b... out " unquote (Jacko). Mr. Foster has just joned the frm next door n leu of Mr. Lavs and wll no doubt be flashng up bolers and rasng a full head of steam. We hear you have been playng snowballs at home whlst we have had to ' sweat t out ' n the far-flung outposts you lucky people. That s about all for now, sa-ha, SAM. CHATHAM NOTES It seems only fve mnutes snce we were last called upon to provde our news for the magazne. How tme fles especally as we are So BUSY here. It's been pretty hard gong runnng Sx classes wth Foul?. Instructors, but are we down-hearted? No. Anyhow we hope that our troubles wll be over when the next D.I's class completes. H.M.Ss. Kngfsher and Dngley are now n our area and H.M.S. Annel has just left us. We dd manage to get n one reunon at the " Fve Bells " and were surprsed at the very hgh standard of dancng wtnessed there. Good huntng Annet, t was grand knowng you. We are havng rather a frustratng tme n the mne department at the moment, surely we haven't reached the bottom of the barrel yet! 36

21 volunteerng to paddle 12 mles n a canoe to get help. Ths they successfully dd and Cossack came out and towed us to harbour least we should become " guests " of the Communsts. We were nspected by the commodore n February. F.C.D.O thought the team had done well and looked smart and ft. He hasn't heard the commodore's vew yet! The last event to report s an attack on a beachhead made by the Army for one of ther routne exercses. Ths was a change, successful, and great fun. B.D.O. has an excellent team of standard dvers out here wth whom we work very well and happly share the mess. Best wshes to all at home and elsewhere. F.C.D.O./F.E. We wsh to thank the F.C.D.O./F.E. for ths nterestng tem and at the same tme convey our congratulatons to Leut.-Cdr. Wardle and Leut.-Cdr. Gash on ther promoton. EDITOR. BY TECHNICAL ADVISOR As stated n our frst edton t s not ntended to make ths magazne a text book. Most dvers lke to keep abreast of ther subject, and wth long perods spent from the schools ths s not always easy; so the followng tem s beng prnted for nterest only. +1. : IrlIcrs. borne. Al. r q }lo.rt toid; Last month ammendment No. 24 to B.R. 155/43 was ssued. Ths gves the new Therapeutc Decompresson Tables. Dvng Offcers and Dvers of the' Fleet please note ths mportant change. 39 and A.B. Sharrs made a valant effort to save hm whch, we are glad, has been recognsed by the Royal Humane Socety. Sayer has been awarded the Slver Medal and Sharrs the Bronze Medal. The death of Larkn was a grave loss to the team. He was one of ts most promsng members whose stature had been growng day by day. After ths sad event the team splt. F.C.D.O. wth Sayer, Hough and Chapln set off by tran for Penang armed aganst bandts, whlst Butler and the rest packed up to return to Hong Kong; we were all glad of a change from Sngapore. The Penang party had a couple of pleasant days lookng at the bottom of the harbour and then moved to Port Swettenham. We found that 93rd Squadron R.A.F. Regment who had arranged to put us up had receved sudden orders to move next day so we were nvted to help them reduce ther beer stocks. We left behnd us a splendd stack of emptes and took wth us a sgned pcture of Dana Dors. We dved from a most palatal vessel provded by the harbour master. He assured us that they rarely saw sharks (a relef n our state of health) but that we mght meet the odd allgator! We beleve ths work n Malaya qualfed us for the General Servce Medal (Malaya) but we must admt the only bandts we met were n the beer bars. August saw us all back n Hong Kong startng converson courses for the fleet. We were three down n the team so we borrowed three handpcked S.W.D's A.B. Krkwood, Duckett and Drewtt, all good hands. A few weeks later there was another fatal shark attack. Ths tme a salor whlst bathng over the shp's sde. The team was about to do an exercse but dscreton, we thought, was the better part of valour, so we called t off, and bused ourselves for the next few days n the baths and tank wth converson and qualfyng classes. The unusual presence of sharks n Hong Kong waters was attrbuted to the extremely hot summer. The hottest for 90 years. F.C.D.O. went shark fshng wth a monster hook and some nosome bad meat as bat but the sharks ddn't apprecate hs efforts and stayed away. In late September Mr. J. P. L. Thomas, Frst Lord of the Admralty, vsted Hong Kong and showed great nterest n the team's actvtes. He had been through Sngapore so he knew all about us. F.C.D.O. had the pleasure of meetng hm. U.S.S. George Clymer pad a recreatonal vst to Hong Kong, wth the 11th U.D. Team on board. They were most mpressed wth our gear and the general set-up. Chrstmas and New Year went n the usual way. The dvers won a cake for the best decorated mess. We began 1955 wth a medcal on 1st January. Apart from a tendency to go to sleep durng the blood pressure test we were all, surprsngly, ft Chnese New Year whch lasts several days was spent n Tolo Harbour where we played wth the destroyers agan. The M.F.V. broke down on the way there and Sayer and Stockton dstngushed themselves by 38

22 H.M.S. UPLIFTER AT BLYTH Ths brought to a close a satsfyng season but the Chrstmas leave perod soon gave way to the start of the next season whch opened wth an attack on the wreck Resolve, an Admralty tug mned and sunk on the Cant outsde Sheerness. Many salvage teams have worked on ths wreck and no doubt many readers wll recall the name wth mxed feelngs, but, undeterred, we rgged the 6-nch arlft and commenced to clear the mud from the after compartments. Dvng was severely restrcted by tdes and an extremely low water temperature but we pressed on n the hope 40 that we could succeed where others had faled. Unfortunately, our programme was nterrupted by an emergency call to the assstance of R.F.A. Eddy Reef, a fleet oler whch was beached at Harwch wth a flooded engne room. It seems that the ld of the mud box on the man nlet had been removed, only to fnd that the valve was not properly closed, and the engne room quckly flooded. Although no dvng was necessary, t proved an nterestng job n that we were able to brng nto acton three of our largest pumps, ncludng an 8-nch Drysdale steam pump. Havng passed a bottom lne and hauled down a canvas patch over the nlet, our pumps quckly beat the nrush, and, wthn a short tme the vessel was ready to be towed away. Yet another emergency call followed. Ths tme to Marchwood n Southampton Water, where the R.E.M.E. Tranng Unt awoke one mornng to fnd one of ther small tugs on the bottom alongsde the per. It had, presumably, jammed under the per on the rsng tde. Agan no dvng was requred on our part, snce the Army dvers had already passed the 2-nch messengers. It remaned only for us to pass two 7-nch wres and button on to our 100-ton purchases. Wth part of the weght taken by a 50-ton floatng crane, we brought her to the surface and soon pumped her out. Ths job was notable n that we had no labour problem. There appeared to be whole battalons of solders only too ready to gve ther all n the cause of salvage. It was notable, also, for the hosptalty extended to us by the Army durng the evenng. It must be recorded that when we saled on the followng mornng, Petty Offcer Can's eyes resembled those of the congers whch allegedly passed hs front glass wth such regularty at Castletown. We returned, for the last job of the season, to another old chestnut the wreck of an L.C.T. n Stokes Bay. We had already lfted and beached two sectons and we now, wth the assstance of Barrova, prepared to deal wth the thrd secton. The cvlan dvers of the Emergency Salvage Party on the staff of B.D.O. Portsmouth had spent months n cuttng the wreck and were famlar wth every rvet of t. However, shp's dvers were able to assst n the passng of messengers. Unfortunately, snce t was necessary to beach at the top of sprngs, tme pressed too heavly and we were unable to poston the 7-nch wres to ensure that the wreck came up clear of the stems of the shps. Notwthstandng, we lfted and pressed on for the beach and fnally grounded the wreck n a farly accessble poston. Thus ended another successful season. Snce our last contrbuton, L/Sea. Webster had been releved by L/Sea. Hopper, and S.M. Baker by A.B. Douglas. All have ganed valuable experence and Baker left the Servce extremely hopeful of ganng a bllet n cvlan salvage. In closng, may we extend to all readers our sncere good wshes. T.W.D. 41 Followng Summer leave, we embarked upon an operaton for' whch the Home Staton C.D. Team joned us. No detals of the job can be gven but a degree of success was obtaned for whch we can be justly proud. Valuable experence was ganed and, n spte of the nevtable accommodaton problem, I thnk that the C.D's enjoyed ther spell wth us. One enterprsng C.D.3 chose as hs bedroom our " Pot." Fortunately he was a lght sleeper and was able to surface each mornng wth only one stop from " Call to Hands " to " Out Ppes." On completon of the operaton we returned to our old stampng ground n Weymouth Bay to contnue the clearance of wreckage of bombardons. These were large steel structures n the shape of a crosss, desgned to float just under the surface and break the force of the seas on the mulberry harbour. They proved emnently successful n offerng resstance to the swell, but not, unfortunately, off Arromanches. Havng been moored n Weymouth Bay to awat the great day, they quckly came to an nglorous end n the shallows round the bay. In order to work on these peces close nshore, t was often necessary to beach the shp. Dvng then became relatvely smple n depths from twelve feet to zero and was often watched by a large and apprecatve audence from the neghbourng holday camp. In spte of the dstracton of the Female Form Dvne, we acheved good results and carred off many of the larger peces of Portland for dsposal. As a bad weather job durng ths perod we undertook the clearance of an old wooden hulk n Castletown. Former a coller, t had been on the bottom for some ffty years and, though reduced to the keel and broken rbs, t provded a home for the fnest Portland prawns, lobsters and conger eels. Many of the latter were seen, the bggest and most fearsone beng reported by Petty Offcer Carr. Snce he nvarably dved n the afternoon, however, no great credence was placed upon hs reports. It was feared that strops would cheese through the rottng tmber, but S.M. Baker acheved success wth a well placed strop and we were able to brng the whole keel to the surface, where, wth an ngenous lead of wres, we hung t along the port sde of the shp. The keel was some 200 feet long and resulted n Uplfter havng a 50 foot bowsprt. The Portland stanchons, however, had long been accustomed to seeng Uplfter crossng the harbour wth a vared assortment of garbage hangng from the horns so our latest capture probably evoked no surprse.

23 the organzers have got round to servng after the shows, they don't seem to realze that we would prefer a noggn or several of Scotland's man export. Many of the ex-lochnvars wll remember the " pond." Curous to relate, many strange and gruesome objects were found n t when we started to survey t. Vared were the guesses hazarded as to thet nature. Breedng bed for haggs? Extnct sauran's respratory organs? Bagppe plantaton? Medeval gash dump? The latter explanaton was accepted as the heroglyphcs detected upon some of them bore are semblance to the talles of a few grey-bearded C.D's. Pecular and puzzlng to say the least. We have had one recent change n the team, " Muscles " Mardlng swopped for A.B. J.. Harrson (Another bloated type). Thats enough contrbutng for ths tme, so wll fve bells by wshng all opps all over the place, Wet Dps. NANOOK. A FISHY STORY After readng The Slent World by Cousteau, havng done a (lvng course at H.M.S. Vernon, and beng professonally concerned wth shellfsh research, I thought that I would be n a far way to keepng our table suppled wth the evasve crustacean Homarus vulgars. Cousteau descrbes underwater caves where the lobsters hang lke fles' on the. 'celng; wrecks where they peer out of every port and nestle n every crevce. Lobsters are caught commercally n some places by fshermen who go round the rocks at low water sprngs wth a hook and poke about n holes under rocks at the water's edge. They often make good catches. My staton s on the west coast a rocky underwater terran, deally suted for lobsters. Wth the aqua-lung I was not lmted to the low water sprng tde mark, nor the sprng tdes. 43 5oth C.D.T. H.M.S. " DIVER After readng the last magazne (and leapng hurredly to the sde) and ts urgent pleas for materal, we, the blue fngered characters of the north, found that wth constant kckng from Sr Boss, we, smply had to contrbute. Ths then s the frst screed from us and,' f 'the wrter has hs way, probably the last. Snce beng up here we have been engaged n desperate dutes drppng danger every nch, of the rugged way. When we frst formed, Sr Boss, n an nformal lttle chat lke, one of Sr Wnston's wartme speeches, told us that t would be nothng.but " Blood, Sweat and Tears." Beng a small shp team we have functoned to the satsfacton of all concerned, untl the advent upon our horzon of the Barnb and Mne Dsposal Team, who have all had a vampre for an ancestor; whose predomnatng trat has been well handed down ; not that we mnd, we had too much any way. Canteen messng has worked wonders for the wast lnes of the dvers thtee at least are beng looked askance at when they relax a lttle, though tme for relaxaton has been scarce of late wth a Captan of Lochnvar's nspecton on our hands, as well as the normal dutes that had to be performed by ths n great demand lttle shp; whch at the moment s the smartest n the command. We have just been' through what was reputedly one of the most severe wnters n local Memory, the only:complant we had as regards ths was the fact that t was expensve on lfe lnes. - When callng a dver to Strface t necesstated a spate hand gong on to the top brdge and snappng the lfelnes off nto three foot lengths and stackng them lke faggots of wood' as they came out of the water, frozen sold and brttle wth ce. As for dver,. he could not afford to dally too long on the ladder or'he swftly became one wth t; our galley oven s not bg enough to take the ladder as well. There were even those amongst us, who came from' Pompey.ncdently,- who.fe4 the, need:of gloves.whlst_underwater-7-after all; you know -Pompey. There s a rval crcus up here wth a lttle Red Man dong the tamtoddrg, but we don't see much of them as they are always gaddng about the holdayreserts or n dry dock; but of course on ther return from each outng, the sea was always rougher than any other man had saled t before We beleve them of course as we were on the edge of t all the tne. Just lately we have been n great demandlor dsplays, n ad of the Boy Scouts and other crazy assocatons that run swmmng galas n md-wntet too, hardy race these Scots. " You must see ths' smooth slck performance, by seasoned artsts." We are workng up a front row chorus that wll stand comparson wth that of the Folles Bergere,: not nearly as attractve but the numbers were there anyway. If we do much more of ths sort of thng there wll be complants from the artsts' unon, askng us to go on strke,. Unfortunately tea and stcky buns are as far as 42

24 As a corollary of all ths I looked forward to many large suppers; to beng able to say casually to any frends " Drop n for some lobster ths evenng." A rch harvest ncdental to my work. We have nether of us seen a lobster snce! 44 AND HERE IS THE FISHY STORY TO END ALL FISHY STORIES Publshed n the London Evenng News, 21st Aprl, Portuguese Bend; Calforna. Wearng a face mask and oxygen equpment, a surgeon spent 23 mnutes under water here operatng on the eye of a nearly blnd pet fsh. The operaton was performed on Charle, a 50 pound bat ray, whch had damaged ts eyes n an aquarum tank. Dr. George Blasdel replaced the cornea of one of the eyes of the fsh wth a healthy cornea from another bat ray. A professonal dver asssted the surgeon 22 feet below the surface. Later Charle was swmmng happly around the tank. FLASH (by Dvng Magazne). (By knd permsson of London Evenng News) The ray whch donated the cornea unfortunately ded. STOP. 45 The end of the frst summer after the delvery of the aqua-lung was taken up wth some serous work on escallop research. Durng the wnter I dved once or twce a month to keep n trm, but the lobster season was over they are alleged to go nto deeper water durng the cold weather, and are not caught. In Aprl, dvng from a per n the Mena Strats, our usual practce ground, wth a rch fauna and a certan amount of treasure trove I once found half-a-crown I saw wavng gently two enormous antennae. They led nto the dark recesses of a half-bured large aroplane tyre that had been used as a fender on the per. I had no hooks or other mplements so I hopefully waggled my fngers at the edge of the darkness. What seemed a ggantc lobster slowly emerged. I tred to reach over wth my other hand to grab, but the tde slowly but relentlessly carred me sdeways and away, whlst the lobster retreated nto hs deep dark recess. I repeated ths manoeuvre two or three tmes and each tme I would drft nto an awkward poston or the lobster would retreat as I lfted my hand to grab. Never renowned for my patence I decded to use some brute force and b... gnorance. I surfaced and asked for an mplement. I was handed a pece of bent wre, whch I found not very helpful when tryng to exert brute force, and the lobster backed further nto hs hole at my every attempt to get hm out. I surfaced agan and at last somebody produced a gaff. I got a grp on a gant claw and twsted and heaved and pulled, but the lobster had a better grp than I and ddn't budge. Fnally the claw came away n the gaff. It looked a lot snaller on the surface, but stll bg enough to mpress my attendant on the per. The hunt was up now and someone produced an achor. I hooked ths under the edge of the tyre and four people on the surface heaved. The tyre was more than half bured n the sand and ddn't move. Surfacng agan I told them to slack off whlst I released the anchor. As I swam down the lobster swam out very casually, and I ascended n trumph. He weghed 6} pounds. A colleague made a dve and surfaced n fve mnutes wth another 2} pound lobster, a claw held frmly n each hand. Ths was t. There were lobsters for the pckng now that the season had started. We dd have some n a 6 ft. deep expermental tank whch I decded to observe and practce handlng underwater. These lobsters were by no means tame though n captvty, and would face up to one, makng t dffcult to get hold of them. I thought of tryng some chemcal warfare. It seemed to me that f I could squrt some noxous but not toxc lqud behnd them n ther holes, they wouldn't lke t, would come out and be easly caught. It ddn't work, they only nestled deeper nto an aura of formaln or acetc acd. The concluson drawn from ths s that t s of no advantage tryng ths to catch lobsters n ther natural habtant; but there agan one has to fnd any lobster frst! BY R. H. BAIRD,

25 P THE EMPLOYMENT BUREAU Many enqures have been made recently from dvers away from ther depot regardng the Employment Bureau, and wshng to know f we can help n any way by gvng names of frms `requrng dvers n cvlan lfe. Many of you I am sure wll be pleased to hear the good news that the Employment Bureau has been revved. If you wsh to have your name on record please forward the followng nformaton to R.N. Dvng Magazne, H.M.S. Vernon, Portsmouth. Full Name Ratng Off. No. Tme as dver are you wllng to serve abroad Tme expres Prvate Address Ths record, when receved from you, wll be fled, and when your turn comes, " Who knows." Please remember the bureau does not assure you of employment. It merely puts you n contact, the rest s up to you. Records held show that many dvers upon recevng nformaton from ths Bureau have found good employment n cvlan lfe.