Subsea 148

SUBSEA Ireland’s Only Diving Magazine

B4 Diving Sardinia The Moniteur *** Exam Diving Ireland 2014 Programme

Vol. 9 No. 148 Spring 2014 ())*++"!#$,%!&-

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SUBSEA

CONTENTS

ISSN 0791 - 475X Volume 9 Number 148 Spring 2014 5

EDITORIAL Publisher’s comments

5

BRIEFINGS What’s happening at home and abroad

11 ENDS AND BEGINNINGS Reflections from our outgoing President 12 THE FRIENLDY WOBBEGONG

By Andrew Roughton 13 DISCOVERY OF THE TAYLEUR

By Billy Crowley 16 LA TRINIDAD VALENCERA Book review by Cormac F. Lowth 17 BIOSECURITY AND INVASIVE SPECIES

By Rory O’Callaghan Diver Val Calceterra examines a wall of anenomes in Sardinia. Photo by Ivan Donoghue.

Attention SubSea Contributors • Submit all material to the Editor at editor@diving.ie or to Head Office • Material must arrive well in advance of the deadline.

• Pictures are essential to illustrate news items and articles.

• Authors must remember that they bear responsibility to ensure that material is not copied from another copyrighted publication.

• Ensure that digital photos submitted are: 120 pixels/cm (300 dpi) and sized at 30cm X 21cm.

SubSea is published by the Irish Underwater Council. The views expressed are not necessarily those of the Council.

The magazine is not intended as an invitation or prospectus to members of the public or other interested parties to dive on any of the sites that are mentioned in the text and anyone intending to do so should take appropriate advice with regard to the safety and viability of their proposed actions. Boarding a wreck requires the permission of the owner. Diving on a 100 year old wreck requires a permit.

19 PISCES SNORKELLING CLUB

By Lorraine Casey 20 KILKEE DING A LING

By Daniel Noel Gleeson 21 SARDINIA

By Ivan Donoghue 24 PICTURE PARADE FROM CFT 50TH ANNIVERSARY DINNER DANCE 26 SAILOR SAM The many lives of a ship’s cat 27 DIVE IRELAND 2014 PROGRAMME 31 LA TRINIDAD VALENCERA By the Editor 32 WE FOUND A WRECK

By Archie Jack 34 FUNERAL OF PRESIDENT KENNEDY’S

By Billy Nott 37 CONSIDER THE PHILIPPINES

By Shirley Baker 40 MON 3 EXAM – 50 YEARS LOOKING BACK

By Timmy Carey and Billy Nott

Edited by: Denny Lawlor

45 THE WRECK OF THE LISMORE

By Jack O’Leary and the Editor

Typesetting and Design: Bernard Kaye

50 THE MORIARTY ARCHIVES

By Mick Moriarty and the Editor

Advertising: Sarah Campbell

Honorary Archivist: Michael Moriarty SubSea, Irish Underwater Council, 78a Patrick St., Dun Laoghaire Co. Dublin.

Tel: (01) 2844601. Fax: (01) 2844602.

Web site: www.diving.ie E-Mail: info@diving.ie

Printed by Doggett Print & Design, Dublin.

Tel: (01) 453 3151. Fax: (01) 453 3156.

48 CFT – WHAT DO THE EXECUTIVE DO?

Affiliated to

CMAS

51 SPOTLIGHT ON THE CURRAGH

By Sarah Lyle 51 BECOMING A CLUB DIVER

By Ellen Nugget 50 MART AND EXCHANGE

Summer 2014 Issue Deadline All articles for inclusion in the next issue of SubSea should be sent to the editor before April 21st.

All advertising should be sent to CFT Head Office before April 21st.

SubSea Spring 2014

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SubSea Spring 2014

BRIEFINGS EDITORIAL Looking back is a regular pastime for people of my vintage. I guess thats because there are more years to look back on than there are to look forward to.

As we start another year, diving wise that is, I really do want to look back briefly on 2013, a year to remember, certainly for me.

I feel I could not go to print without some mention of some of the highlights of the last year. To have been the editor of SubSea in the year of its 40th birthday was indeed a great privilege for me. It also gave me the chance to meet up with and get to know its founder and first editor Hugh Hennessy and indeed many others.

CFT’s 50th was a momentous occasion. The night itself was really a night to remember and by the comments and reaction of many of those there it would seem that my views of the event was shared. But I would also like to add that the weeks and months leading up to the event working with others to put it all together was equally enjoyable.

Many thanks to all who helped make it the event it was, to the working party who helped put it together, to all those who joined us on the night and to all those who sponsored prizes. Yes, many thanks indeed.

In this issue we have full details of our dive show programme taken place on March 1st and 2nd in the Newpark Hotel in Kilkenny, a weekend to look forward to. We have the personal story of the finding of the La Trinidad Valencera from one of the guys who found it and a review of the book written by Dave Atherton on the event back in 1971.

We have a look back on the M3 over the years with pictures and comments from some of the candidates. There is a story from the past on the finding of the Tayleur and the amazing story of the sole survivor of the sinking of the Lismore, one of the favourite dive sites in the southeast. We also have a look at the CFT Executive and what they do.

We have the spotlight on the Curragh Club, one of the oldest clubs in the country. With all the coverage last year of JFK's visit to Ireland 50 years ago I just had to include a amazing story, tho not sea related, has very much to do with a long time prominent member of CFT and a past editor of SubSea and his association with the JFK story.

I have bent my own rules and included two foreign dive sites, Sardinia by Ivan Donoghue and in view of what has happened in the Philippines last year I feel it is only right to encourage divers to support them should you be planning such a dive trip.

On the other hand if you are planning a trip to Sweden and thinking of diving off its southern coast there are a few things to think about, men only!

And there’s more to keep you turning the pages. I hope you enjoy this issue.

I hope to meet many of you at the dive show, especially those who contribute to SubSea. I probably won’t know your face but do come and say hello so I can put a face to those I hear from quite often.

And as usual at this time of year can I remind you that before the dive season really gets under way do have your equipment checked out and serviced. Your life may depend on it.

Thank you all for your support over the past year and safe diving for the coming year.

Denny Lawlor, Editor

Just when you thought it was safe to go for a swim!

Pacu fish. Photo: Ginko 100, Wikimedia Commons.

According to the experts its not that safe to go swimming in the nip in the Swedish Sound.

A pacu fish, most commonly found in the Amazon region and Orinoco basins in South America, they have also been spotted in Papua New Guinea and several US states, but was hauled in recently in the Oresund Sound by a fisherman.

The Pacu is also known as a “testicle-munching fish”. It is related to the piranha fish and we all know what they do. However the Pacu has a more defined taste and has been nicknamed the "ball cutter" for its attacks on the male genitalia.

In areas where pacus proliferate, fishermen have reportedly bled to death after losing their testicles to the fish's crushing jaws.

“The freshwater fish, which can grow up to 90 centimeters and weigh up to 25 kilograms is not normally dangerous to people but it has quite a serious bite, there have been incidents in other countries, such as Papua New Guinea where some men have had their testicles bitten off," Henrik Carl, a fish expert at the Danish museum, said.

"They bite because they're hungry, and testicles sit nicely in their mouth," he added.

It seems its mouth is not so big and it normally eats nuts, fruit, and small fish, but human testicles are just a natural target. It's not normal to get your testicles bitten off, of course, but it can happen, especially now in Sweden and any other area that the Pacu turns up.

They are not normally found this far north or in European waters but now that this one has been caught we have to expect that they may be spreading further than we were aware of. In 2006, officials at one Texas lake reportedly put a $100 bounty on the pacu caught there.

The pacu was similar in appearance to its notorious cousin, the piranha. They are almost identical to the piranha and one couldn't even tell from the outside. It's just that they have different teeth, flatter and stronger, perfect for crushing.

The National History Museum in neighbouring Denmark, have cautioned that swimmers should keep their swimwear on in the water, while only one has been found there may be more out there and it would seem that they are searching for a new hunting ground.

If more are found it will indeed be a serious issue. " Can’t you just feel the pain guys!”

SubSea Spring 2014

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BRIEFINGS

Salvage rights, Did you know?

50th Dive Logged in 50th Year Diving

If a vessel is not in danger, but needs assistance it is appropriate for the assisting vessel to consider whether they have a salvage claim against the rescued vessel. This can be a substantial part of the value of the rescued boat, as decided by the courts.

Although in the UK and here in Ireland this situation will not arise when the assistance is from the rescue services, such as the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI).

There are some things that you can do to avoid a salvage claim being made against you: • You should make it clear to your rescuers that you are not in danger and that you are in control of the situation, but that you need some assistance.

• You should negotiate a fee, for example for a tow to port, before any rescue is attempted. Get your divers and crew to witness any agreement.

If no fee is required, a goodwill gesture from you such as offering to pay for any fuel used and making a donation to the local RNLI would be acceptable.

Pictured with Ollie on her 50th dive are fellow GODDESSES Paula Fogarty, Patricia Murray and Louise O´Brien.

Last December, diving with the GODS (Golden Oldies Diving Society) in the Red Sea, Ollie Gray logged her 50th dive of the year in her 50th year diving (and her 50th year of marriage). The Dining staff at camp Shagra produced a beautiful cake for the double celebrations and there was a mighty Arab / Irish singing and dancing session!

• You should ALWAYS pass your line to the rescuing boat. If you accept their line you will be deemed not to be in control and they will have a right to salvage.

If you are in distress, all this is irrelevant as your rescue is paramount.

Your boat insurance may well cover salvage claims against you - check the small print. Insurers will need to be informed of all the facts as soon as possible. Remember, if you are under-insured, your insurer may not pay the full sum awarded to the salvager.

Reminder Subscribers who are not members of CFT should remember to renew their subscription now to ensure that SubSea continues to arrive on their door mats for the coming year.

For as little as €18 you can have your own copies delivered three times a year.

And as you would expect from a quality magazine it can also be read on line.

Did you know that you can also order back copies of SubSea. Contact diving.ie for information.

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SubSea Spring 2014

The GODS girls

For information about The GODS e-mailto: sdwtenerife@gmail.com

FREE EL HIERRO DIVING HOLIDAY FOR TWO Visit the Scubadive West Stand at Dive Ireland and enter the free competition for a dive holiday for two (value €1,250) to the magic little island of El Hierro. The draw will be made on Sunday at the end of the Show.

BRIEFINGS

New Wet Suits Sent in from the memoirs of Ted Spendlove With the success of the Try-dive around the country over the past month or so the local dive shop will expect a surge in wet suit sales along with other starter packs for our new recruits. But it was not always like that and back in the scary days of the late 50s the new recruits had to make do with a wooly jumper and a pair of long Johns or brave the cold seas in the nip.

They say that necessity is the mother of invention and the article that was sent to SubSea recently would confirm that. It was headed “How to make your own wet suit” and it would seem that Neoprene had not yet been discovered, at least not in Ireland.

Cedric Bowmer, one of the founding members of the Irish club, was the brains behind this venture and here is how its done, quite simple really.

“Following the mention of the waterproofing of fabric at a club meeting it was suggested well fitting long Johns plus vest should be a starting point, I took this to heart and purchased same, also making a timber X shaped frame upon which to spread the articles as tightly as possible. The waterproofing medium was to be liquid latex with carbon black ( refined soot) to make the stuff stronger. The latex was purchased through one of the club members in gallon tins. Have you ever tried to mix lamp black with latex ? it’s a most reluctant process and takes ages. Several coats are necessary but before starting, a number of cheap two and a half inch paint brushes are needed. The latex solvent evaporates very quickly and latex builds up on the brushes, no stopping till the garments are painted all over.

I spent hours doing this in my garage and finally succeeded, quite a few brushes later in producing what looked like a workable wet suit. It was not the answer to our problem of course but is was better than an old wooly pullover.”

Round about early summer 1958, Tony Bishop, another early member of the ISAC returned from a visit to London where he bought a couple of dozen bright yellow ex Navy submarine escape suits with a chest entry. He had acquired these in the Army and Navy stores and sold then to us for half-crown each. They were made in Manchester by a firm called Frankenstein (aptly named I would say) and consisted of two layers of light rubberized fabric, bonded together at intervals so that they could be inflated by mouth for additional buoyancy. We used a jubilee clip or something similar to close off the chest entry point. To remove all the air one sank slowly into the water and raised both arms with a couple of fingers in each cuff to expel most of the air. At 40 feet for example on the Tayleur, they were decidedly uncomfortable, any crease in the suit left marks as though one had been scourged. They were never really dry, always damp and with use even wetter.

Somewhat later, Billy Crowley and Tom Shakespeare went on holiday to the Club Med and came back with a beautifully tailored wet suit each.

This started a search for sheet neoprene. Very soon an enterprising club member tracked it down, although at this stage it had no nylon backing to reinforce it, it was about 4mm thick. After some discussion among the would be suit makers, we borrowed either Tom’s or Billy’s suit and used it to fashion a copy cut out of brown paper. This pattern was then used to cut our own individual suit patterns from which to make a wet suit. This was a great way of spending winter evenings with only club nights on Monday evenings to look forward to. Butt joins with Evo- stick did the trick and covered on the outside with yellow tape, though I must say that the crotch area caused some problems as the four corners of sheeting met at this point and frequently came apart or worse still caused a squeeze.

Important Notice from the Executive Council As members will be aware the executive committed to bringing forward proposed amendments to the Memorandum and Articles and Rules of the Company to deal with the identified risk to the organisation posed by the current arrangement whereby all offices and Directors of the company must step aside each year and be reelected. Following the advice from Boardmatch on the risk posed by this process three past Presidents were asked to provide proposals on how the matter could be addressed. The Executive considered and accepted the proposals.

The full text of the proposed amendments may be found on the CFT website in the member’s section and below are the main proposed changes.

In the Memorandum and Articles 1) The term of all officer positions will move from one to two years. No Officer of the Company may serve for a period in excess of 6 years consecutively, and no Officer may serve in any one position for a period in excess of 4 years. Any Officer having served for 6 years shall not be eligible to become a member of the Executive for a further period of 2 years.

2) To ensure continuity of leadership and governance, in uneven years the offices of President and Secretary will be filled. In even years the offices of Treasurer and National Diving Officer will be filled.

In the Rules Rules 1) To ensure continuity of leadership and governance in uneven years the offices of National Snorkelling Officer, Publications Officer and Children’s Officer will be filled. In even years the offices of Vice President, Public Relations Officer and Scientific Officer will be filled.

Richard Thorn

SubSea Spring 2014

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BRIEFINGS

SafeTrx – vessel tracking app From John Murphy

Designed in close cooperation with SAR professionals, SafeTrx is a vessel tracking Smartphone application that fills a critical gap in the maritime situational awareness picture.

The Irish Sailing Association (ISA) has deployed a smartphone app that asks users to log their journey details, which includes an Expected Time of Arrival (ETA) at their destination, and keeps track of the boat and its crew’s location during the voyage using satellite navigation technology and the mobile communications network.

The app, called SafeTrx, will inform a designated person onshore if a vessel hasn’t returned after its due date and time or if the vessel and crew encounter any situation in which assistance may be required. The Irish Coast Guard can access the system in real-time and view the last known location of the vessel.

Designed in close co-operation with the Irish Coast Guard (IRCG) and the Australian Volunteer Coast Guard (AVCG) the app was created by DeCare Systems Ireland – a leading software development company in Ireland.

The National Commodore of the Australian Volunteer Coast Guard Ray Campbell recently spoke about what the new mobile technology means for

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SubSea Spring 2014

the AVCG and how it will aid SAR operations.

“It’s been a busy few months for the Coast Guard. There has been a range of high profile incidents on our seas, on our coastline and inland waterways in the last month alone.

“This new Smartphone App … [should] further encourage anyone going out to sea whether it’s for professional reasons, leisure or sport to let the Australian Volunteer Coast Guard know in advance. Getting to casualties early is the key for our search and rescue Units.

“This new SafeTrx App has the potential to get our resources on-scene as quickly as possible which will in turn save lives.”

In August 2013 Marine Minister Simon Coveney unveiled the Irish Sailing Association (ISA) SafeTrx application saying “This app is a very welcomed development”. He went on to say “We have had far too much tragedy off our coast this year, and sadly we expect more” he said. “This needs a policy and a technology response, as well as an attitude change”.

Using the GPS system in mobile devices, SafeTrx logs position reports every kilometer — or every five minutes if the vessel and phone are stationary. If the user exceeds their ETA, their emergency contacts will be alerted by text message.

The Coast Guard can, through a secure server, monitor users’ locations, vessel description and heading, and the number of persons on board, allowing them to respond in the event of an emergency.

While mobile coverage is available up to 50 kilometers off some parts of the coast, the app will continue logging position reports even when the device is out of range.

Once coverage is restored, the app will upload the logged positions — effectively filling in the voyage blanks.

The era of smartphone technology is until now untapped resource for the SAR community to improve safety standards, especially among weekend and leisure crews, who may prefer more accessible and less sophisticated communication equipment.

The app – along with other smartphone innovations – is not meant to replace VHF radio or emergency beacons, but rather offer another safety tool for sea farers, and to provide coast guards with a much enhanced probability of locating and safely recovering assets and people in distress. It is one more string in the coast guard’s bow as efforts to remove the ‘Search’ from ‘Search and Rescue’ continue apace.

More information can be found on http://www.safetrxapp.com and http://www.facebook.com/safetrx

BRIEFINGS

Underwater Hockey

By Lee Corcoran I got into Underwater Hockey when I was around fifteen, six years ago. It happened by accident when I went to my local swimming pool one Saturday morning for my usual swim and it just so happened there was a hockey class on instead. Straight away I knew I’d found my sport. Saturday became hockey day and I contunied to go just to learn the basics of the game. Since then I have had the opportunity to go to many tournaments, both friendly and competitive, each one a different learning experience. I feel that I was lucky that I started when I did, as over the years the sport has grown and progressed so much compared to what it was when I started.

We now have two teams in Ireland and quite possibly a third on the way, one based in Dublin and one in Cork and extensive training going on in Limrick.

All of those are contuniously on the look out for new players.

The level of play and commitment to the game has also progressed over the years. My first competitive tournament was in 2010. Ireland was going to Spain to take part in the European Club Championships. We arrived early the day before the tournament and foolishly enjoyed a night out. Waking up sore all over and with a bad head is how you might feel after a day of playing hockey at a tournament. You shouldn’t feel that way the morning before all the games have even started. This meant that our performance the next day was not as it should be. We didn’t perform our best but going to a tournaments always

Lee Corcoran with medal.

teaches you something new, new technique that you can try in the next training session or perhaps you realize its better to play when not hungover.

This tournament opened our eyes to how we would have to up our game and change our commitments to do better in the future.

Over the next two years we worked hard on improving our game, this meant going to more tournaments, hosting our own ones and adding more training nights. This all added up in the end as in 2012 at the British Octopush Association Nautilus tournament, which contains the top teams in Britain and Ireland, the Dublin team performed extremely well, winning all of our games in Division 3 and making it into the promotion games to Division 2.

Unfortunately we lost our playoff and went home with a bronze medal, this being the first I had won since starting playing. Although not what the team had hoped for, it was a huge improvement from our first tournament and so we set our sights on next year

Lipstick on your mirror!!

According to a news report, a certain private Catholic school was recently faced with a unique problem. A number of 12-year-old girls were beginning to use lipstick and would put it on in the bathroom. That was fine provided it was of a natural or neutral skin tone, but after they put on their lipstick they would press their lips to the mirror leaving dozens of little lip prints. Every night the maintenance man would

when we would have another chance at getting into Division 2. This year we were back at Nautilus again with the aim of getting into Division 2 at all costs. It was a great day for Dublin with only one loss against us. We won our playoff game this time around which means for 2014 we are in Division 2 which puts us as one of the top 14 teams in Britain and Ireland, and the team also came home with gold and a trophy.

Winning a gold and progressing so far in the three years from our first tournament is really amazing.

Not being into sports very much when I was younger I never thought I would have the opportunity to play at international level for anything.

Underwater Hockey has given me so much and the training and support given to me by the team is fantastic. It is an amazing sport, I would definitely recommend it to anyone to try it at least once.

In view of what I have achieved over the past six years I would say that it is a sport that anyone should try out.

(You just have to love this principal)

remove them and the next day the girls would put them back.

Finally the principal, Sister Mary, decided that something had to be done.

She called all the girls to the bathroom and met them there with the maintenance man. She explained that all these lip prints were causing a major problem for the custodian who had to clean the mirrors every night (you can just imagine the yawns from the little

princesses). To demonstrate how difficult it had been to clean the mirrors, Sister Mary asked the maintenance man to show the girls how much effort was required.

He took out a long-handled squeegee, dipped it in the toilet, and cleaned the mirror with it. Since then, there have been no lip prints on the mirror.

There are teachers...... And then there are educators!!!

SubSea Spring 2014

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BRIEFINGS

We remember Vinnie O’Brien On 22nd September 2012, Wexford Sub Aqua Club lost one of our most loved members; Vincent O’ Brien to a tragic dive accident.

The club members were devastated

by Vincent’s loss and even to this day, we struggle to come to terms with it.

Vincent, or Vinnie as he was affectionately known, was born to dive and was taught to by his father Ruairi, who was one of the founder members of Wexford Sub Aqua Club back in 1971.

Vinnie went on to become a PADI advanced open water diver and joined the club in 2012.

As soon as he joined, members saw that Vinnie was going to follow in his dad’s footsteps and become a terrific asset to the club. Even before he officially joined, he worked hard for us using his love of photography to document club events. He took the official photographs of the new boat launch, our clubhouse opening and our fortieth anniversary.

Vinnie was one of the first in the country to use the Go Pro range of camera and his online videos of club outings were always something to look forward to. Vinnie had even started to rope his sister Catherine into club events, by getting her involved in our annual beach cleanup.

Never one to shirk work, Vinnie would spend the night on the marina in Kilmore Quay and be up early to have the club boat fueled and ready for diving. His family’s boat was one that they had designed and built themselves, with Vinnie putting in many countless hours helping his dad and friends get it ready.

This involved the hard graft too, such as sanding the inside of the hull.

Vinnie and his Dad Ruairi were never apart. A father and son bond that became a friendship which was fueled by love and love of the sea. Ruairi remembers how Vinnie “absolutely adored everything relating to diving and boating. He loved being out with the club in the new rib and being a part of the action. Handling boats was second nature to him as he has been with me on virtually every outing since he was about four years old. I would prop him up on

10 SubSea Spring 2014

two or three lifejackets so he could drive the Task Force boat, even spotting lobster pots at that age” Club member Ivan Donoghue remembers “meeting a young Vinnie twenty odd years ago when he was just a small boy helping out on his dad’s boat in Kilmore Quay. I had just started to dive with the club and my second dive was with Vinnie’s dad Ruairi on the wreck of the SS Lennox.

In recent years, Vinnie took up diving and when our paths crossed again we soon discovered that we shared a passion for taking underwater pictures and videos. On every dive we did together in Kilmore Quay or the Hook, Vinnie would know what to do to allow me “get the shot”. I’d do the easy job of getting ready to press the shutter and then Vinnie would swim into frame with perfect buoyancy, timing and looking at the right spot. Many of the pictures I am happiest with have Vinnie in them. Vinnie would drive for two hours one way from his home in Carlow to meet up in the Hook for a dive and if the weather was bad, he didn’t mind....it was better to have tried to get a dive than not. Last year we had dived Tuskar rock off Wexford and had spoken about returning so we could have some more fun trying to take under/over pictures of the lighthouse and the seals.

We also spoke about heading to Scubadive West to pick up a photography prize he had modeled in to help me win. These were the adventures I thought we had a lifetime to do together, but are sadly not to be”.

Club member and close family friend Kevin Martin remembers how Vinnie

“passed his love of diving to everyone he had any association with, from work colleagues to past college friends. He was the type that just fitted in wherever he was. In his short time with us he achieved more than most could imagine.

He was born into diving with his father Ruairi, one of the first CMAS instructors in the South East. Always with a camera at hand, he embraced his love of photography with an eye that could capture the spirit and motion of the subject matter. He was a key player in the building of not one but three dive boats. Not many can say that.

Spending most weekends living and diving from his boat ‘Endeavour’, a 38 foot Interceptor based in Kilmore Quay.

He was a very experienced diver and qualified as an advanced rebreather diver in Sharm el Sheikh where he also fulfilled his goal of diving the Thistlegorm”.

So many of us in the club have lost a friend and the club has lost a great member, but it is nothing compared to the loss that his family are feeling. Every comment people have made about Vinnie show that he was brought up as a true gentleman, with goodness in his heart and a broad smile on his face. This is a reflection upon the loving family that Vinnie was raised in. Our sincerest sympathies go to his Dad Ruairi, his Mam Liz and sister Catherine along with his many friends and relatives.

As a club, we wish to thank everyone, including our friends in Irish diving circles for their kind words of support and expressions of sadness. We thank too the members of the Emergency Services and others who helped out on the day.

Vinnie; you will never be forgotten and every moment you spent with us will be cherished forever. We remember you every time we go to sea and when the sun shines through the overcast clouds, we know that is you looking down on us.

When they dolphins come to the boat, it’s because you guided them our way.

When the sun sets in that picture perfect way on our way home from the dive site, we call it a Vinnie sunset.

We take comfort that you are always there with us.

On behalf of all the members of the Wexford Sub Aqua Club.

Ends and Beginnings.....

Reflections from our outgoing President or a number of people on the Executive Committee of CFT, myself included, the 2014 AGM marks the end of their involvement with the Executive Committee of CFT, at least for the time being; some, myself not included, may choose to put themselves forward for position by election at some stage in the future. I have been involved with the Executive Committee and the Technical Commission for about 8 of the last 12 years serving variously as Secretary, National Diving Officer, Vice President and President.

During the years of my involvement with the organization I have made many friends, dived in many places that I would not otherwise have had the opportunity to do so and witnessed, and been the recipient of, a community spirit and generosity that I am certain is unequalled in many other walks of life. I have also seen a level of professionalism that would be the envy of many organizations in which people are paid for their endeavors.

2013 has been a standout year for me as CFT celebrated 50 years as the organization representing underwater sports in Ireland. In particular, it was a privilege to see many present and past members support the event at City North. The year also afforded an opportunity to indulge, even wallow!, in nostalgia as photographs from times past were gathered, old editions of subsea dusted down and brought out to trace past events and, of great importance to me, the archives in CFT were brought down from the attic and given pride of place in a new archive – The Moriarty Archive no less!

The great strength of CFT is the fact that as people move on others are willing to come in and make their contribution for the greater good. Each generation of members of CFT has different challenges to deal with and just as you think you have one issue taped another

F

one comes to challenge. The last few years have seen many strides forward; our courses are internationally recognized and ISO accredited, the organization is in a good position from a governance perspective, although not wealthy CFT is managing to hold its own and new interests have emerged to keep members engaged – seasearch and photography for example.

A great strength of CFT is the club structure and it is also the greatest cause of concern to me as the outgoing President. Where clubs are thriving, and I have seen many examples, they are a joy to behold. Unfortunately, some clubs are finding it difficult to attract members, run training sessions and even gather enough members to justify putting boats in the water at times. A recent survey examined why members do not rejoin clubs. Of the people who responded 50% noted negative club politics as the main reason why they did not rejoin. If a member, or potential member, has a negative experience at club level there is little that CFT can centrally do to mitigate that impact – the onus is on clubs to ensure a positive experience for all members and potential members.

Going forward CFT will place much greater emphasis on supporting clubs in the coming years than in the immediate past to help try and support the clubs in meeting the challenges of falling numbers and lack of new trainees.

However, centrally CFT can only do so much to support clubs.

As my term of office as President comes to conclusion I would like to thank all the present and past members of CFT who have given their time and expertise to ensure the organization thrives. In particular, I want to thank all members of the executives on which I have served for their support and encouragement.

Richard Thorn President CFT

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11

The Friendly Wobbegong

By Andrew Roughton

Just when you think you’ve heard of every fish in the ocean, a new dive location introduces a new and interesting aquatic character. For me the new location was Sydney Harbour and the new aquatic character was the Wobbegong. he dive site was a marine reserve in Manly (a suburb of Northern Sydney) charmingly named Cabbage Tree Bay. I remember looking out across the bay before the dive and enjoying a typical Australian scene with sunbathers, swimmers, and surfers all enjoying the summer sun.

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12 SubSea Spring 2014

However, with this amount of human activity in the water I was confident that any marine life would have long since been scared off. Even as we entered the water and our Dive Master guaranteed us at least five Wobbegong Sharks I remained incredulous. How wrong I was.

Virtually as soon as the dive started we started seeing Fiddler Ray, Elegant Wrasse, Black Rock Cod, Blue Grouper, and even a submerged Motorcycle. Then, as we started getting a little deeper, as predicted, we began seeing Wobbegong Sharks, but not just five or six; more like nineteen or twenty.

Wobbegongs are strange looking animals. Although they are shaped like a conventional Shark, their skin is camouflaged against the rocks and they appear to sport a sort of unkempt beard. In fact, the name Wobbegong is believed to derive from an Aboriginal language and mean “Shaggy Beard.”

However, despite their strange appearance, to see so many Sharks on one dive was truly amazing.

Additionally, as they are bottomdwelling Sharks and spend most of their time relaxing on the ocean floor, Wobbegongs are an underwater photographer’s dream come true.

Thus, unlike many species of Shark, which constantly move, we were able to get close and take as many photographs as we liked. The only point our Dive Master made was that, although these are gentle giants, if they’re startled and do bite, which is extremely rare, they bite and hold on like a dog with a juicy bone. With this point in mind, we all took plenty of photographs, but kept a decent distance safely out of biting reach.

After all, although most species have a maximum length of 1.25 meters, the species we were diving with was the Spotted Wobbegong, which reaches 3 meters in length and that is a big fish to have hanging off your arm.

Thankfully however nothing remotely menacing happened on this dive and we were all able to return to the surface to be amazed again by the activity on the beach. Can you imagine if we told the swimmers and surfers that they were playing ten meters above dozens of 3 meter Sharks? It would have probably led to something akin to the Amity Beach hysteria scene in Jaws. Consequently, I (along with all the other divers) kept the experience to myself and instead privately marveled at the eternal variety of friendly marine life in our endlessly magical oceans. ◼

Discovery Of The Tayleur Billy Crowley, 1977

The “Tayleur”.

An event which had considerable effect on the popularity of diving in the Dublin area took place on 19 July, 1959. It was the discovery by Irish divers, members of the Irish Sub-Aqua Club, of the wreck of the ‘Tayleur’ off Lambay Island. t must have been a proud day for the 579 passengers and crew of the White Star Australian Packet Company’s sailing ship ‘Tayleur’ when she was towed down the Mersey by the steam tug ‘Victory’ on Thursday, January 19, 1854. Their pride can be well understood; They were aboard the finest, biggest and most up to date ship ever built in the British Isles. She was a grand boat, barque rigged, four decks, 1,970 tons and the wonder of it all - she had an iron hull. It was her maiden voyage; she was bound for Melbourne with emigrants and approximately 4,000 tons of general cargo, with Captain Noble, skipper; Chief Officer, William Murphy, apprentices and seventy deckhands.

Of the deckhands, strangely only ten were competent seamen. The rest were made up of Chinese, lascars and Central Europeans, most of whom knew no English. Included among her passengers were one hundred women, the greater part of whom were Irish who, a bare seven years before, had

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lived through the worst famine ever to scourge these islands - the Great Famine of 1845-7 when 2,000,000 of their countrymen and women had perished from hunger and disease.

What a cruel blow fate was to deal these unfortunates less than forty eight hours later, a blow that was to leave their proud ship a splintered shambles, with half her passengers and crew dead, among them those unfortunate women.

After the pilot left the ‘Tayleur’ she headed down channel and into a southwesterly gale. After several hours the Captain decided to give up his plan of sailing down channel and to go north-about. Orders were given to shorten sail, but it soon became evident that the crew were incapable of working the ship. To add to their difficulty, fog came down and visibility was reduced to about one hundred yards. The gale worsened and after two days she had departed so much from her course that, instead of being in mid-channel, she was quite close to the

Irish coast. Early on Saturday the twenty first, word spread that land was near and fear arose that the vessel would run aground.

This fear was not unfounded for at 11:30 a.m. land was sighted, it was the bleak cliffs of Lambay Island. Frantic efforts were made to alter course, all to no avail. Two anchors were dropped, but their cables parted like twine. The vessel, now completely out of control, was rapidly drifting ashore. At 12:30 p.m. the ‘Tayleur’ struck the base of the cliffs with a terrible shock, in two fathoms of water at the north east side of the island on a promontory known as ‘The Nose’.

There were shouts, screams, some passengers praying, others taking leave of their friends, husbands rushing around with their wives and children, some women with their babies lying prostrate on the deck unable to do anything but moan and beg for help.

She struck a second time and stove in her port side and at the same time a heavy sea made a clean sweep of SubSea Spring 2014 13

The Tayleur

Tom Shakespeare and Cedric Bowmer display discoveries from the Tayleur.

everything amidships. At this time she was very close inshore, so close in fact that three young men got ashore with a rope and spar with which they made a makeshift bridge and managed to get a good number to safety. The ship’s doctor, a Dr. Cunningham, made heroic efforts by swimming ashore with those who had been swept overboard, only to drown when he was attempting to bring his wife and young daughter to safety. All three were caught in the undertow and drowned when quite near to the shore The Dublin newspaper ‘The Free(?) Journal’ makes gruesome reading in it’s eyewitness accounts of the tragedy.

Soon after, the ‘Tayleur’ gave a violent lurch and sank back into deep water sending all who were still aboard her to a watery grave; all, that is, but two men who clung to the only rigging standing, the foremast. One of them was rescued only by the timely appearance of the Coast Guard. The other could not be taken until the following morning after fourteen hours on his watery perch. Of the 579 on board, only 282 were saved and many of these were permanently maimed and out of the one hundred women only three were saved.

Initial interest in this ship was aroused in Tom Shakespeare by a picture hanging in a shop in Skerries, County Dublin. Around about that

14 SubSea Spring 2014

time Tom spent a lot of time in Skerries and his attention was drawn to the picture, which was an artist’s impression of the sinking of the ‘Tayleur’, and showed in harrowing detail a large number of people struggling to get ashore from the sinking ship. Another club member, Jimmy McKay, introduced Tom to a friend, Ronnie Warren, who was on very good terms with the boating fraternity of Rogerstown, which is one of the nearest points to Lambay and particularly in touch with the Lambay people as their supply boat berthed there.

Jimmy and Ronnie arranged a run for Tom and Billy Crowley to show one of their friends, Liam Butterly, how we went about this diving business. Liam, like most people at the time, knew little about aqualung diving. He took us in his boat to a point midway between Lambay and Rogerstown and we proceeded to demonstrate. We donned our gear and had a dive from the boat, probably our first boat dive at any distance from the shore. We were not very impressed.

We touched bottom on sand at about 12 feet. However, Liam thought it was a good trick and agreed to take us on a trip to the island at a later date to search for the ‘Tayleur’ wreck.

We duly arrived at Lambay the following week and searched a

considerable number of bays and areas where the ‘Tayleur’ was reputed to be, with no success, which, in retrospect, was not very surprising, considering the fact that we had had no previous experience of such expeditions. We had a pleasant outing and decided to enquire further before our next attempt. By the following week, Liam Butterly had some exciting news. A local lobster fisherman had informed him that the lobsters caught in a certain bay which they fished regularly had a rusty hue to their underparts, which indicated that they might be domiciled in an iron wreck.

We set off for this new location in great excitement. The bay was reached and the anchor dropped. The anchor immediately stuck in something solid, so Tom and I were despatched over the side to check it out. Tom was first down as I was having a little trouble clearing my ears, an awkward business in those days as masks had no nose piece. By the time I joined Tom he was in no doubt that we had landed right on our target. We shook hands on the bottom and after a quick scout around we surfaced with some pieces of crockery which was strewn around.

The visibility was not very good on that day, but we had no doubt about our find and returned home to announce to the rest of the Club that we had found our first wreck.

Most of the early souvenirs taken from the wreck were of crockery, including plates of Willow pattern design which were not very common at the time. On subsequent visits many other patterns were discovered, a very popular Chinese pattern Baronial Halls, Triumphal Car, Waterloo, to name a few. It was an exciting business digging around on the wreck.

We depended on our friends Liam Butterly and Simon Hoare for boat transport to the site for a long time after the discovery. A new member of the club, Tony Morelli, then appeared.

He became a keen diver and in due course purchased a fifty foot trawler which he used for pleasure purposes and, on many occasions, took large parties of divers to dive on the ‘Tayleur’.

During one of these trips the wheel was discovered and for many years was on display in the club rooms in Baggot

The Tayleur Street. Portholes became prized possessions. Deadeyes were popular.

Lead pipes and, on one occasion, a large lead tank were raised. The same lead tank lay for years in the club premises and members used a hatchet to remove a lump whenever they needed lead for weight belts.

The most prized discovery was the ‘Tayleur’ bell. It was discovered by Jerry Byrne, who reported it to the rest of the Club. On inspection they decided it was the real thing, and promptly decided it could not be removed as it appeared to be attached very firmly to a large mass of rusty iron. A trip was organized in Tony Morelli’s trawler to try and retrieve it. It was a failure and Tony bent his anchor in an attempt to free it. It was agreed that whoever raised the bell would present it to the Club to be put on display in the club rooms.

On June 16, 1963, Ronnie Warren organised a trip in Simon Hoare’s boat to make a determined effort to raise the bell. We prepared large bars sharpened to chisel sharpness to cut the bell loose.

Ronnie, Jerry Byrne, Paddy Hughes and myself took off on the day. Ronnie and I hacked and swore on the bottom till our air ran out and then Jerry and Paddy took over. As we watched from the boat Paddy arrived up to announce that it was free. All I had left in my

The bell from the Tayleur now sitting on display in Collins Barracks in Dublin.

cylinder at that stage was the reserve but, in the excitement, I dashed down to see the bell free at last. Jerry and I put it into a potato basket which was lowered for that purpose. The basket toppled over and out fell the bell. We were not going to give up at this stage, so we both grabbed it and pulled ourselves up the guide rope to the boat where the bell was safely taken aboard.

At this stage my reserve was really on its last legs.

The excitement over the Tayleur bell was greater than any I have seen since. It was photographed and

Joe Ivory, Cedric Bowmer and Billy Crowley all of the Irish club.

reported in the press. It was cleaned and polished over and over by various members, and there was great discussion as to its eventual resting place. There was even a suggestion that it be sold and offers were received.

Luckily none were accepted and the bell was placed in the club rooms in Baggot Street where it hung from a specially made stand for a period.

Unfortunately it was neglected and forgotten after the novelty wore off and one night it disappeared. Luckily it has been seen since and is currently on display in the Civic Museum in South William Street, together with a number of other artifacts from the ‘Tayleur’.

The name ‘Tayleur’ is stamped plainly across the side. It was the first item raised which proved conclusively the identity of the ship.

Some years later interest in the ‘Tayleur’ had waned when a new member arrived in the Irish Sub-Aqua Club, Myles Dockrell, who lives in Portrane. He took a great interest in the wreck and, over a period of years, has raised a great array of artifacts. Many of the more interesting items on display at the Civic Museum were raised as a result of his efforts.

In latter years the ‘Tayleur’ wreck has become a happy hunting ground for every budding diver from all quarters of the country. Unfortunately it has suffered greatly as a result. Its importance as an archaeological site has been destroyed from continuous looting of souvenirs. Perhaps artifacts which are now assembled together at the museum paint a picture of the ship and its time. At least it has given enjoyment to a lot of divers and I hope they have gained valuable experience from diving on it.

Editor’s comment; This article was written some years ago and in reprinting it I decided to contact the Civic Museum to get an update on the where abouts of the bell and any other artifacts. I was advised that I was more likely to get a better display of artifacts from any diver in the Leinster area than any museum could give me. However since then we have discovered that the bell is safe and sound on display at Collins Barracks for all to see. ◼ SubSea Spring 2014 15

Book review by Cormac F. Lowth hat a pleasure it is to read, and to be asked to review, such a beautifully produced, well written and well illustrated book.

In 1588, a large converted Venetian merchantman, La Trinidad Valencera, came into Kinnigoe Bay, on the Inishowen Penninsula in County Donegal, where she capsized and sank after a few days. The ship had been commandeered and pressed into service to serve as a supply transport ship for the ill fated Spanish Armada that had been successfully repulsed by the English fleet some weeks earlier.

The ship had suffered considerable damage in the battles in the English Channel and she was holed in several places. She was one of about twenty-

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16 SubSea Spring 2014

six ships to have suffered a similar fate by being wrecked on the Irish Coast, despite the prophetic warning of the the Duke of Medina Sidonia, the leader of the Armada, to his ship commanders; Take heed lest you fall upon the Island of Ireland for fear of the harm that might befall you upon that Coast.

Many of the crew were drowned, but many more survived only to be surrounded and slaughtered by a group of armed mercenaries, after the officers had been separated and kept for ransom. A tiny few escaped and reached safety in neutral Scotland.

Included in the cargo aboard the ship were three mighty bronze cannons that were part of a Spanish siege train.

The ship quickly disintegrated and many of the artifacts aboard simply sank into the sandy seabed, to await rediscovery almost four hundred years later.

On Saturday, February 20th. 1971, members of the City of Derry Sub Aqua Club were on a training dive in Kinnigoe Bay, and as usual, the members reminded each other to keep an eye out for the Trinidad Valencera.

The general whereabouts of the wreck-site was known to the Club and they had conducted unsuccessful searches over the previous few years, mostly at the opposite end of the Bay, where old records indicated that the ship had sank, obviously the product of misinformation given to the English at the time. Two of the divers came across bronze cannons and they knew they had discovered the site of the wreck of the Trinidad Valencera.

The author of this book, David Atherton, was a member of the City of Derry Sub Aqua Club since shortly after the wreck-site was discovered and he was involved in all stages of the project until the 1980s. He filled many positions on the Club Committee during that time. His writing is clear and concise and the book initially takes the reader through the story of the Armada and the circumstances of the wrecking and its aftermath. The tangled web regarding the ownership of the wreck and the interaction between the Club and the various Museum Authorities, the Courts, and the Spanish, British and Irish Government Departments, is described in most interesting and revealing detail.

The methods of excavation carried out are described in some detail and many of these were innovative. They included initially pumping air over a great distance from the shore to power airlifts and dredges. A good portion of the book is devoted to the artifacts that were discovered and in common with the other chapters of the book, this is profusely illustrated with colour photographs of an excellent quality.

A most enjoyable and highly recommended book. â—ź

Bio security and invasive species: What can divers do?

By Rory O’Callaghan

Zebra mussels in the River Corrib, this species has been linked to the decline in the freshwater pearl mussel (Margaritifera margaritifera) in Ireland

nvasive species have garnered more and more media coverage in recent years as the costs to the Irish economy increase, currently estimated at ~€162 million annually with the US and UK figures at €162 and €2.3 billion respectively. However, the issue of bio security, which is inexorably linked to the control of invasive species, is largely ignored. To date there are 26,890 records for 99 invasive species listed on the

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Group

National Biodiversity Database (www.biodiversityireland.ie). Some species are more widely known and recognised; the Zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha, pictured), american mink (Neovison vison) and harlequin lady bird (Harmonia axyridis). However, these high profile species account for a tiny proportion of the invasive species in Ireland and it should be noted that they are in taxonomic groups that are

Number of species

Group

relatively well studied (Angiosperms, flowering plants from an oak to a bluebell, make up over half the introduced species to Ireland). The situation may be far worse than currently thought and only by increasing awareness of biosecurity and implementing some basic precautions can we hope to stop the spread of invasive species. (included is a table of the 99 invasive species by taxonomic group).

Number of species

Angiosperms (flowering plants)

57

Bird

2

Fish

6

Mammal

10

Nematode (worm)

1

Reptile/Amphibian

3

Flatworm

2

Crustacean

5

Fern

1

Insect

1

Mollusc

7

Ascidian (sea squirts)

1

Conifer

2

Algae

1 SubSea Spring 2014 17

Invasive Species

Wireweed, an all too common sight for divers in the west of Ireland, either not as widespread in other areas or under-recorded.

By and large the management of invasive species is broken down into one of three categories: 1. Prevention i.e. that is to prevent them being introduced in the first place; 2. Eradication, which unfortunately is difficult both in terms of cost and it must be done before the species establishes a viable population; 3. Management, effectively accepting a species has established itself in the area and trying to mitigate its impacts on local species.

Biosecurity to prevent species entering an area is the most effective solution for dealing with invasive species i.e. that is not to allow them to be introduced in the first place. With larger species such as the mink, Munjac deer (Muntiacus reevesi) and the wild boar (Sus scrofa) biosecurity can only be so effective as barring escape, they are almost certainly deliberate introductions (10 of the 99 species). However, it is semi deliberate and accidental introduction from horticulture that accounts for the majority of species (45 of 99). Thus it is to Norway and the Gyrodactylus genus that we look for an example of a species that can potentially be introduced by divers and would wreak havoc in Ireland.

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The Gyrodactylus genus consists of ca. 400 species of parasitic worms that due to having a full grown embryo in uteri when born (think of Russian dolls) so can spread rapidly when introduced into a river system.

Gyrodactylus salaris, a parasite on Atlantic salmon, was introduced into Norway in the 1970s and by 2002 had spread to 44 rivers causing losses of more than â‚Ź500 million to the Norwegian salmon industry. While this species was introduced on live imported fish it could easily be introduced by poor washing of fishing or diving gear. In an effort to control the outbreak the Norwegian government has used rotenone to kill all fish that can harbour the parasite before re-introducing the fish, via eggs that were removed prior to treatment.

This further highlights the need for biosecurity to prevent introductions and to avoid costly and potentially environmentally damaging activities to remove introduced species.

There are a myriad of other examples of invasive species and their impacts on economic activities and the environment into which they have been introduced (particularly acute are the zebra mussel in the Great lakes of the United States and the brushtailed possum (Trichosurus vulpecula) in New Zealand). While to date Ireland has been spared similar devastation if

we continue in our lax attitude towards biosecurity it is surely only a matter of time. Zebra mussels are thought to have been introduced into Ireland on 3 separate occasions, carried on incorrectly washed boats from the Netherlands, England and France. In addition some of the recent declines in honey bee numbers in Ireland are thought to be as a result of parasites imported with foreign bee species.

More pertinently to divers is the potential spread in the Irish marine environment of Didemnum vexillum, a colonial tunicate from the North Pacific, which can cover rocky substrates and was likely introduced via ballast water and has currently been recorded at 3 sites in Ireland.

Wireweed (Sargassum muticum, pictured), which was first recorded in 1995, has been recorded in a number of areas (Cork, Kerry, Galway, Donegal and Wicklow). While the gaps in the records may be due to under-recording this species is particularly easily to transport from area to area as small fragments can re grow into full plants on a suitable substrate. As with Didemnum, wireweed has the potential to spread rapidly around the coast in the gear of divers as small amounts can rapidly cover an area. This highlights the need for correct gear management as small amounts of water transported over large areas can have potentially devastating consequences.

Thus we ask all divers to follow the steps listed below and encourage clubs and institutions involved in diving to print a copy and display to inform your members and/or customers. When diving in freshwater or semi enclosed systems such as estuaries or lagoons these precautions are even more important to follow. Seasearch Ireland would encourage divers that: “When diving always remember your BCD, Be aware of the threat of invasive species (and record their presence if observed), Clean your gear Dry your gear if it is not possible to clean it�.

Pisces Snorkelling Club

By Lorraine Casey

Remember your BCD

Be aware Watch out for invasive species: The National Biodiversity Data Centre has an extensive list invasive species found in Ireland and regularly posts warnings about specific species (www.biodiversityireland.ie) Do not interfere with invasive species: fragments can break off and can be carried to new areas. If sampling species ensure that no fragments are lost. Instead photograph species insitu to aid accurate identification. Report sightings to Seasearch Ireland (seasearchireland@gmail.com) or the National Biodiversity Data Centre.

Clean Thorough visual inspection for organic debris including in the pockets of the diving suit and BCD. Remove and dispose of any debris found, gently dry brush and hose down exposed surfaces with clean freshwater in a biosecure manner.

Drain the BCD bladder.

Immerse and lightly scrub equipment in an appropriate* 5% disinfectant solution, then rinse in clean freshwater and allow to dry out thoroughly. *Any standard available disinfectant diluted to 50ml in 1litre of water

Left to right: Doreen Bracken, Martina McCarthy, James Boyle, Geraldine Murphy, Geraldine Gleeson, Evelyn Boyle, Lorraine Casey. Photo by: Gillian Bracken.

artine Mc Carthy, the National Snorkelling Officer, has a few more strings to her bow than just the NSO. In 2012 she was the driving force behind setting up the Pisces Snorkelling Club in County Monaghan.

Martine has built the club up by running numerous fundamental courses, information nights and a ‘Try a Snorkel Night’ on a regular basis to encourage more people to get involved in Snorkeling.

In October 2012 the club was used to promote our sport to all of Ireland and indeed further afield as our “Try a Snorkel Night” was televised and shown on RTE One by the National Lottery.

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As a result of her continuous dedication and commitment and that of other club members the club has grown to over 20 members and is still expanding.

Pisces club is very much about the open sea and the exploration of the Irish coastline with weekly snorkels arranged in Donegal (St. Johns steps), Sligo and Clogherhead always results in an enjoyable outing.

The club has also proven to be a great way of meeting new people and making new friends. We cater for all age groups male and females and have the pleasure of having members from both sides of the border. If you want to follow us on facebook our web page is ‘Pisces Snorkelling Club’. ◼

Dive with OceanAddicts

Alternatively, gear may be heat treated using hot water maintained at more than 55°C for at least 5 minutes.

Rinse the inside of the BCD bladder in the same manner.

Dry Dry your diving equipment for as long as possible after diving near or in an infected waterbody.

These steps should also be followed when cleaning the dive boats.

Oceanaddicts is an IDEST Accredited Test Centre committed to Top Quality Customer Service.

We can arrange to collect & deliver your cylinders, providing a transparent service in our modern workshop VIP!s Hydros Valve Service

www.oceanaddicts.ie graham@oceanaddicts.ie anne@oceanaddicts.ie Graham 087-2744992 Anne 087-7903211 www.facebook.com/oceanaddicts SubSea Spring 2014 19

Kilkee Ding A Ling

By Daniel Noel Gleeson The ling (Molva molva). Illustration by Krüger 1795-1797, from Wikimedia Commons.

remember Chuck Berry had a hit many years ago with a song called My Ding A Ling, which referred not to fish, but to a part of his anatomy.

The title came to mind because of my recent meeting with a ling underwater and also due to my relatively recent prostate operations. A Freudian slip of the mind, you might say.

Anyway I like ling very much, but not on the plate, rather to meet them underwater. The large ones like those that inhabit a hidey hole under Middle Rock in Kilkee are quite friendly and tend to approach close to the diver perhaps out of curiosity. So a visit to the ling is one of the delights of that dive and has been for up to thirty years now- once I figured it wasn’t a large conger and was quite safe to meet. We don’t do much, just stare at one another a bit and then move on. Blips that pass in the night you might say. Of course it hasn’t been the same large fish in the same hole all those years. People fish here and sometimes take a big one, but somehow a proper-sized, identical fish replaces it in no time at all.

That’s the large type, which I haven’t met at all in open water, just looking out of a safe hole and darker in appearance than the smaller ones you see out swimming about. They usually, I think, have a slightly light brown tinge of colour, like the one I met recently at Murragha Rock North of Kilkee Bay. I’d better explain.

Murragha is a place of legend, where Donn Na Dúiche (of the sand dunes), son of Mannanán, God of the Sea, kept his Soul Cages. Yes this kindly person had imprisoned souls in them, not crabs or lobsters! It was also a lying

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20 SubSea Spring 2014

out place for the Merrough or Muiriúch, a type of mermaid, which is possibly the origin of its name. This was in the time before the time we have now, i. e. the time of bikinis. No mortals lie out on Murragha, though, as it is mostly covered by the sea, and a dangerous place for the rogue wave in rough seas.

But for divers it has an interesting feature- a vertical chimney leading down to a cave, from which one can emerge at a bottom of about twenty metres. You obviously need calm conditions for this and it is lovely to look out from the cave with the sun lighting the entrance and hordes of fish hanging in mid-water at its mouth.

Last Monday we hit it and got down the chimney with the down pull of the sea surge, leaving the cave to explore the deepening floor along the cliff face on the right hand side. I passed through a narrow concealed swimthrough on the face and over an enormous rock on the bottom. My companion, an avid and notable camera man, but hampered by a filthy, borrowed mask, floated somewhere above me probably cursing his partlysighted predicament, but filming away doggedly, if not quite merrily. Near the bottom at about thirty metres was a ling of maybe 600 in mm length apparently peering into a small horizontal split in the rock. These reefs here are of the older tightly-layered sandstone rather than the more blocky upper layers, so there are fewer fish refuges at depth. That’s why the cave with its internal jumble of collapsed rocks is attractive to wrasse, pollack and other fish.

This ling was intently doing the opposite, of what I was used to seeing, looking into a hole. It took a bit of peering with a torch to notice a lobster of normal size sheltering from the obvious threat at the rear of this shallow intrusion. It wasn’t really clear, how such a small fish could cope with a clawed creature, that seemed just as large and capable, but this guy appeared determined and was not leaving the scene. Which is what we had to do due to the coldness at that depth and the inadequacy of my supermarket semi suit and my buddy’s awful borrowed mask. We found warmer water at mid height and returned along an opposing cliff face with good anemone colour on the rock layers eventually meeting others of the group emerging from a fine narrow ravine.

The remainder of the group had been somewhere else observing competing cuckoo wrasse battle it out for supremacy or territory perhaps. They didn’t see the eventual outcome, anymore than we did with the ling/lobster stakes. Post-dive opinions on the site varied from wonderful to less enthusiastic, probably based on the equipment disadvantages mentioned and for some disappointment was due to pre-dive overhype.

Well, as they say, doctors differ, but I would certainly return for further exploration, but in better sunlight and in a drysuit. The ling, the cave and chimney and a simple swim through made my day, as they say.

Editor’s Comment Sadly this is the last contribution we will get from Noel. As I am sure by now you will all be aware that Noel died suddenly on December 30th.

He was a founder member of the Kilkee Sub Aqua Club and watched it with pride grow in strength and numbers over the past thirty plus years.

He was a regular contributor to SubSea over the years and will be remembered, amongst other things, for his friendliness, his humour and his unending love of diving.

Our sympathy to his family, his many friends and of course his dive buddies in the Kilkee club. ◼

Sardinia

How to keep the family happy and still go diving From Ivan Donoghue, Wexford SAC Blue sky, blue seas, happy divers. Photo: Ivan Donoghue.

When choosing our annual family holiday, I become that favourite street entertainer, the juggler. Everyone has their needs and my wife and I have to cater for them. I’m into diving, my son loves football and my wife likes peace, quiet and sunshine, so any place we stay in has to be able to meet these requirements. ver the years, we have nailed the search and this time our expectations were exceeded with a week in Sardinia. The island was on my list of places to visit and now that I’ve been, I’m finding it hard to look anywhere else for next year’s holiday. To make the return visit even easier, I would go back to the same hotel and use the same onsite dive centre.

Last July we flew with Ryanair from Dublin to Alghero airport on the northwest coast. Check in was smooth, even with the now customary security search of my camera equipment when it is seen on the x-ray machine. Our hold luggage came in under the 20kg limit and my carry-on case fitted most of my delicate camera gear with the bulky strobe arms in my son’s carry on. Like most photographers, my camera gear has to stay with me at all times.

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The hotel we went to was the Corte Rosada around a ten minute drive north of Alghero city and the airport.

The hotel, along with the dive sites was set in the picturesque marine reserve of Capo Caccia, a rocky outcrop similar to our own Blasket island in that when viewed from a certain angle it looks like a sleeping giant.

We needed a car where we were based. It gave us the freedom to explore other beaches, drive along the scenic coastline, pick out suitable spots for snorkelling and the more mundane ability to visit the local supermarket and pick up supplies like bottled water, kids treats and a few beers for the veranda.

One of the reasons we booked the Corte Rosada was that it advertised the Poseidon Dive Centre onsite. I contacted the owner Sandro Chessa and arranged to give his centre a try. If I wasn’t happy, I’d move elsewhere.

Luckily after the first dive I knew I wasn’t going anywhere else.

With family, I want to go diving in the morning and be back to them by lunchtime. Every day, I was back before eleven and could even check in with the family at the pool side while carrying the dive gear back from the jetty. For pig iron, I counted the steps from my hotel room to the dive centre at 150 and then a similar distance to the dive boat tied on the hotel’s jetty.

The RIB was small and scuba sets were laid on the floor, but the seas were always flat calm with no noticeable tide, so there was no need for a bigger boat. Diving cameras took pride of place on the soft seats.

I was buddied with Gianfranco Torri, a great seventy-year-old diver who dived daily from the centre. He is also a photographer so was happy to pose for me underwater when he saw me waiting for him to fin into frame.

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Sardinia

Divers at the entrance of Neros Cave. Photo: Ivan Donoghue.

The first dive was at the wonderfully named Grotto de Madonna and for me this was a check out dive to make sure I reassembled the camera properly and got used to the

conditions such as visibility and light.

Our dive guide, Lele Ingrosso led us through underwater tunnels. Towards the end of this dive we came across some WW2 shells on the seabed. They

Diver Gianfranco Torri wonders if there is really enough room on the boat for all these cameras. Photo: Ivan Donoghue.

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could have been from land fortifications on the high cliffs which tower over the dive sites.

Day two brought The Tunnel and again featured a cave swim through.

There was not a lot to photograph in the darkness but it definitely provided a new experience from diving at home. On the subject of caves, I was aware that when I entered one, I would do my best to watch for landmarks so that if I found myself alone I would have a chance to make my way to the exit. It is important to be aware of your surroundings when diving unfamiliar locations.

Fish life, was not as good as in Ireland and I was amused at the thrill the other divers had when they saw fish which were no bigger than our own wrasse. I could only imagine their excitement if they had one of our outgoing Cuckoo wrasse following them on a dive, or to come face to face with a grey seal. Colours in Ireland are more vibrant too.

Up to dive three I was not happy with the pictures I was getting. They all seemed to be taken behind the rest of the dive group and all I had was images of fins swimming away from

Sardinia me. Dive three at the Grotto de Falco was where I fought back and literally forced my way to the front of the group. Although I felt this dive was the weakest of the three, I was happier with the pictures I got.

Dive four was the spectacular Neros Cave which had a fantastic swim through where you just relax and enjoy the ride. It takes a couple of minutes of gently finning from entry to exit. The entrance is in the shape of a heart, backlit with an amazing blue colour.

Some of the divers in the boat were also staying in the hotel and with a bit of chat I managed to get them to agree to pose for pictures in return for emailing them an underwater shot of them. The hotel was mainly used by Italians and we were one of only two Irish families there that week and I didn’t hear any other English speaking families. That brought a peacefulness to the holiday that you don’t always get in bigger resort hotels, where you can overhear and understand every conversation. I liked that I didn’t understand the quiz questions that the Italian entertainer asked every night.

The hotel had an animation club but we didn’t need to use it. The soccer pitch and warm water snorkelling were enough entertainment for our boy and at that age, language was no barrier.

The rooms can be on the small side so I would recommend booking the ground floor ones which have patios.

The final dive was a “special” dive that they had up their sleeve for me. Il Porticato featured a swim through and up to the surface where you could chat to the other divers. While surfacing, there is an amazing visual effect where the surface water is so transparent that you don’t know if you are looking at air or water. I had to dampen their surprise slightly by telling them that we also have such wonders in Ireland too, where you can surface in blowholes, etc.

Unfortunately, a visit to the city of Alghero didn’t do it for me on either of our visits. It was too hot the first afternoon we drove in, so sightseeing was uncomfortable. The city beach was packed. The small streets were lined with shops selling jewellery made from red coral; a likely unsustainable practice. Some of the shops had dried red coral fans on show in their display

Gianfranco Torry on the reef. Photo: Ivan Donoghue.

cases and as pretty as they looked there, they would be prettier underwater. I missed the restaurant beside our hotel where you could get a meter long pizza for a song. I couldn’t wait to drive back to our hotel when the only noise was the humming of the crickets in the trees and children kicking ball. In the city’s defence, one of our club members was there in the first week of October, and he texted me pictures of empty beaches, so therefore it’s unrealistic and unfair to expect having the place to yourself during the height of the Italian summer holidays.

Perhaps the highlight of the trip was a family day out snorkelling around the nature reserve organised by the dive centre. My nine year old, Liam, gave the trip “nine and a half out of ten”, so it must have been good! We visited an excavated Roman villa, loads of coves

and sea caves and snorkelled in the crystal clear warm water. The small coves and caves brought a degree of synergy between Sandro and myself in that we both as divers have access to wonderful places that a lot of people never see.

In conclusion, when it comes to diving abroad, the proof of the pudding is whether you would revisit a place and recommend it. I would recommend Sardinia as a dive destination for several reasons including its ease of access, warm water, excellent visibility and a diving experience different to home. I would love to return with a dedicated dive buddy willing to do some posing. The only thing that would stop me is that as a working stiff, there are so many places to see in the world, and not enough annual leave............. Ciao. ◼ SubSea Spring 2014 23

The Pisces Snorkelling Club with friends

David and Caroline Furlong of the Hook Club

Emer Finnegan and Jason Keegan from the Omega Club

Members of the Kilkenny Club enjoying the moment

Dermot and Margaret Moynihan from the Omega Club

The paper boy selling the “Underwater Times� at our 50th 24 SubSea Spring 2014

The President of EUF, Wolfgang Mehl with Suzanne and Richard Thorn

Left to Right; Catherine McMahon, Paula and Richard Flynn, past and present members of the Irish SAC

Brian McGuinness and Manual Di Lucia enjoy a cuddle

Leo Varadkar, Minister for sport with Richard Thorn, CFT President Members of the Wexford and Cork Clubs with friends

Happy happy people from the Auginish Club

The Gods, happy as usual

And here we have strange looking bunch!

All of whom played a large part in CFT over the years as Presidents SubSea Spring 2014 25

Sailor Sam

The Bismarck, Sam’s first ship.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons, Bundesarchiv, Bild 193-04-1-26 / CC-BY-SA

n days of old it was not only a popular thing to do but was seen as very important to have a cat aboard your ship and sailors deemed it very good luck. In fact it was even better luck should you by chance meet the cat on deck. For sure the cat was there for a very good reason, to keep rodent at bay or maybe just to act as a companion to lonely sailors, but sailors tend to be a superstitious lot and over time the cat was seen as good luck, some what similar to the sailor not wanting to meet a red headed woman on his way to the harbour.

We could not have such a story without linking it to the Titanic. It was usual for some of the tradesmen working on such ships to travel on it for its maiden voyage, no doubt to finish off work that should have been completed earlier. One such man, who shall be called Paddy, was designated to do this trip on the maiden voyage of the Titanic. He left the Titanic one evening a few days before it sailed probably to see his family or maybe go for a drink. On his return he noticed a cat leaving the ship carrying a kitten in it mouth and disappear under a storage shed. As he watched with interest the cat returned for a second kitten and then a third.

Without hesitation Paddy went on board and collected all his tools and as he left his foreman queried his actions, was not the ship due to sail shortly and was not Paddy to travel with it? Paddy quickly told him that he would not be

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going with them as the ship was doomed.

And then we have Unsinkable Sam Sam (also known as Oskar or Oscar) was the nickname of a German ship’s cat who saw service in both the Kriegsmarine and Royal Navy during the Second World War, serving on board three vessels and surviving the sinking of all three The black and white patched cat had been owned by an unknown crewman of the German battleship Bismarck. He was on board the ship on 18 May 1941 when it set sail on Operation Rheinübung, Bismarck’s first and only mission as it was sunk after a fierce sea-battle on 27 May, from which only 118 from its crew of over 2,200 survived. Hours later, Oskar was found floating on a board and picked from the water, the only survivor to be rescued by the homeward-bound British destroyer HMS Cossack. Unaware of what his name had been on Bismarck, the crew of Cossack named their new mascot “Oscar”.

The cat served on board Cossack for the next few months as the ship carried out convoy escort duties in the Mediterranean and north Atlantic. On 24 October 1941, Cossack was escorting a convoy from Gibraltar to the UK when it was severely damaged by a torpedo. The crew were transferred to the destroyer HMS Legion, and an attempt was made to tow the badly listing Cossack back to Gibraltar, but worsening weather conditions meant the task became impossible and had to be abandoned.

On 27 October, a day after the tow was slipped, Cossack sank to the bottom west of Gibraltar. The initial explosion had blown off one third of the forward section of the ship, killing 159 of the crew, but Oscar survived this too and was brought to the shore establishment in Gibraltar.

But his seafaring days were not yet over and he was given a new name, “Unsinkable Sam” He was soon transferred to the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, which coincidentally had been instrumental in the destruction of Bismarck. However, Sam was to find no more luck there, and when returning from Malta on 14 November 1941, this ship too was torpedoed, this time by U-81. Attempts were also made to tow Ark Royal to Gibraltar, but the unstoppable inflow of water made the task futile. The carrier rolled over and sank 30 miles from Gibraltar. The slow rate at which the ship sank however meant that all but one of the crew could be saved. The survivors, including Sam, who had been found clinging to a floating plank by a motor launch, and described as “angry but quite unharmed” were transferred to HMS Lightning and the afore mentioned HMS Legion which had rescued the crew of Cossack.

Legion would itself be sunk in 1942, and Lightning in 1943.

Retirement

Sam survived the sinking of the Ark Royal Photo: Wikimedia Commons, Beadell, S J (Lt) Royal Navy official photographer

The loss of Ark Royal proved the end of Sam’s shipborne career and he was transferred first to the offices of the Governor in Gibraltar, and then sent back to the United Kingdom, where he saw out the remainder of the war living in a seaman’s home in Belfast.

Sam died in 1955. ◼

Dive Ireland 2014 The Marble City of Kilkenny will host “Dive Ireland 2014”.

Our venue is the Newpark Hotel, Kilkenny on the 1st and 2nd of March 2014.

It promises to be an excellent showcase of the best speakers and the latest dive equipment available.

The aim of this two-day-conference is to bring together divers from all over the country to share experiences, check out new diving equipment and meet new “buddies”.

The conference aims to provide a list of high profile speakers that will cater for a diverse range of diver interests such as ice diving, commercial salvage diving, underwater archaeology, technical diving, underwater hockey as well as marine wildlife and conservation.

The weekend will include the CFT diving officer/training officer conference, CFT AGM and PADI conference.

Furthermore there will be an excellent trade show.

N.B.: Admission one-day-pass €8.00, two-day-pass €12.00

DIVE IRELAND 2014 PROGRAMME

12.00am-1.00pm

Barry Murray & Hugh Nolan Underwater Hockey Intro Have a break enjoy lunch and retail therapy

1.00pm-2.00pm 2.00pm-3.00pm

*Andy Torbet Operation Iceberg

3.00pm-4.00pm

Brian Mc Allister The Salvage of the Costa Concordia

4.00pm-5.00pm

Nigel Motyer Underwater Photography

Sunday 2 March

The Dunmore Suite

10.00am-12.00am

CFT AGM Note: Registration at 9.30am

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CFT Underwater Photography

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society

The Lime & Larch Room

The Oak Room

Michael Griffin From Kilkenny to Florida – cave diving with the WKPP

12.00am-1.00pm

The Park Room Retail Area

CFT Underwater Photography

Have a break enjoy lunch and retail therapy

1.00pm-2.00pm

*Andy Torbet Tech Diving on the Telly

2.00pm-3.00pm

Paul Kiernan Dr Connie Kelleher & Karl Brady CFT Underwater IWDG Whale Welfare Underwater Archaeology Photography and Sightings

3.00pm-4.00pm

Retail Area technology, Refreshments and Dining

Dive and Training officer meeting

The Park Room

technology, Refreshments and Dining

10.00am-12.00am

The Oak Room

Trade Stands, latest in diving equipment and

The Lime & Larch Room

Trade Stands, latest in diving equipment and

Saturday 1st March

Barry Murray & Hugh Nolan Underwater Hockey Intro

4.00pm-5.00pm

CFT Underwater Photography Programme Saturday Time

Photo talk

10.30am-11.00am

“Conversations with my credit card provider- an Underwater photographers dilemma” – Damien McGuirk

11.00am-12.00am

“Trips, Ships & Sharks a wide angle perspective” – Ciaran O’ Murchu

12.00am-1.00pm

“Photo Techniques” - Nigel Motyer

Sunday Time

Photo talk

11.00am-12.00am

“Videography” – Christian O'Brien

12.00am-1.00pm

“Compact Cameras” – Joe Hyland

3.00pm-4.00pm

“Macro photography” – Martin Kiely

4.00pm-5.00pm

“Go Pro in Depth” – Stewart Andrews

SPEAKERS Andy Torbet Andy is a highly qualified cave, deep mixed gas, rebreather and commercial diver and a freediver with a number of first explorations of caves systems, unmapped areas and undiscovered wrecks. He also holds some of the highest qualifications as a climber and mountaineering guide and instructor as well as being a qualified caver, kayaker and skydiver.

After completing a degree in Zoology Andy spent 10 years in the British Forces. He served as a Bomb Disposal Officer, Army Diver and Paratrooper on operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia and Kosovo. After leaving the Forces he earned a living as a diving and climbing safety supervisor and expedition manager for the media, a commercial diver, mountain guide and adventure sports instructor while he pursued ambitions to make a living in adventure media. His production company Elemental Productions has gone on to make short adventure films which have won awards, been a commercial success and aired on the BBC. As well as his own projects Andy presents regular adventure films for BBC1's The One Show. He has also appeared on major TV productions including Operation Iceberg a BBC/Discovery production that saw Andy ice-diving, cave-diving. He is currently writing a book on extreme adventures in the UK for Transworld Publishing.

Nigel Motyer A man who needs little introduction to Irish divers, his photography has been enthralling audiences for years, Nigel returns to Dive Ireland to share his experiences from his latest travels. Nigel is as happy “shooting” sharks in the Cocos as blennies in Valentia.

Expect to be entertained and amazed by this world-class underwater photographer.

Underwater Hockey – a sport less ordinary Barry Murray, a member of the Cork team, formed in 2009. Cork has an active player base and has entered the competitive level in the 2012 season. Barry previously played for Pembroke and Bangor University, taking a break for many years before starting to play with Cork. He is a legendary Welshman living in Cork for the last ten years.

Hugh Nolan is a founding member of the Dublin Underwater hockey team formed in 1992. This was the first dedicated UW Hockey team in Ireland.

Hugh became player manager for the Irish Squad for the European Championships in Marseille 2005 and the world championships in Sheffield 2006.

Alongside Ciaran McMullan he has strived to raise the profile of UW Hockey in Ireland and abroad with the culmination of all their effort being "the Gathering" in 2013 in which 10 teams played in the major tournament in the NAC in June 2013.

UAU From Shipwrecks to Logboats recent work by the Underwater Archaeology Unit Dr Connie Kelleher is a member of the Underwater Archaeology Unit, Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. As part of her work with the UAU, she has directed several shipwreck excavations including the remains of an early 17th-century possible pirate vessel in West Cork and the ongoing investigation of a newly discovered early 17th-century wreck near Rutland Island, Burtonport in Donegal. She is a graduate of NUI Cork, where she did her BA and MA. She is a part-time lecturer in the Archaeology Department in University College Cork. Connie has publications on shipwrecks and maritime landscapes in several books and journals.

Karl Brady is an archaeologist working in the Underwater Archaeology Unit of the National Monuments Service. Karl has responsibility for the management of the Shipwreck Inventory of Ireland and has undertaken surveys of several shipwrecks. Karl has published a number of articles on early maps, medieval ship graffiti, early medieval ecclesiastical remains and shipwrecks and has also published two books on shipwrecks. He is also a member of the Technical Advisory Board of INFOMAR, the inshore mapping programme of the National Seabed Survey and a member of the Institute of Archaeologists of Ireland (MIAI)

Sea Shepherd

Established in 1977, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) is an international non-profit, marine wildlife conservation organization. Their mission is to end the destruction of habitat and slaughter of wildlife in the world's oceans in order to conserve and protect ecosystems and species.

Sea Shepherd uses innovative directaction tactics to investigate, document, and take action when necessary to expose and confront illegal activities on the high seas. By safeguarding the biodiversity of our delicately balanced ocean ecosystems, Sea Shepherd works to ensure their survival for future generations.

SPEAKERS Brian McAllister

Michael Griffin

Costa Concordia

From Kilkenny to Florida – cave diving with the WKPP

Brian has been involved in the diving and marine business since 1975 working in the oil, gas and salvage business principally as a diver. He has worked world-wide as an air diver/surface mixed gas diver/saturation bell diver and diver technician and 1 atmospheric submersible pilot.

He assisted in the early 1980's in the saturation exploration dives on the Lusitania. Brian is now currently diving supervisor on the largest ever salvage project ever undertaken on the raising and removal of the 120,000 tonne cruise liner, Costa Concordia, off the coast of Italy. Brian is now coming back to Ireland with his expertise to enter the Dive Tech industry, servicing and repairing SCUBA and commercial diving equipment.

IWDG Paul Kiernan, the welfare officer of IWDG, loves to travel and is an avid scuba diver having dived all over the world. Paul started freediving over a year ago and has recently completed his AIDA 4 Star and SSI Level 3 qualifications in freediving. While Paul’s area in the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group is welfare, Paul will give a presentation on all the main aspects of the work of IWDG including cetacean sightings in Irish waters, strandings and research.

Michael Griffin is 40 and has been diving since 1996. He is deeply passionate about diving in multiple challenging environments; and is a keen advocate for the benefits of team diving. He has trained extensively with numerous agencies to build competence and expertise in wreck, ice and cave diving and is an active member of the renowned WKPP cave diving team based in Florida.

Michael holds qualifications from PADI, DSAT, TDI, SSI, NSSCDS and GUE and has a broad perspective on having fun while executing demanding team dives.

Michael’s talk will highlight how it became possible for a diver living in Kilkenny to develop to the point of being called up to join the WKPP dive team and execute challenging team dives featuring a dive roster of some of the most respected cave explorers in the world.

Irish Underwater Council’s Underwater Photography Underwater photography is one of the fastest growing sectors of the diving industry. These days you cannot go on a dive without at least one person with a camera. In recent years the Irish Underwater Council’s Underwater Photography have featured a ‘show within a show’ for budding and experienced underwater photographers and this year’s International Dive Show being held in Kilkenny is no different.

Organisers have rounded up a collection of some of the country’s best underwater photographers including Damien

McGuirk (a.k.a. Merrow Ti Ti), will be telling us all about the pros and cons of specialist underwater photography liveaboard trips. See some of his images on www.flickr/com/photos/damoyyz Christian O’ Brien has just completed filming on ‘The Lost Ship/'A Long Caillte’ - a documentary for TG4 He will help anyone starting to take underwater videography. Joe Hyland will present on a range of topics including everything you need to know about compact camera photography.

EXHIBITORS

Brian McAllister

There will also be stands from CFT, IWDG and Sea Shepherd

La Trinidad Valencera

By The Editor At the book Launch Ray Sutcliffe of the BBC Chronicle TV series on the Armada wrecks joins Dave Atherton, author, and Martin Reilly, the Mayor of Derry.

Back in September of last year I was both surprised and delighted to receive an invitation from councillor Martin Reilly, the Mayor of Derry to attend the launch of Dave Atherton’s book “La Trinidad Valencera” in the Tower Museum in Derry. This is a beautiful production of the history, discovery and excavation of a Spanish Armada vessel in Kinnagoe Bay, County Donegal. The resting place of La Trinidad for almost four hundred years was discovered by the City of Derry Sub Aqua Club in 1971. uite a number of people attended the launch and it was plain to see that many of them were divers from an earlier age and their enthusiasm for this project today, as it was all these years ago, was still very evident. The event itself went according to plan with the usual tributes being paid to the various people who were involved not only with the production of the book but also with the discovery of the wreck and its excavation.

As the formalities ended and refreshments were enjoyed I was introduced to many including Archie Jack and his cousin Paddy Stewart, the two divers who actually found the wreck back in 1971. Archie’s account of the day they made the find is outlined

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below and talking to him one gets the impression that the smile has not yet left his face.

It is indeed a great credit to the divers involved that as soon as the discovery was made nothing was touched and the findings a close held secret untill a proper plan was made as to how to deal with such an important find. Immediately it was agreed that no one person should benefit from the discovery and that all the artifacts should be kept together.

Fr Michael Keaveney, another one of the divers who was involved in the search and find, was also present and told a story that would indicate what these divers could have made from their discovery.

“During the early excavations a large cannon was recovered and was on display in a local shed. A number of interested locals were viewing it and as they drifted away Fr Michael was approached by what he describes as a fellow who looked like one from the traveling people, who asked him in a low voice “How much do you want for it” The Tower Museum has done full justice to the collection which is spread over four floors and is well worth a visit.

But now lets look at Archie’s account of that day back in February 1971 when, in his own words, history was made. ◼ SubSea Spring 2014 31

How We Found A Spanish Armada Wreck

By Archie Jack City of Derry Sub Aqua Club divers using an air lift on the La Trinidad site. Photo: Colin Martin.

It all began for Paddy Stewart and carry some gear for other divers across The document was written in Old myself at a meeting of the City of Derry the bay. We got soaked and not even a English so no one could read it. We SAC back in the late 1960’s. Some one dive. But the searches must go on. turned to the church for help and came up with a proposal that the club Then one day Eamonn Molloy, our found an old priest who very kindly should have a project and suggested it project co-ordinator, produced a translated it for us. It read that “La could be the searching for the wrecks facsimile he’d found giving details of Trinidad, leaking badly, sunk at anchor of the Spanish Armada fleet. the sinking of La Trinidad Valencera. on the 14th of September 1588 near a There were three wrecks in river in Kinnagoe Bay”. Not at the frame, one was a deep Glenagiveney Bay as was dive, too deep for us. The thought for all those years. It second one was too far away went on to say that “to the left but La Trinidad Valencera of the bay hidden on a lovely was close at hand in beach with a river flowing Glenagiveney Bay and not too into the sea it could be seen deep. So La Trinidad won the from a boat” vote and the project began.

Our search continued but Danny Ramsey, our club with no luck. secretary, devoted two years The 20th of February 1971 dawned a cold, damp and of research into its sinking windy day. I remember it like and its possible resting place. it was yesterday, imprinted on I remember one very wet my brain forever. We were all Sunday on the Easter to meet at Charles Perkins’s weekend in 1970 when the house for coffee and a chat. club were doing one of its Later as we arrived at many usual searches at Kinnagoe Bay we all stopped Glenagiveney. It was cold and The cannon on its improvised carriage on Kinnagoe beach shortly wet so Paddy and I decided after it surfaced having rested at the bottom of the sea for almost 400 at the top of the hill and looked out at a very rough not to dive but offered to help years. Photo: Derry Journal.

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Trinidad Valencera sea. Charles was our diving officer and I can remember him pointing down to the bay and say “There’s where the City of Derry Sub Aqua Club will one day find the La Trinidad Valencera” We assembled in the car park and Charles and the DOD decided that the seas were too rough but we could dive to the left instead of the right. Faith stepped in to help us.

We all changed and paired with our dive buddies. Paddy and I were diving together and as usual had a cup of tea before our dive. There were 13 divers out that day and we were the last to enter the water. The rest of the divers had gone around to the left of the bay and we said we’d catch up with them under water. We finished our tea and entered the water, turning left also hoping to catch up with the others. We soon hit what we now know as the famous gully and over a lot of kelp onto a lovely sandy bottom. Rather than turning left we headed out to sea and suddenly Paddy saw a large green object in front of him. It was, to our amazement, a large cannon gun.

History was made, we had found it. We shook hands and began to admire our wonderful find.

“... suddenly Paddy saw a large green object in front of him. It was, to our amazement, a large cannon gun. History was made, we had found it.”

One of us had to go to the surface to find the other dives and Paddy opted to go while I stayed with the cannon.

Story is told that I actually sat on top of it not wishing to let it go. It was the longest wait of my life. Paddy found Charles first and from a distance shouted “Cannon Gun” but was unable to get Charles to understand until he shouted “Boom Boom” “Cannon Gun” the rest of the dives could not believe Paddy’s words. All of them followed him back to find me hugging the gun. In no time at all the other divers found more guns and parts of the wreck. Two other divers found another large cannon and to their amazement this had the coat of arms of

And in better condition sometime later!

The coat of arms of King Philip cast into the breech end of the cannon confirms that the wreck was that of the La Trinidad Valencera. Photo: Colin Martin.

King Philip of Spain, “Philippsvs Rex” and the date of casting,1556. The first ever Spanish cannon to be found.

History was made and how proud we all were to be part of it.

We knew we had found the Spanish Armada wreck the “La Trinidad Valencera” Our swim back to land seemed never ending and in all the excitement two of our divers had to be helped back to shore. It was straight back to Charles’s house for coffee and discuss a plan of action.

We met later in Kearney’s hotel in Moville to decide what to do next. We decided that the wreck was not to benefit any one person. That the site was to be treated as an archaeological find. That the discovery was to be kept secret until more concrete plans could be formed.

That was only the beginning of a very long story that finished up beyond all our belief in the Tower Museum in Derry in 2008.

Yes, history was made that day. ◼ SubSea Spring 2014 33

Recollections of President Kennedy’s Funeral 1963 Billy Nott, Athlone SAC

Arrival of JFK funeral cortage at Arlington cemetery November 1963.

1963 was the year CFT was founded and was also the year that I bought my first snorkel and mask. Unfortunately, it took another 5 years before I started diving with Curragh SAC. It was also the year that President J. F. Kennedy visited Ireland taking the country by storm as the first President of the United States to visit the land of his forefathers. Sadly, it was also to be the year that I would render honours at his graveside in Washington as one of a party of 26 Defence Forces Cadets attending the funeral at the request of his widow – Jacqueline. n November 1963 I was an Army Cadet in the Curragh looking forward to being commissioned the following year. Like the rest of the country we were shocked at the news of President Kennedy’s assassination but were not expecting to play any part in the funeral at which many world leaders would attend. It subsequently transpired that Mrs Kennedy had made a request that an Irish Cadet Honour Guard would render honours at the graveside of her husband. She had

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noted the President had been very impressed with such an honour guard at Arbour Hill the previous summer during his Irish visit, so much so, that he had shown film footage of it to many visitors to the White House. The day after Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas, Texas was a Saturday and I was on leave in Dublin when I got a message to return to the Curragh immediately only to hear that 26 of my cadet class would be leaving for Washington the following day to

render honours at JFK’s graveside. I was 19 years of age, had never been abroad or on an aeroplane and did not possess a passport. To say that I was excited would be an understatement.

We accompanied President De Valera on an Aer Lingus flight (a brand new Boeing 707) from Dublin on Sunday 24th November and flew to New York where we had a brief stopover before proceeding to Washington.

On arrival in Washington we were met on board by Dean Rusk U.S. Secretary

JFK Funeral of State who welcomed us to the USA. The official party headed by President de Valera departed for their hotel and we were brought by bus to Fort Myer just outside Washington and adjacent to Arlington. We were accommodated in one of the US Army billets. The funeral was to be the following day and I recall we did some practice drill in Fort Myer that morning which impressed some of the watching members of the Washington Old Guard – the US army unit that performs the ceremonial at military funerals at Arlington cemetery.

The following morning (Monday 25 November) was the day of the funeral.

It was a bright, crisp, sunny late autumn day in Washington. Prior to departure we met a number of US army soldiers at breakfast. They were very curious about where we had come from and the purpose of our visit.

Breakfast was served on a single tray

For what seemed a long time we could hear the band accompanying the cortege approaching us from the area of Capitol Hill to the rear crossing the Potomac River. The muffled drums were getting louder all the time as we stood at ease overlooking the open grave. with different compartments for the food. Both the food and the tray were a great curiosity to us. My recollection of the food was that it was fine and had a lot more variety than the food back in the Curragh.

Arlington is unlike any Irish cemetery. My memory is of a vast area of rolling hills with small white crosses as far as the eye could see and General Robert E. Leigh’s house overlooking all.

On arrival there US Army officers in charge of ceremonial briefed our officers on the sequence of events. I remember, in particular, a request being made that the massive US Army band at the graveside would not strike up until the officer in charge of our party (Lt Frank Colclough later Brig Gen) had given our orders. As it turned out this did not happen initially but we managed nonetheless.

For what seemed a long time we could hear the band accompanying the

Cadets perform funeral drill at Arlington (author on left).

cortege approaching us from the area of Capitol Hill to the rear crossing the Potomac River. The muffled drums were getting louder all the time as we stood at ease overlooking the open grave. I was fourth from the left in the front rank and could see into the grave which was slightly to my left. In front of us on a large stand was the world press including what seemed to be hundreds of cameras. The American

Army, Navy, Airforce and Marines were lining the route and behind us were large contingents of the four services. We could also see the US Army firing party on a hill to our right.

When the cortege arrived the band struck up the American National anthem and we were brought to the present by Lt Colclough. I could see out of the corner of my eye members of the Kennedy family with Mrs Kennedy in

37th Cadet Class at Fort Myer, Washington before return to Ireland.

SubSea Spring 2014 35

JFK Funeral

Eleven of the former cadets laying a wreath at JFK's grave, Arlington November 2013.

the centre. When the anthem was finished we performed the funeral drill which consisted of reversing arms, resting on arms reversed (when the last post was sounded) and coming back to the present. While we were at the graveside a volley of shots was fired by the firing party. On completion of our drill we were marched to the rear where the American services contingent were positioned. The burial service proceeded conducted by Cardinal Cushing and when it was over we fell out. A number of people came up to talk to us including Congressman Carey who came from Chair, Co Tipperary and who told us how proud he and all Irish-Americans were of our presence.

Afterwards we returned to Fort Myer for some much needed refreshments.

That evening we changed into civilians (cadet school blazers) and went in small groups into downtown Washington. It was a national day of mourning and most places were closed.

We managed, however, to find some cafes and bars that were open and to speak to a few people about the funeral and our reasons for being in Washington. They were used to seeing all sorts in Washington and were not too perturbed at meeting us.

Tuesday 25th was our final day and we were brought on a short tour of

36 SubSea Spring 2014

Washington and Arlington. The party visited the Lincoln Memorial, Capitol Hill and the Tomb of the Unknowns. In addition we paid a visit to President Kennedy’s grave and saw the eternal flame that had been lit by Mrs Kennedy the day before. At some stage during the day the Officer Commanding Fort Myer hosted a reception for us and there is a photo of the entire group on the steps of the Old Guard Headquarters.

We arrived back to Ireland on Wednesday 26th but, first of all, had a little excitement on the way to the airport. Washington had two airports at the time and Lieut Dockery of the US Army, our liaison officer during our stay whose father came from Roscommon, headed for the wrong one. When he realised his mistake he managed to stop the bus on the freeway out of Washington and turn it around in order to head back to the correct airport. At one stage the bus got stuck on a grass margin and a group of us had to get out and give it a push. We arrived at the correct airport an hour or so late where President de Valera and the Aer Lingus Boeing 707 were waiting patiently. Lieut Dockery was a relieved man having had visions of his career going out the window a short time before.

The flight back to Ireland was uneventful. We were met by the press

in Shannon and again in Dublin and it was at that stage that we realised that the whole country had been following closely our historic trip.

Postscript Last year a few members of the 37th Cadet Class of 1963 (now 50 years older and a little grey at the gills) decided that we should return to Arlington and lay a wreath at President Kennedy’s graveside to commemorate the event of 50 years ago. As a result, 11 of the class flew to Washington and on Monday the 25th November 2013 (the same day and date of 50 years before) held a short ceremony at the graveside which was attended by the Irish Ambassador to the United States, Anne Anderson and

by Martin Dockery, the U.S officer that had been our LO in 1963. We were also received by the Old Guard at Fort Myer and we presented a deactivated Lee Enfield Mark IV rifle to the museum at Arlington Cemetery – the same rifle that we had brought under our seats on the plane to Washington in 1963.

A lot of dives have been logged since my first visit to Washington in 1963 but I will always remember those days in November when we were centre stage at a very sad event. ◼

Foreign Dive Holiday? Consider the Philippines

By Shirley Baker, Aughinish Diving Club

One of the many sea slugs

I have been very fortunate throughout my life in the places I have managed to visit for both work and holidays but there have been very few that have been destroyed after I have been there.

I visited the Philippines twice in the past 2 years and on both occasions visited paradise, Malapascua Island. This small island off the north coast of Cebu is home to the Evolution dive centre run by David Joyce (a dub) and his colleague Matt Reed. http://evolution.com.ph/ This beautiful part of the world was directly hit by Typhoon Haiyan. I contacted the dive centre in November last year, shortly after the Typhoon hit, to ask how they were and received this reply: ‘After the Super Typhoon the island is 95% damaged with almost all businesses completely shut. All our staff have damaged houses and many are homeless (including me)…we have a plan to try and get operational and rebuild and we will but currently we are busy simply trying to keep the community fed and sheltered…The best thing you

could do would be to consider coming to see us again in the future. Divers like you are the lifeline of our economy and future.’

And so I decided to write this to tell you about this fantastic place for diving where your holiday can also help rebuild lives and homes after such devastation.

Arriving there was so easy. We were picked up from the airport in Cebu and driven about 3 hours to Maya in the north, where a boat was waiting for us.

We drove through small villages and towns and passed miles and miles of countryside with mainly sugarcane

plantations. A short trip by boat brings you to Malapascua and you land on the beach right at the resort. And thus began 5 days of fantastic diving, really good food and pampering!

There are up to four dive times a day with usually 2 boats leaving for different sites clearly outlined on a whiteboard and you put your names up for the ones you wish to do. This was the toughest part of the stay – trying to decide which ones to do. A thorough dive brief is held on land and diving equipment is brought to the boat for you. In preparation for writing this I had a look back over a diary I kept at the time and cannot help but smile SubSea Spring 2014 37

Philippines when I read ‘the second dive was equally beautiful. There is just so much to see it is impossible to remember or record…it’s only lunch time and already what a day…a fantastic wall with so much on it…it was just fantastic…could have spent another hour there’.

Dive sites included Kalangaman island, Monad Shoal (a 4am dive to see the thresher sharks, such graceful movers through the ocean with their long tail stretching out behind, coming closer for a look at us and then away. I was also really impressed by the guides who not only found them but were not slow to tell divers when they were heading in the wrong place and affecting the shark), Botong Bato (where among a treasury of life under water we also saw pigmy seahorses, granted it took a little time to see them!), Dona Marilyn (a passenger

“There was a cave with bats flying around. They can only enter and exit at low tide.”

‘Hello’

“Our house in paradise”

38 SubSea Spring 2014

ferry which sank during a typhoon 20 years ago when 300 people lost their lives, it is still very much intact) and theres Gato Island. Gato island was not possible to dive on my previous trip and fortunately then I did not know what I was missing. One dive here started with a swim through the island but you can surface part of the way though. There was a cave with bats flying around. They can only enter and exit at low tide. The dive continued with sleeping white tip reef sharks, frogfish, mantis shrimp out wandering about, pufferfish, clingfish, leafy ghost pipe fish, sea horses, sea spiders, sea snakes and nudibrachi galore including one that is only found on Gato, and these are just some of the ones I have written down.

I mentioned food earlier and no holiday is complete without fine food.

The Craic House at the centre served excellent food but it is definitely worth at least one visit to the Italian

Philippines

“Nudis nooking”

Christmas tree worms

restaurant Angelina’s. Raved about by all who have been there. Also, there are excellent local restaurants and a beach front with bars and resorts.

Diving here is so different to home with warm water – 28 degrees at depth and 31 on the surface and increased comfort in the water with no drysuit and less weight and sometimes we can overlook the importance of dive safety.

Well not at Evolution. We had a quick look over the diving equipment and

also safety equipment bearing in mind the nearest big city is at least 30 minutes by boat then over 3 hours by car and that is the fastest possible.

Evolution is affiliated with TDI and run technical diving courses. They had excellent equipment for blending gases and rebreathers.

During our holiday we also visited Donsol looking for whale shark which were not to be found but did manage to see manta ray while diving. We

followed the stories of whale shark sighting and found ourselves in southern Leyte. Diving with True Blue dive centre, another amazing place for diving which has not the same tourist footfall and definitely worth a visit. A lot of dives were the two of us and our guide. www.truebluediving.com/.

If you are thinking of going on a diving holiday in the next year or so please keep the Philippines in mind and help them in their recovery. ◼

s at See u land Ire Dive 14 20

SubSea Spring 2014 39

Moniteur 3 exam – 50 years looking back By: Timmy Carey

M3 - 1981: This exam was in Dunfanaghy County Donegal Left to right; Gary Murphy, Brian Mc Guinness, Pat Bergin, Neil bracken, Bart Mc Mullin, John Deveson - unsure of who is in the front.

This is courtesy of Bart Mc Mullin

In the CFT courses and tests book the Moniteur *** dive grade is defined as “This grade represents the highest level of teaching and technical competence as well as the highest diving grade. It is awarded following assessment and empowers its holder to act as Jury President on CFT tests, to prepare and carry out diving courses and tests under the direction of the NDO and Technical Commission, be elected or nominated to the Technical Commission, and to hold the position of President of the Technical Commission (NDO)“.

Having been involved in four of these exams in the past decade and after getting lots of contradictory information about how the tests had evolved over the years and even simple facts about how many people had achieved the grade, I decided I would send out a few emails over the winter months and try to correct the listing as best I could. Had I known at the time

40 SubSea Spring 2014

how much of a project this would snowball into; evolving into hundreds of emails and phone calls I should have had the good sense to consider doing something else. My thanks to everyone who assisted with the project particularly Mick Moriarty, John Hailes and Billy Nott who reconciled all the anomalies on the earlier part of the lists. I tried to contact as many people as possible from the list through their “ Susie, Caroline and myself shared a room in the hotel on ‘Bofin. At one stage Billy (I think it was Billy) came into the room to do a Q and A with one of us. We were all in the same bed studying (the beds were not great). He took one look at us and promptly turned and went back out.

I have no idea what he thought we were doing.”

Marie Clonan. Boffin, 1995

CFT contacts and inevitably there were a good number of people I could not make contact with and also a number of people had given up diving many years ago. All the data gathered has been filed to be presented to the CFT archivist, if anyone has any further corrections or additions; please pass it on to myself or Mick Moriarty and we will update the file to preserve it as part of CFT’s history.

For what is the highest CFT diving grade I had always been surprised at how few divers had actually ever put their self forward for and passed this grade given the generally high standard of diving in Ireland and that there are in my opinion at least another 100 divers throughout the country currently diving that are well capable of passing the grade with some study and practise. Undoubtedly there are many reasons that divers don’t do the grade; with the common reasons given by people that the course takes a huge

Mon*** Exam amount of time (it takes almost a 12 month commitment as well as the full week for the practical examination), the financial cost, the logistics, the sporadic nature of exam – generally only every 3 years and many others. A few people would also argue that the grade is not as relevant as it once was and that up and coming new divers are more interested in pursuing diving specialities such as photography and technical diving which both involve huge training and financial commitments to gain really good competency; other people would argue the grade is as relevant today as it was 50 years ago.

Regardless of anyone’s views of these arguments, one fundamental fact remains, that without a regular fresh crop of newly qualified Moniteur 3 examiners, CFT would quickly lose its ability to run courses and tests with a large number of exams such as rescue exams, leading diver pre requisite exams, leading diver weekends, Moniteur one, Moniteur two and Moniteur three exams all requiring active Moniteur 3’s. A minimum of 6 Moniteur 3’s are also required on an annual basis to sit on the technical commission to review, compile and adapt diving safety standards, this body in particular needs a regular infusion of new blood “My lecture was the “Development of Subsea” and looking back over the lecture now, I’m glad to see that Subsea is stronger than ever and celebrated forty years last year.

They obviously disregarded everything I said !”

“The highlight of our week was the last night when candidates got a bit of revenge on one of the more “luminous” examiners.

Imagine sitting in Bushes Bar when the local civil defence ambulance crew come in, throw you up on their gurney, wheel you topless into the back of the ambulance and whip you off to the far end of the island. The candidates can sometimes have more power than the jury.”

Ivan Donoghue. Boffin. 2003

Clare island in 89 From Left: First guy ? Don McGlinchy, Seamus Carroll, Beat Muller, Tony Manning, Dave Dignam, Gordon Barrett, Gearoid Murphy, Neill Bannon, JOC, George Malone, Gerry Stokes, Irene Harrison, Fred Jump, Brian McGuinness, Dave Jackson.

Beat Muller was a CMAS representative on this test

to keep CFT abreast of changes in diving technology and also unless people have served in this capacity it is difficult to appreciate the enormous commitment this takes on a voluntary basis.

Apart from the very small numbers presenting for Moniteur 3 exams in recent years making it difficult to run exams, it is also noteworthy that it is often difficult to fill the 6 slots for the TC (whereas in past years there was considerable competition for these places). Neither of these trends are healthy for the future of CFT and perhaps it may be time to look at reviewing all aspects of the course without reducing standards to make it more accessible to people.

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change – Charles Darwin”.

Of the 107 divers on the list that have achieved the grade it is very interesting that almost 40% are from only four clubs the Curragh, Irish, Galway and Aer Lingus; with many clubs and even regions having little or no candidates ever.

Thanks to everyone who contributed some of their memories of their exams, which you will find for the vast bulk of people were very enjoyable

experiences. For anyone looking for a challenge over the long winter months you could do a lot worse than consider sitting Mon 3 theory papers and giving it a go; even if the worst happens and you are unsuccessful with the written papers you will have spent a few months improving your diving theory for a sport that you are passionate about.

“The old man of the sea “ This one was taken at the Mon 3 on Clare Island in 1989.

Anyone care to name him ( apart from those who were there at the time )

SubSea Spring 2014 41

Mon*** Exam Establishing the Early CFT Courses and Tests Billy Nott Athlone SAC

During the winter of 1967 I underwent the Curragh Sub Aqua Club’s diver training programme in the old (freezing) swimming pool in the Curragh Camp, Co Kildare. Even though most of the trainees were non-army, the course was run on military lines by a certain Lieutenant Shane Grey. After three dives early in 1968 I was examined for my third class cert (now the Club Diver cert) in Bullock Harbour, Dalkey by Tony Murtagh of Irish SAC and, having passed successfully, on the fourth dive I was leading two trainees. The following year I was the Club DO. Things moved swiftly in those days.

All diving was run at club level as CFT was less than ten years old. The only across club involvement was where existing clubs were requested to assist in the establishment of new clubs (e.g. Curragh assisted in the setting up of Mullingar SAC) and a rule was established early on that a candidate for Third Class Diver (later Club Diver) must be examined by an examiner from another club. No CFT courses were run in the early years. We followed the BSAC format for qualifying divers but the need to quickly establish our own courses was recognized by all.

2003 Mon 3 in Inisboffin: Back row: Russell Higgs, Billy Smyth, Timmy Carey, Tom Hoey, John O Connor Middle row: Kevin O Shaughnessy, John Dunne, Barry Lawler, Graham Kitson, Ivan O Donoghue, Eric Power, Don Mc Glinchey and Eamonn Foley Front row: Brian O Brien and Kathy Brickell

In 1970 I was appointed to the CFT Executive as legal adviser and in that capacity was an interested observer of the establishment of CFT’s Courses and Tests which were now being set up.

The main drivers were Tom Shakespeare and Brian Cusack of the Irish SAC, Hugh Hennessy of Belfast Branch BSAC and later Ulster SAC and John Hailes, Curragh SAC. The position of NDO had been established and a Technical Commission (to mirror the CMAS Technical Commission) was in place. The first week long Leading Diver Tests (later to become the Mon

Inishboffin 2006 Back row, jury from left to right: Shane Tyrell, Timmy Carey, Maire Clooney,John Dunne, Tom Hoey, Kate Hills, Brian O Brien, Nigel Kelleher and Billy Smyth.

Front row, from left to right candidates: Paul Moloney, Niall Stapleton, Karen Hammond, Darach Rossiter, Don Mc Carthy and Ritchie Plunkett

42 SubSea Spring 2014

3* Exams) was run in Valentia Island in 1970 and it was mainly the successful candidates from those tests that made up the Technical Commission at the time. Brian Cusack took over from Tom Shakespeare as NDO and opened the first CFT Register of Divers making Tom - Diver No.100 and himself Diver No. 101. There is no Diver 1- 99 and I well remember Brian saying at the time that no diver was entitled to be called diver Number 1 as he maintained “only Cousteau was entitled to that”. This Register is in the CFT Archives for all to see under Mick Moriarty’s watchful eye. “ Every night, no matter how late, how good or bad anyones day might have been, we went to the bar for 2 drinks. “ There was no discussion of the days or weeks events. It was purely a social drink amongst divers. The latest was at 2.00 AM after a particularly shitty and unsuccessful night dive. Something I have tried to do on the subsequent tests I have been involved in.”

“One of the highlights, was the candidates putting a sheep into John Peacocks bedroom late one night!”

John O’Connor.

Clare Island, 1984

In his article “Fifty Years of Diving Remembered” (Subsea Autumn 2012) John Hailes outlines how the various diving and instructor grades were established and Hugh Hennessy as the Publications Officer (“Early Diving and the Surfacing of Subsea”, Subsea Summer 2013) sets out how the CFT Log Book was compiled. All of this was based on the famous CMAS Blue Book on diving standards but with one exception – a grade of Club Instructor was included. This grade lasted about 5 years before being subsumed into the Mon 1* Exam and discarded. Around the same time the week-long Leading Diver exam became the Mon 3* Exam and the week-end Leading Diver Tests were established.

When all the hard work was done, having completed the second weeklong Leading Diver Exam in 1972 and the Club Instructor Exam in 1975

Mon*** Exam “Depending on whatever exercises we were required to undergo I wore either a semi-dry or a drysuit.

On the night dive we had just dropped overboard when I realised I had neglected to add the 8lbs of lead following the earlier two dives in my Semi-dry. My buddies had begun their descent so I finned down and grabbed a hold on the kelp which fortunately was in abundance. Water leaked in to my drysuit as I could not add air. Holdfast to the kelp was the byword! My two buddies were none the wiser” Nigel Kelleher. Boffin 1997

(which combined made me a Mon 3* under the new system), I became the 5th NDO after Tom Shakespear, Brian Cusack, John Hailes and Tom Mason and continued in that capacity for three years from 1976 to 1979. It was clear that by now the job was to consolidate all the good work that had been done to date, formalise the TC meetings and get the various courses/tests running smoothly as the demand from clubs was growing steadily.

Looking back at those early courses and tests for the diving and instructor grades it is remarkable how little has changed – apart from the modern equipment. Diver Coxwain and Rescue Diver Courses had not yet been introduced and emphasis was placed mainly on dive leadership and instruction techniques. There was just three courses to be run – Leading Diver, Moniteur 1*(when Club Instructor was abolished) and Moniteur 3*(no longer the week long Leading Diver). Early leading Diver Tests were held mainly in Killary with up to 40 candidates under three or four separate juries. Dive computers had not

Inishboffin 2010 Steve Smith receiving a presentation following his Mon 3 in 2010 from Ivan Donoghue both of the Wexford SAC. Ivan completed the test in 2003 in Inishboffin also.

2013 exam Inishboffin Mark Stanley, Niall Stapleton (JP), Martin Kiely (NDO), Jason Keegan and Dermot Moynihan,

been invented so candidates calculated safe repetitive dive depth using US Navy Dive Tables. The CMAS 40M “dive into the blue” was modified to suit Irish conditions.

“In the lead up period before for the test, I found myself in the wheelhouse of a trawler going up the East coast of the Isle of Man while on a Club diving trip to the island. It was night time and I was going through identifying lights on shore and at sea on other vessels. One question thrown at me was “what is one red light over three white lights?” I was busy checking the various books and almanacs available as I was unaware of having seen it before. Finally, I admitted defeat and asked what it identified” – “a brothel on the fourth floor” Peter Brady. Baltimore

The Mon 1* course and exam was based on class room and swimming pool instruction techniques similar, I assume, to today. Once a Mon 1* was actively instructing within his club for a year he/she was automatically awarded the Mon 2*. The early Mon 3*(called leading diver) exam had oral examinations after the day’s diving (candidates on the 1972 Tests had the questions and answers recorded). This was replaced by a written paper at the beginning of the week which in turn was changed to a sitting of the paper well before the tests after a number of candidates failed at the beginning of the week, which made the rest of the tests pointless.

Every effort was made to make the jury system work as fairly as possible and jury presidents were chosen very carefully. A full report had to be made to the TC on every course/test and any weakness in the system was identified.

A Courses and Tests Booklet was published early on. In many cases it was found that new monitor/examiners were over enthusiastic and had to be toned down a little. It was pointed out that at the end of the day we were all sports divers and “diving for fun” was the name of the game. Many other courses have since been added but the fundamental diving and instructor courses have stood the test of time and Irish diving standards are as good as any standard in the world today. Much of this is thanks to the pioneers of Irish diving that I followed in 1976. ◼

I am done !

SubSea Spring 2014 43

Mon*** Exam Mairead Egan, Irelands answer to Pam Ayres

Moniteur Three Exam — Inishbofin, June 2000 I thought I'd do an evening class The choice was pottery or staining glass But none of that was really me So I chanced my luck at the M3

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With Thomas Hoey, a diving buddy We planned a month or two of study Our theory was a little woolly So we got some help from our Dick Scully We lifted blocks and watched corks float Knew micro-bubbles and Haldane's goats Our physics knowledge was growing fast But how I yearned for the pottery class

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Then the lecture plan began Powerpoint is your only man It sure paid off to have practised often When Irene said "you're off to Bofin!"

We resumed the study, hell for leather Charts, compressors, regs and weather Getting fit in our new streakers And tying knots at forty meters Then the week we had to face Tom and me and Dave from Naas Gruelling dives in force eight weather Could put you off the sport forever The jury bore familiar faces But still they put us through our paces They said that we were very able But we had to dine at the other table Gordon made a good impression 'Twas he invented decompression Roisin thought our knots were grand She threw incidents to beat the band Ciaran kept us on our toes With charts and tides and compass rose When we could not find our destination He sighed "it's basic navigation" Of Mick O'Connell have no fear Once you keep the airway clear Treat for shock and keep them calm Mick and his Resuscianne We got our certs and hit the beer The NDO joined in the cheer The jury all got very merry But we waved them off on the next ferry Sad verse: So when winter comes around next season And I'm making plans for rainy evenings Micro bubbles I'll be forsaking I think I'll take up lampshade making

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The Wreck Of The Lismore

The “Lismore” Was built in Ardrossan, Scotland, for the City of Cork Steam Packet Company Ltd. She was built specifically for the Wexford to Liverpool service.

She capsized on her third voyage on July 10th 1924

he wreck of the Lismore sits on the sea bed in 35m to 38m of water depending on the tide

T

times.

It is approximately half way between Kilmore Quay and Hook Head. The wreck is well broken up but it never fails to impress and it’s always a really great dive.

It is dived constantly by divers from all the clubs in the South East region and from further afield on occasion.

There is usually a marker buoy and shot line attached to the boiler and this is maintained by one of the local clubs but as often as not this will get damaged or snagged by passing fishing trawlers or stormy seas.

The huge boiler is sitting on the seabed with lots of holes of varying sizes. These are filled with life and all waiting to be explored.

To get to the stern you should see, in reasonable visibility, the drive shaft extending along the bottom leading to the props beneath the stern. Along the way you may spot bollards and metal plates, all which should be looked under to view the inhabitants, until the impressive stern rises tall out of the sand. The stern section is stuffed full of fish life, congers, bib, whiting and pollack.

Heading off towards the bow there is extensive wreckage scattered around with a few pieces making swim-throughs for those that get their highs on such activities. The bow section forms a small enclosed room that teems with fish life including wrasse, pollack, bib and ling.

The wreck is also covered in lobsters, crabs and many conger eels of all sizes, from very small to enormous.

Due to the strange currents about the wreck, this dive should only be undertaken by adequately trained divers who are able to deal with varying conditions. It is not unusual to have a current running on the shot line with little or no water movement on the bottom. While the wreck itself is not a

John Carley. The only survivor of the Lismore sinking

challenging dive, it is on the very limits for sports divers and for the stranger to these parts a little more knowledge from some of the local divers would be most advantageous.

But what of the history of this wreck and how it became a wreck.

Jack O’Leary takes up the story; In July 1924 Wexford town was shocked by the news of the loss of the “Lismore” 16 miles off Hook Head. Any disaster off our coast aroused a great deal of concern and sympathy for the victims, particularly if local seamen were involved. In the case of the “Lismore” there were three Wexford seamen on board. They were Charles Cullen of The Faythe, Nicholas Saunders of Green Street and John Carley of William Street all in Wexford town. The remainder of the crew were from Cork, Spain and the U.K. With the exception of John Carley all hands were lost. Among the victims was 13 year old Patrick Goulding of Corporation Buildings, Cork, who had been brought on a “pleasure trip” by his uncle, one of the cattlemen. Carley, the sole survivor, was 48 years old and an experienced seaman. But for his survival, nothing would ever have been known of the fate of the “Lismore”. Without his

SubSea Spring 2014 45

The Lismore

The boiler makes a perfect home for some. Photo: Ray Furlong.

evidence the subsequent inquiry would have been incomplete and any conclusion arising from it would have been just conjecture.

The “Lismore” was a new ship, built earlier that year in Ardrossan, Scotland, for the City of Cork Steam Packet Company Ltd. She was built specifically for the Wexford to Liverpool service and because of the difficulties experienced crossing the Bar of Wexford Harbour, was of shallower draft and broader beam than was normal for a vessel of her size.

The new cattle facilities that were being built for the projected arrival of the new vessel were behind schedule and she was sent to run from Cork until their completion. It was on this service and on her third ever voyage that she capsized and was lost on the 10th of July 1924.

John Carley was on watch when the ship left Penrose Quay in Cork. As they steamed down the river, he noticed that she was listing to port. She was still listing that evening at eight o’clock as he went off watch. When he came back on deck at a few minutes to midnight he noticed the list was more pronounced.

The list was so bad that, as he went along the deck he feared the lashings on the deck cargo would give under the strain.

He knew that the ship was in a dangerous position. Carley and his watch mate Nicholas Saunders were sent below to the cattle deck to check on the scuppers. When they arrived there they found another A.B, a Liverpool man by the name of Watterson was already helping the cattlemen. The place was in chaos. There was two and a half feet of water on the deck and the scuppers were choked with dirt from the animal pens

46 SubSea Spring 2014

While others prefer the lower deck. Photo: Ray Furlong.

and by fodder. By then some of the cattle had fallen over and drowned. Carley went up top to inform the captain of the situation. They both went back down to the cattle deck and as soon as the captain saw the situation he said to Carley, ” It’s all up John, she‘s going over”. They all rushed back up top and the captain went up to the bridge and blew several blasts on the ships whistle to attract the attention of a steamer whose lights could be seen in the distance but the steamer stayed on her course.

The list was getting worse, so Mr Cole, the second mate ordered Carley and Cullen to cut away the lifeboats.

They had just begun the task when she went over. Carley had barely time to whip off his sea boots, when she went down, bringing him with her. Under water he managed to get free and kicked out for the surface, coming up near a hatch cover. He grabbed onto it and hauled himself aboard. Once he was safely up on the cover, he took off his muffler and his belt and lashed himself to it. After about 15 minutes on his makeshift raft he heard a voice call out and recognized it as the second mate.

He called back and then saw him on top of some wreckage about 40 or 50 yards off. The 2nd Mate called out and said they should try and stay close together but they gradually drifted apart and Carley never heard him again. He also heard, but never saw, Cullen. Daylight came to find him alone on the sea. He grabbed a piece of a packing case and fashioned a type of paddle from it and struck out towards the land. The seas were fairly choppy, however, and the rudimentary paddle was of little use. It

was cold and the seas were rough and even though he knew the paddle was of little use, he carried on paddling, for he knew also that if he didn’t he might succumb to the elements. The weather worsened, the sea got rougher and fog descended. He could hear fog signals booming out but didn’t know whether it was the Hook or Tuskar.

The raft was taken back and forth by the tides, once or twice he came close to land only to be brought back out to sea again by the tide. At one period he came close to the Keeragh Islands, but was washed back up the coast. He spotted ships or fishing boats in the distance and at one time thought he saw a raft with someone onboard. Each time he stood and waved, but none of them spotted him. He came close to the Hook Light House and signalled with his kerchief attached to his paddle. He waved it for about for hours but again, nobody saw him. Hungry and thirsty, he remembered hearing of fishermen in the West of Ireland who, in a similar position ate seaweed so he caught some passing and ate it. It was 28 hours before the tide brought him near land and washed him into ”Slade Bay”, near Porters Gate. The tide brought him in among rocks and he was in danger of being dashed against them so, he decided that his best chance was to abandon the raft and hope to be taken in by the sea. He took his opportunity and dived in to a breaking wave which took him up on the rocks surrounding the shore. There he clung on for dear life as the water washed back to the sea. Once he was clear of the drag of the water he clambered, exhausted, up the 30 or 40

The Lismore foot cliff to find himself at last on dry land. Carley then spotted some lights in the distance and set out for them, pausing only for a drink of water as he crossed a marshy field. The first house he came to didn’t answer his knocking, the second was empty, but the person at the third house, a Mr. Walsh, answered his frantic knocks and let him in. As he told his story he was fed, given some dry, clean clothes, after his ordeal he was fairly scantily dressed, and put to bed.

The next morning he arose about 6 o’clock and set out to relay the news of the loss of the “Lismore” to a Mr Fortune of Fethard, the local representative of The Shipwrecked Mariners Society, who arranged for him to be sent home from Ballycullane by train, but before he left for the station he sent a telegram to his wife in Wexford which said “Lismore gone; John safe,” The arrival of the telegram in Wexford was the first indication that anything was amiss with the ”Lismore”.

There were rumours around town that she hadn’t reached Liverpool, but nothing definite. City of Cork’s manager in Wexford, a Mr. Reihill, was approached by anxious relatives of the local men on the “Lismore” who were, understandably, upset by the rumours.

He phoned the offices in Cork and found that they were not rumours but fact, the “Lismore” hadn’t arrived in Liverpool and there was no sign of her. In the meantime Reihill was told of the telegram to Carley’s family. On reading the telegram he immediately drove to Fethard and from there to Ballycullane where Carley was still waiting for his train home and there he learned for the first time the story of the loss of the “Lismore” He then set about informing the Lifeboats along the coast and the local Garda stations. They delayed their return to Wexford until the Fort Lifeboat under Coxwain Wickham came around from Wexford, Carley gave them what he thought was the approximate position of the ship when she went down and only then did himself and Reihill set out for home.

The search was fruitless, no one was found. Some days later sheep carcasses along with shattered cases bearing the Ford of Cork logo were washed up in various parts of the Hook area but of survivors there were none.

A diver’s view of some of what is left of the Lismore. Photo: Ray Furlong.

A large crowd assembled in William Street to welcome John Carley home, among them the families of the two other Wexford sailors, hoping against hope that the reports were wrong and that their loved ones had survived too.

But Carley was unable to offer them any hope and they had to return to their homes dejected.

Despite his horrendous experience it has to be said that John Carley was a very lucky and also a very resourceful man. For this was not his first brush with death. He had survived a torpedo attack in the 1st. World War and two years previous to his experience on the “Lismore” he had survived being washed overboard in bad weather. It happened when he was on the “Elsie Annie” of Wexford, bound for Ghent. A wave broke over the ship, taking Carley with it. But as luck would have it, the next wave washed him back on board.

There was a Court of Inquiry which went on for days. Carley’s was the most important witness as he was the only surviver and had sailed on the ship.

There had been some suggestion doing the rounds that the ship had struck something which caused her sinking, this idea had been compounded, when the ship’s derrick had been washed up near the disaster area a few days after the tragedy.

Carley refuted this when replying to a question from Mr Swane, Q.C. who

was acting for the Department of Industry and Commerce, he said that nothing hit her at sea. He then told of attempting to clear the scuppers and of the conditions on the cattle deck and described the sinking and his ordeal in the water. At this point in a further reply to Mr Swane he stated that had there been two more deckhands on board they would have been able to jettison some of the deck cargo and animals.

Amongst other findings the court also found that the master committed an error of judgement by not giving the order to launch the lifeboats in time.

They found that the master should have lowered the boat earlier than he did. It was also found that no blame could be assigned to anyone in particular. The vessel had been navigated in a proper and reasonable manner and the loss was not the fault of any act of the master or other officers.

The principal cause of the sinking was the shifting of the cattle held in open pens and not restrained sufficiently. As this was the method agreed by regulation, the captain could not be held responsible.

So the next time you dive the Lismore or if its your first dive there spare a thought for those who lost their lives when it went down and their frantic efforts to save it in its final moments above the surface. ◼

SubSea Spring 2014 47

Comhairle Fo-Thuinn

What do the Executive do?

Over the past year we have heard a lot about CFT from its gestation and formation to the many achievements over the past fifty years. But how many of us really know or care how CFT works or what the Executive Council really do. Well I do, I pay my fees, receive a membership card, I get insurance, might gain a qualification during the year and of course receive my Subsea and monthly ezine but what else can there possibly be to do?

Comhairle Fo-Thuinn Over the past year we have heard a lot about CFT from its gestation and formation to the many achievements over the past fifty years. But how many of us really know or care how CFT works or what the Executive Council really do. Well I do, I pay my fees, receive a membership card, I get insurance, might gain a qualification during the year and of course receive my Subsea and monthly ezine but what else can there possibly be to do?

Let’s look back at CFT and try and answer those questions!

In the beginning when our founding fathers shook hands and headed off for a celebratory drink after their inaugural meeting in the Curragh Camp there was no such thing as an National Diving Officer or a Scientific Officer or a Technical Commission not to mention a Children’s Officer. Life was just so simple back then.

There were just four positions on the executive, a president, a secretary, a treasurer and a press officer. In other words there was some one to chair meetings, someone to record meetings, some one to collect money, (always the the most important job) and someone to tell the world all about it. Back then there were no computers, no facebook, no mobile phones, in fact very few houses would have had land lines, so communication, to say the least, was slow. Fifty years later how times have changed we can now send out an ezine

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to over five thousand subscribers and within minutes note how many have actually opened it and where in the world they might live and work!

Our executive now consists of ten members who come from all clubs around the country. With over 75 clubs you would expect that it would be easy to find candidates to stand for election onto the Executive Council. And yet most clubs are slow to put forward anyone to take up any position. There may be many reasons for this, location, availability of spare time, more interested in diving than organising, involvement in their own club or personal reasons. This is understandable however what is disappointing is that there is still a little bit of a “them and us” which is sad considering that we are just like you, ordinary members of CFT but we decided to give something back to our sport (maybe you should think about going forward too, we would love to have you on board!)

The amount of job satisfaction that one gets from being part of the Executive is immeasurably. Apart from meeting up with like minded people and making new friends, you do in fact make friends right across the country. But that is just a byproduct of the job. To get involved in the workings of CFT and to understand how decisions are made and why is quite revealing. You very quickly become aware that what you are doing is for a far greater and bigger club than the one you have come from. You also realize that you must become impartial and can not in any way work towards benefiting your own club and at the same time your club will benefit from your activities by raising its profile.

What exactly do Executive members do?

Let’s take a look at each position and perhaps you might find a position that you would be interested in or you know someone in your club who could bring a lot of knowledge and expertise to the top table, they would be more than welcome and we promise to make them a hot cuppa at their first meeting.

The President; In many large sporting bodies the role of President is largely an honorary one; to wear a blazer, meet dignitaries, wear a chain, etc. However, in a small organisation like CFT the Executive and therefore the President has a vital role. In the case of the President of CFT the role is specified in the Rules of the organisation and a synopsis is listed below; The President shall preside at all meetings of the Council and of the Executive Committee.

The President shall be generally responsible for the overall efficient and successful running of the Council.

The President shall ensure that the CFT complies with its Code of Governance.

What this actually means is that the President is responsible for all decision and actions made by CFT. It is their job to ensure that not only is CFT working efficiently but also that we are fulfilling our strategic and government obligations, in other words as far as CFT is concerned the buck stops with the President.

CFT Executive The Vice President; Contrary to what some people might think, the vice president is not responsible for what ever vice the Executive might get up to. The role is a very interesting one and you can find yourself dealing with almost anything from forward planning to equality, from insurance to any project management. It’s a very mixed bag with vital importance to the running of the company.

The Secretary; The secretary is not generally expected to be glamour’s or sexy and can be male or female. As one would expect he/she would record the minutes of each meeting and would correspond with all the members of the executive.

He/she also deals with the hand-over documents which ensure that each new member coming on to the executive knows exactly what they should be doing.

The Treasurer; The money person! The one we blame for our fees going up!. But the Treasurer does not, as one might expect, do the accounts, we have an independent Book Keeper for that important job.

But they do make decisions as to what should be paid and what should not.

Where money can be saved and spent wisely and advises the Executive on all money matters.

National Snorkelling Officer;

Children’s Officer;

To the wreck and depth freaks the NSO can appear insignificant but on the contrary the NSO is vitally important to the growth, management and promotion of snorkelling in Ireland. Snorkelling is fast becoming a massive growth area in CFT and any club who is serious about gaining membership should get on board with snorkelling. This role is due to become much busier as the numbers taking up snorkelling increase.

This is a very important and serious position. We have only to turn on our radio or read a paper to see how children were treated and abused in the past. We can not allow this to happen again and to ensure it won’t happen on our watch CFT has created a position to look after children anywhere in the country associated with divers.

The Publications Officer; The main responsibility for the Publications Officer is the job of Editor of SubSea, which is a very enjoyable job but takes up a lot of time. The Editor also manages the monthly membership Ezine.

It is also his/her role to continuously nag the other members of the Executive, and indeed, members of CFT to contribute articles for SubSea.

The Public Relations Officer; The PRO’s function is to promote CFT and its activities to the wider public, through Press, Radio, Television, the Internet and any other means. This is very important role as it’s through publicity at local and national level that we gain membership. The PRO is also available to advise clubs on how they can promote their club at local level.

National Diving Officer;

The Scientific Officer;

We know that the NDO takes wonderful pictures but also has a serious role. Not only are they President of the Technical Commission, but he/she is central to all diving activities in CFT. Although it would be nice if that entailed going diving in every location in the country unfortunately the job is 70% communication with RDO’s, Technical Commissions, Head Office and Government Agencies. Pretty much every diving related matter in CFT has gone through the NDO’s desk at some stage. On the positive side as NDO you meet and communicate with so may like minded divers that you end up with diving buddies all over the country for those rare moments of spare time!

The Scientific Officer’s role within the CFT Executive is to provide advice and guidance relating to any scientific issue that may impact upon diving.

A major focus over the last few years is the promotion of Seasearch Ireland.

And there is currently considerable effort going into the development of a new course on underwater archaeology.

The Scientific Officer also has an important role in monitoring government projects at sea for their possible impact on diving, snorkeling and marine habitats in Ireland.

He/she must above all be able to pronounce unpronounceable words with out the slightest hesitation that sadly means little to a lot of us.

Of course we have lost the Competitions Officer role due to lack of interest. This was possibly because in general divers tend to be non competitive and as technology and equipment improved divers were more interested in longer and deeper diving rather than pitting their skills against each other by finning up and down the pool or spearfishing.

In a sense this has not been good for our sport as the galas held over the winter months was one of the best ways to keep fit. However it is quite possible that we may see a return to some forms of competition in the future with photography, spearfishing, underwater hockey and freediving gaining popularity at a rapid pace.

We know there is an abundance of talent out there so why not use it to support CFT for a year or two. If you have been heavily involved in your club maybe it is time to stand back and let others have a go and you devote some time to CFT. If you have some time on your hands this is a great way to spend it. You will benefit your club, organisation and gain skills, friendship and experience you will find hard to get elsewhere. Help CFT to grow into the future, be part of that growth and if you disagree with something that’s happening well don’t just rant and rave at an AGM or worse still at every opportunity you get when you meet up with other divers. Stand up and be counted and change it.

If you would like to know more about what we do feel free to contact any of us or Head Office, we would be delighted to hear from you. ◼ SubSea Spring 2014 49

The Moriarty Archives

This is where it all started twenty years ago

In all the excitement with our 50th celebrations it could easily be forgotten that we also had another event the same time, the extracting of Mick Moriarty from his hide-out in the attic.

Mick’s archive had long outgrown the space he had in the attic room over CFT’s office and access up and down to it was also somewhat undesirably.

As remedial work was taking place on our building anyway it seemed an appropriate time to relocate the archive to a lower floor, the first floor of the office.

This area has now become the archive and board room and has been suitable fitted out with storage units and display cabinets.

To honour Mick for his endless dedication and countless hours spent collecting, collating and storing, not just the history of CFT but also the history of many clubs around the country, the new archive has been appropriately named “The Moriarty Archive”

Over thirty people from various clubs around the country attended the launch. In his address, Richard Thorn, President of CFT, paid tribute to Mick for the work he had done over the years in not only setting up the archive but meticulously caring for it ever since.

He said “If we have not got a history, really, we have nothing” He went on the thank all those involved with the very necessary refurbishing work carried out on the office over the past number of weeks, in particular Louise and Sarah who have been continuing with their normal duties while working in the middle of a building site most of the time.

It then fell to Mick to unveil the plaque and from the look of shock and surprise on his face it was obvious that he had no prior knowledge of what he was unveiling.

An array of sandwiches and cakes, supplied by Martine McCarthy, was then enjoyed by all and the gathering lasted till late into the night. What a fitting start to our weekend of celebrations.

ARCHIVE /ARCHIVES? Mick Moriarty Having being appointed as the first archivist to CFT in 1993 by John O’Connor of the Curragh SAC, who was then President of CFT, I was presented with my first problem. What do I call this new CFT facility? Should it be called the Archive or the Archives? I looked up my four dictionaries at home and discovered that all supported the singular form until Encarta, the newest and biggest, said that I could also use the plural. Curses.

I looked up the phone book to check on the various facilities listed for the Dublin area:- Military Archives, The National Archives, Dublin City Archives, the Dublin City Council Archive, the National Photo Archive and the Irish Architectural Archive, without getting a definite answer as they

Some years later it was moved to the attic

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clearly could not decide either. So I looked up a learned author, T.P. Schellenberg, who wrote about the history and the development of such organisations in the US. I was no wiser as a result so I had to make a decision. It seemed to me that it would sound more logical to use the plural form, especially when dealing with those for whom an archive was “a foreign country”. I decided therefore that the newest CFT facility would be known from now on as “Comhairle Fo Thuinn, the Irish Underwater Council Diving Archives” or in brief as the “CFT Diving Archives”. The Archives opened for business in January 1994 and has continued to prosper ever since.

It would be ideal to have all collections, photos, etc, recorded digitally to enable divers and researchers to access the necessary files via the internet.

Unfortunately finances do not permit it at present but it remains for some future Executive to “make it so”. This means that for the foreseeable future, writers must still come to Dublin to their research in the office. However, a handbook providing a detailed summary of what is contained in the Archives is nearing completion that should make things a little easier for researchers who wish to consult any aspect of the information contained in the Archives.

An event occurred only recently that cheered me up no end. Two former Presidents of CFT no less, Ted Spendlove and Peter Brady, were working on different projects in the Boardroom while I was working on catching up with the backlog created by my recent extraction from the attic. Is it a pointer to the future popularity of the ARCHIVES? And with all the excitement of celebrating birthdays in 2013 lets not forget one more. The Archives were 20 years old in January of this year so maybe its not too late yet to light a candle and wish it a happy birthday also. ◼

A view of the new archive

Club Spotlight

Spotlight on the Curragh From Sarah Lyle, Club PRO Presentation of money raised to the Lifeboat 2011

The Curragh & CFT The Curragh Sub Aqua Club isn’t Ireland’s oldest diving club, it is the second oldest, after the Irish Sub Aqua Club. The Club was formed in May 1958 in the barracks of the Curragh Camp, hence where the Club got it’s name, by a group that included one of Irish diving’s most well known and loved divers, Mick Moriarty.

As a young lieutenant Mick had a genuine love of the sea, a champion swimmer he took to diving like a fish, literally. And it is his enthusiasm for the sport that has in no small part contributed to the growth of both the Club and CFT itself. A fine article on Mick Moriarty, A life Aquatic by Eibhir Mc Queen was published in the Autumn 2013 edition of Subsea.

Just like today, though without the social media and mobile phones, the founding CFT Clubs were very much in contact with each other. I recall Mick Moriarty telling me that even in the early days you could arrive at a pier or dive site and know everyone in

a wet suit! Originally the idea was that the Irish clubs would be overseas branches of BSAC (The British Sub Aqua Club) but there was soon a feeling that a federation of clubs would be more appropriate, and so CFT was born, with the Curragh Sub Aqua Club one of the six founding clubs.

The first President of CFT was a member of the Curragh, Shane O’Connor and looking at the list of officers, the Curragh Sub Aqua Club has continued over the years to serve Irish diving. I’m not going to list the number of Curragh members who have served on the Executive over the years since Shane O’Connor first served as President, suffice to say the number of Presidents, NDO’s, Treasurers etc is long, but I will mention that the Club’s own Jean Kelleher is currently serving as Secretary. What it does demonstrate is the part the Curragh has had and continues to have in the promotion and development of Irish diving.

The Early Days and the move to Sandycove In the early days the Club was based in the Curragh Camp which had a fine swimming pool that facilitated training, but as the Club started to grow and the number of non army members increased the Club needed to find a new home. As with all things Irish, a friend of a friend’s or perhaps the brother-in-law’s friend or the like knew of a building that, while not quite derelict was in certain need of repair.

The building was an old victorian baths located on Sandycove Avenue West, close to Dun Laoighaire Harbour and even closer still to the Forty Foot bathing place. So ten years after it’s first inception, the Club moved to what is still our home in Sandycove.

I wasn’t around in 1968, but I’ve been told that while externally the building has changed little over the past 45 years internally the current configuration is completely different.

The Victorians were very much into health and well being, and during this SubSea Spring 2014 51

Club Spotlight

Did the sun always shine back then?

Tom Mason on compressor duty on a Curragh weekend away in Slade back in the early 60’s

time there was acceptance in the restorative powers of saltwater and mineral spas with the resulting growth in baths and bathing houses. Our Clubrooms were built as one such place, with the main area divided into separate cubicles that had sunken baths in each, where one could have a hot or cold saltwater bath, though if you wanted seaweed that was extra. It also provided changing facilities and access to a private bathing cove, the walls of which are still visible today.

The part of the building we occupy and call our Clubrooms, we have a kayaking club as neighbours, is essentially divided into three areas, the changing rooms, the main room and an equipment room. The main room was where the original cubicles with their sunken baths were, so one of the first things that was done after moving in was the leveling of the floor.

Internal block walls were also added to provide some level of insulation. This main area is used for lectures, meetings, dive briefings and of course the odd social function, hence the dance floor and kitchen area, if only those walls could talk.......... In my time in the Club there have been minor changes, such as the reconfiguration of the changing rooms area, to provide additional space for the ladies, install a new boiler for the showers and to refurbish the showers themselves but essentially the building has remained the same. As with all old buildings maintenance is ongoing but this year

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we received the great news that Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council, our landlords, has received monies to refurbish the building.

The Club and its members While we are not the oldest club in Ireland we have certainly been around for a long time, partly to do with the enthusiasm for diving and snorkeling that our founding fathers imbibed into the fabric and culture of the Club. I think last year we had around 55 members making us one of the larger clubs around, though I think this is some way behind the heady days of the late eighties and early nineties when membership was topping 80! Though at the time some of those members would have been juniors, affectionately know as tadpoles. When I joined in 1982 as one such tadpole, there were upwards of 20 tadpoles, a mixture of diver’s children and others like myself that just had a love of the sea. The junior section of the Club has gone the way of all things mortal, due to dwindling numbers and the onerous but necessary nature of ensuring the duty of care required by Child Protection Legislation, which is a pity as it gave kids like me a glimpse at the underwater world.

Though we no longer have a junior snorkeling section of the Club, snorkeling is still very much part and parcel of the Club particularly over the winter months when there is little hope of diving on the East coast.

During the winter months you will see members taking to the water on Saturdays and Sundays to try and maintain some level of fitness while they wait for the weather to improve and they can start diving again. We also have a traditional St Stephen’s day snorkel, where members try and undo some of the over indulgences of Christmas day.

During the diving season, which is getting longer and longer due to better suits, the Club is out every Wednesday evening, Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon heading normally south to either the Muglins or Dalkey Island.

These would be our normal/regular dive sites, though dives to some of the wrecks of Dublin Bay are also organised, the Guide Me II is a particular favourite. For these normal Club dives there is a roster of DOD’s, or diving officers of the day, to ensure that everyone in the Club is involved and some pressure is taken off the diving officer.

The Club has a strong tradition of training and as a result there are a healthy number of instructors, including M3’s, in the Club that the DO can call upon to assist with not just the day to day diving, but also the progression of trainee and cross over divers. Due to the Club’s size and longevity there is also a strong support from divers who are not instructors who none the less bring a huge amount of experience that can be called upon.

The Club also does a fair amount of traveling, both around Ireland and abroad, we will shortly be announcing our 2014 dive calendar which will list the proposed away weekends for next year. Included will be the location for the Easter trip which is traditionally the trainee’s weekend, an opportunity for them to get their first diving grade of one star diver. As a Club we are away at all the bank holiday weekends as well as our annual pilgrimage to Innis Boffin for a week of what can only be described as some fantastic diving.

As mentioned we are a large club and as such we would have 25 or 30 members traveling on away weekends.

The logistics of moving 2 boats, 2 traveling compressors and that number

Club Spotlight of divers could be a nightmare, but at this stage in the Club’s history everyone knows what needs to be done and for the most part mucks in and lends a hand.

The 2013 season started off slowly with the Easter weekend suffering badly due to the weather, but as the season progressed and the weather improved the Club took full advantage with one week there being a Club dive every day of the week. The away weekends were great successes with each one offering different diving around the Irish coast. We also took delivery of a new boat which brought the number of boats the Club owned, albeit temporarily, to three. The Club also participated in the Dublin Regional Dive Weekend, diving some old favourites and some new sites such as the wreck of the Lanarkshire lost off Greystones in 1882. The 2013 season also saw the Club traveling to some unusual destinations including the Azores and Greenland, in addition to the usual trips to Gozo and the Maldives.

The future and 2014 Diving is a very personal sport and looking back over the 2013 season each one of us in the Club will have a dive that was special, whether it is seeing sun fish in Burton Port for the first time or a new dive site, and of course at this time of the year we are also looking forward to next season.

Over the winter months when the diving in Dublin is suspended and the boats have been taken out, you would think that the Club would hibernate, but even if the pace is a little slower there is still a lot going on. At this time of the year snorkeling is the order of the day, with members actively encouraged to continue to maintain their fitness. The new committee are starting to plan for the 2014 season, putting together the dive calendar for next season and taking the opportunity to run try-a-dive evenings to encourage new members to take up the sport we love.

The DO is of course looking for volunteers to run some away weekends, the quid pro quo being that the volunteer usually gets to pick the destination. The training officer is

We have no date when this was taken but looking at some of the faces we know it was a long time ago. The back drop is Baginbun, Fethard, Co Wexford and it was a Curragh club event of some sort.

L to R Billy Nott, Colm O’Brien, Marie Roche, Marie Keogh, Tom Mason, Noleen Kelly, Bridget Keogh and Ena.

Pat McSweeney, John Hailes, Mick Moriarty and Bernie Brennan.

This is the winning team of the Irish Spearfishing Championships held in Valentia sometime in the early 1970’s. And yes, it is the Curragh once again!

always particularly busy in this ‘off ’ season, organising try-a-dives, and training sessions in the pool to get our newest members ready for the new season.

For the Club 2014 will be a very busy one with the arrival of a new membrane compressor and the proposed refurbishment of our Clubrooms adding to the mix of away weekends, and regular Dublin Bay

diving, details of all the Club’s activities are on the Club’s web site www.curraghsubaqua.com.

If you want to contact the Club you can do so via the web site, Twitter or even on our Facebook page. The Curragh Sub Aqua Club would like to take this opportunity to wish all divers a fantastic 2014 season of safe diving, and wish CFT all the best as it starts the next 50 years! ◼ SubSea Spring 2014 53

Becoming a club diver

From Ellen Nugget, Donegal Sub Aqua Club

In the centre, Ellen Nugent, Donegal Sub Aqua Club’s, newest qualified diver with Sean Staunton also from Donegal club and John Joe Rowland Sheephaven Club taken on the day of Ellen’s Club Diver Test. John Joe was the examiner and Ann Boyle oversaw the test.

I tried my first dive in a swimming pool in Fuerteventura when I was twelve. The instructor’s name was Axel, and I was thrilled when he said I could try a shallow shore dive. Ten minutes at six meters and I was hooked. The vibrancy and proximity of this alien world, combined with an almost reverent silence, enthralled me completely.

I tried my first dive in a swimming pool in Fuerteventura when I was twelve.

The instructor’s name was Axel, and I was thrilled when he said I could try a shallow shore dive. Ten minutes at six meters and I was hooked. The vibrancy and proximity of this alien world, combined with an almost reverent silence, enthralled me completely.

What seemed like many years later in February 2013, I joined Donegal SubAqua Club, and until then my diving was limited to pleasure dives abroad, and it seemed like an eternity until I could dive in Irish waters. Living in Donegal, on the doorstep of the Atlantic Ocean, didn’t make the wait any easier.

After a try-a-dive in my local pool, my training began in earnest. Three full days of lectures, and a month of pool diving, and I was ready for my openwater snorkels. My first Irish dive took

54 SubSea Spring 2014

place in late April, followed by a summer of stunning new dive locations.

I particularly enjoyed the company of my fellow divers, and appreciated their experience and expertise over the course of my training.

“I realized how patient and considerate CFT instructors are, willing to forgo the pleasure of more advanced dives to help inexperienced divers progress.”

As time progressed, and dives were deeper and for longer periods of time, I realized how patient and considerate CFT instructors are, willing to forgo the pleasure of more advanced dives to help inexperienced divers progress.

Even though I was the minimum age for training, I was never treated as less

than an equal, but at the same time, always felt extremely safe in their care.

Although too young to take the club diver test all summer, the then Regional Dive Officer, Anne Boyle, scheduled a test in late December, so that I could qualify this year, and I was so proud to pass my test then. It was the best birthday present ever. The thing that surprises me most is the lack of young people in the club, given the accessibility of such wonderful dive sites in this country. It’s an all-yearround sport, and it keeps you fit. After the initial outlay for equipment, the annual costs are relatively small, and it’s a great way to meet new people.

Why not watch out for dive opportunities in your locality, and give it a go? You’ll be in good company, and in the care of the best instructors in the world. ◼

Mart & Exchange

Mart & Exchange carries small ads for commercial services at a rate of E50.00 for up to 50 words, cash with order. Ads from diver to diver for non commercial services are free.

Send advertisements by fax, E-mail or post to CFT Head Office for inclusion in the next issue. If gear is stolen please advertise to assist recovery and alert the trade.

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