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The real dive story from Jason Gibb's logbook.
Dive 1
Aim: See if the wreck is there
Dive time: 29 minutes
Max depth: 6.1m
Seabed: Silt
Weather: Sunny, south easterly force 2
Boat HQ: Shoreline Engineer
Sea temp: 18oC
Dive details:
Last show of the series, everybody's tired. And as well as filming and producing the underwater stuff I'm also directing this programme, so I've got my hands full. This dive couldn't have gone worse. From the moment we jumped in I knew it would be a disaster – the water was so muddy it was like someone turned the lights off. Iain, the licensee of the wreck (solid Westcountry man, with a desert dry sense of humour), tried to lead us to the wreck. But it was futile, he couldn't see where we were going and couldn't find it. All I was filming was muddy water, and as I knew I'd being spending months in an edit suite trying to cut the footage together I was not happy. Then I lost all the other divers, so I eventually called the dive off. I'm trying not to show it, but I'm really gutted. British diving at its worst.
Dive 2
Aim: Examine the cannon on the seabed
Dive conditions: As previous dive
Dive time: 69 minutes
Max depth: 6.4m
Dive details:
My mood was lifted by the return of my favourite cannon 'nut', Charles Trollope. All stiff upper lip and herringbone walking hats – nothing seems so dire with this chap around. But once underwater, the dark clouds gathered again. I was trying to film Miranda and marine archaeologist Garry measuring the cannon and the fact that I couldn't see the other end of my camera made it really tough and frustrating. Back up top Charles told us he's identified one of the cannon as Swedish, suggesting that this wreck has a non-English heritage. It's not conclusive but it's a major stride forward. I wanted to kiss the old bugger, but my stiff upper lip stopped me.
Dive 3
Aim: Collect wood samples for dendrochronological analysis
Dive conditions: As previous dive
Dive time: 65 minutes
Max depth: 7.9m
Dive details:
The return of Nigel, the human jacuzzi. Actually I was chuffed Nigel turned up as he's been working 24/7 trying to save a wreck in Newport Harbour that's under threat from developers. He was pretty knackered when he arrived, but old Nige is a trooper. Nige is also a heavy breather, so I knew this would be a short dive. And he's also worried about taking big chunks of wood off the wreck, firstly because it's protected by law, and secondly as beefy builder Iain is looking on! He took an excruciatingly long time cutting out the thinnest of wedges, which meant we got just one sample. The chances of that providing us with a date for this wreck are also thin. Nothing seems to be going right.
Dive 4
Aim: Iain collects wood samples
Dive conditions: As previous dive
Dive time: 48 minutes
Max depth: 6.1m
Dive details:
The viz is slowly improving. Went down with Iain to get some more wood samples. Iain's never done sawing before, but as a builder he was a complete natural. We've now got three samples, so let's hope Nigel can prove that this is French wood, and therefore Iain's wreck is HMS Hazardous.
As this is a protected wreck (deemed of great historical importance) marine archaeologist Garry had to apply for a government licence to take wood samples. It was finally granted last week. It's the first time a licence has been granted at such short notice; so all eyes are on us.
Dive 5
Aim: Surface recovery of concretions
Dive conditions: As previous dive
Dive time: 39 minutes
Max depth: 5.8m
Dive details:
Nigel worked through the night to the point of collapse. Got no results. We're all gutted. So far we have no clues, and I'm getting desperate. Today we went to recover some of the 'concretions' that litter the site – big lumps of aggregate that have formed around man-made objects. There's no way of telling what the man-made object is until it's broken open. So that's precisely what we're going to do. Iain co-ordinated the lifting of them. They're like oysters, inside anyone of them could be the 'pearl' we're looking for, that could identify this wreck as the Hazardous. At least the water clarity is getting better.
Dive 6
Aim: Look for cant frames
Dive conditions: As previous dive
Dive time: 45 minutes
Max depth: 6.1m
Dive details:
We got ship structure supremo Andrew Lambert down from London. He reckoned that if we can find cant frames on this wreck (which were peculiar to French ships of the time) then it must be the Hazardous. I was worried about being able to see them in the gloom, but we were met with superb clarity. This was one of the most thrill-charged dives ever. As soon as we got near to the bow of the wreck Andrew, who was looking at my pictures, was apparently jumping up and down with excitement! We found cant frames, and they were very obvious when he pointed them out. The last dive of this expedition, the last dive of the series, and we proved that this wreck is the HMS Hazardous. Iain and his mates have done so much work on this site, I hope we've added to that.
Anyway, just before we surfaced, topside radioed me to swim under the dive vessel. I figured they must be about to play some trick on me, as it was our very last dive. But I didn't expect that one of the safety divers would jump in the water in his birthday suit and dive down to me. My natural instinct was to film him and go in for the close up. I've now got some great pictures of XXXX in my library!
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