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Trimix Divers – Dave Metcalf, Mark Knox, Andy Anderson, Ian Wright, Emlyn Hicks Divers – Geraldine Metcalf, Carl Wilkinson, Brenda Wilkinson
A small group of club members spend every spare minute researching wrecks and new dive sites, this has led to quite a long list of ‘targets’ to explore. However the constraints of running weekend club diving activities, the weather and getting all the group together, has let these plans slip as each season goes by. As the season went on, a small group of friends within the club became more and more excited about spending our summer holidays in Beadnell, the reason made more sense every time we talked about the idea. The slip would be less congested during weekdays and we anticipated the weather would be more settled over our two week stay. Our main objectives for the two weeks would be to explore the deeper wrecks in the 60-70meter range, which would be easier to plan because of the small group of divers. The plan was to dive the morning slack water on the deep wrecks and let the boat cover divers dive on the sites of there choice on the afternoon slack water. I was eagerly waiting for the holiday to arrive, to get a break from organising club diving and the massive amount of planning that it involves. The people I would be diving with are all very experienced mixed gas divers and excellent boat handlers with years of experience and are highly motivated towards diving in all its forms. I really enjoy being the Diving Officer, but to bring fresh ideas and enthusiasm to the role I need to push my diving with like minded divers who can plan and execute their own dives, which allows us to agree a site and time, turn up and dive.
The reason for an early start was to dive the H.M.S. Ascot, a paddle steamer mine sweeper with the dubious honour of being the last ship sunk in the First World War. The ride out to the site was uneventful but enjoyable with only working boats on the mirror like sea for company, something we never encounter on a weekend. The wreck was located without any drama, with the shot duly despatched to the seabed and hopefully the wreck. As the sea was mirror calm it was light work to determine slack water, which was going to be over an hour today because of the tides. Four open circuit divers and one closed circuit diver slipped over the side and descended the shot, Mark and myself were on the wreck first, the vis was good but it appeared dark and gloomy. I turned on my lights and the scene before me was amazing, we had landed smack bang in the middle of the two paddle wheel boxes. The pair of us spilt up and explored the wreck, with myself dropping over the side and finning alongside the wreck, looking up towards the shot I could see Andy, Emlyn and Ian dropping down the shot line with their lights illuminating the super structure which gave a better perspective of the wreck. It was time to ascend after 20mins at 65m and after a quick check of my computer, slate and timer everything tallied up and the long ascent began. My gas switch at 18 meters was drama free, after which I took out my DSMB, but on cracking open the bottle my reel jammed and I immediately let it go to the surface. A brief moment to check my depth and I was preparing for a second attempt with my spare bag and reel. Thankfully this time it worked fine, with me completing my required stops incident free. On breaking the surface the boat was waiting to pick me up and all I could do was enquire about my missing bag and reel which had been recovered successfully.
Again Mark and myself landed first, but on the seabed and not on the wreck. I looked around in the gloom at 63 meters and with helium helping my decision making abilities I swam off and virtually bumped into the wreck, I dragged the shot over and started to swim up the side of the hull passing open porthole doors and soon reached the hand rail. Using this as a guide I eventually found the companion way on the super structure, this lead me to explore the cabins and rooms which looked very inviting to enter, but we were prevented by my torch beams. A quick glance at my instruments and it was time to head back to the shot, ascending slightly to the next level as I swam. I reached the shot one minute early so spent the time looking around the shot squeezing every last second out of my bottom time and that’s when I saw it, a huge porthole just sitting on the deck, where it’s weight and rotten steel had caused it to fall from it’ original position. However as we truly believe in only looking there was no desire to remove the porthole or any other objects from this or any other wreck. Starting back up the shot line there was little to suggest that on topside all hell was breaking loose and as I reached ‘last stop’ I feared the worst. On breaking the surface I saw Mark was onboard the boat which was a bonus and quickly followed on board, equipment was hastily stowed away and lashed down tightly for the long and arduous journey back to shore. We still had one more days of diving left but the weather had other ideas and we decided that would conclude the trimix diving for this season, although we did not manage to dive all our targets I would not hesitate to spend another two weeks of the summer doing the same again, the wrecks were really that good. |
Most weekends see us diving out of Beadnell; it’s what our club is good at
as it is our local dive site, we are very fortunate to have it on our
doorstep. The only downside to diving this part of the North East coast
is the crowds on the popular dive sites during the summer. 
Our plan for the first couple of days was to dive two wrecks at shallower
depths as check out dives, with the trimix divers using their full kit and
practising drills for gas switching, gas shutdowns and deco stops. We had
two great dives on the S.S. Somalia and the Nedelvin and virtually had the
sites to ourselves despite it being the weekend. I think everybody must
have been on their own summer holidays. After the last dive on Sunday, we
spent the remainder of the day & night mixing gas and preparing the boat
for an early start the next morning. 
The afternoon saw us diving a wreck in shallower water, for the divers who
were boat cover on the morning dive. The three divers having the wreck
all to themselves, while the rest of the group stayed behind and mixed the
gas for the following days dive on the H.M.S. Patia. The H.M.S. Patia
sits upright on the seabed, with a length in excess of 130 meters, it is
totally intact, she was a converted banana boat capable of launching a
swordfish bi-plane via a ski ramp fitted to it’s bow. Again an early
start was required, the sea conditions were ideal, being such a large
target, shotting the wreck should have been easy but we managed to make it
look extremely difficult. With the shot hooked in we descended to the
wreck with Mark and I landing on the deck first, to be overwhelmed at the
sheer size of the super structure. We swam up over three huge water
carriers and over to what can only be described as a giant looking green
house, which turned out to be the engine room skylight, it gave up it’s
mystery after we illuminated the machinery below with our torch lights.
On swimming back to the shot line we past ak-ak guns still pointing
skywards and life boat davits which were swung out in the launch
positions, this dive was rapidly turning out to be one of the most
memorable of my diving career and with so much more to explore I did not
want this dive to end, but all to soon my time had elapsed and I made the
long, tedious journey to the sunlight. The sunshine stayed with us for
the rest of the day with the afternoon divers enjoying another great dive
on their own. The following day it rained and the wind howled, it was the
same the day after and the next, was this the settled weather we had
gambled on? When the wind and rain finally stopped our plan was to dive
the Gaelic in 42meters to assess what damage the weather had inflicted on
the visibility. Everybody in the group was to dive this wreck, so it
would be done in two waves of divers with the other divers providing boat
cover, and we were not disappointed with the dive. Back at Beadnell car
park a plan was formulated for diving HMS Patia again the next day, we
each went our separate ways to prepare for tomorrow. 
The next day it rained and the wind blew, it was the same weather for the
next four days. As the days went by I longed to dive HMS Patia even more
and I finally got my chance on the penultimate day of the holiday. The
forecast for the Friday was not the best, but if we dived the morning
slack we reasoned we could be back before the wind picked up in the
afternoon. It was a good plan but needed a bit of luck. After the dive I
reached my last deco stop at 6 meters I realised that our luck had run
out, with a deco time of 37 mins we had to endure the massive waves and
swell on the surface. I felt for Geraldine - my wife and Helen - Mark’s
girlfriend as they steered the boat up and down breaking the waves whilst
waiting our return to the surface. Below the waves I revisited the dive
in my head to take in my mind from the constant jerking motion I was
receiving whilst hanging from my deco bag. 
