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Team Members :- Ken Simpson, Pete Elliot, Bruce Hez, Mark Blewitt.
The boat had been given to Ken Simpson (Training Officer) as it was no longer considered to be seaworthy, although Ken did consider it as a ‘do-upper’ for a while. Ken’s plan was to tow the boat out into clear water at Ellerton Water and sink it to give pleasure to future divers and add to all the other attractions in Ellerton Lake
Thanks also to Mr. Thompson – the owner, for allowing us to litter his lake with more junk! |
Saturday 14th of September 2002 saw members of Bishop Auckland Sub-Aqua
Club and Darlington 3 Sea’s Club successfully locate and dive the wreck of
the sailing vessel Helios, they were without doubt the first people to
dive this previously unknown wreck. How do we know for sure, well they
had only just sunk it! 
So
on Saturday afternoon, we launched Ken’s RIB (The Red Sub – the name
accounts for its sea handling ability). I set off looking around Ellerton
for some deep water, I buoyed a location just past the Metro in 9.3m of
water, and in the meantime Ken set about prepping his yacht. The launch
went very well and the RIB was then used to tow the yacht towards the
proposed sinking area. When the target zone was reached Ken attacked the
hull with a steel bar, the old timbers broke in no time allowing water to
flood in. Ken’s plan was to go down with his ship, like his hero Captain
E Smith, naturally he was going to cheat and use an aqualung to allow him
return to the safety of the surface. As the boat sank, we used the rib to
maintain its position as the wind tried to drive it into shallower water.
The boat sank slowly, with Ken using his weight to steer it down on an
even keel, when the water got level with the deck the sinking stopped,
Archimedes had finally beaten us. We had to go back to shore and pick up
some rocks to help the sinking process, this worked well, and after a few
rocks hit the deck, the good ship Helios finally headed bolt upright down
to Davey Jones’. After the silt settled Ken set about making the thing
safe by cutting the top 2m off the 6m tall mast. The last job was to fix
a line from the wreck to add to the growing underwater network of lines
running around the lake between various attractions. 
Diving the wreck was a pleasure, it is a small but fully intact sailing
yacht, as can be seen in Beadnell Bay any weekend, Ellerton is currently
very warm (September) and fairly clear, even after the boat hit the lake
bed. For future divers, head for the Metro and follow the blue line
attached between the silver Primera and the Metro, it is tied onto the
mast, there is also a white 5 gallon plastic buoy if anyone fancies a long
surface swim. Wreck penetration is possible only with minimal kit and
should not be attempted by the novice, there’s not much to see in a yacht
anyway, so think carefully before attempting it. Enjoy. 
