Rebreathers 2 Open circuit 0 ;)

Mark Chase · 4th May 2005, 20:55

Andyp and I went off to dive the Andaman on Tuesday with a few of our regular OC dive buddies. Andyp was (as usual) late. However to add spice this time he was picking me up on rout. I am renowned for being early leaving my self plenty of time to get set up and chilled out before the dive and Andyp is renowned for turning up with seconds to spare and franticly loading stuff on to the boat. Soooooooo with a ropes off time of 11.20 @ Dover and Andrew turning up at my house just outside Maidstone at 10:50 you can imagine how happy I was.

Its 45miles from my house to Dover and he did it in 27mins dead. I saw my life flash before me several times during that trip but I got my revenge by shouting "Copper" and having Andrew slam on the anchors at nearing twice the speed limit only to find it was a motorway maintenance car.

Hey a chevron is a chevron at that speed.

Having arrived with 2mins to spare

we + the rest of the divers on the boat grabbed our kit and ran to load up.

Fortunately the Andaman is an hour out so we had time to kit assemble and get sorted. Andrew accused me of loosing his lead weight and was so convincing I gave him 2kg of my own before he found the missing items under a kit bag

Shot in and an estimated 90mins of slack time on offer and Andyp and I hit the water. We dropped to 53m only to find a heavy shot weight embedded in a field of muscles. We had 8m+ viz and I had a 21W HID so we scanned all around for the wreck but the 5000ton 400ft long wreck was nowhere to be seen.

I had miss herd the skipper say turn right from the shot so I headed off that way with Andyp in tow. The muscle bed was very pretty and there were some lovely anenomies (sp) and loads and loads of dog fish but still no wreck. After 10mins of searching at 53m I offered to abort the dive but Andrew said lets give it 5mins. He also changed our direction of search. Another 10mins of following Andrew and he turns to me to can the dive but as he does so I notice a monster looming up out of the depths behind him. I smiled and signalled for him to look around and he turned and gave the expected "fu@king hell" statement through his loop as the keel of the ship rose up massively above us. The ship was on her side and I wasn’t sure where we were so I opted for up and over the top rather than around the end. Up we went and up and up. I had a deco stop at 39m on the VR3 and I was pleased when at 40m we eventually dropped over the top of the wreck back down to 45m.

The wreck was superb. I think we were at the bow as there was a lot of winching gear there. There was some big entry points begging for penetration and in one of these I found and bagged a nice 5lb lobster for my tea. We headed off for the stern (I think) and found a hole packed with glass where. Andy got an intact glass beaker which he was very happy with but at this point I had to stop the dive as he was loosing gas from his unit quite rapidly. A quick examination found the T piece of the wing inflator leaking badly. This wasn’t terminal and we had of board suit inflation as redundant buoyancy and optional dill off board but we decided to call the dive anyway as it was only 10c and we were already looking at a one hour 20min run time.

Bags sent without drama we ascended and did the usual deco crap. I loved my new harness and back plate rig as i was having no trouble with reels torches stages etc. and everything was clipping and unclipping nicely. At the 12m stop we could see the SMBs on the surface which was pretty impressive for Dover this time of year. Once up we quickly realised that every one else was back on the boat. Turns out the OC boys and girls couldn’t find the wreck and some of them had planned to do the wreck at 40 -45m so being on the seabed at 53m was not a viable option? This was tragic as she was fantastic and the viz was so good. I felt really sorry for them all but at the same time I thought hey aren’t rebreathers fantastic.

We had loads of time and optimum gas mix with our 18/40 diluents, the additional depth was not an issue and the deco was kept to a minimum by the clever electrical gizmo’s. Absolutely fantastic.

The skipper was very upset about missing the wreck and said no one had to pay. Andyp and I paid obviously as we had had a cracking dive

Chalk one big brownie point up to rebreather diving

ATB

Mark Chase

ROB DAVIE · 4th May 2005, 21:23

Mark,

Great story! Thanks for the tour!

Rob

Jason Blackwell · 4th May 2005, 22:18

Mark,

can you give us any more history on the ship?

using google only turns up your post on YD and a heap of far off ports. (for the first few pages anyway)

sounds fantastic!

the drive sounded like fun too

Mark Chase · 4th May 2005, 23:10

The Andaman

A Swedish 4765ton motor ship of Gothenburg bound for Calcutta. 493ft long with a beam of 59ft and a draught of 21. Built in 1947 by A/B Gotaverken. Sunk in a collision on May 24th 1953, near the south Goodwin Light Ship off of St Margaret’s Cliff near Dover Kent SE England. She collided with the Panamanian ship Fortune in thick fog and started sinking at once. Her crew of 38 took to the life boats and were later rescued by the steamer Arthur Wright and put ashore latterly by the Dover Lifeboat.

The 10 ton phosphor bronze propeller has been salvaged but she is mainly intact and lies with her bow to the SE. The ships manifest shows she was carrying eight silver ingots weighing 30lb each. One was brought ashore by the skipper but the others are apparently still on the wreck. Very strong currents wash over the wreck making diving very difficult at times and I think she is near the shipping lanes. The sea bed is at 49 and its 53m (by my depth gauge) in the scour behind the wreck. The wreck stands 24m proud of the seabed at her highest point.

Its one of the best wrecks I have dived out of Dover so far and with more time to explore could be elevated to one of my favourites anywhere.

ATB

Mark Chase

PS: All specific info taken from Dive Kent by Kendall McDonald.

***caveseeker7*** · 5th May 2005, 00:25

Rebreathers do have their moments, don't they?

Thanks for sharing the tale.

Quote: (Originally Posted by Mark Chase)

Its 45miles from my house to Dover and he did it in 27mins dead.
I saw my life flash before me several times during that trip ...

And they say rebreathers are dangerous.

AndyP · 5th May 2005, 13:09

I have never missed a go time yet, and I didn't miss this one. Mind you it was a just a tiny bit squeeky this time.

I have got so used to Mark knowing which way to go I followed him even though I thought he was wrong. Mind you, I'm the bigger fool. I was following the bloke who missed the Stangarth in Stoney.

Great wreck, will definatly go back for a longer look.

Andrew

4th May 2005, 20:55	#1 (permalink)
Mark Chase I go down for ages Current Rebreather/s: Classic Kiss Other Rebreather/s: Inspiration Classic Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Kent Posts: 2,700	Rebreathers 2 Open circuit 0 ;) Andyp and I went off to dive the Andaman on Tuesday with a few of our regular OC dive buddies. Andyp was (as usual) late. However to add spice this time he was picking me up on rout. I am renowned for being early leaving my self plenty of time to get set up and chilled out before the dive and Andyp is renowned for turning up with seconds to spare and franticly loading stuff on to the boat. Soooooooo with a ropes off time of 11.20 @ Dover and Andrew turning up at my house just outside Maidstone at 10:50 you can imagine how happy I was. Its 45miles from my house to Dover and he did it in 27mins dead. I saw my life flash before me several times during that trip but I got my revenge by shouting "Copper" and having Andrew slam on the anchors at nearing twice the speed limit only to find it was a motorway maintenance car. Hey a chevron is a chevron at that speed. Having arrived with 2mins to spare we + the rest of the divers on the boat grabbed our kit and ran to load up. Fortunately the Andaman is an hour out so we had time to kit assemble and get sorted. Andrew accused me of loosing his lead weight and was so convincing I gave him 2kg of my own before he found the missing items under a kit bag Shot in and an estimated 90mins of slack time on offer and Andyp and I hit the water. We dropped to 53m only to find a heavy shot weight embedded in a field of muscles. We had 8m+ viz and I had a 21W HID so we scanned all around for the wreck but the 5000ton 400ft long wreck was nowhere to be seen. I had miss herd the skipper say turn right from the shot so I headed off that way with Andyp in tow. The muscle bed was very pretty and there were some lovely anenomies (sp) and loads and loads of dog fish but still no wreck. After 10mins of searching at 53m I offered to abort the dive but Andrew said lets give it 5mins. He also changed our direction of search. Another 10mins of following Andrew and he turns to me to can the dive but as he does so I notice a monster looming up out of the depths behind him. I smiled and signalled for him to look around and he turned and gave the expected "fu@king hell" statement through his loop as the keel of the ship rose up massively above us. The ship was on her side and I wasn’t sure where we were so I opted for up and over the top rather than around the end. Up we went and up and up. I had a deco stop at 39m on the VR3 and I was pleased when at 40m we eventually dropped over the top of the wreck back down to 45m. The wreck was superb. I think we were at the bow as there was a lot of winching gear there. There was some big entry points begging for penetration and in one of these I found and bagged a nice 5lb lobster for my tea. We headed off for the stern (I think) and found a hole packed with glass where. Andy got an intact glass beaker which he was very happy with but at this point I had to stop the dive as he was loosing gas from his unit quite rapidly. A quick examination found the T piece of the wing inflator leaking badly. This wasn’t terminal and we had of board suit inflation as redundant buoyancy and optional dill off board but we decided to call the dive anyway as it was only 10c and we were already looking at a one hour 20min run time. Bags sent without drama we ascended and did the usual deco crap. I loved my new harness and back plate rig as i was having no trouble with reels torches stages etc. and everything was clipping and unclipping nicely. At the 12m stop we could see the SMBs on the surface which was pretty impressive for Dover this time of year. Once up we quickly realised that every one else was back on the boat. Turns out the OC boys and girls couldn’t find the wreck and some of them had planned to do the wreck at 40 -45m so being on the seabed at 53m was not a viable option? This was tragic as she was fantastic and the viz was so good. I felt really sorry for them all but at the same time I thought hey aren’t rebreathers fantastic. We had loads of time and optimum gas mix with our 18/40 diluents, the additional depth was not an issue and the deco was kept to a minimum by the clever electrical gizmo’s. Absolutely fantastic. The skipper was very upset about missing the wreck and said no one had to pay. Andyp and I paid obviously as we had had a cracking dive Chalk one big brownie point up to rebreather diving ATB Mark Chase __________________ Is it supposed to make that noise ? I took my unit to the dive shop and demanded they bolt on every thing that would fit. Join my elite diving teem and get a Tshirt "Doing It Chasey"Hammerhead Eccr Advanced Diving System
(Online)

4th May 2005, 21:23	#2 (permalink)
ROB DAVIE Administrator Current Rebreather/s: Inspiration Classic Other Rebreather/s: Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: HOUSTON, REPUBLIC OF TEJAS Posts: 1,120	than Mark, Great story! Thanks for the tour! Rob __________________ [SIZE=2]"CC Rebreathers will become a viable part of tech diving [U]WHEN PIGS FLY[/U]!!"--GI3[/SIZE]
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4th May 2005, 22:18	#3 (permalink)
Jason Blackwell Bloody Rebreathers! Current Rebreather/s: Inspiration Classic Sport Kiss Optima Dolphin Ray Other Rebreather/s: Not Bought Yet Inspiration Vision Evolution Classic Kiss Dolphin Ray Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Brisbane, Queensland, AUSTRALIA Posts: 361	Mark, can you give us any more history on the ship? using google only turns up your post on YD and a heap of far off ports. (for the first few pages anyway) sounds fantastic! the drive sounded like fun too __________________ Jason Blackwell TDI Instructor Trainer #1358 Optima...Inspiration/Evolution...KISS...and what is next??? www.divedivedive.com.au OZTeK '09 March 2009 Sydney, Australia www.diveoztek.com.au
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4th May 2005, 23:10	#4 (permalink)
Mark Chase I go down for ages Current Rebreather/s: Classic Kiss Other Rebreather/s: Inspiration Classic Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Kent Posts: 2,700	The Andaman A Swedish 4765ton motor ship of Gothenburg bound for Calcutta. 493ft long with a beam of 59ft and a draught of 21. Built in 1947 by A/B Gotaverken. Sunk in a collision on May 24th 1953, near the south Goodwin Light Ship off of St Margaret’s Cliff near Dover Kent SE England. She collided with the Panamanian ship Fortune in thick fog and started sinking at once. Her crew of 38 took to the life boats and were later rescued by the steamer Arthur Wright and put ashore latterly by the Dover Lifeboat. The 10 ton phosphor bronze propeller has been salvaged but she is mainly intact and lies with her bow to the SE. The ships manifest shows she was carrying eight silver ingots weighing 30lb each. One was brought ashore by the skipper but the others are apparently still on the wreck. Very strong currents wash over the wreck making diving very difficult at times and I think she is near the shipping lanes. The sea bed is at 49 and its 53m (by my depth gauge) in the scour behind the wreck. The wreck stands 24m proud of the seabed at her highest point. Its one of the best wrecks I have dived out of Dover so far and with more time to explore could be elevated to one of my favourites anywhere. ATB Mark Chase PS: All specific info taken from Dive Kent by Kendall McDonald. __________________ Is it supposed to make that noise ? I took my unit to the dive shop and demanded they bolt on every thing that would fit. Join my elite diving teem and get a Tshirt "Doing It Chasey"Hammerhead Eccr Advanced Diving System
(Online)

5th May 2005, 00:25	#5 (permalink)
*caveseeker7* Who loves ya, baby Current Rebreather/s: Sport Kiss Other Rebreather/s: Prism Topaz Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Too far from Neverland Posts: 5,451	Rebreathers do have their moments, don't they? Thanks for sharing the tale. Quote: (Originally Posted by Mark Chase) Its 45miles from my house to Dover and he did it in 27mins dead. I saw my life flash before me several times during that trip ... And they say rebreathers are dangerous. __________________ Cheers Stefan "Political Correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.!"
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5th May 2005, 13:09	#6 (permalink)
AndyP Mutter Grumble Groan Moan Current Rebreather/s: Inspiration Classic rEvo Other Rebreather/s: rEvo Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: UK Posts: 93	I have never missed a go time yet, and I didn't miss this one. Mind you it was a just a tiny bit squeeky this time. I have got so used to Mark knowing which way to go I followed him even though I thought he was wrong. Mind you, I'm the bigger fool. I was following the bloke who missed the Stangarth in Stoney. Great wreck, will definatly go back for a longer look. Andrew
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