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My first dive off the island of Stora Ekon, the site of the Gribshunden wreck, was in March of 2019 as a site recognisance dive with Dr Brendan Foley, the sea was flat calm and the visibility was exceptional

EXPOSING KING HANS’ SHIP GRIBSHUNDEN

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Phil Short has been involved in the major archaeological project revolving around the Gribshunden wreck in the Baltic for a number of years. Here he recounts what it is like to dive into history

Photographs by Brett Seymour

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Slowly through the clouds of spiralling silt, a shape

emerges, grey-brown, smooth and curved - is this the side of another barrel? No, too small. The archaeologist’s paint brush gently sweeps away 500 plus years of sediment as I carefully aim the water dredge to take away only the disturbed floating sediment and the object slowly takes form. Another piece of the ‘Gryphon Hound’ wrecks story unfolds.

We let the dredge clear the water around the excavation site and wait as slowly the visibility clears and a woodenlidded drinking tankard appears, the lid held in place by a leather hinge and clear carved markings on the side. After photographing extensively for a photogrammetry model while in-situ, Dr Brendan Foley gently eases the vessel from its resting place, hands it to me and I place it in an artefact crate and pad around it with hessian bags so it can be safely lifted to the conservators aboard our support vessel and, at days end, moved to the conservation storage lab set up ashore at our project base.

Who drank from this marvellous artefact, maybe even King Hans himself, another piece of the jigsaw, but another mystery - the nature of an archaeological project.

I am not an archaeologist, although I have a passionate interest in Maritime and Industrial Archaeology and have completed my Nautical Archaeological Society (NAS) training, I am a professional diver and as such I have ‘worn many (diving) hats’ throughout my career. One of my ‘hats’ is that of Diving Safety Officer (DSO) and Diving Operations Manager (DOM) for a variety of Scientific Institutions, including Lund University, on archaeological projects on sites dating from 200 BC to 1945!

My first dive off the island of Stora Ekon, the site of the Gribshunden wreck, was in March of 2019 as a site recognisance dive with Dr Brendan Foley, the sea was flat calm and the visibility was exceptional, but being April in

Survey work is a painstaking business

the Baltic, a little chilly at 4 degrees C. Descending the short anchor line to a concrete mooring block in just 12m of water, we could see the majority of the site laid out before us. There is no wreck as such as most of the ship lies beneath the muddy seabed, preserved. As we swam around the perimeter of the site and across the centre, however, recognisable features started to emerge and align to give a clear mental image of what lies beneath that seabed. Here a bow hawser, there a wooden gun carriage, then a row of timber ribs and parts of the rudder.

From that first chilly but exciting glimpse, the excavation season of 2019 was planned and prepared for a multi-

The wreck is extremely well preserved

Computers • O2 Cells • Gas Analysers Cables & Connectors • Rebreather Parts PathFinder Strobes • Sensors Tools • Solenoids

Divers are finding all manner of treasures Measurements and photos need to be taken

institution team to work on surveying and excavating a permitted portion of the site in August and September (much warmer!) that same year.

Our base for the project was a ship craft museum and boat yard on the outskirts of Ronneby, an incredible place full of beautiful hand-crafted small wooden vessels. The main boat shed was converted into an on-site temporary conservation area with water tanks for lifted artefacts, a room next to this was our briefing room and a covered open area became our gas blending/filling area with supply

Tech gear allows long working shifts

This was lifted in 2015 and after a lengthy conservation process is now on display at the regional museum

cylinders of oxygen, booster and compressor set up for the duration of the project. Here over the first few days, we assembled diving gear, half the team would dive doubles open circuit and the other half JJ-CCR, neither really needed in 9-12m of water, but used for extended working bottom times of up to three hours to increase productivity. We also prepared and built all the archaeological equipment, including a steel scaffold grid frame on legs that would be placed over the site in 2 x 3 metre sections to give a stable fixed working platform over our permitted ‘trench’ site for the season (The parts were even spray painted silver/grey to make them stand out in poor visibility and in the photos of the site). Once diving began from our support vessel Swan, a catamaran giving a large working platform, we started with orientation dives on site for the archaeologists and ‘guardian’ divers (used to partner and assist the archaeologists) prior to the rigging teams building the grid, dredge and placing all other working infrastructure on the site. Actually for me, a DSO and Rigging Diver for the project, this working ‘set-up’ dive and the reciprocal ‘tear-down’ dive at the project’s end are my favourite dives on jobs like this... I love to be busy and face a challenge underwater! To ensure the safety of the artefacts and the unknown nature of what lays beneath the mud seabed, wooden pads are placed at the measured leg points to increase the footprint of the grid and prevent sinkage. the frame is

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then assembled from 12 pieces to give two 2 x 3 sections, giving us the dimensions of our 2 x 6 metre trench. The tools, lights, water dredge and other equipment can then be hung on the frame and the archaeologists can work from the frame reaching down into the trench to reduce impact on the site. The site is then surrounded by a perimeter base line running between the four external concrete mooring blocks and a 50-metre non-stretch archaeology tape is run through the centre of the site from bow to stern. The finally rigging job is the set up and assembly underwater of the water dredge and feed/egress hoses and we are ready to begin archaeology.

As with any science documentation is critical and with archaeology context is extremely important so in addition to daily photos of finds in-situ, hand drawn sketches of finds and ship structure combined with measurements and survey, the site was to be modelled with photogrammetry by team members Evan Kovacs and Brett Seymour from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and the US National Parks Service Submerged Cultural Resources Group respectively. This meant that as each day the seabed was lowered centimetre by centimetre to reveal the buried ship and her contents, a permanent model in 3D would be created and saved.

In 2013, archaeologist Niklas Eriksson, who specialises in medieval ships, dived the site and confirmed that King Hans’ ship Gribshunden lay here beneath the mud and realised the vast importance of this ship and the knowledge that could be acquired from studying her.

The confirmation that this was the Gribshunden was extended when the wreck was dived, surveyed and studied, leading to the finding of the stupendous figurehead, a carved wooden Gryphon Hound with a human head in its jaws. This was lifted in 2015 and after a lengthy conservation process is now on display at the regional museum. In addition on these early dives when the ship was identified, numerous wooden gun carriages were found and several recovered and fully conserved. They are now on display in the regional museum. The guns were iron breach loading cannon and what is of interest is that no sign of the guns or any other iron has been found on the site.

The primary goal of the 2019 season was to establish the style and type of ship construction employed while the secondary goal was to determine the ship’s contents, as it was known to be the Danish King Hans’ flagship, marvellous things were expected!

The area chosen was on the starboard side of the vessel just forward of the stern castle position, slowly the trench deepened and both ship structure and contents began to appear. Initially after clearing 500 years of surface detritus, numerous barrels appeared which were interesting as the staves were not pressed together to seal the barrels with metal bands as we know today, rather they were held together with wet woven tree root strands (withies) that shrink as they season and dry to tighten. These barrels were, if you like, the ‘tin can’ of that age and would of carried water, wine and food, for example. As with much of our work as the dive team, many answers come long after the divers have departed and the gear is cleaned, dried, serviced and stored and one of these barrels yielded such a find by research in that small bones located around one barrel were studied at Lund University and found to be a complete set of bones from one sturgeon (a fish no longer found in the Baltic and at the time of the Gribshunden, reserved for royalty and nobility.). Many pieces of barrel

Much of the wreck is under the silt Carefully removing silt from the wreck

Computers • O2 Cells • Gas Analysers Cables & Connectors • Rebreather Parts PathFinder Strobes • Sensors Tools • Solenoids

A well-preserved find from the wreck Artefacts are carefully put into boxes

including staves, lids and bases along with a permitted section of ship’s timber were recovered and sent to Lund University for dendrochronological analysis to date the wood and locate its origins.

As with most archaeology projects, the finds simply produce more questions and having merely glimpsed a small piece of the wreck in our permitted trench, we needed to learn more! So while the ‘real work’ continued with multiple disciplines of research underway into coins, armour, weaponry, foods and ship materials, the search for funding and planning continued amid the pandemic and all aligned to see us back on site in a bigger than ever way during May and June of 2021. The 2021 season saw us establish a pontoon over the wreck, held on site by four enlarged concrete mooring blocks off site to position us on a four-point mooring. The pontoon had a dive ladder and an equipment container shed, plus a full-size container fitted out as office/kitchen/dry changing area. We transferred out and back from the land base back at the boat yard with a small dive boat which also acted as our safety vessel. As previously in 2019, the grid frame was reassembled in location and the new agreed 2 x 6 trench site, the water dredge assembled and we were ready to begin the archaeology. Again with a mixed team of archaeologists, guardians and riggers split between open circuit doubles and JJ-CCR equipment, work and discoveries progressed rapidly. The nature of finds here in 2021 was incredible even to a lay person like myself - cloth shoes, food stuffs including pepper corns and saffron (at that time weight for weight more valuable than gold!), beautifully engraved sheets of birch bark (one with a peacock clearly recognisable) and multiple crossbows in immaculate condition.

Continuing from the gun carriages recovered prior to our 2019 project fully conserved and on display in the museum, an additional gun carriage also for a breech-loading iron gun and also with the gun or any trace of it was recovered during the 2021 dives for conservation. More exciting however, was the finding of a significantly larger carriage with the breech intact and present just off the wreck site.

It’s clear that the time capsule of royal and maritime life from 1495 buried beneath the mud of the island of Stora Ekon is a phenomenally preserved slice of life from that era and in two seasons on the wreck as DSO, it is obvious to me that we have only just scratched the surface and I can not clearly enough express the excitement of what else will be found on future projects over the next few years. n

THE DIVE EVENT OF 2022

The GO Diving Show has merged with The Dive Show to create one mega-exhibition in March 2022

Photographs by Jason Brown / www.bardophotographic.com

The ‘new kids on the block’, the GO Diving Show,

and The Dive Show – set to celebrate its 30th anniversary that year – are merging to put on one super-event in early March which will offer plenty for all levels of diver, from those interested in getting started, novices, experienced divers and veteran technical explorers.

WHEN?

The GO Diving Show is being held from 4-6 March 2022, with the Friday being trade-only, and the Saturday and Sunday open to consumers.

WHERE?

This mega-event is taking place at a brand-new venue, the NAEC Stoneleigh, located pretty much slap-bang in the middle of the country. This location offers purpose-built exhibition halls, is close to major transport links (the M6 and M40 motorways are close by, it is just five miles from Warwick Parkway and Coventry train stations, and only one-hour travel time from London Euston) and, perhaps best of all, has 19,000 complimentary car parking spaces.

WHO?

Iconic TV presenter, author and adventurer Steve Backshall returns as keynote speaker, and will be joined on the Main Stage by fellow TV personalities Andy Torbet and Monty Halls, as well as multi-award-winning underwater photographer Alex Mustard, who will be announcing the winners of the prestigious Underwater Photographer of the Year competition.

WHAT?

This spectacular diving exhibition is bursting at the seams with interactive elements, VR experiences, hand’s-on workshops, myriad booths from manufacturers, travel agents, tour operators, resorts and liveaboards, and much, much more. n

EVENT SPONSORED BY

Buy your tickets now!

So, whether you’re a non-diver looking to experience the underwater world for the first time in the try-dive tank, a freshly minted student looking to learn more from the workshops, or a salty seadog meeting up with the dive club for a social, the Go Diving Show is for you. Weekend tickets are only £15, with group discounts available – check out: www.godivingshow.com for more details.

Stuart Philpott has dived around many Caribbean islands, and he has trawled through his archives to bring this round-up of some of the best shipwrecks in the region

PHOTOGRAPHS BY STUART PHILPOTT

Ihave always wanted to visit the Maldives for its pure beauty of white sand, blue water and magical sunsets. Also, just hearing someone mention the Indian Ocean makes me start dreaming of a tropical underwater paradise. When starting to do some research on this place, I quickly found out that shark fishing has been completely banned in all Maldivian atolls since 2010, and ray fishing since 2014. I suddenly got even more excited for our trip.

My partner and I arrived at the Dhigali resort in a tiny propeller-driven seaplane, some 45-minute flight from Male international airport. The island is located in the Raa

Atoll in the northern part of the Maldivian archipelago. We got a warm welcome and a useful orientation briefing by manager Kate. My first impression of Dhigali was that the island was very green and jungle-like, creating an authentic and exciting atmosphere. The island is one kilometre long, which is quite big compared to many other resorts with similar guest capacity. This, together with the owner´s intention of keeping as much natural vegetation as possible, has created a very lush, genuine environment.

DOING THE JUNGLE WALK While exploring the island, we stumbled upon the ‘jungle walk’. Here, 80 percent of the vegetation is preserved and joined by little wooden signs with interesting facts about the wildlife and the plants found here. As we continued along the jungle walk, a group of flying foxes landed in a fruit tree just in front of us. We could also hear many different species of birds around us. On the ground, a small lizard made its way into the bushes.

WWW.SCUBADIVERMAG.COM WWW.SCUBADIVERMAG.COM THE US VIRGIN ISLANDS The US Virgin Islands are made up of four main islands - St Thomas, St John, St Croix and Small Water Island. St Thomas has some really nice wrecks but is not often visited by UK divers. Choices are limited to a handful of dive centres, including JJ Divers and Coki Dive Centre. Blue Island Divers has just closed down. Originally owned by a Brit, Aitch Liddle, they ran a friendly, professional service at the Crown Bay Marina Suite.

In all there are 40 sandy beaches. Accommodation varies from selfcatering apartments to resort hotels. Dive centres usually offer pick up from hotels with water frontage, otherwise for all other accommodation it’s best to hire a car. There are more than 20 wrecks scattered along the south coast. Most are at a depth of around 30m and no more than 5km offshore (35 minute boat ride). Some even have portholes and brass fittings still attached.

The WIT Shoal II is probably the best wreck dive on St Thomas. The 99-metre-long LST (Landing Ship Tank) was built in 1943 by Kaiser Co Inc. She saw intense action in the Pacific during World War Two and was involved in a number of the infamous beach landings. By the early 1980s she had become a non-functioning derelict and was sunk during Hurricane Klaus on 6 November 1984. She was re-floated in order to be scrapped but sank while being towed to her final destination. She now lies at a max depth of 28m, just 3km outside of St Thomas harbour. There are five deck levels to explore. The engine room is well worth a visit, although finding a way in can be quite tricky. The stern, wheelhouse and crane are the best areas. Two knot currents are quite common, but diving with some water movement does have its advantages. Monotone bulkheads transform into a blaze of colour when thousands upon thousands of tiny orange cup corals open up to feed. This wreck is perfect for night dives.

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Byron Conroy heads to the Maldives in search of big-animal encounters – and he is not left wanting

PHOTOGRAPHS BY BYRON CONROY

However, the next moment I reminded myself that I actually get up at 6am every morning just to fit in three or four dives a day, and I suddenly felt a lot better!

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The

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Don Silcock made the long haul from Australia to the Azores in search of some big-animal encounters – and he was not disappointed

PHOTOGRAPHS BY DON SILCOCK

Like the tips of icebergs, the islands of the Azores archipelago are just the visible peaks of a remarkable chain of underwater mountains that rank among some of the highest in the world. They rise up from the Azores Platform, a huge area of nearly 6 million km2, which in itself is just a small part of the incredible Mid-Atlantic Ridge, that runs the complete length of the Atlantic Ocean - from the far north and the Arctic Ocean, to the deep south and the Southern Ocean.

The Azores Platform is some 2,000m below the ocean surface, but the Mid-Atlantic Ridge is grounded on to the seabed another 2,000m below that, while the tip of Pico (the tallest island of the archipelago) is 2,350 metres above sealevel, making the mountain that is Pico about 6,500 metres high in total elevation. Sat as they are, roughly halfway between the edge of southern Europe and the tip of North America, the nine islands of the oceanic archipelago of the Azores offer the only shelter from the notorious seas of the North East Atlantic.

Underwater, that archipelago sustains an incredible ecosystem because those nine visible peaks are just a fraction of the 100-plus underwater mountains and seamounts that are both a beacon to marine life and a catalyst for the interaction between the many pelagic species that aggregate there.

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION… Swept by the warm tendrils of the southern Gulf Stream, rich in tropical nutrients and dissolved organic nitrogen, the Azores archipelago is far enough south from the frigid winter waters of the Arctic that even in midwinter the area can support the food-webs necessary to sustain a complete marine ecosystem.

So, while the rest of the North Atlantic is practically barren at that time of the year, the Gulf Stream creates rich upwellings around the mountains and seamounts of the Azores that become fertile oases to which the large pelagic animals of the region aggregate.

Come spring and rising temperatures, the Azorean waters burst into life with huge planktonic blooms and krill spawning events, creating the perfect feeding conditions for the hungry great whales of the northern hemisphere as they migrate to their Arctic summer feeding grounds.

THE GREAT WHALES OF THE AZORES The deep waters, undersea mountains and overall ecosystem of the Azores make it an almost perfect location for sperm whales - deep-diving animals that hunt and feed on the giant squid that abound in the depths around the archipelago. It is also one of the few places in the world where, under a special permit from the Regional Environment Directorate, it is possible to be in the water with those sperm whales – which is what convinced me to undertake the marathon journey from Sydney!

September is the optimum month as it has the best visibility, reasonable water temperature, most tourists have departed and it’s the end of the calving season, with the highest chance of curious juvenile sperm whale encounters.

I based myself in Madalena, the main town of the picturesque island of Pico in the central Azores, which is dominated by the Mount Pico volcano - the highest point in the archipelago and in all of Portugal.

Thankfully dormant since its last eruption in 1718, a drive up to the flanks of Mount Pico affords a view that seems to stretch to eternity and puts into perspective the sheer isolation of these islands.

It is that very view, combined with the nature and tenacity of the Azorean people, that allowed a shore-based sperm

WWW.SCUBADIVERMAG.COM WWW.SCUBADIVERMAG.COM 29 T he outboard motor on our speed boat wined in protest as a furious current tried its best to thwart us from reaching our destination. The texture of the water was another clear indication that this dive was going to be far from sedate. Resembling a fastrunning river rather than an ocean, in some parts the sea seemed to boil and performed an agitated little dance, in other areas whirlpools drifted along the fast-moving surface. In contrast, different sections of the sea were as flat as glass and, for a split second, we were afforded a brief glimpse of the utter mayhem below.

Our experienced driver dropped us a little way in front of the reef, to give us some hope of reaching our target. We aimed to get down to 20-25m as fast as possible and to find a good place to secure a reef hook before the current swept us off the dive site. With this feat completed, it was now time to watch the show.

Immense schools of fusiliers and yellow-masked surgeonfish had congregated where the current first hit the reef, known as ‘the split’. They, in turn, attracted the unwanted attention of a whole host of predators. Huge gangs of the thuggish-looking giant trevallies casually mingled with the fusiliers, grey

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BEYOND

TECHNICAL

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In the pale light of a wintery Canadian dawn, the Arctic blast persuades me to snug my hat securely down over my ears. Emerging from the neck of my parka, my muffled voice emits curly wisps of white vapour into the cold air. A barrel-chested John Olivero vaults clear of his truck in a long-sleeved T-shirt loudly announcing ‘let’s go diving!’ My sturdy Canadian resolve cannot hide my disbelief.

“First, we have to get out of the driveway, Johnny!” I mumble.

“No problem!” he smiles backs. “We have a secret weapon!”

Who would have imagined that a diving expedition would require a snowplow? On this day, we need it to move the metre-deep snow that has accumulated overnight. But the list of necessary tools is even more peculiar. For months, John Olivero and Ocean Quest

Adventure Resort (www.OceanQuestAdventures.com) owner

Rick Stanley wrangled volunteers, convincing them to heft pickaxes and shovels to prepare for our visit. The group of selfless volunteers moved tons of iron ore, built decks and benches, and installed critical lighting in preparation for us to dive into the depths of the

Bell Island Mine. February never deterred their dedication.

On the contrary, there is plenty of time in the winter for projects and diversions. In Newfoundland, summertime is an orgy of outdoor activity – 18-hour days crowded with whales, World War Two wrecks, beach picnics and icebergs, leaving little room for manual labour. Winter is work time.

Summer is for play.

The currents of

Adrian Stacey waxes lyrical about the adrenalinefuelled drift dives that can be enjoyed in the wild waters of the Komodo National Park

PHOTOGRAPHS BY ADRIAN STACEY

WWW.SCUBADIVERMAG.COM Up currents, down currents, washing machines, currents that do not go in the direction they are supposed to, and currents that just come out of nowhere, can all be encountered in the national park

We design, manufacture and retail scuba and rebreather equipment. We have fully equipped test and certification labs, and can pressure test large items in our vacuum chambers, as well as run fully automated leak test and dive simulations down to 400m. Our EMC and EMF lab is filled with state-ofthe-art equipment for testing electromagnetic compatibility and electromagnetic fields. We also have a large in-house laser for cutting and engraving on plastics and metals. www.narkedat90.com

Jill Heinerth waxes lyrical about the underwater delights that lie in store for adventurous divers off the coast of Newfoundland around the picturesque Bell Island

PHOTOGRAPHS BY JILL HEINERTH WWW.INTOTHEPLANET.COM

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Newfoundland

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Mention the words ‘wreck diving’ on a club RIB or a dive charter boat and it’s guaranteed to get a reaction. In the UK, wreck diving is king. Who doesn’t enjoy exploring shipwrecks? Some get their kicks from the historical aspect, while others are attracted by an oasis of marine life. There is another contingent I would describe as ‘trophy hunters’, but the shallower wrecks were stripped yonks ago, leaving only the sub-50m tech wrecks laden with brass. Back in the good old days, every wreck diver was tooled up with a lump hammer, chisel and lifting bag. I would like to think that today’s discerning wreck diver has a moreconscientious approach, with thoughts more on preservation rather than plunder, but I’m sure there are still a few divers out there that would disagree!

Our whole coastline is littered with tens of thousands of shipwrecks at varying depths to suit every level of recreational and technical diver. The English Channel alone has more than 40,000 recorded wrecks! The Dorset coast has its fair share and, fortunately for me, this has been my stomping ground for many years. I have explored most of the favourites in the 0m-40m range and taken a few reasonable pictures along the way. There are far too many amazing wrecks to mention in detail, so I have skimmed across the surface, detailing a selection of the very best. Except for the Royal Adelaide, Nor and Landing Craft wrecks lying off Chesil Beach, all of the sites I’ve mentioned are boat dives.

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These sites are well protected from rough weather which means virtually guaranteed diving throughout the year

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Stuart Philpott takes a whistlestop tour of some of the most-popular wreck dive sites along the South Coast

PHOTOGRAPHS BY STUART PHILPOTT

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