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The real dive story from Jason Gibb's logbook.
Dive 1
Aim: Explore the Stirling Castle
Dive time: 41 minutes
Max depth: 22m
Seabed: Sand
Weather: Excellent
Boat HQ: Wessex Explorer
Sea temp: 17oC
Dive details:
As far as I'm concerned there are just two reasons to dive in the North Sea and that's for oil and gas! The water's so murky you can't see anything, and I donned my dry suit with the feeling of resigned gloom. What's more, the slack window is so small that we can only dive this site for one hour a day!
But, against the odds, we were met with superb visibility, maybe 15 to 20ft! I was blown away. We started off at the stern and I could see how the warship is slowly emerging from the shifting sands. Awesome. There were cannon still in their gun ports, a 300-year-old bottle still corked, an enormous anchor and rather morbidly, a human bone. I was firing off film like it was going out of style. Great dive.
Back on deck I showed off my footage to series producer Peter, and anyone else who showed even the mildest interest. I then put my camera down to do something else. Ten minutes later I had this strange feeling that something was wrong, a tingling on the back of my neck, like a spider sense. I checked my camera and I found the record light flashing – I'd just recorded over the middle of my tape! As a professional this is a cardinal sin, and we had just experienced the best diving conditions imaginable. I feel like a bozo. I'll have to try and replace the footage tomorrow.
Dive 2
Aim: Retake yesterday's footage
Dive conditions: As previous dive
Dive time: 31 minutes
Max depth: 21.3m
Dive details:
Today was my chance to redeem yesterday's mess. But the water was so murky I couldn't see the other end of my camera. We waited and waited in the gloom, the silence broken only by the hiss of our air regulators. It was eerie and depressing.
Dive 3
Aim: Examine the anchor
Dive conditions: As previous dive
Dive time: 39 minutes
Max depth: 22.3m
Dive details:
The visibility was better today, and as we were with site archaeologist Simon Adey-Davies (top man, one of your 'cool' archaeologists) we took some measurements of the anchor. It's seriously big, but it seems surprising that it's still on deck, and wasn't used to stop the Stirling Castle hitting the Goodwin Sands. The mystery only thickens. Most importantly, in the middle of the dive I managed to grab the shots I recorded over in dive 1! The water clarity wasn't quite so good, but good enough! I am a happy man!
Dive 4
Aim: ROV dive
Dive conditions: As previous dive
Dive time: 32 minutes
Max depth: 22.3m
Dive details:
No-nonsense Bob, the licensee of the Stirling Castle, wants us to explore the inside of the wreck with a mini-ROV (remotely operated vehicle). Visibility wasn't great and with the ROV's umbilical and mine and Bob's, it was getting tricky down there. Diving-wise this has been the hardest expedition so far. Over the last couple of months I've been in the water so much I'm growing webs on my feet! Looking forward to getting back to London for a week in the office before another Wreck Detectives expedition.
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