ss Stanwood wreck, scuba dive, 01 Mar 2023 with Atlantic Scuba

ss Stanwood wreck dive. Falmouth, Cornwall.

Our closest wreck that we rarely visit. Enjoyed by everyone with comments as to why we don't visit so often.

#divefalmouth #falmouthunderwater

Greenspot, an area of the Outer Bizzies, Falmouth, Cornwall

Greenspot, an area of the Outer Bizzies, Falmouth, Cornwall. One of our unique dive spots. The top of Greenspot is around 21m, the bottom is around 31m. So out of the kelp zone, it has some really great topography and a wide range of wild life. The shallower area is just as interesting as the deeper section, a very enjoyable dive.

SDI/TDI 5* Dive Centre - Air/Nitrox/Trimix/Oxygen fills - Dive Boats - Boat Charter Two Hard Boats with toilets and lifts, Moonshadow and Moonray Fast RHIB on a trailer, Stingray http://www.atlanticscuba.co.uk #falmouthunderwater #divefalmouth

The wreck of the sv Hera, diving out of Falmouth on Moonshadow.

We managed to get a sneaky dive in, on the wreck of the Hera, just before the plankton bloom. It was a very nice dive on an excellent little wreck. It would have been nice to do more than an hour but we can come back whenever we want. SDI/TDI 5* Dive Centre - Air/Nitrox/Trimix/Oxygen fills - Dive Boats - Boat Charter Two Hard Boats with toilets and lifts, Moonshadow and Moonray Fast RHIB on a trailer, Stingray http://www.atlanticscuba.co.uk #falmouthunderwater #divefalmouth

Bizzies Crack Scuba Dive, Falmouth

Playing with my new camera, in fact the first dive with my new camera.

A dive in and around the Bizzies Crack and eastern pinnacle, Outer Bizzies, Falmouth. Diving from Moonshadow. A longer video than I normally produce but the conditions underwater were so good, it had to be done. SDI/TDI 5* Dive Centre - Air/Nitrox/Trimix/Oxygen fills - Dive Boats - Boat Charter Two Hard Boats with toilets and lifts, Moonshadow and Moonray Fast RHIB on a trailer, Stingray http://www.atlanticscuba.co.uk #falmouthunderwater #divefalmouth

When is a mine not a mine?

While diving around Falmouth Bay recently, looking for the lost HM Trawler St Ives, I came across what I thought was a possible bomb. I had seen a similar one before, which I had reported to the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit (EODU), who then came to detonate the device. On surfacing, we stored the co-ordinates, there was no way of acquiring an exact position without attaching something to the device, with a straight line to the surface. I returned with some volunteer divers, to help re-locate the suspected bomb. We would also film, photograph and measure it. Then the images could be shown to the EODU, in the hope they could identify it.

We waited until some favourable weather came along. Conditions were not ideal for a while. Eventually there was a hole in the weather just for a day, a small group of us went out on my boat. We dropped into the choppy sea and descended, to look for the object. The device took a while to relocate, due to the in water visibility from the recent weather and the very rough original co-ordinates. Once relocated, the remaining dive time had been considerably shortened, the visibility wasn't great and the surface conditions were worsening. The dive was called off, we would have to return.

A few days later, the weather forecast was much improved, so we planned our returned. On arrival, the surface conditions were greatly improved compared to our last visit. I jumped in with my buddy for the day, Sue Barnes, then descended to the sea bed. Within five minutes we were on the device, we photographed and filmed the object before I marked the site with a buoy. After the dive, the second buddy pair of David Gibbins and Katrina Mace, went down, to take even more photographs. After the dives, we discussed what we had seen. We all believed it was highly probable that it was a parachute mine, possibly a type GC with it's end cap still in place. We arrived back on shore late that evening, so waited until the following morning to contact the authorities.

Early Wednesday morning, I called the MCA, they requested some photographs or which we had many. The MCA then passed them onto the EODU. On seeing the images, the EODU rang me and stated that it needed looking at, to see if it was indeed a potentially dangerous device. They were loading up and would be down within two hours.

The EODU arrived at Maenporth Beach, the closest place to the device to launch their boat. After some starting issues, they made their way out. One of their divers went in. We all waited to find out what the device was. Time passed slowly on that cold afternoon. Eventually the EODU diver came up, the boat returned. The C.O. stated that it was in fact a parachute mine, type GC. There was not enough daylight to continue with a disposal, they would have to return the following morning.

On Thursday morning, the EODU left Falmouth on their boat, followed by the RNLI, the harbour master and the harbour pilot. The EODU sent a diver down, while the other boats kept all other vessels at bay. On the shore at Maenporth, several dozen people waited patiently for the detonation. The EODU's boat moved away. A small column of water shot up, followed a few seconds later by a short bang. Everyone looked at each other, “was that it?” was heard echoed amongst the onlookers. Surely not? Compared to the last detonation five years ago, this was a bit of a damp squib. Everyone kept watching and recording. The EODU returned to the location, a diver descended. Fifteen minutes later, all the boats were off, that was it. The MCA told us, that the EODU had declared that it was now safe.

Bemused about the events, we discussed what had happened. We can only assume that the mine came down so fast, without the parachute deploying, that it damaged the internal working and cracked the watertight casing. Seventy five years of salt water ingress, may have caused the explosives to be harmless.

I was asked for a quote by the media, I said “I suppose I should now go and look for the other two I have previously seen now”.

From the first time I spotted the device, I wasn't 100% sure what it was. I had seen a parachute Mine type GC before and this looked very similar but I couldn't work out what the difference was. I assumed it was because it was deeper, and the covered of weed was more dense. When I found the last mine, I pulled some sea weed off to try and look for any markings. When I met the EODU, they told me that the mine would still be live. When it was blown up, it certainly looked more 'live' than not. With this device, I didn't want to pull any sea weed off, just in case. Something in my head said “it wasn't right”. The following day, I dragged a few of my divers back out. My shot-line had gone, either blown up or removed. Luckily I had accurately saved the co-ordinates when I put the shot line in. I dropped my shot and went back down the line with David. What I saw was confusing. What I saw was made of concrete. The nose area was full of iron and steel pieces. There was a bar through the centre, with circular plates along it's length. Had it all been for a lump of concrete? We came up after a short dive and told the others on the boat, we then headed off to a different dive site for a dive.

Finding out it was concrete was disappointing. The following morning I received a message from David, with a link. The link was to a section of a book, with an apocryphal story from WWII. It stated that during WWII, the RAF was running out of mines. The lack of explosives to make more mines was causing a major shortage. Then someone came up with an idea. The magnetic parachute mines rarely actually sank anything. What they did do, is restrict shipping until the mined channels were cleared. While the shipping was backing up outside the port, they would be easy targets for RAF bombers. According to the story, the Germans strapped the fakes bombs to the bottom of their planes, then dropped the fake bombs into the Thames. The mine clearance team working in the Thames were rather confused, pulling up concrete bombs, written on them 'with love from the RAF'. There are other references of fake mines being dropped by both sides. So, was this a fake German mine? We needed to go back.

A few days later, we returned once again. David descended first, to get some photos for a 3D photogrammetry trial. I followed after a short while with Jan, we collected some of the iron and steel pieces we found around the nose. We also managed to recover the reinforcing bar, as well as a piece of steel I had seen wrapped partially around the object. We sifted trough the pieces. There were some interesting objects including springs, U bolts, nuts & bolts, a chain, a cylinder valve and even a glass candlestick holder. Some of the items dated back as far as 1910, what you would expect from a scrap metal pile in 1940. The reinforcing bar had no visible markings on it, the circular discs were very well cut. I measured the steel bar and discs, the bar was 25mm and the discs were 13mm thick. The U.K. was still imperial then, as was the U.S., whereas the rest of Europe including Germany would have been metric. The steel band had steel plating attached to it, it appears to be part of the mine casing. The real type GC mines were aluminium and well made, the piece of steel was roughly cut, not made to the same standard as the real GC. The piece of steel also had some black paint left on it, trying to make it look like a real type GC mine. The scrap metal in the nose would have made it fall nose first, unlike a plain lump of concrete. Another effort to make it look and appear, real. It fooled the British back then, it continued to fool us until this day.

The fake mine was the first one we know of that has been found and identified, around the Falmouth area. During WWII Falmouth was extensively mined, so much so, that in 1940 the port was closed several times due to the amount of shipping loses. Most of the mines and fake mines would have been cleared during mine clearing operations, this particular fake mine was out of the normal shipping channels. It was probably missed, like the real one I found in the mouth of the Helford five years ago.

This type of parachute mine was intended to look like a Luftmine B (LMB), called a Type C by the British Admiralty. The Luftwaffe started dropping these mines around the UK some time in November 1939 were being, from Heinkel He115s and He111s.

Physical description

A German Parachute Mine is a thin wall cylinder 25in in diameter, 86in long, with a hemispherical nose. Fully filled, it would have weighed about 2176lb, of which 1536lb was explosive. The mines were cylindrical in shape with a hemispherical nose, and deployed under a 27ft diameter green artificial silk parachute, falling at about 40mph. They were fitted with magnetic firing and later with acoustic or magnetic/acoustic firing. When the mine hit the water and sank to more that 8ft, hydrostatic pressure and the dissolution of a soluble plug actuated the magnetic device and the mine became operational against shipping. The mine was also armed with a clockwork bomb fuze which caused the bomb to explode when used against land targets, and this was started by the impact of hitting the ground. The mine was timed to detonate 25 seconds after the fuze had started. When deployed at sea, the time fuze did not operate as a diaphragm stopped the clockwork when under the pressure of 7 feet of water or more. The first intentional use of magnetic mines against land targets was on the night of 16 September 1940, when the mines with their charge/weight ratio of 60 - 70 % explosive caused considerable blast damage in built up areas. Inevitably, they became known to the British populace as 'Land Mines'.

Historic notes

Information from old IWM caption: 'The mine could also be fitted magnetic, acoustic or magnetic-acoustic units, and also be used a time mine or a depth charge. It could be armed by means of a hydrostatic clock which operated when immersed in over eight feet of water and could be set to render the unit active from 15 minutes to six days after the mine was laid, or could be used to detonate the mine after a set period by a hydrostatic switch which completed a circuit and detonated the mine when it was immersed in 40 to 50 feet of water.'

The Second World War period German land and sea mines. There were two types of magnetic sea mines used by the the Germans, who termed them the Luftmine A (LMA ) of 500kg, and the Luftmine B (LMB) of 1000kg. They were known by the British Admiralty as the Admiralty Type D and Admiralty Type C respectively. This is an example of the larger mine. The Luftwaffe began dropping magnetic mines into the waters around Britain during November 1939, first from He115 and He111 aircraft. The mines were cylindrical in shape with a hemispherical nose, and deployed under a 27ft diameter green artificial silk parachute, falling at about 40mph. They were fitted with magnetic firing and later with acoustic or magnetic/acoustic firing. When the mine hit the water and sank to more that 8ft, hydrostatic pressure and the dissolution of a soluble plug actuated the magnetic device and the mine became operational against shipping. The mine was also armed with a clockwork bomb fuze which caused the bomb to explode when used against land targets, and this was started by the impact of hitting the ground. The mine was timed to detonate 25 seconds after the fuze had started. When deployed at sea, the time fuze did not operate as a diaphragm stopped the clockwork when under the pressure of 7 feet of water or more. The first intentional use of magnetic mines against land targets was on the night of 16 September 1940, when the mines with their charge/weight ratio of 60 - 70 % explosive caused considerable blast damage in built up areas. Inevitably, they became known to the British populace as 'Land Mines'.

Aerial view of Moonshadow picking up divers.

2021 wasn't all bad, some clips of scuba diving around Falmouth.

Some clips from the last few dives.

We have been so busy with various other projects recently, that we haven't had time to create any videos from our dives. So we quickly put this together.

Pendennis Shore Dive with several Barrel Jellyfish

Some life seen on a recent sure dive, with a blogger from the WAOH project.

Caroni Rivers wreck, Falmouth Bay, Cornwall.

Caroi River wreck dive, Falmouth Bay, Cornwall.

The Wrasse of Lath

Diving Lath Rock in Veryan Bay with a lot of Wrasse.

BBC Spotlight 03/12/2018 Schiedam and what to do next?

Our latest TV appearance, BBC Spotlight SW. This is Mark's 10th TV appearance in just four weeks.

BBC Spotlight x 3, BBC Inside Out, BBC News x 3, BBC Spotlight x 3



We already have plans for our next TV appearance, which will have to be next year, when the weather is suitable to do a 60m+ dive. This will be our most exciting and fascinating dive, it's not just the depth, it is what we are actually hunting. 

Falmouth Underwater 3

Number 3 in the Falmouth Underwater series, some new clips with some old clips.



#falmouthunderwater

Evita's Revenge

For most of the year, our boat Stingray, mainly takes divers out to various dive sites around Falmouth Bay. Sometimes it takes groups of people out for a wildlife watching trip, as a WiSe wildlife safe operator, we are recommended for this sort of activity. Once in a while we do survey work, towing a magnetometer or a side scan sonar tow-fish. Our latest charter was as a safety boat for a German film crew. FFP New Media GmbH were filming their latest adaptation of one of Rosamunde Pilcher's novels, "Evita's Revenge" or “Evitas Rache”in German. The films appear on ZDF, a TV channel in Germany. These films of Picher's novels are extremely popular in Germany. Rosamunde Pilcher was brought up in Cornwall, where most of her novels are based. She received a tourism award for her film's adaptations, bringing tens of thousands of German nationals to Cornwall, to view the locations used in the films. This film involved the use of a Riva Aquamarine boat, brought down from Fowey to Falmouth for a few days of filming. We were there for safety, to save the actors, should they fall out of the boat.

We turned up at 7:30 for breakfast. At 8:00 we took some of the crew, presumably the director, producer and cameraman, out for a recce of the area. I asked what they wanted for a background, houses and hotels or cliffs? They wanted to see the cliffs first and settled on the area around St Anthony's lighthouse.

We had been told that only the safety divers/lifeguards were allowed to be on our boat, so a slight change already after taking the crew out. After returning, I was asked if we could take two of the cast out with a couple of the film crew. No problem, the boat is coded for ten plus two crew. It had been decided that Stingray was going to be used for the close up shots, it was at the right sort of height as the Riva, unlike Wave Chieftan, which is much higher. Whilst we waited, a scaffold pole and some stands were placed on board, creating a bench seat. Then the big camera, batteries, lighting, sound and the crew. I had to count the crew on to make sure we weren't over loaded, we had to use Wave Chieftan as the safety boat as room was tight for the lifeguards on Stingray. We headed out, the camera was on the lead male actor, played by Francis Fulton-Smith. They said their lines, I accelerated on cue. We did it again, then again but just audio with the boat stationary. Once they were happy we went back to base. The camera position was changed and was now on the other character, played by Sam Carrack. We headed out and did the same sequence again. Back to base. The camera was moved to the Wave Chieftan, we now had the lifeguards on board. Out we headed, this time doing what we were contracted to do, staying in contact with the 'star' boat but not in shot, not always an easy thing to do. After a while we went back to base. They shot some footage on the quayside while we sat around and chatted. We were then taken for a catered lunch.

The weather played ball, the morning was overcast and dull, in the afternoon the sun shone. It was like a different day, exactly what they wanted. The camera was back on my boat, with the two lead characters, Francis Fulton-Smith and Elizabeth Lanz. The same crew as before as well as another crew member. We went out in a similar routine as the morning, lines spoken twice, back to base, camera moved, back out, same again.

All the equipment was then taken off of my boat and put on Wave Chieftan, we were back to being the safety boat. Out we went for some sunshine shooting with the two main characters in the star boat. The weather was glorious and the final scenes were shot as the sun was going down. Back to base. Everyone seemed happy.

A 12 hour day, interesting and fun. Great to see how it's all put together, handy for any other projects we may get involved with. The film is due to be shown in Germany in January or February 2014.

BBC 1 News, 11 - June - 2018. The President wreck.

Divers off Cornwall have
discovered cannons and an anchor thought to be from one of the richest
ships ever to wreck against these shores.

 

In 1684 the English East Indiaman the President came
to grief against Loe Bar, carrying down most of her crew as well as a
‘very rich lading, modestly judged of no less than a hundred thousand
pounds … with much treasure of pearl, and diamonds.’ Her loss was so
great that she was even marked on the map of Cornwall produced at this
period by the famous Dutch cartographer Van Keulen. The rediscovery of
the site thought to be this wreck opens up a whole new chapter in the
maritime history of Cornwall, linking these shores to a time when huge
fortunes were made and lost in the ‘Enterprise of the Indies.’


David Gibbins, who heads the organisation Cornwall Maritime Archaeology along with Mark Milburn, takes up the story:


“The
site was first reported by divers twenty years ago and was designated
under the Protection of Wrecks Act 1973. Mark and I are licenced by
Historic England to monitor the wreck, but for many years it has been
covered by sand. The recent period of calm weather has allowed us to
dive off Loe Bar for the first time in months. We were thrilled to see
seven cannon and an anchor, and quickly realised that we were looking at
a new part of the site that had never before been recorded. You might
think that all the important wreck artefacts off this coast have been
found by now, but that is not the case. With every storm the sand can
shift to reveal new treasures. It was incredibly exciting to see
something that nobody has seen before.”

View of Loe Bar. Photo: David Gibbins

The
location of the wreck of the President marked on a map of Cornwall by
Van Keulen of the late 17th century. Photo: David Gibbins

The President
has a remarkably detailed backstory because a pamphlet was published
that year based on the accounts of the survivors: ‘A full ACCOUNT Of the
late Ship-wreck of the Ship called The PRESIDENT: Which was cast away in Montz-Bay in Cornwal On the 4th of February last, As it was deliver’d to HIS MAJESTY, (both in Writing and Discourse) By William Smith and John Harshfield, the only Persons that escaped in the said Wreck.’

It
tells of a desperate sea battle off the Malabar Coast of India with six
pirate ships, in which a roundshot from the President penetrated the
powder magazine of one of the pirate vessels and blew it up. Gibbins
continued:

“Cannons are common finds on the wrecks of merchant
ships from the Age of Sail, a time when most ships were armed. But its
very unusual to know that guns on a merchantmen were actually used,
especially in such a colourful action and on the very voyage on which
the ship was wrecked. It gives a special excitement to seeing these guns
for the first time underwater.”

Two cannon on the wreck. Photo: Mark Milburn

Further diving is planned at the site. To follow the team’s progress and see more photos and video, go to www.facebook.com/cornwallmaritimearchaeology.

BBC 1 SW Inside Out Lost Minesweeper Teaser

Watch the full program on BBC SW or BBC HD on November 5th 2018, 19:30 on Inside Out.

During the filming I used #lungfishdivesystems rebreathers, #bigbluelights, #northerndiverinternational drysuits, #forcefins and my trusty #sanyo HD 2000 camera with the #patima housing

Maenporth Parachute mine discovery and disposal.

While diving around
Falmouth Bay recently, looking for the old WWII degaussing field he
had seen before, Mark Milburn came across what he thought was a
possible bomb. He had seen a similar one before, which he had
reported to the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit (EODU), who then
came to detonate the device. The co-ordinates were stored, there was
no way of acquiring an exact position without attaching something to
the device, with a straight line to the surface. Mr Milburn returned
with some volunteer divers, to help re-locate the suspected bomb.
They would also film, photograph and measure it. Then the images
could be shown to the EODU, in the hope they could identify it.

They waited until some
favourable weather came along. Conditions were not ideal, but the
divers descended to look for the object. The device took a while to
relocate, due to the in water visibility. Once relocated, the
remaining dive time was short, the visibility wasn't great and the
surface conditions were worsening. The dive was called off, they
would have to return.

A few days later, the
weather forecast was good, so they planned their returned. On
arrival, the surface conditions were greatly improved compared to
their last visit. Mr Milburn and his buddy, Sue Barnes, descended to
the sea bed. Within five minutes they were on the device, they
photographed and filmed the object before Mr Milburn marked the site
with a buoy. After their dive, the second buddy pair of David Gibbins
and Katrina Mace, went down, to take even more photographs. After the
dives, they all discussed what they had seen. They all believed it
was highly probable that it was a parachute mine, possibly a type GC
with it's end cap still in place. They arrived back late that
evening, so waited until the following morning to contact the
authorities.

Early Wednesday
morning, Mr Milburn called the MCA, they requested some photographs.
The MCA then passed them onto the EODU. On seeing the images, the
EODU contacted Mr Milburn and stated that it needed looking at, to
see if it was indeed a potentially dangerous device. They were
loading up and would be down within two hours.

The EODU arrived at
Maenporth Beach, the closest place the device to launch their boat.
After some starting issues, they made their way out. One of their
divers went in. We all waited to find out what the device was. Time
passed slowly on that cold afternoon. Eventually the diver came up,
the boat returned. The C.O. stated that it was in fact a parachute
mine, type GC. There was not enough daylight to continue with a
disposal, they would have to return the following morning.

On Thursday morning,
the EODU left Falmouth on their boat, followed by the RNLI, the
harbour master and the harbour pilot. The EODU sent a diver down,
while the other boats kept all other vessels at bay. On the shore at
Maenporth, several dozen people waited patiently for the detonation.
The EODU's boat moved away. A small column of water shot up, followed
a few seconds later by a short bang. Everyone looked at each other,
“was that it?” was heard echoed amongst the onlookers. Surely
not? Compared to the last detonation five years ago, this was a bit
of a damp squib. Everyone kept watching and recording. The EODU
returned to the location, a diver descended. Fifteen minutes later,
all the boats were off, that was it. The MCA told us, that the EODU
had declared that it was now safe.

Bemused about the
events, we discussed what had happened. We can only assume that the
mine came down so fast, without the parachute deploying, that it
damaged the internal working and cracked the watertight casing.
Seventy five years of salt water ingress, may have caused the
explosives to be harmless.

After the detonation Mr
Milburn said “I suppose I should now go and look for the other two
I have previously seen now”.

Schiedam Dive 3rd November 2017

Gyllyngvase Beach Shore Dive, 28th October 2017, cuttlefish everywhere

Porthoustock Fish dive.