Dover, 25-31st August 2001

After a succesful trip in 1999 and 2000, I volunteered to organise a trip for 2001. Booking Taurus early meant it was possible to get good tides too. The list of participants this year was to be:

Saturday's first dive meant getting to Granville dock by 7AM, as slack was about 8:15, so it was an early start, but the traffic was almost non-existent and it only took just over an hour and a half getting to Dover. The weather looked good, nice and sunny, and the sea was calm with forecasts of 2-3 most of the week, so some great diving conditions.

Once on the boat and kitted up we headed out for the Pulborough, a 960 ton collier sunk by bombers in 1940. In 28m of water she is upright on a chalky seabed. I buddied with Megan, as Steve was on the UKRS Weymouth trip. Viz was only 2-3m but sufficient for a rummage. Quite a bit of brass on the wreck, but the telegraph had been salvaged earlier in the summer by a certain Mr Pitts. After about 45mins we surfaced for a trip back to port and a visit to the cafe in Dover for a welcome breakfast. That afternoon we did HMS Brazen, unfortunately the strongish current pulled the shot off the wreck, and although we tried to follow the marks on the sandy seabed at 31m, after about 10mins we gave up and bagged off. Others who went in later managed to get onto her after the shot was redone, and reported seeing her guns. That evening we headed back to Folkstone to the B&B and out into town for a meal and an early night, as Sunday's start was still going to be early at 7:30am.

Inks from the StrathclydeOn Sunday morning we headed out to try the Lariston, but there was another boat already on it, so we decided to dive what Dive Kent calls the Lusitania. The wreck lies upright in about 30m, the bows are intact although behind the engines the stern is blown off completely. The decking in the bows has collapsed allowing you to swim inside and explore, but whatever the cargo was it is long since gone. I tried out my new Cressi 'Big Eyes' mask on this dive, and it seemed fine although a bit more leaky than my old Mares one. Viz on this dive was about 4m. While diving this wreck we noticed a RIB dropping divers off a few hundred metres off, so we made a note of the position in order to take a look some other time. In the afternoon we headed down Folkstone way to dive an unknown I had the marks for, known locally as 'Johanna's wreck'. Megan and I were last down the shot so we had the job of bagging off, then we swam up onto the decking, along via various holds to the bows, then back to the stern. There were some interesting swim throughs although a bilt silty at times.

The next day (Bank Holiday Monday) we went out to the position near the Lusitania we had noted yesterday. Sure enough on the sounder there was a clear trace standing some 5m off the seabed at 28m. So we dropped the shot to go and take a look. In viz of 3-5m we found the remains of a ship lying upright, with intact bow and stern, and some damage to the hull. The shot was near to some drums of cable, and we also noticed large tyres with white rims, wellington boots etc. Callum found some coins - both UK and Portuguese ones and Julian found some coat buttons with a crest on them. A bit of detective work and checking with Larn revealed that this was in fact the real Lusitania, which had been sailing from London to Lisbon when it struck a mine in 1915 while trying to assist the stricken Anglia. So Dive Kent's position is wrong, although it's close. What the wreck was that we dived on Sunday, we have no idea. In the afternoon we decided to do the Leicester, a 1000 ton steamer carrying general cargo (why do I always like wrecks carrying 'general cargo? :) which was mined in 1916. We didn't quite hit slack water so it was a bit of a struggle going down the shot, with the viz a bit worse than in the morning at 2-3m. Megan having got into wreck ferret mode started searching around in holes for stuff immediately. I was bimbling around happily when I spotted a large porthole, just sitting in a hole. Callum managed to free it and sent it up on his lift bag. Meanwhile Helen had found lots of cutlery and other items of interest.

Cups and saucers from the StrathclydeTuesday morning was a later start - 10am, so a bit of a lie in. We went out to do the Strathclyde, one of my favourite wrecks out of Dover, sunk in 1876 while on her way from Dover to Bombay carrying general cargo. The Strathclyde is right under the path of the Sea Cat, so to dive it you have to be on the right tide and the boat has to guard the wreck with divers all bagging off about the same time. Steve Chaplin had joined us so he and Megan buddied up, and although I went down the shot with them I left and navigated to the holds at the back of the bridge to poke around where all the inkwells can be found, then headed up the bows and after a bit of work managed to retrieve a couple of nice jars of preserves (with what looked like olives in) from a crack in the starboard hull. The layout and state of the wreck was very similar to last years dives. A nice dive, 30m for 50mins.

In the afternoon we went back to the 'real' Lusitania, however the viz was very poor, like 0-1m, dark at 15m and pitch black on the bottom. Headed along the port side with Steve and Megan towards the stern then down among the jumble of wreckage. It was hard to tell where we were, and after 30mins I'd had enough and sent my blob up. From a few metres below Steve sent his up a minute or so later, and his line got caught up in the bolt clip on my torch Goodman handle. Who says bolt clips can't snag lines? Still, I managed to free it quickly before any trouble ensued and continue the ascent safely. When we surfaced it was nearly 7pm, a nice sunny evening.

Wednesday we would have had to have been at the dock at 5:30 or so for a first dive, so by consensus it was cancelled and we all had a lie in. In the afternoon we did the Strathclyde again, I was last down the shot so bagged it off. The shot was near the bridge area so I went into the inkwell hold (a bit of a tight squeeze) then went off astern to search for marbles and found a couple. Later I went forward to the teacup area and spotted Helen's goody bag that she'd lost the day before, so sent that up with my lift bag. After about 40 mins up went the blob for a total runtime of 52 mins.

More cups and saucers from the StrathclydeThursday morning we did the Newcastle, which was mined in 1915 while travelling to London from Mauritius. Down the shot we found it lying upside down in about 28m. It was possible to swim into the wreck at the stern although it was a bit silty. I lost Megan and Steve quite early into the dive, but continued to explore, found several portholes etc. In the afternoon we did the Strathclyde, the shot was in early I believe as the current was very strong, and we had to pull our way down the line at first before tying the shot in securely. From the shot I went towards the bows, then down to the seabed on the port side for some shelter from the current, and swam along right to the stern, than back to the teacup area. A bit of digging in the sand and silt in the hold paid off with a lot of nice hand painted saucers, although I couldn't find any cups, and after about 40mins put the lift bag and the blob up.

Friday morning by popular request we went back to the Leicester, rather dark and gloomy on the wreck this time, spent a while looking around from the stern towards the bows before putting the blob up. In the afternoon we decided to have a final look at the Strathclyde again - well, I wanted to go and look for cups to match the saucers - and so after heading down in a strong current I went straight to the teacup area and started digging. The silt was so thick it was pitch black and I couldn't see my torch a foot in front of me, so turned it off and worked by feel. Sure enough after a while I felt cup handles, and pulled about a dozen out and sent them up in the lift bag. Did an extended stop at 15m as the Sea Cat was going over, it seemed to take an age, but according to my computer I was at 15m for only 5 mins, for a total runtime of 54mins, max depth 30.2m.

Preserve bottlesSo overall a very enjoyable week, with good weather, calm seas, great company and fairish viz (but who cares when you're rummaging?). All items raised were duly reported to the Receiver of the Wreck, who subsequently told us that the owner of the Strathclyde could not be traced, so we could keep the items. A special thanks to Jez and Mark at Naut-Tech for providing the gas and delivering / collecting bottles from the boat each day. Mark deserves special mention because on Wednesdat night a hp hose on the gas mixing panel blew. Rather than fix it then, he left it for Thursday morning as he was going out that night. Unfortunately he was hit on his motorbike by a drunk driver, and had to go to hospital for X rays, and didn't get home until 3am, then still managed to get up, fix the panel, mix our gas and bring it to the docks. Julian Moore being a doctor decided that some medicine for his injury needed to be prescribed, so we got Mark a crate of Stella and told him to take one whenever it hurt!

Roll on next years Dover trip...


Last updated January 12, 2002