Subsea 147

SUBSEA Ireland’s Only Diving Magazine

CFT

50th Anniversary Bumper Issue

B4 CFT – A History Bali Scuba Diving Tragedy of the Helen Blake

Vol. 9 No. 147 Autumn 2013 '(()**"!#$+%!&,

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SUBSEA

CONTENTS

ISSN 0791 - 475X Volume 9 Number 147 Autumn 2013 5

EDITORIAL Publisher’s comments

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BRIEFINGS What’s happening at home and abroad

11 COMHAIRLE FO-THUINN – A HISTORY

By Tom Shakespeare 17 CFT – THE HIGHLIGHTS

By Mick Moriarty 20 HANS HASS The diving pioneer remembered 21 CAPTURING UNDERWATER IMAGES

By Pat McCoole 24 SNORKELLING – WHERE ARE WE New CFT initiatives

Diver enters the water at Solomon's Hole off Hook Head, Co Wexford. Photo by and © Ivan Donoghue.

25 NOTED IRISHMEN Robert Boyle 27 BALI SCUBA DIVING

By Yvonne Moran

Attention SubSea Contributors

33 LE MONDE DE NEMO

By Juliette Claro

• Submit all material to the Editor at editor@diving.ie or to Head Office

34 SHALLOW DIVING

By Ken O’Sullivan

• Material must arrive well in advance of the deadline.

38 THE JOHN WAYNE LOBSTER AND SOME CRUSTACEAN MEMORIES

By Noel Gleeson

• 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.

39 TRAGEDY AT KEERAGH ISLAND

By Liam Ryan

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

43 ROUTINE SEARCH AND RECOVERY TRAINING EXERCISE SOLVES A 22 YEAR MISSING PERSON’S CASE

By Timmy Carey

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.

46 A PROFILE OF A SEARCH AND RECOVERY

By Don Baldwin 47 A LIFE AQUATIC

By Eibhir Mulqueen 51 A GIRLIE DIVE STORY FROM DUNDALK

By Patricia Finley Hanratty 53 BOOK REVIEW – CLASSIC DARKSITE DIVING Review by Alan Purcell

Edited by: Denny Lawlor

55 MORE SNIPPETS FROM THE PAST

Proofreading: Mike Orth

58 CFT EXECUTIVES 1963-2013

56 PICTURE PARADE FROM THE PAST

Advertising: Sarah Campbell Typesetting and Design: Bernard Kaye 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.

60 CFT NEWS Reports from the President and the NDO Affiliated to

61 PORTMARNOCK SAC – THIRTY YEARS ON

By Michael Whelan 63 CLUB SPOTLIGHT – IRISH SAC

By James Scallon 66 MART AND EXCHANGE

CMAS

Spring 2014 Issue Deadline All articles for inclusion in the next issue of SubSea should be sent to the editor before January 4th.

All advertising should be sent to CFT Head Office before January 4th.

SubSea Autumn 2013

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SubSea Autumn 2013

Is your club coming !

Time to buy your tickets for our Gala Dinner and celebrations in September.

Tickets available on diving.ie Club group discount

Please book your tickets early to allow us to plan early

BRIEFINGS EDITORIAL Welcome to this special edition of SubSea It is indeed an honour to be part this organization we call Comhairle Fo-Thuinn as we celebrate its Golden Jubilee. Since its foundation 50 years ago, it has served us well.

From the early days with a committee of just four it has grown quite rapidly in order to keep ahead of the demands of our sport. The founding fathers must look on in amusement today and wonder how it came to pass that the decisions they made in the Moira Hotel in Dublin and in the Officers Mess in the Curragh Camp, all those years ago could end up with the organization we have today. But then again, they had no idea where our sport would take us.

From jumpers and drawers to homemade wetsuits, from rubber drysuits to what the latest technology can produce.

From tadpole bottles to computers and God knows what else in between, we have come a long way. Where will the next 50 years take us?

“In 1963 only weirdos dived. The equipment they used was primitive and largely inventive. Their knowledge of the finer points of diving was sketchy. The risks were considerable. As far as organisation was concerned, many different tides pounded the same shores.

A few of these early pioneers saw the need for a coordinated effort, a sharing of knowledge and skills. They got together and founded An Comhairle Fó-Thuinn.”

These were the opening words of the Editor back in 1984 when CFT were celebrating its 21st birthday. Much has changed in the diving world since then. The sport has grown beyond the wildest dreams of our founders. And it continues to grow. CFT has been in the forefront in bringing about these changes.

The same editor went on to say that; “Standards of training and safety have improved to a degree where we now enjoy participation in a sport which can be described as safe. CFT is now a large and well organised body which caters well for the needs of Irish divers. It has remained united over the years through all the arguments and differences of opinion. I am sure we will see the Council go from strength to strength with even more commitment and involvement from all the members.”

And now, 29 years later, the same comments are as relevant today as they were back then. CFT is still in the forefront and

still leading the way. Our training manual and safety record is known and copied around the world. We continually get requests from overseas groups of divers to become part of CFT. We should be very proud of our organization and we should take every opportunity we can to show just how proud we are.

Perhaps the first opportunity to do this is in a few weeks time when we celebrate CFT’s 50th birthday. Why not come along in large numbers to our Gala Dinner and show your support. A lot of time and effort has gone into organizing this event but it is an event for all the members of CFT and not just for the chosen few.

We have 82 clubs registered with CFT but it is hard to find out what many of them are doing or if they really exist at all.

This is your opportunity to come out of the wood work and represent your club.

Many of the people who led and built this organisation will be there and it will be a chance to meet them and hear some of their stories. But, do not let it be a gathering just for old men and women, let the present generation of divers take part also.

A great night is planned and who knows — apart from having a good night, you may even learn something about your sport and those who founded Comhairle Fó-Thuinn.

In this issue we have more snippets from the past and the history of how CFT came about from one who was there. We have the tragic story of the brave men of the Fethard Lifeboat and how they lost their lives. Yvonne Moran has once again shared her diving experiences with us, this time in Bali and with some wonderful pictures. Portmarnock club is bubbling with excitement as they celebrate 30 years of diving and we have the Irish club, the oldest and first club in the country, the South that is, in the spotlight. The Irish club in the 60‘s and 70‘s would have been one of the biggest clubs in Ireland but thanks to top class training it spawned a number of clubs around the country, including my own, the Hook, and done much to the promoting of our sport.

We also remember one of our very early pioneers, Hans Hass who died recently. He was mentioned in the last issue as having inspires our first editor to take up diving.

If you thought diving was all about depth have a look at what you can see when Shallow Water Diving. And we have a review of photography over the past 50 years and how it has grown from very basic equipment in the early days, pre Digital, to where we are today.

And there’s more of course to keep you turning the pages.

I do hope you enjoy this anniversary issue of your dive magazine and I hope it suitably marks the end of the first 50 years of CFT. In the mean time enjoy your diving and keep safe. Go by the rules.

Denny Lawlor, Editor

SubSea Autumn 2013

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BRIEFINGS

A Doctor To Die For In the last issue of SubSea we heard about the wonderful work of Doctor Cyril Crosbie and how he doled out information and advice to all our readers. Well now we have found another Doctor who is even more helpful and it would appear specializes in fitness and dietary advice. Check out his advice and make up your own mind; Patient; Doctor, I’ve heard that cardiovascular exercise can prolong life, Is that true?

Doctor; Your heart is only good for so many beats and that’s it.... don’t waste them on exercise. Everything wears out eventually.

Speeding up your heart will not make you live longer. That’s like saying you can extend the life of your car by driving faster. Want to live longer? Take a nap.

Patient; Should I cut down on meat and eat more fruit and vegetables?

Doctor; You must grasp logistical efficiencies. What does a cow eat?

Grass and corn. And what are these? Vegetables. So steak is nothing more than an efficient mechanism of delivering vegetables to your system.

Patient;

We, in CFT, are continuously working to provide and improve a service to our members. But there are times that we may put more emphasis on some directions and not enough on others.

To ensure we provide the services our members need feed back is essential. Other organizations can judge the feed back by monitoring sales but this is not available to CFT as all our services are included in membership fees.

To help us, and ultimately to help you, the member, we will shortly be conducting an online survey and would ask that you take the time to read it and respond to it. This survey will cover a broad number of areas and your response will help us direct our energies in the right direction.

Part of this survey will deal with the recent changes in the publishing of SubSea online. As you may be aware the last issue of SubSea went online in mid July and it is our intention to put this issue online also. This is very much a trial run and depending on feed back a decision will be made as to the viability of continually doing so as a certain amount of work is involved. Members views on this would be appreciated.

This survey will arrive via a special ezine and we ask that you do take the time to partake in it.

We thank you in anticipation for your co-operation.

Should I reduce my alcohol intake?

Doctor; No, not at all. Wine is made from fruit. Brandy is distilled wine. That means they take the water out of the fruity bit so you can get even more of the goodness that way. Beer is made out of grain. You can’t go wrong, drink up!

Patient;

CFT Survey

SMACS

How can I calculate my body / fat ratio?

Doctor; Well, if you have a body and you have fat, your ratio is one to one. If you had two bodies, your ratio would be two to one and so on.

Patient;

What are some advantages of taking regular exercises?

Doctor; Can’t think of a single one, sorry. My philosophy is: No pain... Good.

Patient;

Aren’t fried foods bad for you?

Doctor; You are NOT listening!! ..Foods are fried those days in vegetable oil. In fact they are permeated in it. How could getting more vegetables be bad for you?

Patient;

Will sit-ups help prevent me getting fat around the middle?

Doctor; Definitely not. When you exercise a muscle it gets bigger.

You should do sit-ups only if you want to get a bigger stomach.

Patient;

Is chocolate bad for me?

Doctor; Are you crazy? HELLO. Cocoa beans, another vegetable!!!

Its the best feel good food around, go for it!

Patient;

SMACS - Small Craft Emergency Response and Survival Training for Arctic Conditions - is a collaborative international project being led by the Halpin and Nimbus Centres in the Cork institute of technology. Its primary objective is the development of a safety and survival training programme focused on the needs of small-craft mariners on commercial, fishing and leisure vessels operating in the Harsh Arctic Maritime Regions. The project is now collecting information from anyone with maritime experience (particularly, but not necessarily, with Arctic interest). A quick survey is available via the project website www.smacsproject.eu/ or by following the QR code with a smartphone.

Is swimming good for your figure?

Doctor; If swimming is good for your figure, explain whales to me.

Patient;

Is getting in shape good for my lifestyle?

Doctor; Hey, round is a shape.

Remember life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving in good shape with a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways with a well worn out and totally used up body, but what a journey!!

Well, we do hope that this has cleared up any misconceptions you may have had about food and diets.

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SubSea Autumn 2013

Your input can help improve the training.

The SMACS Project is funded by the Northern Periphery Programme of the EU and is supported by the European Regional Development Fund. Further information at http://www.smacs-project.eu/

BRIEFINGS South East Dive Rally 2013 From Dearbhla Walsh

Dive Brief to a section of the divers.

Over one hundred and fifty scuba divers descended on the Hook Peninsula last weekend for the first scuba diving rally to be held in the area in almost 30 years. The South East Dive Rally hosted by the regions four sub aqua clubs attracted divers from all over Ireland. The event was staged at the club house of the Hook Sub Aqua with the assistance of Kilkenny, Wexford and Waterford Clubs. The event began Friday, with divers registering from early afternoon. The large grounds of the club house provided the ideal space for camping, with many divers bringing the whole family for the weekend. It was hoped by the organising committee to register 30 divers on Friday, but by ten o’ clock that night there was over 70 divers signed up, showing that this could be one of the biggest event of the dive season this year.

The diving began Friday with two full boats taking divers to the wreck of the Girl Arlene, over thirty other divers decided on a night time shore dive in Tower Hole, just below the light house.

The waters were crystal clear and full

Rush Hour in Slade Harbour. Photo by Martin Kiely.

of marine life with many divers reporting they had never see such good conditions.

By Saturday morning the club house and Slade Harbour were a hive of activity, eight boats lined up and ready for the open water, tents pitched all around the grass, divers busy readying their gear. Many made the most of the hot sunshine by sitting out to have breakfast. The Hook club supplied two boats, as did Kilkenny.

Wexford, Waterford, Atlantis, Dundalk and Omega clubs each brought one boat. Having such great supply of boats and a wide variety of dive sites, 11 in total, there was lots of choice for visitors. Dive sites included wrecks, such as the Girl Arlene, Harry’s Wreck and the Lismore, drift dives such as Big Rock and Western Rock and shore dives in Tower Hole, Churchtown and The Bath Tub. There was also a speciality underwater photography dive and a nature watching sea search dive. Boats sailed all day Saturday, from 9am until 7pm with a few hours relaxation in the middle for a mouth watering BBQ. That evening the divers tested their wits against each other in a charity table quiz in Templars Inn, followed by dancing into the early hours.

With glorious sunshine and crystal clear waters on Sunday again, it was another early start. Divers took to the water in great numbers for the final opportunity to dive what have now become some of the best dive sites in the country. By afternoon visitors were packing their bags to head back home, some coming from as far away as

Monaghan and Kilkea in Co. Kerry. All had smiles on their now slightly red faces. With the sun beating down a small group stayed for a last shore dive in Churchtown.

The weekend was a fantastic success that far exceeded the expectation of the organizers who had been working hard for the past few months. We would like to thank all those who gave up their own time and dives to fill tanks, drive boats and tractor and generally help out with the event. Thank you to all the divers from all over Ireland who came to the small but spectacular peninsula of the Hook to dive, special thanks to all clubs who brought compressors and boats, Dundalk, Omega and Atlantis, we could not have done it without you.

We look forward to the South East Dive Rally 2014 already!!!

In the Spring of 1984 working together was really important.

What do they say;” the family that dives together stays together” Or was that prays together......

SubSea 1984 How are we doing with numbers now.

SubSea Autumn 2013

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BRIEFINGS Underwater Hockey

By Richard Thorn

The underwater hockey group within CFT on the 22nd and 23rd June organized an invitation event in the National Aquatic Centre.

10 teams (3 from Ireland ) and the remainder from all over Europe attended the event which was a great success. This is a forerunner to events to be held next year and the year after.

The energy, fitness levels and enthusiasm of the teams was a revelation to at least one observer (the President of CFT) who spent an enthralled hour underwater taking photographs and is open to invitations to be the official photographer for next years event:-).

Red Sea GoPro Video Courses with Jeff Goodman

Everyone is welcome to join a Video workshop organised by Oonasdivers. Whether you have a compact camera or something on the larger scale, if it's water proof you can be part of the next Red Sea adventure. Jeff is now even adding the Gopro camera to the list of cameras taken on these exciting tours, so there's no reason to miss out!

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SubSea Autumn 2013

He's also planning a GoPro specialty course where he'll show owners how to get the best from the camera, as well as shoot a good selection of material for an edit and hence a really good video movie.

For dates for the next landbased workshop at Marsa Shagra and liveaboard workshop onboard Blue Planet One (wreck special) please visit www.oonasdivers.com/news/19427-gopro-courses-in-red-sea

BRIEFINGS Kilkenny SAC Remembers Past members

Kilkenny Sub Aqua Club met at the Hook Head Peninsula Wexford in June to remember recently deceased members. Four long term members passed away within the last two years. They were Ann Broderick, Carlow, Martin Cleere Kilkenny Jim Byrne Goresbridge and Dick McDowell Callan. The Club was joined by a large group of family and friends. The sun shone on the gathering who shared

many memories, stories, laughter and some tears.

Members Larry O'Keeffe and Denis Coughlin gave a moving tribute to those who has passed, Larry then blessed a plague inscribed with the words In memory of deceased members who enjoyed diving at the Hook, this was then placed underwater at the Hook Lighthouse by a group of divers.

Adventure West – First School Snorkelling Tour

Scoil Cholmcille from Baile na hAbhainn enjoyed a delightful session at Old Head Beach in Co. Mayo.

Now offering snorkelling in Clew Bay, Adventure West were thrilled to introduce their first school tour group to the joys of the underwater world last month. Scoil Cholmcille from Baile na hAbhainn enjoyed a delightful session at Old Head Beach in Co. Mayo.

While the sunshine was co-operative on the day, the nature of snorkelling means that though the tendency for it to rain alot in the west of Ireland need not deter you from giving this activity a go. It may be more generally associated with sunnier climates, but Ireland's coastline provides wonderful opportunities for snorkelling that will prove just as interesting as anything you'd experience elsewhere.

Suitable for adults and children, snorkelling is perfect for those who'd like to explore the wonders of the underwater world, without getting into the expense of scuba-diving. It's easy and fun! All participants need to be able to swim and feel comfortable in the water, but the activity itself is relaxed and easy-going.

View sea life from a new perspective – there's plenty to see in Clew Bay that will thrill and excite you! It makes the ideal family outing, or indeed it is suitable for any group looking for a memorable day out. Adventure West offer snorkelling as a standalone activity, or as part of their Hen & Stag Party packages, as well as their corporate and sports Team Building

packages.

Operating from Old Head Beach, Louisburgh and also from Clare Island, Adventure West supply all necessary equipment, including wetsuits, gloves, balaclavas and buoyancy aids. Participants need only bring swimsuits, towels and a dry change of clothes.

All of Adventure West's instructors are fully certified by the Underwater Council of Ireland and Dive Ireland. Sessions cost €25 per adult and €20 per child, and must be pre-booked. For more information contact Louise on 087 3627828 or visit www.adventurewest.ie.

Some things never change.

From SubSea 1978

SubSea Autumn 2013

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BRIEFINGS We Remember

The Hook Sub Aqua Club lost one of it’s long standing members a few months ago.

Pat Clancy fought a brave fight against his illness over the past year but in May of this year he lost the battle and his family, his friends and the Hook Sub Aqua Club are very much the poorer.

Pat joined the Hook Club in 2002 and very quickly became a popular member. He was every ones friend and it has been said that he was impossible to fall out with. He loved his diving but equally enjoyed the banter above the water and is memorably for his dry comments when something was not quite going to plan.

One of his ambitions was to dive the Aud, in the mouth of Cork harbour,

Dick McDowell

10 SubSea Autumn 2013

before it became restricted in 2016. It took three attempts for him to make it as on the first two he had equipment problems. His second attempt was the most frustrating as he was in the boat on the way to the dive site when he discovered his stab jacket strap was broken. But he did make it on the third attempt and he was trilled to do so.

He qualified as a Club diver in July 2005 having already completed Diver Medic and VHF Radio Operator courses. Over the next few years he added to his list the Rescue Diver, Nitrox course and Search and Recovery. In 2011 he did his last course with the club, the Diver Coxwain.

While he was encouraged to do these courses he really wasn’t interested in certificates, only diving. He was a pleasure to dive with as his easy going manner above the water was very much reflected below water, no rush, no hurry, just enjoyment. Photography was one of his interests and as his buddy you could be sure to appear somewhere on film when you least expected it, quite possibly not in the most complementary pose.

While he was very popular with all the members in the club very few of us were aware of the many other activities Kilkenny Sub Aqua Club bid a sad farewell to Dick McDowell an extra special club member earlier in 2013. He was a native of Dublin and moved to Callan Co. Kilkenny in the eighties. He was highly respected within the Callan community where he ran a very popular Pharmacy.

Dick joined the Kilkenny Rugby Club for many years and when his rugby career ended he became a member of Kilkenny Sub Aqua Club. The Rugby Clubs loss and Kilkenny Sub Aqua Clubs gain. He was a club member for over twenty years. Dick had a brilliant personality he was very good with people and had many friends within the club.

He was a very comfortable and relaxed diver and as a result was in great demand as a dive buddy not just with trainees but with experienced divers also. There were no dramas with Dick just easy going and fun. Everyone who dived with Dick had a feeling of peace and enjoyment. His love of the diving was evident as he always returned from a dive with a smile on his face. He was a very active Club member and was always ready to help, he organised several good dive trips abroad,

he was involved in. He was a prominent member of the “Wexford Pikemen” and led their parade for a number of years. He was a keen cyclist and could often be seen out on his tandem sharing the experiences of the open road.

Another of his hobbies was making and flying kites. He was keen to pass this enjoyment and skills on to children and took great pleasure in visiting schools to set up a workshop for the children and show them how it was done.

He was also interested in traditional music.

Rest easy Pat, we will miss you but have great memories of the time you shared with us.

Hook Sub Aqua Club Egypt and Malta to name but a few of the places he travelled. On the trips his occupation as a pharmacist was called on to cure various ailments from his bag of tricks, some of the ailments were self inflected but Dick never divulged the gory details. Dick loved the sea and one of his favourite parts of the country was around the Hook Peninsula.

He was also a keen skier, he was known as the sweeper as he would stay at the back of the ski group and pull those of us who forgot how to turn from some very deep snow drifts. On the odd occasion there would be no sign of Dick at the end of the run and then over the slope he would appear covered from head to toe in snow, his comment would be there was no one to pick up the sweeper. His very bright hat could be seen for miles on the slopes.

Dick will be deeply missed by Kilkenny Sub Aqua Club; words cannot express the feelings of loss that we all felt at the passing of Dick. The Club extends it deepest sympathy to Dick’s wife Eileen and children.

Ar dheis De go raibh a anam dilis.

By the Editor istory is a serious business and yet its a strange old business.

When we are doing something important it never occurs to us that this is history in the making and so we never record our action with history in mind.

In general, all history is recorded well after the event and for sure different people will remember the event in different ways. But after several hundred years there is no one about to dispute what the history book states.

However, its a different story when it comes to the history of CFT and its beginnings back in the early 60s, now 50 years ago. There are still quite a few of the “Founding Fathers� around and while their stories may differ slightly we can only assume all their stories are all correct. Memories could hardly fail in just 50 years, could they?

What can not be disputed is that in 1956 the Irish Sub Aqua Club was founded, the first club in Ireland, well the south that is, there was a branch of the BSAC in Belfast. We also know that about two years later the Curragh club was founded. Around the same time the Irish had a number of branches around Ireland, its intention being that it would follow the situation in the UK

H

where the BSAC is the governing body.

So their branches were Cork, Killaloe and for a short while the Garda.

As you read on all will become clear.

In those early days there were not many divers involved in the sport but those who were soon began to make contact with those like minded people and meeting up to share dive sites and experiences was fairly common.

The big question is who came up with the idea of a federation to govern the sport and why?

If you are in any way associated with the Irish club you will be well aware of their claim to have started it all. While at the same time followers of the Curragh club will be quick to tell you how wrong that claim is, that it was the Curragh club who started the ball rolling. And no doubt there are guys in Belfast who also claim the credit.

Of course, the people who make such claims really have no idea how CFT came about but it is nice to have your club the one to claim the credit for it anyway.

In actual fact CFT came about because all the clubs in existence at that time very quickly came to realizes that their sport had to be governed. It lacked consistency. There were no rules and regulations, no set training schedules, no certification or indeed, down to a very basic level, no clear cut hand signals.

If ever a governing body was needed for a sport, it was for diving.

And so like minded people in the Irish, the Curragh, the Garda, Belfast and anyone else that was interested in diving back then started the ball rolling and following many meetings over a number years CFT was born.

Meetings held back then were very different from meetings of today but none the less had simmilar aims. To write the history of any organization that has been so successful over the last

Cartoon by John Joyce

SubSea Autumn 2013

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CFT – A History 50 years would be quite a challenge and would, of course, have to be in book format and would require endless research. That is for another day.

A certain amount of research was carried out to mark CFT 50th birthday and one article written for it 21st came to light which was published in SubSea, a most prominent dive magazine of the day, back in 1984. It was written by Tom Shakespeare, some one that was around then and attended most if not all the meetings that took place in the lead up to the formation. He was a member of the Irish club at that time but went on to hold many important

positions within the club, CFT and indeed C.M.A.S. over the next number of years.

Tom started diving in 1957. He joined Dublin Branch I.S.A.C. in 1958.

Among the posts he held at Club and National Level were: Club Training Officer 1959; Club Hon Sec. 1961; Ulster Spearfishing Champion 1961; 1st Hon Sec. C.F.T. 1963; Chairman National Diving Sub-Committee 1967/68, Club Diving Officer 1967/68; 1st National Diving Officer 1970; elected Trustee of C.F.T. 1973; Member of the Technical Commission since its establishment in 1974; Appointed as C.F.T’s first 4-star Moniteur 1976;

Member of the C.M.A.S. International College of Instructors.

How could we doubt anyone with all that under his belt. He would be the first to admit that his account may not be the “definitive history of the founding of CFT” but mainly his views aided by minutes of meetings leading up to its founding.

This article was written twenty nine years ago so why not re publish it this year, the story is just as good today as it was then. There may be some out there who disagree with some of it but it should be noted that no one did so in the following issues of SubSea back in 1984.

(First published in SubSea in 1984)

to establish “An Cumman (sic) Fo Thuinn, The Irish Underwater Council”. This moves us forward too quickly. Before the conception itself there were the introductions. Then there was a period of courtship before the coupling took place.

The earliest record I can find of the “Introduction” is November 1956. The Chairman of The Irish Sub-Aqua Club, Geoffrey Hammond reported to a Club committee meeting that during a business trip to Belfast he was able to contact the Belfast branch of the British Sub-Aqua Club. The Club had extended an invitation to members of I.S.A.C. to their baths meetings at Grove and Templemore Baths. He said that Belfast were most anxious to have closer contact between the Clubs. At this stage there was no talk of marriage.

What would not now be generally known is that when the Irish Sub-Aqua Club was founded it was intended that it should organize itself on similar lines to the British Sub-Aqua Club. This was one National Club with branches through the country. Had this concept come to fruition there would have been no need for C.F.T. This however, was not to be. There were at various times branches of I.S.A.C. operating in

Killaloe, Cork and some which flowered briefly and faded away.

Arrangements were made in January 1958 to meet with the Belfast Club at a dive site in the Carlingford Lough area, at their request. Most of my readers would expect to go to a similar meeting laden down with the impediments of the modern diver. Each diver attending would have a car boot full of his/her personal equipment. It would not be far from the truth to say that at that time all the diving equipment in the country would fit into the boot of one car. Wet suits had not put in an appearance. The monied elite appeared in a variety of “dry suits”. The poor and indigent among us made do with a motley dress of old tight fitting woolen sweaters, jeans and long John underwear in cold weather, finished off with a couple of pairs of socks.

In May 1958 the ISAC decided to affiliate as an “Overseas” Branch of B.S.A.C. Can I hear the more nationalist minded of my readers throw up their hands in horror.

Viewed in the context of the times it was a prudent move. Information on technical matters was not generally available. The very existence of Navy style manuals was not known. B.S.A.C.

The founding of An Comhairle Fó-Thuinn, The Irish Underwater Council had a conception, gestation and birth. Over the years there has been speculation about when these events took place and who contributed to them. It is natural that people who may not have been born or at best been small children should want to know where it all began.

In the 21 years or more since these happenings memories have faded, records and minute books get lost. The one positive fact is that most if not all the persons who were centre stage during that period are still with us.

Perhaps the nature of the sport attracts the healthy or more possibly excludes the less strong. What follows is not presented as a definitive history of the “Founding”. This is my view of what took place. I am not in a position to call on minute books of The Irish Sub-Aqua Club from 1956. However, the minutes of the inter-club meetings leading up to the founding of the Council and Council minutes to 1974 I have retained.

Most people accept that the Council was founded in 1963. The “Founding Fathers” agreed in that year

12 SubSea Autumn 2013

CFT – A History were in touch with the Royal Navy who were in turn in contact with other Navies around the world.

This same meeting in May records that it was proposed to form a Curragh branch of the Club. The following meeting in June ‘58 records that the inaugural meeting of the Curragh Branch was attended by Tony Bishop.

However let me hasten to add that a meeting in Sept. ‘58 it was recorded that “a close as possible liaison with the Curragh Club”. The Curragh had decided not to form a Branch of I.S.A.C. The proposed meeting with Belfast was changed from Carlingford to the Boyne. It was proposed to dive for the Williamite Cannon lost in the Battle of the Boyne. It is subsequently reported that no diving took place “as the weather was too bad”. A similar drive was made the following year. It was this same week-end that the dive programme which lead to the discovery of “The Tayleur” off Lambay Island in July 1959 started.

The minutes of a meeting of 23rd Oct. in the I.S.A.C. minute book record that “A recent rally at Clogher Head had been attended by 35 people. There were 17 from the Belfast Club, 8 from the Curragh and 8 from Dublin. I can recall the event clearly. Somewhere there exists an 8mm movie film of this notable event. Somebody acted the C.B. deMille by directing the “crowd scene” of the three clubs coming together with opening welcome arms. I recall that the Curragh provided the cottage through Shane O’Connor.

Belfast and Curragh stayed overnight and Dublin joined them on the Sunday.

Some of the overnighting was carried out in the vegetable garden. There was one regrettable offshoot to this meeting of the three cubs for the first time. The pity of it was that the Dublin newspapers reported that the event had been organised by the Dublin Branch of I.S.A.C. This of course was not correct. No amount of investigation could uncover who had made the report. It is possible that it was an honest error by the reporter.

The end result was that arising from this, relations between the Curragh and Dublin were soured to an unbelievable extent. In my own opinion it put back the formation of a National

This picture is of great significance. It was taken at Clogherhead, Co Louth on September 1958.

It is one of the many joint diving expeditions between the Belfast Br of the BSAC, the Curragh and the Irish SAC in the lead up to the coming together of great minds and the forming of CFT. Picture courtesy of Submerged, Mick Morarity

Organisation by a number of years.

However I would view this weekend as “conception” The gestation period would be a long three years.

In April ‘59 Dublin proposed at a Club committee meeting that an “Irish Underwater Sports Federation” should be pressed. It was also tentatively agreed to organize an “All Ireland Rally” at Cama Co. Galway. This was planned for 4th/6th July. This was subsequently put back to Sept.

12th/13th. It was also proposed to ask the Club Chairman Tony Bishop to contact “Dr. Boyd of Belfast and ‘Mr’ Moriarty of the Curragh about the formation of an Irish Federation of Sub Aqua Clubs.

Dublin discussed the matter of joining in a Federation at Committee meeting in January 1960 for the first time. It was decided that Dublin wanted a loose Federation with other Clubs, as it was felt that diving with people one did not know was not desirable, accent should be on cooperation on social matters”. The italics are mine.

Federation was again discussed by the Dublin Branch in March 1961. It was decided to postpone any decision until the next meeting. The next meeting took place in Belfast after a Gala.

As I recall it was upstairs in their Clubrooms. It took place in the midst of a “hooly”. The next committee meeting reported on Federation talks.

“Matters were left in abeyance until the Curragh Dinner in October ‘61. Broad agreement had been reached on National type events and regulations. It was also reported that one club would host one of these National weekends in turn.

February 1962, Dublin Branch I.S.A.C. applied to C.M.A.S. for affiliation. This was motivated more by the fact that the international diving community was passing Ireland by.

Our divers going abroad could not expect to have their log books recognized at places like Club Med. Club Membership of C.M.A.S. was essential.

In May 1962 Kilkee applied for Branch status of I.S.A.C. This request was withdrawn in July of the same year.

In November ‘62 a group in Wexford expressed interest in forming a Branch.

This appears to have amounted to no more than an enquiry. Notably at this same meeting C.M.A.S. confirmed that I.S.A.C. were now affiliated. At this meeting the Club’s membership of B.S.A.C. was terminated. In the light of the new C.M.A.S. connection it served no useful purpose.

SubSea Autumn 2013 13

CFT – A History

Clogherhead, Co Louth in 1958, same event.

Front L.to R: Liam Lunney, Curragh SAC, Derek Nelson, Belfast Br BSAC, Jimmy Flynn, Curragh SAC. Standing: L. to R: Two members of Belfast Br BSAC (names not known), Larry Bradley and Mick McDonough, both Curragh SAC. Mick McDonough was Chairman of the Curragh club then.

Once again this would have been part of the inter club relations prior to the founding of CFT.

At this stage minutes of the InterClub meetings which lead to the establishment of an All-Ireland organisation become current. The first of these meetings was held on the week-end of 24/25th November ‘62.

These were in effect a continuation of the informal meetings which had been taking place for a period of time. The difference now was that minutes were taken and there was a very clear intention on behalf of the Clubs to establish a National Organisation. This first minuted meeting took place at “Edenvale”, Naas. This was the home of Jenny Simcox who afterwards became Mrs. Jimmy Flynn. Jimmy has many claims to fame, l am sure he will not be

14 SubSea Autumn 2013

offended if I were to identify him as “Fe-Fe the Flea” Flynn!

Three Clubs attended the meeting.

Belfast Branch, Dr. D. Boyd, Miss Margot Sidney-Smith and Colin McMurty. Killaloe Branch. Mr. and Mrs. D. Brislane. Curragh S.A.C., Miss J. Simcox, Capt. S, O’Connor and Capt.

M. Moriarty. Capt. Moriarty reported that due to an error in addressing the notice of the meeting to the Dublin Branch I.S.A.C. would not be able to attend. During the meeting he said that the purpose was to discuss the possibility of linking up of the Clubs with a view to Federation the following year. The question of standardization of training and tests was discussed

together with hand signals. The Clubs gave their views. Dr. Boyd noted that the type of Federation should permit Belfast to maintain it’s position with B.S.A.C. Douglas Brislane commented that his Committee had not had time to discuss the matter before the meeting.

They were in general agreement with the proposals already made. Capt.

Moriarty spoke for the Curragh. He said that they had always been in favour of Federation. He noted that not enough time had been taken in the past to discuss it. He proposed that an organisation be set up the next year which would have the following main points: (1) Belfast to continue with its B.S.A.C. connection; (2) I.S.A.C. to continue with its present Branch structure and any other Branches it may organize; (3) Curragh wished to retain its independent position.

A list of suggested aims of a Federation were recorded. These dealt with issues which divers today take for granted. Affiliate to C.M.A.S. Present a united face to Ireland and the World in training and public relations.

Standardize training on C.M.A.S. recommendations. Make World experience available to the Clubs through C.M.A.S. Bulletins. Arrange for remedial decompression cases to be evacuated to recompression facilities in conjunction with R.A.F. and Army Air Corps. Apply pressure (sic) on both the Royal Navy and Irish Naval Service to provide Decompression Chambers at their Depots. Organize or direct various National Events on occasions. At this point the meeting agreed that no further progress could be made in the absence of Dublin I.S.A.C. It was agreed that a further meeting could take place the next day 25th after the Curragh Gala.

The next day at “18.30 hours”, nice military touch, the meeting took place.

Hugh Quigley, Tom Shakespeare and Brian Pim represented Dublin branch.

Ronnie Hurley took over from the Brislanes. Jenny Simcox was not available for the Curragh. The discussion of the previous day was reviewed by Mick Moriarty for the benefit of the Dublin representatives. Tom Shakespeare was concerned that I.S.A.C. Branches should have equal voting

CFT – A History rights, in a Federation. He reported that the I.S.A.C. was now affiliated to C.M.A.S. He envisaged no problem in having the affiliation transferred to a new Federation. He also reported that I.S.A.C. were no longer affiliated to B.S.A.C. A general discussion took place on the merits of a National Federation.

M. Moriarty proposed that as time was short a further meeting should be arranged at the Dublin Annual Dinner in January ‘63. The Meeting would be chaired by Hugh Quigley on an agenda supplied by him. In the meantime the Club committees were to discuss the various proposals. The birth pangs were coming faster.

The next meeting took place on Saturday 23rd March ‘63 in the Moira Hotel, Trinity St., Dublin. I.S.A.C. decided that previous meetings had been compromised by a lack of time.

Dublin arranged a format of a dinner during which matters could be discussed. The cost of evening was borne by Dublin. Clubs attending were Belfast B.S.A.C, Mr. C. McMurty and Mr Maguire; Cork I.S.A.C, Mr. M. O’Driscoll and Mr. P. Lyons; Curragh S.A.C, Capts. S. O’Connor and M. Moriarty; Dublin I.S.A.C. Mr. H. Quigley and Mr. Tom Shakespeare; Garda I.S.A.C, Gardai N. Bracken and P. Morgan; Killaloe I.S.A.C. Mr. and Mrs. D. Brislane.

The meeting was chaired by Hugh Quigley. He reviewed the developments to-date. A long discussion followed on the form and function of a Federation. It was agreed that the main problems were (a) to respect and allow for the problems of the present Clubs within the framework of a Federation, and (b) deciding on the form and function of such a body, it should be a “positive” organisation with possible power to impose “sanctions” etc.

The following resolutions were passed unanimously: Name: An Cumman (sic) Fo-Thuin (C.F.T.) — The Irish Underwater Council”. The seal to be used in the crest as it had strong connections with Irish folklore. A Club would be recognized when it had 25 members. Each Club or Branch would be entitled to two delegates. One delegate to be a qualified diver. Each Club or Branch, regardless of

The founding fathers get together... Hugh Hennessy, Mick Moriarty, Neil Bracken, Shane O’Connor and Tom Shakespeare.

Photo taken back in 1984 by God knows who.

numerical strength would have one vote. Delegates to be nominated in January to maintain continuity. There would be three meetings per year divorced from all diving and social functions. The officers would consist of President, Secretary, Treasurer and Press Officer. Election to be by simple majority by secret ballot. Affiliation fees set at £5 but could go to £10 next year.

Dublin I.S.A.C. had paid the current C.M.A.S. affiliations to the Technical and Sporting Commissions. This would have to be paid by the new body next year. The scope of C.F.T. was set as (a) to accept the C.M.A.S. standard, and adjust them to Irish conditions; (b) to specify a minimum standard in Tests and procedures, (c) to specify a minimum standard for Log books. (At this stage it was not envisaged that there would be a National Logbook); (d) to produce a National Magazine at some time in the future when C.F.T. was well established; (e) As the Council was not in a position to run National Events it would be necessary for Clubs to undertake to run the events under the auspices of C.F.T. The next meeting was to be held in the Curragh on Saturday 29th June at a time and venue specified

by C.S.A.C. The agenda was to be Election of Officers, Outline of Constitution, Finances, approval of Title, Notepaper Crest and any other business.

“The birthing has taken place. The squawking brat was launched on the diving world. The title would be altered to read Comhairle rather than Cumman.

It only remained to elect the Officers and they were away and running.

The next meeting in fact took place on September 29th ‘63 in the Officers Mess, Ceannt Barracks, Curragh Camp. The time was again very military - 15.00 hours. Galway SubAqua Society were in attendance. Dr. D. Doyle, P. O’Beirne and T. McCarrick were their delegates. Cyril Foster represented Killaloe with Joan Brislane.

Hugh Hennessy replaced Colin McMurty for Belfast with Hilda Maguire continuing. Garda were now recorded as Garda S.A.C. with Tom Knott replacing Paddy Morgan and Neil Bracken continuing. The Curragh and Dublin remained unchanged with Jenny Simcox, Shane O’Connor and Mick Moriarty, Tom Shakespeare and Hugh Quigley. Apart from the Election of Officers and one or two other items a large part of the meeting was taken over with considering the position of Belfast Branch B.S.A.C. The pivotal point was in relation to C.F.T. tests and B.S.A.C. tests. In a letter written by Dr. Boyd to all Clubs, Belfast expressed reservations about joining in the Council. It was felt that their position would be at risk in B.S.A.C. The end of it all was that Belfast affiliated not as a full member but with a view to becoming a full member at a later date.

Jim Doyle gave a resume of Galway’s activities. They were not a Club in the strict sense of the word.

They paid no subscriptions. They had equipment for 10 snorkelling divers but no qualified divers. He said they were therefore not in a position to become full members. They could not become affiliated also until such time as they could become full members. The SubSea Autumn 2013 15

CFT – A History wording of the Constitution was drawn up and agreed. The election of Officers then took place. Shane O’Connor was elected President, Tom Shakespeare Hon. Sec, Neil bracken hon. Treas. and Hugh Quigley Press Officer.

The child had taken its first step, it was firm and forward looking. The next meeting was a full working meeting which present delegate would instantly recognise. It was hosted by the Garda. It was held in the Cumberland Hotel, Westland Roe, Dublin. It would appear that all the Hotels that the meetings were held in would in due course close down. Tests for Snorkel Diver and Free Diver were agreed. The National Spearfishing Championships and National Fin Swimming Gala were authorized. Dr. Boyd was proposed as Hon Physiologist. Belfast proposed that Myles Creek (Kilkee) should be declared as a preserved area.

I suppose to go further at this point would require writing a book. This is outside the scope of this commission.

Three items which were far in the future at this time can perhaps be recorded. One; the establishment of the four commissions, Technical, Medical.

Sporting and Scientific, Two; the appointment of a National Diving Officer. The third is the introduction of the unique split log book. This has been copied world wide. This was proposed by Tom Shakespeare on 20th September ‘70 at a meeting in the Crofton Airport Hotel, when a sample was shown to the delegates. The first N.D.O. was elected on the 25th January and the Commissions were agreed on Sunday May 5th 1974 at a meeting held at Powers Royal Hotel, Kildare St., Dublin. There are many more incidents which could be recorded here but as I have said where do you stop. The “Founding Fathers” can feel proud that the structure they put together 21 years ago has stood the test of time. The current members can also feel proud that they are carrying on a great tradition of “Safe Happy Diving” for “Safe Happy Divers”. ◼

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Modeling wet suits in the early 1970s.

Don’t they look good ?

CFT The Highlights There are many highlights in the life of any organization and CFT is, of course, no exception. But to list all of them over fifty years would take up too much space so we have decided to do so for the first ten years and hopefully this will give some insight into those early days and the sort of problems that were dealt with at meetings. And when we got to the end of the first ten years we realized that even more important events took place over the following forty years so we hand picked some of them to include also.

A big thank you to Mick Moriarty for his time spent trawling through the minutes of many meetings to extract the information we have used. The amount of interesting data that we have not used is certainly the ingredients for the history book of CFT, a challenge for another day. Anyone out there who would like to take up that challenge ?

THE DEVELOPMENT OF CFT 0-10 Years

By Mick Moriarty

1963

1964

After a short series of discussions in 1962 and early 1963 between the existing six clubs, Cumann Fó Thuinn – The Irish Underwater Council was formally launched at a meeting of club delegates held in Ceannt Officers Mess, Curragh Camp. Co Kildare on the 29 September.

Head Office of the British SAC gave their approval of Northern Ireland branches to be also member Clubs of CFT.

The first officers of CFT were elected as follows:

First set of hand signals published by CFT (the drawings were produced by Capt Shane O’Connor, sponsored by Venture Sports, Blackrock Dublin).

President: Hon. Sec: Treasurer: Press Officer:

Capt Shane O’Connor, Curragh SAC Mr Tom Shakespeare, Irish SAC, Dublin Branch Garda Sgt Niall Bracken, Garda SAC Mr Hugh Quigley, Irish SAC, Dublin Branch

The founder Member Clubs – in order of the date of their establishment were; Dublin Branch Irish SAC, Curragh SAC, Killaloe Branch ISAC Garda SAC The two other clubs present as observers were University College Galway Sub Aqua Society and Belfast Branch British Sub Aqua Club.

1965 The total income in 1965 was listed in the audited reports at £59-1s-5d. Of this £38-18s-5d was a carry over from the previous year.

The typing bill for the year from ‘Maynes Typewriting Bureau’ was £3-5s-0d.

The first CFT Diving Rally 1965 at Slade, Co. Wexford on Whit weekend. Daily rate (incl. all meals) at the Naomh Seosamh, £1-7s-6d. One 65ft trawler had been hired at £5 per day. Joining fee was 2/6 per person. Charge for air was 1/(5p) for 10 Cu ft. Maximum Pressure available would be1800psi. Four compressors were available with a total output of 13% Cubic Feet.

SubSea Autumn 2013 17

CFT – Highlights 1968 Capt Moriarty spoke on the need for an Executive in order to share the ever-increasing work load. It would be composed of the President, Secretary, Treasurer, Press officer and the Chairpersons and Secretaries of the Sub- Committees.

Agreed and forwarded to be discussed at the AGM. The Curragh SAC celebrated their 10th anniversary by holding a Diving Rally at Slade Co Wexford on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of June.

At the sixth AGM held on 08 Dec, an Executive Committee was approved.

1969 At a meeting in May the Secretary stated he had a proposal from Norwich Union (Patrick McGovern) to cover all CFT divers. It was approved on the 25th, subject to being checked by a Club legal officer.

A unanimous decision was passed on the 25th, whereby all clubs require their divers to wear lifejackets when in diving boats, to be compulsory from 01 Jun 1970.

Mick Moriarty sorting out his “Tadpole” before a dive.

Killaloe Branch ISAC became the Limerick SAC. Cork Br ISAC – formed in 1964, accepted as a Provisional Member club.

Waterford Hbr SAC became a Provisional Member.

At the third AGM in Sep, Ronnie Hurley, Limerick SAC and John Aylward.

Waterford Harbour SAC became the first divers to receive their CFT 3rd Class Diver Certificates.

First All-Ireland Sub Aqua Gala was held at Curragh Pool on the 28th.

The first CFT Yearbook, Editor Mick Moriarty, was published.

1966 CFT established a Recompression Chamber Fund – all clubs requested to support it.

Mullingar SAC became a Provisional Member.

The second CFT Diving Rally was held at the Copeland Islands, Co Down.

The first Open Festival of U/W Photography – at Killaloe organised by Limerick SAC.

At the AGM R. Hurley reported that the Irish Open Photographic Competition was so successful that Shannonside and Limerick SAC were prepared to organise another in two years time.

The per capita levy on Clubs to be raised by 1 shilling to cover the projected costs of the new insurance policy.

1970 Tom Shakespeare was appointed as the first National Diving Officer (NDO) and Chairman of the new Technical Commission.

A design for a CFT emblem based on a silver Trident on a dark green background with two stylized waves beneath, as submitted by Shane O’Connor, Curragh SAC was accepted.

CFT Logbooks 1 and 2 in plastic wallets, supplied by AIB Belfast, courtesy of Hugh Hennessy, were now available at 10/= per set.

1971 The Secretary said that CFT ties could now be had at a prepaid cost of £1 per tie. He also said that blazer cloth could be ordered at a cost of £3 per blazer length and any tailor could produce the blazer to the style of the owner. He said that the CFT crest was to be ordered through him from Light and Sign, St Stephen’s Green, Dublin at a cost of £2.60.

1967

1972

In Aug/Sep, an Irish team competed for the first time in a World Spearfishing Championships.

For the first time, a display of diving equipment for sale at the ninth AGM, organised by Aidan Kelly and Willie Siddall of Marine Sales, Dalkey.

Tralee SAC was accepted as a Provisional Member of CFT. Waterford Hbr SAC was approved as a Full Member of CFT.

18 SubSea Autumn 2013

In May Regional Diving Officers were established to cope with the rising number of clubs across the country.

CFT – Highlights 1973 In May the first issue of SubSea, the official magazine of CFT was published by the Editor, Hugh Hennessy, Belfast Br BSAC. It was printed in black and white in A4 standard.

1974 European Spearfishing Championships held in Kilkee.

Dolphin Sanctuary by An Taoiseach, Charles Haughey.

CFT appointed its first administrator, Enda Roche

1992 The Buelhmann Diving Tables were adopted by CFT 1993 New CFT Head Office at 78A Patrick Street officially

1975 Recompression Chamber, staffed by members of the Galway SAC, declared operational.

1977 A new dive magazine was launched by Barry Kinsella called “Diving Ireland”.

1979 Hugh Hennessy done a deal with Barry and added centre fold insert of CFT’s magazine, “SubSea” into Diving Ireland for easy distribution.

1980 SubSea went solo once more and came out in full colour.

opened by David Andrews, Minster for Defence and the Marine.

1994 Irene Harrison made history once more by becoming the first female NDO.

1995 CFT went on the internet and also became a founder member of European Underwater Federation (EUF)

1997 The Head Office National Sub Aqua Club was established.

2010 SubSea magazine reduced to three issues per year.

1989 Irene Harrison made history by becoming Ireland’s first female 3*** Leading Instructor.

The first book review in SubSea. Taken from the first issue in 1973 So many of us back then learned our diving skills from “Diving For Fun”

1991 Irish waters declared a Whale and

2011 Enda Roche retired.

Now here is some good advice from the early days

Its author, Joe Strykowski, only died in 2008.

Marine Sales have with their usual generosity sent me a copy of a diving manual "Diving for Fun". This book is probably the most readable diving manual I have come across.

Everything is explained so clearly and the cartoon type illustrations are so good that I could not leave the book down until I had finished it. I only wish that it had been even more comprehensive.

I would recommend it to all divers and consider it very good value at £1.83 plus P.& P. from Marine Sales, Patricks Road, Dalkey, Co. Dublin.

This appeared in SubSea in Summer 1992

Old divers go on and on......

(From time magazine, April 27 1992)

Married.

Jacques Cousteau, 81, French oceanographer; and Francine Triplet, 35, an Air France flight attendant, with whom he has two children; in Paris.

Cousteau had two sons with his first wife, Simone, who died in 1990.

SubSea Autumn 2013 19

Hans Hass

Lotte and Hans durning filming of one of his very early expeditions.

he diving world has lost one more of its early pioneers. At the great age of 94 Hans Hass passed away on June 16th last.

Hans was a marine biologist, an oceanographer and a zoologist and with his wife Lotte made some of the first and most spectacular underwater footage in the mid 1950’s.

When diving equipment was basic and indeed at an experimental stage, Hans managed, with just a pair of finns, a mask and the most rudiment tank, to get close to and film all the underwater action. Many viewers were spellbound by what he produced and his work was greatly enhanced by the inclusion of his glamorous wife.

Lotte came from being his most adoring fan to his secretary and finally his wife and partner under water. Hans was not in favour of taking her or any woman under water but the powers that be, the film company, could see the huge advantage of having a pretty female lead. They were right and Lotte’s natural talent on camera proved a great success.

In his early diving he used rebreathers which he had made for him by the German diving gear makers Dräger: he had these sets made with the breathing bag on his back, as he did not like the bag-on-chest “frogman look”. Hass and his team of researchers logged over 2000 dives utilizing oxygen rebreathers from 1942 to 1953.

In 1938 he led his first expedition, diving off the coast of Yugoslavia with a group of college friends and as he took photographs, he encountered and killed his first shark. The trip furnished him with material for a lecture series which financed his next expedition, to the West Indies.

T

20 SubSea Autumn 2013

Hans devised his own unusual protocol for filming sharks. “If I wanted to photograph a shark,” he explained in his memoir Diving To Adventure (1952), “I pretended to flee as conspicuously as possible, thus awakening the instinct in every beast of prey to chase what tries to escape. And I actually succeeded thus in luring sharks after me.

“When I saw that they were close enough, I would suddenly spin and swim toward them with camera ready. And before the creatures had recovered from their surprise and turned away in disgust, I already had their image on film.”

In 1942 he bought his first yacht, the Sea Devil and carried out an expedition to Greece, all financed by his work on films, lectures and articles. On this trip he observed fishermen illegally blasting schools of fish with dynamite, and did likewise to lure sharks to within camera range as they were drawn to the scene by the fall out of the explosions.

Around this time he was conscripted into the German army and was assigned to the “Fighters of the Sea” battalion, the Wehrmacht’s crack frogmen unit and part of the military secret service.

After the war in 1945 he completed his doctorate in Zoology but then found himself without the wherewithal to fund and equip another full-scale expedition, having lost the “SEA DEVIL” when the Russians captured Königsberg. So he undertook the first of two solo visits to Africa to explore the coral reefs of the Red Sea. There he was able to photograph giant manta rays at close range, as well as sharks. On his second expedition to the area, he filmed “Under The Red Sea”, which won an award at the 1951 Venice Film Festival.

That year was a busy one for Hans having bought a new research ship, Xarifa, and then married Lotte, Hass embarked on a series of filming safaris in the Red Sea. He shot the Oscar-winning feature film “Under the Caribbean” the first German film to be produced in Technicolor, and which included the first underwater shots of a sperm whale.

In 1961 Hans changed direction somewhat and gave up diving and filmmaking to concentrate on developing another of passions, his Energon Theory, which maintains that evolution can be broken down into three phases: single-cell; multi-cell; and so-called “hyper-cell” organisms. Man, he would claim, is a multicell organism, but becomes a hyper-cell organism by developing and using technology to enhance his natural physical capacity. In this way, Hass suggested, technology was an evolutionary phenomenon.

CFT members of a certain vintage will of course remember Hans attending and speaking at one of our dive shows in the ’90s.

In 1999 he founded the International Hans Hass Institute for Energon-Cybernetic Research at the University of Vienna, and was then appointed to a professorship.

Hass was the author of many books, among them Men And Sharks (1949); Diving To Adventure (1952); and Manta: Under The Red Sea With Spear and Camera (1953).

His first marriage, to the actress Hannelore Schroth, ended in divorce but a son from that marriage survives him as does his wife Lotte.

Hans Hass, born January 23 1919, died June 16 2013. ◼

Capturing Underwater Images A brief review of underwater photography during CFT’s first 50 years

by Pat McCoole (Former Director of Festivals, National Competitions and Public Relations Officer) Photo 1. Nemrod ‘Siluro’ black bakelite amphibious camera taking 120 size film.

Very basic camera with fixed-focus lens and single shutter speed.

will preface this article by noting that I only joined the Irish diving scene in 1976, a full thirteen years after CFT was formed and sixteen years after divers were first seen in Kilkee, and as such am not qualified to talk with authority about events prior to those dates.

I invite contributions to correct any errors in this review.

A certain number of Clubs preceded the formation of CFT in 1963, one of which was the Killaloe Branch of Irish Sub-Aqua Club or Limerick Sub-Aqua Club as it was later to become known.

In 1966 the new Limerick S.A.C. was asked to hold the First National Festival of Underwater Photography, in October at the Lakeside Hotel, Killaloe on the shores of Lough Derg.

The categories of the Photo Competition were: 8mm movie, colour slides, black and white (B+W) u/w

I

print and black and white (B+W) overwater print.

Many of the early entrants came from the Belfast Branch of BSAC. The cameras available to divers at that time would have been the basic ‘Siluro’ (a Nemrod product See Photo 1.); a land camera housed in a perspex constructed housing (commercially available or home-built); or for the lucky few the new Calypso-phot (French) or Nikonos I (Japanese) amphibious 35mm cameras.

‘Available light’ using ‘high-speed’ film, predominately B+W would be the norm and if flash was used it was ‘one-shot’ bulbs in large polished-metal reflectors.

Picture the scene when the bulbs ‘escaped’ from the holding net bag and the photographer took flight in pursuit of his precious ‘light sources’!.

Limerick continued to host the Festival of U/W Photography in 1967

and then in 1969 it became an OPEN Competition being run biennially and inviting International entries thus showcasing the best of underwater photographs, adding to the attraction of the Event.

The Festival continued up to the 9th which was staged again back in the Lakeside Hotel, Killaloe on the 25th Anniversary of Limerick Sub-Aqua Club in 1985.

The range of trophies and prizes offered increased in number over the years (See Photo 2) Irish underwater photographers were competing abroad in competitions from 1970 when Manuel Di Lucia won the overall prize in the 2nd Brighton Festival of Underwater Photography in the UK. Tony Balfe was also a regular competitor in the Brighton event and was a medallist.

SubSea Autumn 2013 21

UW Images

Photo 2. Range of Trophies and Medallions for Irish Open Festival of Underwater Photography

My own first underwater camera was using a 1950’s RG Lewis ‘Photomarine’ housing into which was fitted a 1935 Leica II 35mm camera.(See Photo 3) That camera was acquired in 1976 and unfortunately was ‘lost overboard’ after a dive in August 1980.

It is still awaiting ‘recovery’ from the kelp beds off the Ganders in Co. Clare. Hopefully the B+W film can still be developed, if ever found !.

I then acquired a Nikonos III which had been on the market since 1975.

That model was the favourite of many Irish Underwater Photographers and produced excellent results, particularly with the 15mm wide-angle lens.

Nikonos eventually launched their long-awaited SLR camera, RS Model, but the cost was beyond the reach of most divers. One was to be seen in Irish diving circles but it has to questioned if it ever got much use.

Serious underwater photographers favoured the more compact aluminium housed land cameras with the wide range of accessories and lenses that could be adapted for underwater use.

Housed medium-format (120 size film) cameras was something rarely seen in Irish waters.

These were used by professionals to produce high quality images, transparency or print, for publication in magazines.

Photo 3. R.G.Lewis Photomarine cast-aluminum housing for 35mm cameras, Leica and other models. First manufactured in the UK in 1954.

22 SubSea Autumn 2013

Barry Kinsella (Publisher of Diving Ireland magazine) had one in the 1980’s. His wife Janet was an entrant in early Festival competitions.

That independent Dive Magazine did much to promote underwater photography and collaborated with CFT before the advent of SUBSEA as the Official publication of the Council.

It was only in the Spring issue of 1984 that the first colour underwater photograph appeared in SUBSEA !.

BSOUP (British Society of Underwater Photographers) was founded in 1967, as a separate entity to BSAC. It’s purpose was to promote underwater photography amongst British divers by organising workshops; convening monthly meetings (in London); running competitions; and selecting participants for representing

Photo 4. UPSI (Underwater Photographic Society of Ireland) emblem depicting a ‘shamrock-like’ octopus breaking the surface !.

Britain in International Competitions.

It wasn’t until 1990 that an equivalent society was founded in Ireland.

It was to be known as UPSI (Underwater Photographic Society of Ireland). (See Photo 4)

Photo 5. 10Bar aluminium-perspex housing for digital camera LUMIX GF-1.

Example of compact camera with built-in-strobe and connection for external strobes if required.

UW Images It’s success was short-lived as by that stage Irish divers were travelling around the globe to exotic destinations and operating independently.

Ireland had it’s first opportunity to participate in the CMAS organised 2nd World Championship of Underwater Photography which was held in 1987, hosted by the Spanish Federation FEDAS in Cadaques in June of that year.

Tony Balfe and the author represented Ireland and CFT at ‘Fotosub 87’.

Ireland was subsequently invited to participate in the 3rd World Championships in Sicily (1990); 4th World Championships in Cuba (1992) and 5th World Championships in South Korea (1994). CFT declined the invitation to the latter event as there was no one prepared to fund their own travel to S.E. Asia. All of these competitions were held over two or three days using colour transparency film only, with an International Panel of Judges.

In early June 1992 John Costelloe and the author travelled to Fort Bovisand, Plymouth to participate in a day event, ‘Splash-in’, organised by

BSOUP, run on the same basis of exposing a film, having it processed on site, and selecting entries for judging by the panel of participants.

The newly formed UPSI organised a similar event in Kilkee Bay later that month, calling it an ‘On-the-day Underwater Photo Competition’.

Irish underwater photographers were also invited to events held in Cuba (1990); Sicily (1993) and (1994); Malta for the ‘Blue Dolphin’ (1993); Sharm El Sheik, Egypt for the ‘Pharoah’s 1st World Cup of Underwater Photography Event(1995) where Nigel Motyer and the author participated.

Over the fifty (50) years Ireland has also been a popular location for many International Underwater Photographers coming to Kilkee; Valentia Island and the ‘Skelligs’ hosted

by Des Lavelle; and in recent years to the Western tip of Connemara – Scubadive West hosted by Shane Gray.

In 1996 CFT organised it’s own Photo Competition at that location and off Inis Turk.

Irish divers still travel around the globe to new destinations and record incredible images many of which are

Snippets from the past

depicted in the pages of SUBSEA. Today the equipment is predominately ‘Digital’ cameras in housings with high technology strobe lighting using fibre-optic cables and macro-lenses capable of producing very dramatic images.

The equipment has become much more compact and ‘travel friendly’ far removed from that used when CFT was founded in 1963.

My own Panasonic LUMIX GF-1 is housed in a 10Bar aluminium-perspex case measuring less than 150mm in width and can be fitted in ‘carry-on’ baggage satisfying even the most demanding of Airline Carriers. (See Photo 5).

Acknowledgements: Mick Moriarty, Ronnie Hurley, Manuel Di Lucia, Des Lavelle, Mike Hynes, Tony Balfe, Hugh Hennessy, Sean Magee, John Wright, Barry Kinsella, Billy Rafter, Nigel Motyer, John Costelloe, John Collins, Billy Nott and others who have done much for Underwater Photography in Ireland over the years.

And we remember especially Tony Balfe who is no longer with us. RIP ◼

A little ditty from SubSea Autumn 1989. Plenty of talent around then too.

How things have changed, what a pity!

We don’t see ads like this these days.

SubSea 1974

SubSea Autumn 2013 23

Snorkelling – Where Are We?

We are writing to you today to update you on the progress of the many new initiatives CFT are introducing to grow and develop the sport of Snorkelling in Ireland this year.

Much hype has been centered around the development of snorkel trails, but what does all of this mean for CFT snorkel members and why should you be part of the change?

As communicated previously, we have been very busy working with Board Failte, The Irish Trails Office and local development companies in the Mayo region in order to pilot “Blue Way” snorkel trails. These snorkel trails will be amongst the first in the world to be developed and will put Ireland at the fore front as a snorkeling destination.

It is hoped that this extra publicity will highlight the sport of snorkeling to the Irish public hence increasing the interest in taking up the sport. Also once the pilot trails have been launched the door will open to any person, organisation or local county council to develop their own snorkel trails. If signed off by the National Trails Office these “blueways” will be listed on the national trails office website and our

24 SubSea Autumn 2013

own. This will again highlight and promote snorkeling on a local level and hopefully increase the numbers participating.

We are also planning to facilitate a “meet and snorkel” online tool similar to the many “meet and train” running / jogging groups which train around the country. Part of the joy of snorkeling is the freedom and ease at which it is available. We hope that by facilitating a “meet and snorkel” through our simply snorkel facebook page we can encourage people from all clubs to meet and enjoy snorkeling together. If you go snorkeling regularly then please let us know and we will help to promote this.

Of course with all of this new development comes new learning and

for this reason we have introduced an upskilling course for all instructors interested in teaching / becoming involved in snorkeling. This up skill course will bring you through all the new developments in CFT especially the new rescue techniques and the knowledge needed to run the new snorkel guide course. All Instructors are being asked to attend an upskill course before 2015 in order to keep your snorkel instructor qualification valid.

I hope you can see that we are working hard and it is our vision to see snorkeling up there with all other major adventure sports in Ireland but we can only do that through internal development and of most importantly with your help! ◼

Noted Irishmen

Robert Boyle Boyle’s Law One of the first conundrums that all us divers came up against when we started training was Boyle’s Law. To get our head around remembering it and quoting it was bad enough but understanding it was another story. However, over time, to the relief of our training officer, we mastered all aspects of it and not only understood it but went on to explain it to many more new trainee’s.

But what of the man who came up with the hypothesis, how much do we know about him.

Robert Boyle, (25 January 1627 – 31 December 1691) was a 17th-century natural philosopher, chemist, physicist, and inventor, also noted for his writings in theology. He has been variously described as Irish, English and AngloIrish, his father having come to Ireland from England during the time of the Plantations.

Although his research clearly has its roots in the alchemical tradition, Boyle is largely regarded today as the first modern chemist, and therefore one of the founders of modern chemistry, and one of the pioneers of modern experimental scientific method. He is best known for Boyle’s law, which

Waterford Civic Trust has installed numerous Blue Plaques in the city to commemorate a link between a particular location and a famous person or event.

Robert Boyle. He is remembered both in London and Waterford with plaques to his name.

describes the inversely proportional relationship between the absolute pressure and volume of a gas, if the temperature is kept constant within a closed system. Among his works, The Sceptical Chymist is seen as a cornerstone book in the field of chemistry.

Early years Boyle was born in Lismore Castle, in County Waterford, Ireland, the seventh son and fourteenth child of Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork and Catherine Fenton. Richard Boyle arrived in Dublin from England in 1588 during the Tudor plantations of Ireland and obtained an appointment as a deputy escheator. He had amassed enormous landholdings by the time Robert was born. Catherine Fenton was the daughter of English writer Geoffrey Fenton, who was born in Dublin in 1539, and Alice Weston, the daughter of Robert Weston, who was born in Lismore in 1541.

As a child, Boyle was fostered to a local family, as were his elder brothers.

Consequently, the eldest of the Boyle children had sufficient Irish at four years of age to act as a translator for his father. Boyle received private tutoring in Latin, Greek and French and when he was eight years old, following the

death of his mother, he was sent to Eton College in England. His father’s friend, Sir Henry Wotton, was then the provost of the college.

During this time, his father hired a private tutor, Robert Carew, who had knowledge of Irish, to act as private tutor to his sons in Eton. However, “only Mr. Robert sometimes desires it [Irish] and is a little interested in it”, but despite the many reasons given by Carew to turn their attentions to it, “they practice the French and Latin but they affect not the Irish”. After spending over three years at Eton, Robert travelled abroad with a French tutor. They visited Italy in 1641 and remained in Florence during the winter of that year studying the “paradoxes of the great star-gazer” Galileo Galilei, who was elderly at that time.

This plaque is on the wall of University College, London

SubSea Autumn 2013 25

Robert Boyle Reading in 1657 of Otto von Guericke’s airpump, he set himself with the assistance of Robert Hooke to devise improvements in its construction, and with the result, the “machina Boyleana” or “Pneumatical Engine”, finished in 1659, he began a series of experiments on the properties of air. An account of Boyle’s work with the air pump was published in 1660 under the title New Experiments Physico-Mechanicall, Touching the Spring of the Air, and its Effects.

Among the critics of the views put forward in this book was a Jesuit, Francis Line (1595–1675), and it was while answering his objections that Boyle made his first mention of the law that the volume of a gas varies inversely to the pressure of the gas, which among English-speaking people is usually called Boyle’s Law after his name. The person that originally formulated the hypothesis was Henry Power in 1661. Boyle included a reference to a paper written by Power, but mistakenly attributed it to Richard Towneley. In continental Europe the hypothesis is sometimes attributed to Edme Mariotte, although he did not publish it until 1676 and was likely aware of Boyle’s work at the time.

In 1663 the Invisible College became the The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, and the charter of incorporation granted by Charles II of England, named Boyle a member of the council. In 1680 he was elected president of the society, but declined the honour from a scruple about oaths.

He made a “wish list” of 24 possible inventions which included “The Prolongation of Life”, the “Art of Flying”, “perpetual light”, “making armour light and extremely hard”, “A ship to sail with All Winds, and a Ship not to be sunk”, “practicable and certain way of finding Longitudes”, “potent drugs to alter or Exalt Imagination, Waking, Memory and other functions and appease pain, procure innocent sleep, harmless dreams etc”. They are extraordinary because all but a few of the 24 have come true.

In 1689 his health, never very strong, began to fail seriously and he gradually withdrew from his public engagements, ceasing his communications to the Royal Society, and advertising his desire to be excused from receiving guests, “unless upon occasions very extraordinary”, on Tuesday and Friday forenoon, and Wednesday and Saturday afternoon. In the leisure thus gained he wished to “recruit his spirits, range his papers”, and prepare some important chemical investigations which he proposed to leave “as a kind of Hermetic legacy to the studious disciples of that art”, but of which he did not make known the nature. His health became still worse in 1691, and he died on 31 December that year, just a week after the death of the sister with whom he had lived for more than twenty years. Robert Boyle died from paralysis. He was buried in the churchyard of St Martin-in-the-Fields, his funeral sermon being preached by his friend Bishop Gilbert Burnet. In his will, Boyle endowed a series of Lectures which came to be known as the Boyle Lectures. ◼

26 SubSea Autumn 2013

Bali Scuba Diving

By Yvonne Moran

Fan coral and coral scene on Menjangan wall, in West Bali National Park.

The wall has tempting little crevices, cracks and hiding places that provides a lot of marine life. Photo by Dray Van Beeck

SubSea Autumn 2013 27

Bali

A diver with a very large fan coral at Menjangan wall, in West Bali National Park. Wall dives are very popular and plunge to approximately 60 metres.

Photo by Dray Van Beeck

he flashlight fish in the dark water blinked lights as they darted to and fro in the wreck’s hold. The small fish above then spied a group of equally bright compatriots milling below the darkened divers. Almost in unison, they joined them to form an even bigger gathering of amazing, mobile lights.

The spectacle was one of the most memorable of many, diving in and around the Liberty wreck in Tulamben, on Bali’s north coast. It was the diving highlight in 13 days of diving three different northern locations.

They’ve been called flashlight because of their large bioluminescent organs located below their eyes. The light, which contains luminous bacteria, is used to avoid predators, to attract prey, or for communication. Bioluminescence occurs widely among some groups of animals, especially in the open sea.

The wreck has been called Tulamben’s “underwater treasure trove” by the writers of Rough Guide Bali & Lombok .

T

28 SubSea Autumn 2013

And it’s no exaggeration.

Three hundred species of resident fish and approximately 100 more visit from deeper waters. It’s also home to soft and hard corals.

A massive Gorgonian swaying fan attached to the wreck was home to two pygmy sea horses. Their almost identical camouflage made it virtually impossible to locate them. During one morning dive I was the sole diver with the guide. Unhurried by the presence of others, I was able to observe the minuscule wonders for some time. To my astonishment, one of the little creatures made a “flying” leap. It then attached itself to another part of its abode.

Giant grouper (never hand-feed these fellows!) great barracuda, yellow leaf scorpion, brown banded pipe fish, slim black and blue ribbon moray eels with their yellow striped backs, (these amazing morays can change from male to female) long nosed hawk fish, clown anemone fish and manta shrimp were just some of the ship’s many, many inhabitants.

The day dives were fantastic. The night dives were magical. Light from

torches in the darkness added extra depth to the rainbow of fish and coral colours thriving on and around the habitat haven.

The Liberty wreck is one of Southeast Asia’s most accessible. Lying just 30 metres offshore, the 120-metre long vessel sits in three to twenty nine metres of water. When the visibility is good it’s great for snorkelers. As there’s virtually no current it’s also perfect for novice divers.

The 1915 American-built steamship was carrying rubber and rail parts when she was torpedoed in 1942. She ended up being beached in Tulamben until 1963. Earth tremors caused by the volcanic eruption of Gunung Agung shifted the Liberty into the water once again.

You could say what looked like Hell on the beach was slowly transformed into Heaven in the water!

The wreck is busy with divers day and night. One of the advantages of being based in Tulamben is getting a head start on divers coming from other parts of Bali. Tulamben is about four hours north-east of central Ubud, Bali’s cultural capital.

Bali

Bio-rock project in Pemuteran, Bali. Biggest artificial reef in the world.

Photo by Dray Van Beeck

The wreck isn’t the only dive site in Tulamben. There’s Coral Garden. It’s popular with divers looking for tiny life forms. Drop Off is good for reef fish.

And humphead parrot fish and white tip reef sharks might be spotted in Batu Kelebit.

Pemuteran, on the extreme North West coast of Bali, close to Java, is a good base for exploring Bali Barat National Park. The island’s only national park encompasses savannah, rainforest, mangrove swamp and coral reefs. Snorkelers and divers head by boat to Deer Island for the park’s spectacular coral reefs.

Bubble coral that looks like gray and green grapes – but can sting. The normally solitary mushroom coral that is one of the largest of all coral polyps.

Bright yellow ball-like sponges that seem to contain mini craters. Massive tube sponges that like strong currents.

These were just some of the reef ’s unusual life forms. Huge sea fans and table corals several metres across were also observed.

Fish life was not that plentiful, however. And dirt – plastic, garbage and even wood - had to be literally pushed

away during one ascent. It’s coming from Java after heavy rains there, the bopping divers were informed. There

was also a disappointing amount of dirt below water. How the proceeds of the Rupiah 20,000, or Euro 1.59 park

The Mantis shrimp got his name from the way it catches his prey (like the insect Mantis). There are 2 main groups of mantis shrimps who spear (with spears on their arms) their prey and species who use the arms like hammers for shells and crabs (like this one). There are stories existing that they broke aquarium glass. Photo by Reinhard Mink

SubSea Autumn 2013 29

Bali

Hermit Crab checking a new bigger house. Photo by Reinhard Mink

entrance fee is being spent is anyone’s guess. Not one ranger was spotted during several days’ diving in the park.

(Many people in Indonesia are paid Rp 50,000 – Rp 60,000 a day.)

Blue and gold fusiliers, whose swarming behavior confuses predators, and parrot fish, which are characterized by sex reversal, were amongst the park residents. Because of

The Budda metal structure. It is one of approximately 70 metal structures, including a crab, dolphin, manta and a fish in the Biorock project. The biggest artificial reef of its kind in the world, in Pemuteran, is located just offshore. West Bali National Park’s marine section is a boat ride away.

Photo by Dray Van Beeck

30 SubSea Autumn 2013

their radical colour patterns between juveniles and adults, and colour changes within each species, the latter have caused an unbelievable amount of confusion amongst fish scientists. Tiger cowries, the largest and most beautiful of all cowries, hid themselves in holes.

Send protected electric currents into shallow water to, and near, metal objects - and presto! Coral grows at five times its normal speed, it has been estimated.

Metal structures resembling a crab, dolphin, manta and a fish are amongst the 70 or so designs placed near the Pemuteran shore since 2000. Titanium meshes are located beside the artful creations. A 12 volt negative current connects to the metal works from shore line electrical stations. A positive current is attached to the mesh. The electrical reaction stimulates the growth of calcium carbonate on the metal – the same substance from which coral skeletons are made.

The project, called Biorock, is the world’s largest conservation project of its kind. The two hectare site won the UN Development Programme Equator Prize 2012. It’s believed corals attached

Bali

This is a yellow margin moray eel found in a cleaning station This cleaning station was formed like a little cave, all full of different kinds of cleaning shrimps.

Photo by Reinhard Mink

to the metal structures can withstand up to 50 times more stress than natural corals. They may also be able to recover better from physical damage.

Program’s like sponsoring a baby coral, having it attached to the sea horse metalwork, along with the donor’s name, for Rupiah 350,000, or Euros 27.82 is one of the principal ways the project funds itself. Sponsors can also pay for a whole design.

The site is a fantastic location for snorkelers. It’s also good for divers.

Biorock is located off the beach at Taman Sari Bali Resort and Bali Dive Academy.

Amed, on the north-east coast of Bali, was the third and final dive location. It’s a 30 minute drive east from Tulamben.

A movie show in slow motion.

Bunutan Reef, Bali Reef Diver’s “house reef ” was a current of fun – when the current’s not too strong.

Hundreds of garden eels made a large, sandy eight metre deep oasis their home. A red tooth trigger fish nearby chased away intruders where lots of its little brethren were hanging

out. They were oblivious to the adult’s protective behaviour. Another relative, the yellow margin trigger fish, was looking for a late breakfast. It moved around, blowing sand, dining, and then

spitting out shell. Presumably that wasn’t part of its menu de jour! An opportunistic puffer fish hung around, checking out what was available from all the huffing and puffing. Two other

This nudibranch is from the Opisthobranchia family.

Picture taken at "Tulamben coral garden" Photo by Reinhard Mink

SubSea Autumn 2013 31

Bali

The day dives were fantastic. The night dives were magical. Yvonne Moran (the author) investigates the night life in the Liberty Wreck. Light from torches in the darkness added extra depth to the rainbow of fish and coral colours thriving on and around the habitat haven.

Photo by Reinhard Mink

Fact Box: Recommended book: Coral Sea Reef Guide, by Bob Halstead. This informative, factfilled book is a gem. Its easy, lively writing style belies the vast amount of information Halstead has gathered from a lifetime of diving. www.halsteaddiving.com/books/

32 SubSea Autumn 2013

puffers remained nearby, disdainfully uninterested in the hanger-on’s lack of real activity. They sought their own food without assistance. Two superduper intelligent octopuses (there’s a photograph on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopus showing one of these eight legged wonders opening a container with a screw top,) hid in holes. As the proverbial coast cleared, they slowly and cautiously emerged.

The current quite suddenly disappeared. It ended conveniently close to the resort’s shoreline.

The night dive at Julamben, a 15 minute drive from Bunutan, revealed other wonders.

A Spanish dancer (when moving in water, this nudibranch reminds divers of flamingo dancing) remained curled up on the sand. Three different moray eels - a ribbon, fabricated and undulated - seemed to have left their hole-homes and decided to relocate simultaneously. A large cuttle fish was not amused by the divers’ attention and made a quick getaway. A flat rock crab and the prehistoric-looking blunt decorator crab were first time sights for this diver.

There were so many other life forms to discover, but time was moving on and this diver was heading to Flores for more great diving.

Bali is crowded with tourists. The tiny island, which measures 100 kilometres by 87, sees three million tourists a year. It’s the same number as the local population.

But divers can escape, far from the madding crowds, by disappearing into its waters and above its wonderful reefs. ◼

Tulamben: Tauch Terminal Resort.

This part-German owned dive resort is clean, bright and modern. It’s a great spot for partners who don’t dive, and for divers who also want to vacation as well as dive.

Email: dive@tauch-terminal.com www.tauch-terminal.com Pemuteran: Bali Dive Academy has bases throughout Bali. The dive shop is located in Taman Sari Bali Resort.

Email: info@scubali.com www.scubali.com

LE MONDE DE NEMO The World’s Deepest Recreation al Diving Pool

By Juliette Claro Courtesy of “Tanked Up” any people might say, “What’s the point?” Well, for all the snobs out there (like me before Christmas last year) who think that diving in Nemo 33 in Brussels is for Mickey Mouse divers: don’t knock it before you try it.

If you are one of those divers (like me) who get itchy fins during the low season, and breathing underwater has become a means to an end, then Nemo 33 is for you. It is the best way to go deep in December... in a bikini (maybe not for men... well that’s up to you guys).

Nemo 33 is a wonder of its own kind. Opened in 2004, the concept of the world’s deepest pool was invented by John Beernaerts. It took over eight years to develop the design of such a pool, the likes of which had never been built before. The idea was to recreate the deep diving conditions of Bora Bora blue lagoons in Europe. Great idea in theory, but in practice it is a bit of a headache of engineering which was successfully accomplished at the beginning of the 21st century.

So Nemo 33 is essentially 30+ºC water, 34+m of visibility, excellent quality of water, all working with solar panels that generate around 300,000Kw of energy to keep the water at 33ºC. Sitting at the bottom of the pit at 34.2m (upside down for some people ....?) you can feel the warm water recycled and re-pumped into the pool. Nemo 33 is a sustainable concept which keeps the quality of its water thanks to strict rules of equipment avoiding contamination. Nemo 33 supply all Aqualung equipment from fins to regulators (personal masks and cameras are allowed) to avoid dirty minds from coming and cleaning their dirty and salty BCDs in the pool... yeah don’t we all do it?

Nemo 33 is also a fantastic free diving facility which provides training for those who want to go without scuba. And for non divers there is a bar! (well for divers too). The bar and restaurant offers all sorts of refreshment menus (Belgian hot chocolate in the top 5) with direct views on the pool via pressure-proof windows. A single one hour dive including all equipment cost €22 in peak season (October-April). There are dive/meal/hotel packs starting at €23 which are perfect if you

M

The Nemo 33 building. Photo: Kaschkawalturist – Wikimedia Commons.

34.2m to the bottom. Photo: NEMO 33 - Plongée.

want to chill out after the dive or combine it with a city break in Brussels.

Contact Nemo 33 directly for bookings and packages.

Nemo 33 is also easy to find from the Ring Road R0 exit at Drogenbos.

Rue de Stalle 333 1180 City of Brussels, Belgium Tel:+32 2 332 33 34 Nemo 33 is mainly SSI supported, but all diving qualifications are accepted. Get there early before the dive as it is pretty busy, especially around December and January.

Enjoy and if you can’t get narc’ed at 34m, just sit upside down, apparently it does the trick. www.nemo33.com ◼

Dining vith a view to the blue. Photo: Kaschkawalturist – Wikimedia Commons.

SubSea Autumn 2013 33

34 SubSea Autumn 2013

SHALLOW DIVING

By Ken O’Sullivan

If you look you will see. Greater, more articulate men than I have probably put it a lot better, but the essence is the same. Exploring the shallow coastal waters off my native Co. Clare, I rarely come back from a dive without having seen or witnessed something new. Dive conditions can vary hugely in our wild temperate seas, but there is always something to see in the natural world.

SubSea Autumn 2013 35

Shallow Diving

Medusa

In Clare, we are blessed with a pristine Atlantic coastline, washed and smashed in equal measure by monster swells, some of which may have originated in Carribean storms. On meeting the shallows, their energy is unleashed, it’s turbulence whipping up nutrients from the sea bed and richly oxygenating the shallow waters. This creates a fertile abundant eco-system, not to mention some of the best surfing waves on the planet. On the stretch from Spanish Point to Lahinch, the same reefs that can give perfect ‘barelly’ waves are also home to an abundance of marine life.

Arriving at the dive site just after 5am, close to ‘mid summer’s’ day, the sun peeks over the hills for the first time, almost at it’s most easterly point.

It’s not that I’m a natural early riser, just that these inter-tidal reefs can only be dived on a high tide and preferably springs. From a photography perspective, we’re looking for a spring tide on a day with no swell or wind and preferably some sunlight… these conditions might co-incide about ten times a year. There is not a day in the year when there isn’t some amount of whitewater breaking over these reefs, and in this very place I have filmed dramatic swells crashing over and sculpting the ‘shale’ rocks features, but today they are placid and almost spiritually calm.

36 SubSea Autumn 2013

“The dull purple pigment from previously digested anemones is visible on the nudibranches skin, though not the anemone’s toxins, which amazingly the slug can absorb without any reaction and store for reuse against anemones and other prey, quite an ingenious example of evolutionary adaptation.

I first explored these reefs while snorkelling in early summer, although they are close to shore, access is a 2Km walk from the nearest road which would mean lugging dive gear, camera, housing, tripod and the extra weights required for shallow water filming.. I elect instead to load the lot on a kayak at a road access point a couple of Km south, the kayak can be stored on a tiny rocky island and I can slip into the water right over the reefs. Sounds simple, but it involves lugging a lot of gear about, not to mention the kayak and paddling in a 7mm westuit I often have to scoop seawater in at the neck to cool down, or maybe just have a dip on the way!

A lobster fisherman is checking his pots few hundred metres off shore, his vibrant red trawler almost perfectly reflected on the glassy windless sea.

Beyond, a layer of sea fog is smudged across the northern side of Liscannor bay, its outline visible at both ends.

Paddling through the shallows, I can see golden kelp below, its long summer fronds ever so gently swaying to reveal swathes of pink encrusting algae all along the rocky shallows.. there is a surreal almost intimate sense in the beauty of this early summer morning.

Having made this trip many times, the habit is well established, drag the kayak laden with dive and camera gear well up onto the tiny island, don BCD, weights, mask, buddy-check, housing check, take a couple of still photos to make sure all’s well with the camera, sit at the water’s edge and recall the only two words of Swahili I learned in Africa, “Hakuna Matate”, no problem! I always, always chill before a dive.

Fins on, we slip into the midsummer sea and welcome the refreshing water.

My first enquiry is always the state of the water and today visibility and light are pristine, God the relief, this is my twelfth dive here and while I’ve always seen the potential, it can be agonizingly difficult documenting the wonderful world that’s here.

Shallow Diving Lazily diving around the reefs you could lose yourself exploring and examining its vibrant and wonderful life forms, though trying to photograph it intrudes on my little trip.. nonetheless what I can document will be something to take away with me and show others.

The reefs are smothered in pink encrusting algae, giving them an almost psychedelic look, they’re pock-marked with egg-sized holes ground out by purple urchins seeking shelter.

Although sadly classified as ‘locally extinct’, due to over fishing, they are abundant here, many of the holes become occupied by vibrantly-colored anemones, ‘squatting’ for shelter.

Higher up the reef, carpets of acorn barnacles compete with common mussels and limpets for rock space.

Whelks are abundant in their conical shells with growth lines weaving through colours from dark crimson at the pointed side to a brilliant white at the opening… tentacles expeditiously feeling their way around until their bodies lazily ooze from their shells out over their favourite prey, acorn barnacles and mussels.

Buddhists say ‘everything is connected’.

Mussels occasionally respond with their only defense which is to slowly weave a byssal thread and acting in groups they spin enough threads to tieup their predator, if you look through any area of mussels in the inter-tidal area and you will see empty whelk shells tied by many strands to a mussel colony, the hapless whelk long-dead and it’s carcass eaten by another creature of this marvelous eco-system.

Hermit crabs take over the shell and today I can see one scavenging on the the scraps of a mussel left behind by a dog whelk. Other mollusks are feeding on the light green algae of the whelk shell, though the hermit crab’s sudden comic movements are testing their grip.

Into slightly deeper waters and I can see fattened starfish devouring mussel colonies. A nudibranch (sea slug) straddles a mis-fortunate beadlet anemone, already paralyzed with it’s deadly toxins, albeit only in this macroworld. The dull purple pigment from previously digested anemones is visible

Purple Urchins

The Reef. Why do we need to get depth?

on the nudibranches skin, though not the anemone’s toxins, which amazingly the slug can absorb without any reaction and store for reuse against anemones and other prey., quite an ingenious example of evolutionary adaptation.

I’m trying to document this world working with macro photography.

Focussing with a 35mm sensor camera is super-critical, and a tripod is an absolute necessity. Being thrown back and forth in the surge, I try to focus my own eye on the viewfinder and pull focus as I’m swept a metre either side of the camera … didn’t get it this time,

I’ll try on the way back .. and so it goes until there’s a break in the swell. Many times a stronger set of waves will knock over the tripod, so you have to always have a hand ready, and at least once in every session, I lose patience and blow off “I just can’t do this, it’s impossible” just as well the creatures can’t hear me, but maybe the release helps and I’m always back moments later trying again.

Yes, there’s a glaring contradiction here between enjoying the beauty of this natural world and my own striving in attempting to document it, but I guess that’s for me to figure out! ◼ SubSea Autumn 2013 37

The John Wayne Lobster and Some Crustacean Memories

By Noel Gleeson – Kilkee SAC Last year was not a wonderful year for diving conditions. I lay in my hospital bed in September looking back at a mundane enough view of the local underwater world. We all have our own turn ons like large ling, cooperative congers et cetera. I particularly like the small parade of foreign visitors we get here, trigger fish, sunfish and others, mid to late in the season. They spice the local variety of fauna and create a buzz of excitement.

They (some of them) may also consume fair quantities of that fauna, so the fact, that there were no trigger fish reported in Kilkee last year didn’t cause much regret. I had seen a group of their most usual victims, crawfish, recently and it had raised my heart a notch or two.

But there are some trigger-happy, non-trigger fish about as well. Diving Middle Rock I followed one or two patterns to maximize the features available. I was heading around the back of the stack checking out the contents of all the caves and crevices on the way. In a relatively large one with a sloping sand bottom a very large bulbous lobster with both arms forward, jerked back with a noticeable stirring of sand, as I became visible to him. Here’s John Wayne ready to draw and shoot me, it’s a cowpoke standoff on a dusty desert slope, surely not far from Death Valley and no one’s backing down!

At least that was the body language of this character. The actions were rapid and jerky, as he moved back and

38 SubSea Autumn 2013

forth, skidding up and down the sand slope in short bursts and in sudden retreats and just as unexpected attacks.

I nearly retreated myself by reaction, but he never really came far enough forward. This was pure bluff, not the Ok Corral stuff, and I was enjoying the experience, but remaining wary. With the dust accumulated at the rear of the cave his image was misted, as he rustled off to the last roundup.

He was the real deal, a two gun cowboy lobster, burly in shape, used to facing down the foe, but, I think too, a poor enough shot like the real cowpokes were. I’m going back there someday to check out that sandy cave. I tell myself, “ if John Wayne’s not there, be prepared for God knows what. !!!

But Seriously! It’s wonderful what the world below can do to your imagination, Narcosis excepted. Things can suggest other times and places and the actions of lobsters and other denizens of the deep or even the shallows can often be quite funny.

Lobsters especially to me seem to have more than usual number of oddball characters, who rush out at you without forethought and live to regret it. I suspect many get themselves into hot water or worse, when they try this on with other creatures or less scrupulous divers of the predatory variety. Of course, if you hoped to meet one of these rash creatures on your dive, you’d be more likely to encounter the opposite, shy recluses, who wouldn’t even smile out at you from their safe holes.

In the bad old days our mentors went forth with hooks, bags and, in one particular (non-CFT case) I hasten to add, a spear gun. We followed behind and learned to handle and fondle the creatures and longed to graduate to predator status. Occasionally in some lonesome, boring excursion from shore on an empty kelp plain somewhere back of Newfee you’d encounter the James Joyce of all lobsters out strolling blithely towards your hand and even insisting on shaking it. You’d take this intellectual home to meet the family, of course, and both would benefit from the resulting discussions. “Too hot? A little more salt?” A succession of literary lobster acquaintances later your appetite for philosophy wanes and you join Amnesty for Crustaceans, yes, even humble crabs and crawfish provide cranial nourishment. You encourage the club to get squeaky clean and surprise surprise, most agree with you. They enforce the end of the Great Lobster Dinner Debating Circle. You continue talking about it, while lobsters “attempting to come on board, sir”, are roundly rejected. You begin to use the L-word in your personal notes instead of “anagram for bolster”, a crossword clue. You are finally free. The lobbies, of course, are disappointed and many, like the lemmings before them, commit mass suicide by engaging in stimulating debates with triggerfish and the like.

I could finish this off with a long and comprehensive listing of literary lobsters I have met, and not necessarily et, but must stay my hand, as I often have to do for real. The truth is I hate to see them suffer.

Boiling them slowly alive or plunging rapidly into boiling water somehow makes me less happy than, if I bought it at a restaurant and missed the execution bit. The same type of reaction turned me from rabbit shooting many years before diving began for me and I will not be rearing chickens for the table either. Perhaps we are all here on earth to consume one another, but the manner of our consuming things, should not demean us. This applies across the board to living things, nature, peoples and the planet itself. How we humans use it sometimes seems incredibly stupid, ask any intelligent lobster! ◼

Tragedy at Keeragh Island, Co-Wexford 1914 Adapted from “The Awful Tragedy of the Helen Blake Lifeboat, Fethard Co-Wexford 1914.” By Liam Ryan.

The Helen Blake Lifeboat

On Friday the 20th February 1914, a Norwegian schooner, ‘The Mexico’ ran aground on the little Keeragh Island off the South Wexford coast in atrocious weather conditions. Local men in Fethard spotted the schooner in distress and alerted the crew of the lifeboat. Subsequently the Fethard lifeboat, the ‘Helen Blake’ set off in stormy seas to rescue the crew of the schooner, ‘Mexico.’

In the village of Fethard on Sea, Co. Wexford there stands a fine monument. It was erected in memory of the nine Fethard men who lost their lives when the Fethard lifeboat capsized on that fateful day.

Fifty miles from Fethard, near the Burrow in Rosslare Strand another fine monument proudly lists the names of the crew of the Rosslare Fort lifeboat, ‘James Stephens’ which played a heroic part in the rescue of the survivors of the schooner, The Mexico and the five survivors of the Helen Blake lifeboat.

These two monuments although connected with the same tragic event tell two very different stories.

In Fethard, the tale is one of tragic loss and sadness whilst in Rosslare, the tale is one of heroism and bravery.

With the centenary of the disaster now on the horizon, it is imperative that the tale is told as one story embracing all the communities involved in this tragic maritime tale.

The crew of the Helen Blake were Christopher Bird coxswain; John MacNamara second coxswain; Thomas Handrick, bowman; Michael Handrick, William Bird, James Morrissey, Richard Bird, George Crumpton, Patrick Roche, Garrett Handrick, William Banville, John Kelly, Patrick Cullen, and Patrick Stafford.

The Kilmore lifeboat, ‘The Sisters’ put out on Friday evening to render assistance to the doomed vessel at the Keeraghs, but finding it impossible to encounter the heavy seas, was obliged to put back again. The crew however remained in the lifeboat all night so as to be ready to proceed to the Keeraghs the first opportunity in the morning.

The survivors spent three nights on the barren island, lashed with rain, hail and sleet. Repeated attempts at rescue all ended in failure and mothers, wives and children of the lifeboat men prayed desperately that their loved ones would survive those torturous nights. All their hopes and prayers were dashed when five of their bodies were washed ashore at Cullenstown strand on Saturday morning. The sufferings which the twelve men on the rock endured are not easily described. The young Portuguese sailor, Antonio Lint Da Cunha succumbed to the terrible cold and drenching rain which they all had to endure. It was, it appears, the youth’s first long sea voyage.

SubSea Autumn 2013 39

Keeragh Tragedy

The Mexico

The last of what little food they had was consumed on Sunday and they then had to rely on barnacles and shellfish which clung to the sides of the rocks and which they were only able to gather at the imminent risk of being swept off at any moment. The rain which fell during Saturday night though unwelcome in one respect had its compensating value in another; from indents in the rock, the men whose thirst at this time had become agonizing, were able to quench their thirst momentarily. The constant salt spray meant the water was at best partly diluted sea-water and even the smallest amount of fresh water may well have been of the utmost benefit to the survival of the men. One of the men discovered two matches in an inside pocket of his vest and with these they were able to light a few bits of wreckage, though it was impossible to keep the fire going with the incessant rain and gales.

After sixty-six long hours of weary waiting, and awful agony their feelings of hope and joy must have indescribable as they watched the noble efforts of the lifeboat crews from Rosslare and Dunmore East in their merciful mission and eventually on

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Monday all the survivors were rescued from the island.

The Mexico left Laguna, Mexico on the 4th November bound for Liverpool with a cargo of 481 tonnes of mahogany and cedar logs. She was wind bound in the Gulf of Mexico for a month, she encountered several heavy gales on or about 26th December when the steering gear broke but was temporarily repaired on board. At Porto Delgada in the Azores about 20th January, they arrived and the rudder was repaired and new sails and a lifeboat obtained as the former lifeboat had been broken in the storms. On that fateful Friday, they took observations in the forenoon, and calculated they should be about 20 miles SSW of the Hook. There was a heavy gale blowing at the time. At about half past one o’clock they saw land on the south. “After a little time the captain said, “it cleared off and I then saw land on the other side and at once sent out a cry ‘about ship’. Then we put the double reef foresail on and full mizzen, our object being to get clear of the Keeragh Island. We were heading sou’-west off south, and we thought we could come in and anchor, but we saw it was not possible-that we

would go aground. The gale was getting stronger and heavy seas were running. We got in so close to the island that we found it difficult to get the ship around. She wouldn’t stay and we had to bear around as well as we could. The tide was right against us and then the ship would not move.

The nearer we came to the island the stronger the tide was. She then drifted right in on the reef and amongst the breakers and commenced to knock up and down with the seas over her. We tried to get the mizzen boom over to the rock, so that we could come in on the shore, but we were not able to do so. I had already put up the signal for the pilots. This was about four o, clock and as soon as ship struck we lowered the lifeboat, and two of the crew (Smith and Paulsen) got into it. She gave a lurch and some of the gear got lost. The boat got away between the islands, and the current prevented the men rowing back to the ship. We then saw the lifeboat coming out from Fethard. We were all on the ship at this time watching the lifeboat struggling through the heavy seas. The waves were mountainous high, and in addition rain and hail were falling heavily. The next thing we saw was the lifeboat being battered against the rocks.

Mr. John MacNamara, a survivor of the Helen Blake crew says he was, knocked against the rocks when the boat was smashed and was swirled about in the breakers which proved fatal to so many of his comrades.

Once he had to dodge underneath a portion of the wrecked boat. After being borne backwards and forwards some half-dozen times, he was ultimately caught by one tremendous wave and dashed towards the cliff above the shelve of rocks. “I put my hands in front to save my head” he said “and by doing so managed to break the force of the impact somewhat. But it was not sufficient to prevent my getting a bad gash on the head. I was stunned for a moment and was giving all up for lost. The next thing I remember was that I was at the mouth of a little alcove in the cliff, at the end of which a beam of wood had got caught. On my hands and knees with my head bleeding

Keeragh Tragedy profusely, I managed to clamber on to the wood and get a hold of it. While there I saw several of my mates being swirled about, as I had been, and I am sure that more than one was, by this time, dead or dying. Garrett Handrick was one of these that was swept nearest to me. He was about four yards off when I crawled down and caught him by one of the hooks of his lifebelt. With the other hand I grasped a ledge of rock and in that way I held out against a couple of successive waves. Hendrick shouted out to me to let him go, and to save myself if I could. I answered- “I suppose they are all gone now but the two of us, and we will go or come together.” We both got to the broken wood again and I rolled him over on his side and bruised the water out of him, and he came to after a while. From where we were, there were some twelve feet of smooth, straight cliff to negotiate in order to get to safety. But fortune was on our side. The air-boxes of the boat were driven into the very cove where we were, and with these and the aid of a piece of rope we clambered to the top.

Two of the other lifeboat men had got upon the rocks and were waving their arms. We signalled to them that they must take hold of the lines.

George Crumpton, with intrepid courage leaned over the cliffs into the raging sea and grasped the rope. Then a hawser was hauled on shore which the boy hero Richard Bird made fast to a boulder and it was made taut by being lashed to the mast of the ship.

One by one the crew was taken to the island by this means, and when John Kelly, one of the lifeboat men, who was driven onto the ship, fourth in turn, the dauntless fellow, instead of seeking his own shelter, stood on the cliffs with his comrades until the last of the Norwegians was over in safety.

The Dunmore Lifeboat

on the western side of the island and weighed anchor about 100 yards from the rocks. Ned Brien got the rocket ready and fired the first rocket at 7.30, but was unsuccessful. About eight o, clock, the crew managed to get the boat in closer, and Ned Brien fired a rocket ashore with the line attached, which the stricken men on the island secured. By means of this line a little boat was just got to the edge of the island, when a terrific sea smashed it

to pieces. A life jacket and life buoy were then got ashore, and John MacNamara, Fethard, put on the lifebuoy and he was pulled through the surf, 100 yards to the Dunmore lifeboat. John Kelly was rescued in a similar manner. The Wexford lifeboat then came on the scene and lowered a small boat, measuring thirteen feet long and four and a half feet wide with James Wickham and Wm. Duggan on board. They took two men

The Rescue The Dunmore lifeboat, the Fanny Harriet, with local man Ned Brien and Marks Barden from the Wood acting as pilot on board with the apparatus left at six o’clock on Monday morning. They brought a small punt with them. They anchored

Crew of the schooner Mexico, on board the steamer "Arklow" on Waterford Quays prior to their departure to Liverpool. First mate, Lee is holding the log book which was found by a coastguard on Cullenstown strand. Captain Eriksen is in the centre of the photograph.

SubSea Autumn 2013 41

Keeragh Tragedy

The family of Patrick Cullen, Windy Gap who perished in the Fethard Lifeboat tragedy.

L-r; Cissie, Nellie, Mikie, Mrs. Cullen, Cathy, Bridie, Dolly, Jack, Jimmy, Patsy.

Standing; Richard Bird and George Crumpton Seated; John Kelly, John MacNamara and Garret Handrick The only survivors from the Helen Blake. Richard Bird died two years later having never fully recovered from his ordeal on the Keeragh Island.

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off the island and the entire crew of the Wexford lifeboat pulled the little boat back to the lifeboat as quickly as possible. On the second trip to the island, the little boat got a plank from the bottom stove in, and the two men repaired the leak by packing in bread and canvas. This strategy worked and all the men were taken off the island.

All nine crew of the Wexford lifeboat pulled that little boat with all their might and rescued ten men in five trips. In the course of the rescue work, the punt at one time grounded.

The two men in her, Wickham and Duggan jumped out, caught her and lifted her into the water again and climbed back into her, continuing the rescue operation. The three survivors of the Fethard lifeboat were transferred to the Dunmore lifeboat, the Fanny Harriet, which took the five Fethard men home. The survivors of the Mexico were taken to Waterford.

The Wexford tug, with Captain Busher on board waited for the Dunmore lifeboat to return from Fethard and towed both lifeboats to Waterford.

In the days following the rescue, the bodies of the lifeboatmen were recovered and finally on the 21st April, Patrick Cullen’s body was recovered bringing to an end the funerals of the nine brave lifeboat men.

Two years later in 1916, crewman Richard Bird died having never fully recovered from his ordeal on Keeragh Island.

There is always an ”If only”. A decision to close Fethard Lifeboat station was taken in July 1913, seven months prior to the tragedy, once a new motor lifeboat was established at Dunmore East. Somewhat ironically the new lifeboat arrived to Dunmore East on the 3rd of April 1914, six weeks too late for the men of Fethard.

In February 2008 a Norwegian national, Oivind Ostby, a great grandson of Ole Edwin Eriksen, the captain of the ill-fated schooner, Mexico, travelled to Fethard and laid a wreath there in honour of those who died on that fateful day. It was a small but significant gesture and showed that the heroism of the Fethard men was never forgotten in Norway. ◼

Routine Search and Recovery training exercise solves a 22 year missing person’s case

By Timmy Carey In late October 2012 the inexorable annual drop in water temperatures was already well underway in the river Blackwater. The units search and recovery diving officer David Carey had organised a full face mask training exercise in a part of the river very rarely accessed and little did anyone taking part in the dive realise how important a dive it would prove to be.

Eugene Whelan and Olan O Farrell manning the resuce launch and attending the airlfit pump on the surface.

Photograph: John O’Connell.

SubSea Autumn 2013 43

S&R Discovery

Graham Burke and Noel Hayes operating the airlift in the river Blackwater - photograph Timmy Carey

Shortly into the dive one the divers could enter water and at the time without touching the scene and it was found what they thought to be a nothing could be found anywhere. The then reported to the local Garda steering wheel of a car protruding missing car was a Daihatsu and on divisional headquarters. As no slightly from the mud and gravel; on noticing a D in the middle of the registration plate was visible and the car closer inspection they saw it was firmly steering wheel the divers left the scene was in a really poor state there was no attached and with some gentle wafting untouched and terminated the dive to way to be sure that it was the car realised there was a car without a roof discuss the find. At the time no one (although one small part of the wing and windows completely buried in wanted to get the families hopes up mirror appeared to be the correct colour gravel and mud and level with the rest without being sure; so the car was of the car) and with no roof on it there of the riverbed (no one was too photographed and videoed extensively could be no way of knowing whether surprised by this initially as there human remains would be evident are lots of old cars disposed of in beneath the thick layer of silt and rivers throughout the country). gravel filling the car.

Two of the divers David Carey The Gardaí decided that it and Noel Hayes taking part in the most likely was the car given the dive had both dived in a missing evidence we had as the person’s case in 1990 for a local photograph from the steering man William Fennessy who went wheel was confirmed to be the missing at the time along with his correct type and the car colour car. In 1990 there was a huge Garda was also consistent with the case investigation which involved files. With heavy rains forecast for Interpol and the Blackwater Search the next morning, the Gardaí unit had been involved at the time asked could the car be checked diving all areas of local rivers and for human remains before the lakes in consultation with the local visibility deteriorated and a plan The steering wheel of the car that the divers first found.

Photograph: Timmy Carey.

Gardaí where it was thought a car was compiled to start diving at

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S&R Discovery dawn the next day. Due to the sensitive nature of the case, the dive team was kept small with 4 divers and 3 support personnel. With so much silt and material in the vehicle the challenge would be to carry out an extremely intensive search, knowing that removing any silt would decimate the visibility. With this in mind early the next morning the search launch would be anchored above the search area and an airlift was set up in the boat driven by a petrol engine; an airlift acts like a huge industrial vacuum which would mean that the divers could slowly and methodically empty the car while being sure they would find anything as small as a one cent coin.

The only downside would be that with water temperatures dropping to seven degrees Celsius the dive would be in cold conditions and painstakingly slow to be done correctly and it was decided by the dive team to try and complete the diving in one day if possible. About an hour into the dive the first remains were found and anything found was then transferred from diving collection bags into black refuse sacks underwater to ensure no one on the river banks could see anything while transferring any finds back to the Garda forensic teams and detectives who were on hand for every aspect of the operation and were very helpful during the day getting tea etc for the divers after leaving the water. The entire dive operation took over 7 hours of continuous diving with the four divers diving in teams of two relieving each team after an hour or so; this was to ensure that each team left the water before hypothermia became a factor as this would affect diver performance and concentration levels. With very shallow depths; at less than 3 meters decompression was not a consideration however to further reduce sub clinical DCI and to ensure optimum diver performance all divers would dive good nitrox mixes. All dives were conducted on full face masks and controlled from the surface by comms with diving on the bottom only ceasing for two brief periods while the airlift engine fuel tank was replenished after running dry. At the end of the dive operations almost 100 digital photographs were taken of the scene and issued to the Gardaí and

Timmy Carey emerging from the river after a 70 minute recovery dive photograph John O Connell

the airlift debris field double checked to ensure the dive team didn’t miss anything (which they hadn’t).

While the entry point of the car to the river will never be established definitively it most likely entered in a small lane way almost a mile upstream and was washed down by powerful flood water and it served as reminder of the huge power of a river in flood; that it could so quickly remove the roof from a car and bury it completely in silt and gravel.

Over the past few years this area of river has been side scanned on a number

of different searches and there was no trace of a car in the area on reviewing old side scans; this is due to the fact that the car was buried and a side scan only shows what is above the riverbed.

Conclusive identification of the remains could only be made by DNA analysis and it would take a number of months for this to take place; with the Fennessy family finally getting to bury their loved ones remains in June 2013; 22 years after the disappearance bringing the mystery to an end and allowing closure for the friends and family of the deceased. ◼ SubSea Autumn 2013 45

2. To liaise with the co-ordination centre through our internal communication system.

3. To act as a “go – to” unit in the event of a find, in order to seal off and preserve the area for a possible forensic investigation.

4. Be equipped for a rapid deployment for a “water - borne” find.

5. To transport hot drinks and food to support all involved in the search.

These mobile units were augmented by a Red Cross Ambulance which remains patiently on stand-by through-out the search period.

Members of the DSAC search and recovery unit with members of the ambulance unit.

A Profile Of A Search and Recovery Don Baldwin, Dundalk SAC ike a great many other Diving Clubs throughout the country, Dundalk SAC is frequently called upon to utilize its in-water Search & Rescue capabilities. The search for any individual however, entails a great deal of logistical planning. Tasked by the Gardai to initiate and coordinate an extensive land and sea search, a steering group from within the Search & Rescue Unit are quickly established to formulate a large scale plan to cater for an unspecified number of volunteers to search an extensive area of varied terrain in and around the environs of any particular area. To promote awareness and to encourage as many volunteers as possible to participate in a search, both local print Media and Radio are fully utilised by both the club PRO and DO, usually to great success.

As with all ventures of this type, organisation and pre planning prove to be absolutely crucial to the overall professionalism and safety of the search.

Large scale maps and Ariel photographs are procured through various means. Copies of these maps are then reproduced for Team Leaders, with a designated search area highlighted and numbered. These portable maps are then laminated for the rigors of field use. A master copy of

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46 SubSea Autumn 2013

the map remains in the Operation’s Room which is usually situated convenient to the search area, so as to supervise a safe and systematic search.

Key to achieving objectives is recording of personnel compiled by registrars. The registration of all relevant details and the logging in and out times of all personnel involved in each search is paramount. Team leaders are selected accordingly and briefed on their general duties and the necessity for appropriate protocol in the case of a person being found. To avoid bedlam in the Operation’s Room, Team Leaders are then individually briefed and their designated search area assigned to them by an over- all co-ordinator from the SAR Unit.

These team leaders then brief their own teams before each team is then deployed to the ground by our transport units which worked tirelessly throughout any search.

To avoid any confusion on the ground two roving mobile units from the operations centre are deployed to the area of operations each day in order to: 1. Ensure a smooth transition of search teams to their designated search area.

As no two areas of terrain are quite the same, teams of various sizes needed to be deployed, utilizing each team’s local knowledge to best effect.

Whereas a six strong team maybe ample for the search of a long arduous coastal path, the professionalism of a Civil Defence Team is invaluable for bigger tracts of land which maybe festooned with marsh land and dissected with ditches. Likewise the Defence Forces may provided an expert guide to lead a search team through an area best known to them, while any semblance of water work was preserved for the Dundalk SAC Unit who tirelessly trawled through all things aquatic.

On a recent search which lasted for three days over a long weekend, involving two hundred members of the public, twenty five members of Dundalk SAC, members of the Gardai, Coast Guard, Civil Defence, Red Cross and Defence Forces, unfortunately despite the best efforts of all concerned the result was negative. The missing person was not found. But this negative result, while disappointing, does not deter those participants who will not hesitate to act on any new information which may come to light.

In conclusion, on behalf of the Dundalk SAC I would like to thank everybody who so whole heartedly get involved in any search for a missing person. This community has graciously supported us over the years, and we are more than happy to play our part by participating in, and coordinating any search at any time. ◼

A life aquatic

By Eibhir Mulqueen

A much younger Mick about to go diving Carraroe in 1961

A name synonymous with scuba diving in Ireland for more than 50 years is that of Mick Moriarty, who has combined his love of the outdoors with a life aquatic. his year, the Irish Underwater Council (Comhairle Fo-Thuinn) celebrates its 50th anniversary.

Set up in 1963, it provides a national, co-ordinating structure for 80 plus clubs that are part of it. Over that period, a few longstanding members have been part of that story too. One of these is retired Colonel Mick Moriarty, whose love of the sea began as a child, when he took to swimming in a big way. Later, as a career he enjoyed the outdoor life the army provided, before going on to be part of the pioneering

T

diving movement in Ireland, promoting it when it was a distant, exotic activity for most people.

After becoming a champion swimmer, he embraced the freedom the revolutionary Aqua Lung – the breathing mechanism divers use – provided for exploring the watery depths, becoming a champion spear fisher in the process.

He has proved to have an exploratory spirit for much of his life.

Born in Bandon, he lived in Listowel, went to school in St Flannan’s, Ennis,

and then joined the army.

“Probably because I clearly remember the effects of World War 2 on Ireland when growing up in Listowel, I longed only for a career in the Army. In 1949 I applied for and was awarded a cadetship, entering the Cadet School in the Curragh Camp in 1950, from which I graduated in November 1952 as a SecondLieutenant in the Artillery Corps,” he says.

That gave him what he describes as a SubSea Autumn 2013 47

A Life Aquatic still today one of the largest and most successful clubs in the country,” he notes.

The late fifties saw the beginnings of other clubs in the nascent sport too and they began helping each other.

Moriarty recalls two other clubs then in existence, the Irish Sub Aqua Club in Dublin and the Belfast branch of the British Sub Aqua Club, which lent technical expertise and encouragement.

“Meeting up with a group from Belfast, I experienced my first dive in the care of a qualified diver called Alistair Gilmore at Carraroe in Connemara in August 1958. It was everything I expected it to be. I had been a keen finswimmer (a term we used to describe where the diver wore a mask, fins and snorkel) and had many hours of finning behind me in the Dublin area mainly, so this new experience did not create any special problems for me,” he says.

Mick proudly holding the Glaucus Trophy for the Irish Open Spearfishing Championship of Ireland in August 1966. Photo: M. Fleming.

long and varied career spanning 42 years and service in the Belgian Congo, Cyprus, Israel, the Lebanon and Angola. He retired in January 1992 with the rank of Colonel.

Moriarty’s love of the water stems from his boyhood days when he took to swimming on the beaches of West Cork and in Ballybunion before becoming an enthusiastic member of Ennis Swimming Club. He came under the training and direction of Fergus Barron, a senior member of the club, who was an Irish 100m breaststroke champion.

Inspired by Barron, he went on to win many Clare and Munster championships in lifesaving and swimming.

“From my interest in swimming and lifesaving, it seemed a natural progression to begin to wonder what lay beneath us as we swam in

48 SubSea Autumn 2013

the rivers and lakes of Clare and Limerick. While serving with the 4th Field Artillery Regiment I swam a lot at Lough Owel outside Mullingar. One day a friend offered me the use of a set of fins, a diving mask and a metal snorkel and one look into the water below me meant that I was hooked immediately.”

Fifty five years later he says he is still absorbed in what become for him a second career and a fascinating pastime. He is a founding member of Curragh Sub Aqua Club, in May 1958, making good use of the large Army swimming pool in Curragh Camp and became one Ireland’s early enthusiasts for spreading the word about the exciting world of scuba diving.

“The club prospered rapidly and is

He recalls being offered the use of an Aqualung brought from Belfast by Gilmore and his friends for a dive in the sea to about 15m. “It was what we called a ‘Tadpole’ cylinder, a small steel cylinder containing enough air to last for about 20 minutes in shallow water.

The supply of air was controlled by a pressure-reducing valve called a demand valve because it supplied air ‘on demand’ to the diver when he demanded it, that is, inhaled.”

He wore a belt with about 13lbs of lead of it, which enabled him to stay at depth, and a heavy pullover provided a small measure of warmth.

“I went as often as possible to the sea mainly in the Dublin area because it was not far from the Curragh, but when we discovered the Hook Lighthouse area, we went there as often as possible for variety and for the long weekends. I would have clocked up 20 or 30 dives in those early years, as the shortage of Aqua Lungs in the club limited my own opportunities to dive.

“As there were so few qualified or experienced divers in the club, most if not all of our dives were spent in bringing trainees up to a safe standard

A Life Aquatic

A man for open spaces.

of ability, something that I enjoyed greatly,” he remembers.

He also has memories of exploring Kilkee, in West Clare, after visiting his family, who continued to live in Ennis.

He linked in with Limerick Sub Aqua Club, another new club taken with the exciting sport.

“Kilkee became my place of pilgrimage,” he says. “Because there were so few clubs and divers in the country in the late fifties and early sixties, practically every dive was a new experience, providing all divers with a strong feeling of exploration. Today, there are few enough locations around the Irish coast today that has not been visited by divers. If one is an active diver, each outstanding dive quickly became erased by the next outstanding dive!”

Despite many non-divers believing the sport is dangerous, Mick has never had a bad experience, even if he has been involved in some tough scrapes. “I have searched for and found bodies in the sea and rivers. I have had some difficult moments when trying to get out onto rocks in rough conditions, or perhaps helping some panicky trainees to shore but I cannot state that I had a ‘worst dive’. I suppose for me ‘a worse dive’ was when I was handed a cylinder with which to go diving only to discover that it was empty!”

The scuba world has changed a lot nationally and internationally over the

Mick and Dave Atherton, (author of La Trinidad Valencera) discussing his next project.

past five decades. He remembers that in the early sixties, money was scarce and diving equipment was both expensive and not readily available.

Two early dive equipment shops opened, DISCO – Divers Supply Company, in Dublin, and Marine Sales, in Dalkey. Gradually the numbers of divers began to grow and by 1962, there were six clubs in the whole of Ireland. The talk focused on the need to set up rigorous standards to ensure the sport’s safety.

“The first mention of a federation of clubs was made at a committee meeting of the Irish Sub Aqua Club in 1959 but was not followed up.

Eventually, by common agreement, a number of meetings of representatives of the clubs took place during 1962 and early 1963 and in September of that year, Comhairle Fo Thuinn (CFT) – The Irish Underwater Council was formally launched at the Curragh Camp,” he remembers.

CFT had four founder member clubs with two other clubs as observers.

Shortly afterwards, these clubs also joined, and moves were made to bring the new national body in line with international standards. “CFT applied to become an affiliate of CMAS (Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques), the world governing

body for diving based in Paris and were accepted in 1966 for two of the three commissions – the Technical Commission and the Competitions Commission.”

The new national organisation, now part of an international fraternity, was the impetus for a surge in diving clubs.

“It provided a focus for the attention of individuals who had heard about this new leisure activity and wished to be part of it.”

It also provided the benefits of being part of the developing methods and procedures of the established clubs, and as divers became experienced and confident, they were able to contribute to the discussions themselves as they gained in confidence.

He adds that CFT helped in putting diving on the map for nondivers also, and “was needed to maintain a strong face to the Government and to those who might regard any diver simply as a nuisance only interested in stealing from the pot of a fisherman”.

Moriarty was Secretary of CFT from 1964 until 1972, and became President in 1973 for a year. He was also Treasurer for a while in 1965.

For beginners, he has always said that if they like the sea and are adequate swimmers, scuba diving is always worth “a look and a listen”.

SubSea Autumn 2013 49

A Life Aquatic collection of his memories and experiences, but since then Mick Moriarty has built up many more, not least through his work in maintaining and adding to CFT’s archive at its headquarters in Dun Laoghaire.

What he cherishes most of all from the adventure is the number of friends he has made.

“Diving is really very simple once the training is thorough while the gear is expensive, once purchased, it will last for a long time if you look after it. My personal belief is that personal contact between a diver and a potential diver is probably the best way of recruiting new divers to one’s club. Full use of the local papers with good photos will also do the trick.”

“At one time I felt that I could go to nearly any town in Ireland and look up a friend or acquaintance from the local club.

This facility has receded, naturally enough, but I have still a wide circle for old friends that I value very much right across the country.”

He says he would like to see a return of the competitions that were once regularly held all around the country, winter and summer, ranging from underwater hockey to lake and sea races and spearfishing, believing that overall diver fitness has suffered as a result.

“They all contributed to a high level of fitness. It also encouraged much greater friendship between divers for the competing clubs.”

In 2001, CFT published a

50 SubSea Autumn 2013

Mick Moriarty There from the beginning and still there doing his bit for diving and CFT. Thank you Mick

“I could not imagine any other course or journey that would better the experiences of fifty five years, I would not wish to change anything.” ◼

A Girlie Dive Story From Dundalk

By Patricia Finley Hanratty

In December 2012 I joined the Dundalk Sub Aqua club and diving became the new passion for me. Once you hang out the shingle “Gone Diving, you throw the switch that locks care to the world, you’re out of sight and out of the mind as determination knows no bounds.

The Course You could do better with your winter evenings, then sit in a cool study room watching tropical water based powerpoint background slides flick past your eyes, but you’d be forgiven to complain as there is an end point to achieve; that is to become a one star diver. The CFT trainee diver & club diver lectures cover all the basics on what you need to know before you go diving. But its ironic that they tell you all about the gear first and what you need to purchase and then you learn how things can go terribly wrong with this sport. Reassuringly I refocused on what I learned, gas laws and the effects of pressure. While all the course topics are equally of important value, commit these two lessons to mind and you shouldn’t go wrong.

The Gear Being the second youngest in my family, I’m used to hand-me-downs, but when it comes to scuba gear, mine are all new. One should shop around of course, but reliability and personal assistance are top of my list. So I go to my local dive shop, because I like to fit it, feel it and fix the price to pay for it.

Firstly the suit, well you know image is everything, but get it to fit perfectly whether semi-dry or dry is all important. You basically want to look more like a mermaid than a whale but with a bit more flexibility. Many Euros and hours later and I am almost fully kitted out. You would think that when you put all this gear on, getting down the shot line would be easy without more weight, but to neutralize the buoyancy effect of the diving suit a weight belt must be worn. While I thought I was a plump slip-of-a-lass, it took an uneven eleven kilos to get me down to the sea bed floor.

Additional must haves are a knife, torch, computer, beacons and surface marker buoy are so essential for a more comfortable dive and of course a kit bag to carry the lot around in. But spend wisely as it can be a costly experience. I once spent a little more than I should have on a mask only to carelessly remove my hood forgetting that I had elevated the mask onto my forehead and decanted them into the sea and down to the deep they go. But the best toy in my gear box is the Easy Shot video camera. I can record all my dives and show them to all my friends.

It’s just like they were there with me.

The Call The month of May usually suggests a quiet, restful month when nature decks herself our in her summer leisure wear and relaxes as swallows circle and the cuckoo calls. For divers, the great seas drum an insistent message, “come dive with me.” For no team of technicians in a Grand Prix pit stop could change a car wheel as quickly as I could whip up my scuba gear and head for the shore. The conditions were just right.

Because among all those alternative medicines in vogue today, nothing heals heart, mind and soul like a deep sea dive. There is nothing predictable about it. It is the elixir of life in controlled proportions. “Yes I’ll be there, put me on the list”. Then I hang out the shingle, “Gone diving, God only knows when I’ll be back,” because in Dundalk, we dive all year round. Things can happen, they always do. Low tide for launching or re-launching, forgetting part of the gear, ripped seals on the dry suit, not enough buddies turning up, last minute engine trouble despite previous checks been completed, the list can be endless. Improvisation is a skill you learn very fast when at sea.

SubSea Autumn 2013 51

Girlie Dive Story The Dives The club safety officer produces a very comprehensive gear inventory but you can always tell if you’ve forgotten something, usually when you arrive five miles away from the dive site after travelling one hour to get there. Just then helplessly, you can never really improvise, it is always the most important thing. For me one day it was the wet suit and dry underwear for after the dive. Let’s just say it pays to live near the coast! The distance is shorter, just like the memory! But if you plan to dive, then you should dive to the plan.

But it is all about the adrenaline rush.

In its synthetic form it maintains coronary and cerebral profusion in prolonged resuscitation. When naturally produced, delivered in increasing spurts through the blood stream, pro-pulsed by unexpected thoughts in the mind, its effects seem to last longer, plus it is healthier. Each dive can produce this feeling, just believe me!

As a two star diver in 2012 I only took 46 dives and all of them very good (Wow, that’s good!). Initially the descent was not easy. The challenges of equalization, buoyancy, and proper fining technique all took their toll on me. Yes I got the tooth squeeze, busted eyeball and alveolar tear. I should have paid more attention in class! Every diver has a story to tell but I survived to dive another day. The most interesting dives are the deep dives to 38 metres, but for a disappointing bottom time of 15 minutes. The buildup, the tension, the buddy checking and that’s just the divers, what about the hosts. Well was Mrs. Congar Eel expecting any visitors today? Or how do the crabs feel when their private act of coitus is interrupted? Nothing is private in the deep sea. When visibility is clear, it becomes a carpet of sea urchins, anemones, sponges, squirts and fish of all kinds galore strutting their walks. The colour, texture and movement of water is so relaxing that it is a great pleasure to share this space with these animals and plants. No matter how many times you dive to the same location, every dive is an adventure into the unknown.

The scenic dives in Rathlin Island, St. John’s Point in Donegal, Kinsale,

52 SubSea Autumn 2013

Baltimore and The Hook in Wexford have all fascinated me but wreck diving, now that’s what I call diving. It is like a visit to a graveyard with a larger than life story yet to be told.

You can’t help thinking, how did it happen, who was on this vessel, what were their last thoughts and could the accident have been avoided? We will never know. A wreck is a space of unfinished story telling but like all graveyards it has memories and beautiful ones yet to share. The wrecks I had the pleasure of visiting so far in Ireland include, Le Garre (Rathlin Island), Laurentic (Donegal), Kowloon Bridge (Baltimore), The Retriever (Greenore), to name but a few. As a two star diver you must go with an experienced diver who has been wreck diving on many occasions.

The descent to 38 metres, it is a long way down and a busy shot line meeting divers on deco on their assent can be a little disconcerting as you fin past them. It is like watching divers floating in some sort of time freeze.

Fixated eyes in congress as they blow off their gases, bubble, bubble, and more bubbles. I wasn’t expecting the shot line to be like Grafton Street at mid-day. Scary stuff but during the descent to 20 metres it appears to go suddenly dark and just as we arrive at 36 metres it’s like somebody has just switched on the lights to light up the wreck. My buddy shakes my hand in a gesture, “and now for your on-board comfort, madam we have…” I can hardly believe it myself; on the Laurentic wreck. This will make for an interesting coffee morning discussion at work! My heart pulsates, my buoyancy is perfect, I’m like a kitten in a wool shop, and I’m here to play for the next fifteen minutes, whoopee.!!

At first it is just like any seabed floor but gradually the view takes shape for what was once a large ocean going liner, its twisted metal reveals the strain. The beauty of this ship was torn apart and strewn across the seabed floor. But no gold to be found, maybe better luck next time!

The Buddies They are a handsome lot in the Dundalk Sub Aqua club. We all have

become close friends. With them everything is well planned and organised so that the unpredictable which brings out the quality in a character does not generally occur.

In their company there is never a dull moment. They rarely agree upfront instead a working consensus emerges.

Fog or faulty equipment can change the moods of some divers very quickly. If the results do not measure up to expectations, no quarter is given to apportioning blame. Stand clear, it could easily be your fault!

After each dive there is a detailed scrutiny of what went right and what went wrong. The protocol requires that you never blame the shortfall on your own incompetence or misjudgment. Divers are a strange bunch. Class or status does not count. The judge and the consultant are cut down to size. Boasting of one’s achievements attracts a chilling silence.

But surprisingly “the gut feeling” still prevails. Is this an old sea faring thing or what, the gut feeling? You can throw all the tidal, weather, technical and scientific knowledge against the decision to dive or not to dive, but if the gut feeling is not right, today, forget it, the dive is off.

The Future One of the great advantages of being a member of CFT is the endless number of progression diving courses that you can complete in your lifetime. Certainly for me, I want more wreck diving experience. I know I’m a searcher, it’s a trait deep in my soul. Sink it and I’ll try my best to find it, within limits of course. But I’m driven by an urge to pursue my own goals and a determination to see more of this earth, particularly underwater. I hope I never tire and that this urge lasts my lifetime.

Finally, my thanks to Ken, Bernie, Paul, Finbarr and April (my 2* instructor) from DSAC who minded me like a baby. To Phil Scott, the best underwater photographer I know. And, of course, my husband Dermot Hanratty for his tolerance and patience. Also my workmates whom I bore to tears with dive stories. ◼

Martyn Farr’s New Book

Classic Darksite Diving Review by Alan Purcell

Most of the world’s cave diving community have been waiting patiently for Martyn Farr’s new book “Classic Darksite Diving” to arrive. So how did Stirling SAC’s Alan Purcell manage to get one of the first copies? - and why does he think all divers should add it to their collections?

I’m sitting in a restaurant in Llangattock, South Wales with my friend Jason Pepper and two of Martyn Farr’s students. They had just completed day one of a two day cavern course (the entry level qualification for cave diving) and are absolutely buzzing with talk of “snoopy loops” and “4mm nylon line”. I chuckled, but knew the underlying feeling all too well. The sense of accomplishment and quiet satisfaction, coupled with the realization that a whole new world of diving was opening up to them – oh to be a fly on the wall after they complete day two! Jason and I would be diving the deeper levels of the Silica Mine at Dinas Rock, the students would be diving with Martyn in the uppermost levels, learning some of the key skills required to dive safely in an overhead environment.

The restaurant and bar are now rapidly filling up with people keen to celebrate (and commiserate) the Welsh victory, and as if right on cue Martyn appears, and excitedly pushes a book into my hand. I look down...Classic

Darksite Diving...I look up, open mouthed – it’s finally here!

Martyn is probably most famous (in literary terms) for his publications “The Darkness Beckons” and “Diving in Darkness” which draw directly from a wealth of experience that can only be

gained from many, many years of cave exploration and diver instruction from around the world. This latest title is a direct response to the one of the most frequent questions he is asked by students, “Where can I go to dive?”

Martyn can now answer this with a

This picture is Stalactites in Mexico, another favorite site with Martyn

SubSea Autumn 2013 53

Book Review

Some beautiful shots from Martyn Farr’s cave diving. This lady’s picture is in the new book.

comprehensive collation of details and images of suitable dive sites sourced from his travels around the UK and Europe – catering immediately to those with the requisite level of overhead environment training, “Cavern” “Intro Cave” and “Full Cave”. Nobody is left out, however, as those without the necessary training can still appreciate some of nature’s most incredible environments. The front cover gets things off to a good start, beautifully lit, full of colour - a good indication of

54 SubSea Autumn 2013

what lies within. Every single page is packed with beautiful photography and informative details, maps of the sites, directions of how to get there, access permissions, contact details - all in full colour with a useful key to determine the suitability of the site for your level of experience.

Consequentially, it’s no surprise that Dinas Rock, one of the premier mine diving sites is detailed within the book and I paid particular interest to the beautifully rendered map of the flooded silica mine (where I would be diving tomorrow) and planned a route through the passageways that would take us down to the railway lines at 22m. I knew the entry to the site reasonably well and could see that everything you needed to know was clearly marked out in the book and was extremely accurate.

“Classic Darksite Diving” covers sites from across Britain and Europe and is available from Martyn’s online shop - www.farrworld.co.uk now! Cave divers will appreciate the level of detail and information when planning that next trip and open water divers will

appreciate the beautiful photography of these wonderful natural places, displayed at their best from a true master of his craft. An insider’s insight into what is still a much misunderstood sphere of diving.

The exciting new world Martyn’s cavern students had glimpsed upon is detailed here, maybe it will inspire you to find some more! ◼ SubSea Summer 1987 Anyone interested in a in a trip to the chamber. ?

Now now Caroline, stick with the Junior snorkellers.

More snippets from the past In the Spring edition of SubSea the article below was aired. Its a good article and as relative today as we work hard to encourage more women into our sport.

Can one detect just a little bit of ........

Women and Diving

For a number of years in the late 1980s a lady from Portmarnock took on the task of writing a junior section in SubSea. Her articles were terrific and would encourage anyone to get involved in snorkelling.

Of course Caroline didn’t disappear when she finished her junior section she later became Secretary of CFT in ’89 and served for a number of years.

By EITHNE BOWE, Gemini SAC 'Underwater swimming has become one of the most popular participation and adventure sports. Although it was once only enjoyed by the most adventurous and extrovert, it is now the chosen sport of many thousands of men and women from all walks of life' (BSAC).

And so it should follow that an almost equal number of men and women should succumb to the lure of the sea. This, as we all know, is not the case. Visit the 40 Foot / Sandycove area any Sunday morning and it is remarkable how few female divers or snorkellers you will see relative to men. In fact, out of 1,840 registered CFT members there are only 234 females! Why so? Could it be that scuba-diving is usually portrayed as the 'macho-man' sport — 'he' standing kitted up, ready to explore the unknown depths while 'she' stands to one side bidding her brave man adieu* (c.f. 'Diving for Fun' manual).

It is true of course that men by virtue of their physical make-up, are stronger than women and therefore make lighter work of carrying scuba gear in general — but in the water scuba gear is equally buoyant on men and women. Women should not be dissuaded by the weight and encumbrance of equipment. You soon get used to carrying your own gear (as us girls all know so well!) and no female (or male) will reject a helping hand from a chivalrous male!

One trait I have certainly noticed about female divers during my six years diving is their enthusiasm and tenacity for the sport once they take it up. Certainly, in my own club, you can always count on the girls to turn up for that cold Sunday morning snorkel or to help out with the trainees. They give of themselves a lot more in the sport than their male counterparts, who it must be remembered are far greater in number. (87% males: 13% females). At committee level too girls have proven themselves again and again. They are far more organised and meticulous in their approach as a rule and in my own opinion, less likely to suffer from personality clashes. A sobering influence in any club. In Gemini SAC three of the five female club members sit on the committee and have proven a valuable asset to the club in fundraising, training and general running and administration. Where would we be without them? It is not only in SCUBA diving itself that women project themselves far more than men (remember 87% versus 13%) but also in competition. In junior and senior galas both at home and abroad the talent portrayed by females relative to their numbers in the sport is phenomenal. Their team spirit and commitment to the sport is commendable and they improve times and shatter records as often as their male counterparts do. (Whose relay team did the Irish squad proud in Crystal Palace March '88!!) It is very encouraging to see junior female divers doing equally well and brandishing such good times in the water (c.f. Jim McMonagle's article in Summer SUB-SEA). In fact, of the 234 registered female divers 53 are juniors (approximately 29%). Let's hope for ALL our sakes and the betterment of SCUBA diving they keep rolling in.

Notes for the would-be female SCUBA diver: You don't have to be built like a tank and pump iron.

You do get used to carrying gear and there ARE some — just a few — gentlemen in the diving circle.

Neither must you be built like the female divers who feature in the James Bond movies or the manufacturers ads. When God created women he liked variety. (All makes, shapes and varieties are welcome.)

Don't be afraid to sport the bright pinks and blues now hitting the market. We could do with a few Flo-Jos to brighten up the overall scene (men are very conservative you know).

The only questions in the medical form dealing specifically with females relate to womb trouble and pregnancy — so don't get pregnant! (Mind you, a lot of those so-called 'fit' male divers look as if they're due any day.)

Ambitious? How about a few more women on club committees and at CFT. level (now that Maeve and Irene have paved the way)? After all, mermaids are much nicer to look at than overfed Neptune's.

STILL A MYSTERY The deep sea is still a somewhat unexplored area. Exploring the depths is a very difficult job and takes a lot of money, time, equipment and expertise.

Nearly twenty years ago man went into 'outer space' when he visited the moon. The underwater world is our 'inner space' and we are only now beginning to understand how it works and the secrets it holds.

FACT Starfish and crabs can regrow legs which get bitten or broken off. Crab fishermen break off the claws and throw the crabs back into the water so they can continue to live. Edible meat can be found in most crab legs. The next time you go snorkelling, keep a look out for crabs missing a leg or two!

DID YOU KNOW? The slowest walker has been classified as a crab of the species NEPTUMUS PELAGINES. One particular crab was tagged in the Red Sea and took twenty nine years to travel the 101.5 miles (163km) to the Mediterranean Sea via the Suez Canal at an average speed of 3.5 miles (5.6km) a year.

THE SURFACE LIFE JACKET When going snorkelling, being able to see, breathe and move comfortably are important if you are to enjoy your snorkel dive. One thing that is most important for comfort would be 'buoyancy control.' What I mean by buoyancy control is being able to float lightly in the water, therefore making your swim much more enjoyable. To be able to relax on the surface you should always wear a life jacket.

SubSea Autumn 2013 55

Picture Parade From The Past

At the Hoobawns, outside Kilkee in 1960.

On the left Eoin Geary and on right Gerry Hayes, both of LSAC. Photo: Ronnie Hurley.

“The Assault Craft” The fore runner to the ribs Pat Crowley; Gerry Stokes; Noel Hodge; Helena O'Regan; Ken Walsh; Tony Power; Kevin McGrath. All from the Waterford Hb SAC. C.1983

Alan Brislane, winner and Candy O’Connor runner up in the Limerick Junior Disc Recovery Competition in Kilkee 1967 The jumper brigade Tom Shakespeare, Irish SAC. The Baily, Howth C.1957

L to R, Cedric Bowmer, Mick Moriarty, Mike Suchard, Paddy Hughes and Rory Breslin.

Front, Anthony Bishop and Brian Pim

56 SubSea Autumn 2013

In the wheel house Tom Shakespeare, the first NDO. Back row, Tony Balfe, Cork, Seamus O’Reilly, Belfast, Brian Cusack, Irish, Joe Murray, Irish.

Front row. Shane Grey, Curragh, Hugh Hennessy, Ulster, John Hailes,Curragh, Liam Clegg, Irish. The boat is Des Lavelle’s ‘Beal Bocht’ and the photo was probably taken by Bill Crowley The event was not just out for a days fishing but a week long Leading Diver test, (Now Leading Instructor) at Valentia Island in 1970.

A Pod Of Presidents!

From ’63 to ’94 Standing L-R: Billy Nott 1984-88, Ronnie Hurley 1968, John Hailes 1977-78, Ted Spendlove 1975-76, John O'Connor 1992-94, Nick Moriarty 1973-74, Gerry Stokes 1978-81, Bart McMullin 1983-84, Paul Ryan 1991-92 Seated L-R: Jim Whelan 1969-70, Hugh Quigley 1966-67, Shane O'Connor 1963, Hugh Hennessy 1964-65, Brian McGuinness 1981-83, Pat Bergin 1988-90.

Missing from the photo; Jim Sweetman and Dr. Nigel Mathers

Paddy Hughes, Irish SAC. C.1957

Betty and Shane O’Connor about to dive in Carraroe, in 1960 Who needs a dry suit ?

Wet suits have arrived L to R. Noel McCormack, Ronnie Hurley, Martin Hennigar, Michael Hennigar, Deirdre O’Donnell, Dave Brown and Jimmy O’Connor.

All from the LSAC training in 1978.

Photo from Ronnie Hurley collection

SubSea Autumn 2013 57

The Executive Over the years and in particular over the past year we are continually singing the praises of CFT and the great work it has done over the years since its foundation fifty years ago.

But what of the people who have been part of the building process.

Who were the many individual members who gave of their time willingly and generously to build this

organization? Can any present day member name any of them, say, ten years ago?

A visit to CFT office will show you who was President or NDO over the years but sadly all the other executive members over the years have been consigned to various copies of SubSea,

Comhairle F贸-Thuinn Executives 1963-2013 Year

President

Secretary

Treasurer

1963

Shane O'Connor

Vice President

Tom Shakespeare

Neil Bracken

NDO

1964

Hugh Hennessy

Michael Moriarty

Neil Bracken

1965

Hugh Hennessy

Michael Moriarty

Michael Moriarty

1966

Hugh Quigley

Michael Moriarty

1967

Hugh Quigley

Michael Moriarty

1968

Ronnie Hurley

Michael Moriarty

1969

Jim Whelan

Michael Moriarty

1970

Jim Whelan

Michael Moriarty

1971

Jim Sweetnam

1972

Jim Sweetnam

1973

Michael Moriarty

James Sweetnam

Edward Spendlove

Dara Hogan

John Hailes

1974

Jim Sweetnam

Douglas Brislane

Edward Spendlove

Dara Hogan

John Hailes

1975

Ted Spendlove

Jerry Stokes

Maire Keogh

Dara Hogan

John Hailes

1976

Nigel Mathews

John Hailes

Edward Spendlove

Dara Hogan

Tom Mason

1977

John Hailes

Martin Hennigar

Dave Hyland

Dara Hogan

Billy Nott

1978

Gerry Stokes

Adrain Blyth

Dave Hyland

Frank Hand

Billy Nott

1979

Gerry Stokes

Brian Mc Guinness

1980

Gerry Stokes

Brian Mc Guinness

1981

Brian Mc Guinness

1982

Brian Mc Guinness

1983

Bart Mc Mullan

1984

Billy Knot

1985

Billy Knot

1986

Tom Shakespeare Brian Cusack John Hailes

Pat Bergin John Geraghty

Dara Keyes

Pat Bergin

John Geraghty

Dara Keyes

Pat Bergin

Fred Jump

Peter Brady

Dara Keyes

Gerry Stokes

Billy Knot

Ray Yeates

Peter Brady

Dara Keyes

Gerry Stokes

1987

Billy Knot

Pat Bergin

Peter Brady

Dara Keyes

Gerry Stokes

1988

Pat Bergin

1989

Pat Bergin

Fred Jump

Caroline Hussey

Dara Keyes

Gerry Stokes

1990

Ronnie Fitzgibbon

Caroline Hussey

Stewart Clarke

Dave Jackson

1991

Paul Ryan

George Malone

Irene Harrison

Stewart Clarke

Dave Jackson

1992

John O'Connor

Gerry Stokes

Irene Harrison

Stewart Clarke

George Malone

1993

John O'Connor

Gerry Stokes

Roisin Mc Guire

Stewart Clarke

George Malone

1994

Stewart Clarke

Billy O'Connor

Roisin Mc Guire

Colm O'Shea

Irene Harrison

1995

Stewart Clarke

Billy O'Connor

Roisin Mc Guire

Colm O'Shea

Irene Harrison

1996

Stewart Clarke

Nigel Kelleher

Roisin Mc Guire

Colm O'Shea

Irene Harrison

1997

Peter Brady

Nigel Kelleher

Andrew Thompson

Colm O'Shea

Don Mc Glinchey

1998

Peter Brady

Gearoid Murphy

Andrew Thompson

Colm O'Shea

Don Mc Glinchey

1999

Gearoid Murphy

Roisin McGuire

Andrew Thompson

Colm O'Shea

Don Mc Glinchey

2000

Gearoid Murphy

Roisin McGuire

Sharon Kelly

Jim Turbett

Kevin O'Shaughnessy

2001

Gearoid Murphy

Roisin McGuire

Sharon Kelly

Jim Turbett

Kevin O'Shaughnessy

2002

Michael Loftus

Roisin McGuire

Richard Thorn

Jim Turbett

Kevin O'Shaughnessy

2003

Michael Loftus

Don McGlinchey

Richard Thorn

Jim Turbett

Kevin O'Shaughnessy

2004

Michael Loftus

Don McGlinchey

Tony Healy

Brian Morrow

Thomas Hoey

2005

Don Mc Glinchey

Tony Healy

Paddy McGowan

Brian Morrow

Thomas Hoey

2006

Don Mc Glinchey

John Dunne

Paddy Mc Gowan

Anthony Smith

Thomas Hoey

2007

Don Mc Glinchey

Finbar Murphy

Mary Taylor

Anthony Smith

Kathy Brickell

2008

Don Mc Glinchey

Finbar Murphy

Mary Taylor

Maureen Brogan

Kathy Brickell

2009

Finbar Murphy

Keith Singleton

Mary Taylor

Darach Rossiter

Niall Stapleton

2010

Finbar Murphy

Keith Singleton

Mary Taylor

Darach Rossiter

Niall Stapleton

2011

Mary Taylor

Richard Thorn

Jean Kelleher

Darach Rossiter

Martin Kiely

2012

Richard Thorn

Mike Orth

Jean Kelleher

Ray Furlong

Martin Kiely

2013

Richard Thorn

Mike Orth

Jean Kelleher

Ray Furlong

Martin Kiely

58 SubSea Autumn 2013

Bart McMulllan

Bart Mc Mullin

Gerry Stokes

if they were lucky, and stored away in the archive and not to be ever seen again.

Surely the work carried out by the various members down through the years deserves some recognition.

Well, thanks to the painstaking work of Mick Moriarty and Louise, we

have brought them all back from obliteration and are happy to share their names with you and the world.

And before the letters come pouring in to say we have it wrong, we have missed names or we have wrong dates, yes, we may have made mistakes and we would be happy, nay, delighted

if someone can correct us. We want history to be recorded correctly so do please tell us.

So for the first time a complete list of all the executives has been complied and what better time to do than the present as we celebrate fifty years of Comhairle Fรณ-Thuinn. โ ผ

Comhairle Fรณ-Thuinn Executives 1963-2013 Year

NSO

PRO

1963

Hugh Quigley

1964

Tom Shakespeare

1965

Shane O'Connor

1966

Joseph Murray

1967

Donal Douglas

1968

Joseph Murray

1969

Hugh Hennesy

Pub. Officer

1970

Sci. Officer

Child Protect

Comp. Officer

M. Wilson

Edward Spendlove

1971 1972 1973

Hugh Hennesy

Hugh Hennesy

Peter Paice

Roger Fitzgerald

1974

Brian Cusack

Hugh Hennesy

Nigel Matthers

Roger Fitzgerald

1975

Brian Cusack

Hugh Hennesy

Nigel Matthers

Shane Gray

1976

Pat Sweeney

Hugh Hennesy

Michael Hayes

Dave Hyland

1977

Pat Sweeney

Hugh Hennesy

Paul Ryan

Des Coleman

1978

Paul Fogarty

Hugh Hennesy

John Galvin

Des Coleman

1979

Hugh Hennesy

1980

Hugh Hennesy

1981

Hugh Hennesy

1982

Ronnie Fitzgibbon

Shane Gray

Ronan Quinlan

Michael Max

Pat McCoole

1983

Ronnie Fitzgibbon

Shane Gray

Ronan Quinlan

Michael Max

Pat McCoole

1984

Ronnie Fitzgibbon

Shane Gray

Ronan Quinlan

1985

Ronnie Fitzgibbon

Pat McCoole

Harry Smith

Michael Max

Dave McCormack

Shane Gray

Harry Smith

Ronnie Fitzgibbon

Dave McCormack

Shane Gray

Harry Smith

Paul Ryan

Dave McCormack

1986 1987

Ronnie Fitzgibbon

1988

Dave McCormack

Edward Burke

1989

Ronnie Fitzgibbon

Rory Golden

Billy Nott

Nessa O'Connor

John Cantillon

1990

John O'Connor

Rory Golden

Billy Nott

Nessa O'Connor

Roisin Mc Guire

1991

John O'Connor

Rory Golden

Billy Nott

Mike Redfern

Roisin Mc Guire

1992

Peter Brady

J.J. Flavin

Pat Dillane

1993

Peter Brady

J.J. Flavin

Pat Dillane

1994

Peter Brady

Peter O'Doherty

Pat Dillane

1995

Peter Brady

Peter O'Doherty

Pat Dillane

Pat Duffy

1996

Polly Dolan

Peter O'Doherty

Edward Burke

Pat Duffy

1997

Polly Dolan

John Rhattigan

Edward Burke

Roisin Mc Guire

1998

Siobhan Brennan

John Rhattigan

Edward Burke

Hugh Nolan

1999

Siobhan Brennan

Michael Loftus

Polly Dolan

2000

Kate Hills

Michael Loftus

Polly Dolan

2001

Kate Hills

Michael Loftus

Polly Dolan

2002

Kate Hills

Edward Burke

Polly Dolan

Stefan Kraan

Roisin Mc Guire

2003

Kate Hills

Edward Burke

Polly Dolan

Stefan Kraan

Roisin Mc Guire

2004

Richard Jones

Liam Finnegan

Polly Dolan

2005

Richard Jones

Finbar Murphy

Edward Burke

Silvana Acevedo

John Dunne

Finbar Murphy

Edward Burke

Eoghan Kieran

Conall O Domhnaill

2006

Roisin Mc Guire Des O'Connor Eddie Burke

Pat Duffy

Hugh Nolan Deirdre O'Hara

Hugh Nolan Sean Power

John Dunne

2007

Eoin Peacock

Keith Singleton

Joe Mc Cabe

Eoghan Kieran

Conall O Domhnaill

2008

Eoin Peacock

Keith Singleton

CFT Executive

Adrienne Mockler

Martin Leddy

2009

Eoin Peacock

Martin Leddy

Marie Grennan

Adrienne Mockler

Paul Keller

2010

Stephen Singleton

Martin Leddy

Marie Grennan

Adrienne Mockler

2011

Stephen Singleton

Martin Leddy

Marie Grennan

Ger Donnelly

Fidelma Carroll

2012

Stephen Singleton

Eibhir Mulqueen

Denny Lawlor

Ger Donnelly

Fidelma Carroll

2013

Martine Mc Carthy

Eibhir Mulqueen

Denny Lawlor

Tim Butter

Fidelma Carroll

Paul Keller

SubSea Autumn 2013 59

CFT News From The President From spear fishing to photography, from the small capacity bottles of early divers to the large capacity lungs of those who have eschewed bottles for free diving, from 6 year old snorkelers to 82 year old divers, from the printed newsletters of the early years to the digital and social media revolution of recent years, from 1963 to 2013 this ‘sport for active grandmothers’, as the French refer to it, has grown, developed, morphed, reinvented itself time and again over the last 50 years of CFT’s existence. Clubs have formed, and died, and new ones been born.

Members have come and gone and faces have changed. Old friends have passed on and new ones have emerged to fill the gaps, while making their contribution to the memory bank.

Rows have been had and battles have

been fought within clubs, within regions and within CFT. But, somehow, perhaps like families, all gets pushed to one side when the reason we come together comes to the fore; to put our heads underwater and experience a different world and be able to share it and talk about it afterwards. Have you ever noticed how boats full of divers are much more chatty after a dive than before?

We all dive for different reasons and the range of interests that CFT supports is testament to that. With active photography, marine identification, technical, search and recovery communities there is something in CFT for most people who share an interest in the underwater world. While competitive underwater sports have not been to the fore in recent years they are

experiencing a resurgence in interest, as is the case with underwater hockey, and there is a strong movement to reengage with spear fishing, an activity that characterised the early years of CFT’s existence.

The 50th Anniversary Dinner Dance on Saturday 14th September is an opportunity to celebrate the richness of the last fifty years and, who knows, maybe to dream about the next 50.

While no one can foretell what direction diving will take in the future one thing is certain, the joy of putting your head underwater and entering a different world will be central to it.

Looking forward to meeting many of you on the 14th September.

Richard Thorn, President Comhairle Fo-Thuinn.

From The NDO As National Diving Officer I have been privileged to dive with many clubs and divers around the country. I have enjoyed this enormously however it has also given me the opportunity to see for myself the standards and care we put into our diving practices.

Knowing first hand how much effort previous and present Technical Commissions put into the Courses and Tests to ensure the safest possible standards for our members, it frightens me how much Clubs and members break, bend or totally ignore the Rules and Recommendations. The following are only some of the concerns I have regarding our regular diving practices: • Depth limits seem to be ignored throughout all grades from Diver * right the way up to instructor. The depth limits are there for your safety so please be extra vigilant that you do not exceed these even if your Buddy wants you to.

• The Fitness to dive is another practice that appears not to be adhered to. Perhaps Diving Officers / DOD’s are turning a blind eye to people diving without all three green ticks on COMS or they are

60 SubSea Autumn 2013

unaware of who is fully insured to dive and who is not. Again this system is there for a reason and its for your safety.

• Instructors are not exempt from the above practices and indeed I have been seen Club Diver tests being preformed on dives deeper than those set in the Courses & Tests book with little regard for diver safety and Trainee divers regularly diving deeper than those allowed.

• Another worrying practice is the amount of Decompression Diving taking place by unqualified divers.

Some of those that are qualified are not planning and communicating their dives to the coxswain and DOD. Remember if a dive time has been set by the DO this must be adhered to as a late diver is a missing diver and should be treated as so.

• There seems to be a general lack of communication between boats and the coastguard regarding Traffic Reports, boats going out to sea without working VHF radios and unqualified coxswains talking divers out to sea.

Please remember if you are diving within the CFT Rules and Regulations you are insured, if you break them YOU ARE NOT .

The importance of clubs having Leading Diver Candidates can’t be ignored or undervalued. Firstly the candidates have to train to our standards but more importantly it refreshes all the divers in the group from the new excited trainee to the most experienced instructor and everyone in-between.

Some of our clubs are exemplary in their planning and diving practices and I commend these, it leaves me wondering why others are not.

The responsibility for diving practices is not just down to the Diving Officer, it is for each and every member of CFT to know. Please refresh your knowledge of these, they are available to view in your COMS account or you can contact head office and they will email a version to you.

We all have a duty of care to our family and friends to dive to highest possible standards.

Yours in Safe Diving Martin Kiely National Diving Officer

Portmarnock Sub Aqua Club Thirty Years on

By Michael Whelan Offical blessing of the boats.

This ceremony was held on Sunday, 26th May 2013 at 12.30 pm in the grounds of Portmarnock Sports and Leisure Centre; and was celebrated by Fr, Niall McDermott Co-P.P. who himself is a sailor and one of the priests from Saint Anne's Parish in Portmarnock. Photo: Agnieszka Samsel

ortmarnock Sub Aqua Club has a lot in common with others in the diving world this year - CFT is 50, SubSea is 40 and we too are celebrating a “Roundy” Birthday. This year PSAC is 30 years old and well on its way to being an established part of North County Dublin’s Sports Community.

The Club was founded in 1983 by three residents of Portmarnock who were divers from other clubs – Pat Doherty (who sadly died prematurely in 2010) and Brian McGuinness from the Irish SAC and Pat Kavanagh from the Army. The line-up for the first Club Committee was...Pat Doherty, Pat Kavanagh (current member), Harry O’Neill, Eamon Kavanagh, John Murphy, Les Grennan (current member) and Eoghan Cahill.

Under their excellent care PSAC grew into a well- respected club with a strong sense of fun and an even stronger safety ethos. Since its foundation in 1983, the club has built on both of these core factors to become the vibrant club we are now in 2013.

The membership has grown to over 55, with 12 new members joining this year.

P

Within the Club there is a good mix of young, old, female and male members.

We train all year round, with Thursday night pool sessions run by Pat Kavanagh, who after 30 years

membership is still very active within the Club. We use the pool in Portmarnock Leisure Centre for training and usually round off with a ‘lemonade’ in the bar. We snorkel all the year round

Club founders, and some of the first committee members taken on a dive weekend in Kilkee.

L to R – Harry O’Neill, Pat Kavanagh; Middle Row - John Murphy, Eamonn Kavanagh, Brian Mc Guinness (Irish SAC); Front Row – Caelan Grennan and the late Pat Doherty, Les Grennan is behind the camera.

SubSea Autumn 2013 61

Portmarnock

Ola and Paul Our Newest Club Member Ola with one of our seasoned divers Paul (Pat Kavanagh´s Son). Photo: Artur Wrobleski.

Girls from the Club Finola, Maciej, Fiona and Louise after a dive off Lamby Island. Photo: Artur Wrobleski.

at various places around Dublin boat cover for the Lions Club New Year Our ‘fleet’ consist of 3 RIBs and a including Loughshinny, Portmarnock Swim each year. We have also been Zodiac, affectionately known as and Skerries. During the dive season involved in safety cover on the Liffey Barbie. The Club is equipped with air (which for some hardy members is all Descent, the Coastguard Joint Search and nitrox compressors and we have year round), weekend dive trips are and Recovery weekend and Sea Scout two mobile compressors for our organised to many places around the training days. In our 30 year history the ‘away’ trips. Tank fills and Irish coast. Throughout the dive season, Club has raised over €45k for many maintenance costs are covered by from May to October, we also have midcharities including the RNLI, Guide membership fees, as is insurance, pool week evening dives in Dublin Bay. At Dogs for the Blind and Sport Aid. A fees and CFT membership. New other times, qualified divers within the relay team from PSAC became the members, both qualified divers and Club organise dives catering for club holders of the Underwater 10k beginners, are always welcome. members with special qualifications.

Guinness World Record in 2000, Beginners can come along to our Dublin Bay has many interesting raising over €7k for People in Need on organised ‘Try a Dive’ evenings or scenic dive sites as well as the wreck that occasion. arrange a session with one of our sites of the Tayleur, the ill fated White We have a strong “social scene” for friendly instructors.

Star Line steel clipper that ran aground non-diving friends and family In bringing snorkeling and SCUBA off Lambay Island on its maiden members. The highlight of our Family diving to the people of North County voyage, the Shamrock, whose boilers year is our Annual Pirate’s Day, where Dublin, we bring not only exciting are still relatively intact and the each year we entertain over 200 adults sports, but also an appreciation of the Leinster, which in 30+ metres is best and children to a treasure hunt, beauty of our coastal waters and the suited to the more experienced diver. barbecue, face painting and a bouncy rich marine life they contain along with Our foreign trip destinations over the castle on the beach on Ireland’s Eye, an an awareness of the safety and last few years have included Malta, island only 1km from Howth Harbour. conservation needs of our chosen Mexico and Scapa Flow (where the Unruly children (or adults) have been pastime. Over the years there have water is only 6 degrees). Trips to the known to be made to walk the plank!! been many faces coming and going, but Canary Islands and the Red through it all PSAC just Sea are becoming annual keeps going from strength to outings, where the water is strength. We would like to like a warm bath at 26-28 wish both SubSea, on its 40th birthday, and CFT, on its degrees. Some of the many 50th birthday, the very best highlights from our outings for the future and hope that abroad include swimming snorkeling and diving will with dolphins, turtles, and continue to be exciting and huge Napoleon wrasse while adventurous sports to all the exploring the wrecks of the current members and the Red Sea and in Lanzarote, new people yet to discover getting to see a seahorse, them. almost perfectly camouflaged against the For more information about seaweed.

PSAC find us on Facebook PSAC is active in the Launching of “Potential One” Portmarnock’s first Inflatable boat at Howth, In January 1986. community and provides or at www.psac.net ◼

62 SubSea Autumn 2013

Club Spotlight

The Irish Sub Aqua Club

by James Scallon Rockabill Diving

he Irish Sub Aqua Club is the oldest formal diving club in Ireland, with an extensive history. In fact we celebrated our 50th anniversary in 2006! The minutes of our first club meeting show that it took place in Jury’s Hotel on the 27th of March 1956 and over the years there have been over 430 people through our club from the records to which we have access. Man had not yet ventured to the stars but a fearless group of Irish men and women were looking to explore the depths of the Irish coastline. Essentially you could say that the adventurous spirit of the founding members of the Irish SAC was the foundation of CFT diving in Ireland.

These were the first underwater aquatic adventurers in Ireland.

T

Some of the early timelines in our club history were captured in club minutes and while important to our club they bear relevance to the origination of diving in Ireland.

March 1956: Formal founding of the Irish SAC February 1957: Approval of the club crest April 1957: First mention of buying a lung (dive cylinder ) May 1957: Purchase of a lung by Mr Pim June 1957: First mention of waterproofing fabric (to create a dive suit) November 1957: Bolton Street Technical School students affiliated to the ISAC January 1958: First mention of buying a club boat April 1958: First club trip away to Courtmacsherry and also the first mention of rescue drill (Search and Rescue) May 1958: First mention of the Curragh branch of the Irish SAC and other branches of the Irish SAC February 1959: First Logbook mentioned, open sea test, lecture series and hand signals.

April 1959: First mention of the Irish Underwater Sports Federation, and mention of a club compressor.

July 1959: Finding of the John Tayleur off Lambay Island.

August 1959: Formation of spear fishing and salvage committee. (I am guessing this may have had to do with finding the Tayleur.)

October 1959: The agreement of Glaucus as our club emblem with “Animis in Undas (with enthusiasm into the depths)” as our club motto.

November 1959: First mention of Recompression Chamber September 1960: Mention of Killaloe branch of Irish SAC May 1961: First Mention of Cork Branch of Irish SAC

SubSea Autumn 2013 63

Club Spotlight

Some things never change, Divers looking at the chart, the sounder of its day

The finding of the wreck of the “John Tayleur” in July 1952 was certainly one of the big events in the clubs early days. This event was recorded by Billy Crowley as part of a booklet produced to commemorating the Irish Sub Aqua Club’s twenty first birthday celebrations. But that story is for another day and another issue.

Originally the club pool was at the Iveagh Baths in Dublin where a request was made to allow mixed bathing at the pool which I guess was something unusual at that time.

Some members recall the western style saloon bar dressing room doors that were along the side of the pool which restricted shared dressing room space with which we are familiar nowadays.

In the early years of our club members could only progress to scuba once they were proved to be proficient in snorkelling which required a 20 – 20 test to pass.

Snorkel dive to 20m and stay there for 20 seconds before returning to the surface and completing the exercise again. Naturally Training has since evolved to the CFT syllabus and new members can now choose between pursuing snorkeling or diving.

Recruitment of new members in times past was typically through adverts in the news papers with applications in writing, no mobiles, no internet, no social media sites

64 SubSea Autumn 2013

back then and the club night became an important social contact point for new members to find out where activities were the following week as not all members had access to a phone. Some people might say that there may have been a groupee element following the first Irish ocean explorers, with a lot of the early diving being more into a pint rather than the

Photos from the archive Divers with catch of the day

ocean. In a short time the club progressed to a club room in Baggot Street in Dublin where rumour has it a club shebeen established itself for a time but club records are very vague about that.

Over the years ISAC was very active in diving related competitions and has organised many events in the past particularly long distance snorkelling events.

Some of the events from the past were the CFT Gala which was always a fiercely fought national gala with great rivalry between clubs nationally, events at this ranged from individual race events including mono-fin races and scuba relay races which involved a changeover of gear underwater on a breath hold in the deep end of a pool about 10m from the end, surfacing before touching the end of the pool disqualified. Other events of note were the penny grab, candle race relay, tug of war and the infamous pipe puzzle.

Another snorkelling competition was the Davy Jones competition which was held annually in Greystones. It consisted of throwing thousands of new bottle tops in an enclosed area and at a depth of 4 to 6 metres. The objective was to collect as many bottle caps as one The Glaucus Trophy for the Irish Open Spearfishing could within a specified time.

Championship of Ireland was sponsored by the Irish SAC There were different categories i.e. in 1963

Club Spotlight

Brian Mc Guinness

individual, team and junior and loads of prizes. The competition was stopped due to the danger of individuals getting shallow water blackouts. Also the damage to the environment was not appreciated by locals. A suitable new venue was never considered due to risks of shallow water blackout. This competition was very popular and as many as 50 to 70 competitors from mostly east coast clubs attended annually in the month of June.

Pirates of the Muglins Island

Currently ISAC has an active group of divers and snorkellers and also associated with our club is a junior snorkelling group called the Sea Urchins. They are based in Sean McDermott Street in Dublin and are always looking for new members.

Senior snorkellers are active on Sundays typically and a number of hardy divers and snorkellers maintain their activity all year round in the sea.

Favourite locations for these guys are Rush, Skerries, Loughshinny, Sandycove and Seapoint.

1985 Guinness Book of Records at Butlins 168 hours continuous relay 333 miles Left to Right: Laurence Thermes, Eddie McGettigan, Charles Haughey, Tony Boyle, Gearoid Murphy (former CFT President) The fella in the middle is unforgettable but the far left is Laurence Thermes now living in Sligo.

The second from left is Eddie McGettigan he was a terrific endurance athlete from Viking SAC. Mick Moore recruited him onto the team. Besides this event Eddie and Mick have fin swam the North Channel and other long distance team swims. Eddie once soloed from Tusker to Wales in 26 hours. That was a great event. He was supported by Viking and ISAC. Photo: Unknown.

Currently we are based at the ESB Sportsco complex in Ringsend in the centre of Dublin. Monday night is our club night where members maintain their fitness and pool training is conducted. Our club is very well equipped these days with a boat available on both the north and south side of the city.

Diving happens out of Dun Laoghaire and Rush. Lambay Island being a favourite for the Northside and Dalkey Island and the Muglins, like so many other clubs in Dublin, being popular dive locations on the south side. Diving typically happens over the weekend with midweek dives also run through the summer while the day light is available.

As all divers from Dublin will agree it is hard to match a sunny evening dive in Dublin. In addition to the dive you get to drive into the sunset on return to Dun Laoghaire which can offer a picturesque sunset on our capital city, with silhouettes of the Pigeon house and the city centre skyline features. Not many capital cities in the world can offer that.

Although diving in Dublin can be great our club also venture away for weekends and there are very few locations nationally that the club has not dived since our foundation.

The next Scuba training course commences September 2013 at the Irish SAC and details can be found on our club website www.irishsac.org. or scan the QR code with your smart phone, new members are always welcome. ◼

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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66 SubSea Autumn 2013

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