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WRECK HEAVEN
in
Northern Ireland
by Scott Laddiman
After reading Leigh Bishop’s write up in 990 magazines and on his web site www.deepimage.co.uk, about the dive he had on the Justicia and other wrecks in Northern Ireland, I was hooked! 32,000 ton wrecks in 30m visibility and the possibility of a Guinness at night? I thought I would only be able to dream of such dives until my local shop, Aberdeen Watersports sent out an e-mail advertising a week’s liveaboard on Deep Blue’s Loyal Watcher diving The Empire Heritage, Laurentic, Audacious and The Justicia.
I quickly replied and booked my space. I had been very lucky as the trip was booked up after just 15 minutes of the advertisement being sent!!! I now just had to tell the wife!
I told the wife, and had to enter into negotiations about sending her and my son to Norway for two weeks, to see family and shopping while I was away on a ‘boys’ holiday. (This would not be a cheap holiday!)
I now had a year to wait until my trip and several hours was spent listening to Phil Hodson and Gordon Bell talk about their dives in Ireland while they were working for Richie Stevenson at Deep Blue. I knew the wrecks were between 40m and 70m and decided to get some more experience with Trimix diving before I would be happy.
Constant nagging and kidnapping of buddies continued throughout the year and with dives from deep dark Loch Ness, 20M viz on the wreck of the Fram Stern and other deep dives, I felt ready for Northern Ireland.
The year passed quickly and I was soon packing my car for the 4-hour journey from Aberdeenshire to Ayr, where we would meet The Loyal Watcher and her crew.
I arrived and with introductions done and cabins claimed we did what most divers do and head to the pub! We would be sailing at 2am, so had several hours to go. Steve, the skipper, said this was due to the tide, but I’m not so sure. The boat was conveniently moored very close to the pub!! :) It became apparent that there was a good mix of people, both male and female with varied experience, and the night was spent talking diving stories and progressed to other strange topics as the night went on!
We were told we would be sailing straight across to Northern Ireland and to our first dive on the Empire Heritage. Planning to be in the water at 3pm and in the pub soon after dropping anchor at Loch Swilly for the night.
After a calm crossing we awoke to the smell of lunch being prepared in the galley by Julie, the Loyal Watcher's cook (most of us missed breakfast). After lunch, with full stomachs, a quick safety briefing was given by Rich, the deck hand, and then Phil explained the method of tagging in and out on the shot and how we were to tie in and last man (or woman) up, cuts the jump line. Steve gave the call, shortly afterwards, and we all hurried off to fiddle with our kit and get prepared for the first dive. As if by clockwork, the shot was dropped at 2.45. I don’t know if it was nervous energy or excitement but I have never heard a group of divers so quiet when getting ready.
As I got ready to launch myself off the platform my adrenaline was pumping fast and it continued as I tried to follow Phil down the shot. I thought he must have a lead block attached to him as he sunk like a stone and out of site. I attached my tag and continued down. It was a hard swim as there was a strong current running, I was breathing hard which didn’t help my already elevated heart rate. At about 35M I spotted the wreck! I continued down and touched down on the wreck at 63m. I was breathing hard and I didn’t feel happy. The viz was excellent and I was on a huge wreck but I felt as if I was trying to breath through a straw. I had a quick look around and couldn’t see anyone else, I was on my own at 63m! I made the reluctant choice to abort as I could always come back another day. I felt better once I was heading up to my first gas swap but I still had a fair bit of decompression to do on my own. It wasn’t long before I could see the comforting site of bubbles below me and then the line was cut and we were all floating off in the current doing our deco. We were soon back onboard and heading for Loch Swilly.
The anchor was dropped and after another delicious meal from Julie we were shuttled to the pub for a real Guinness. I sat quiet in the pub listening to the reports of the wreck and what they had seen and was insanely jealous but happy that I made the right choice. Tomorrow I would take it easy down the shot.
The Laurentic was the target for the next day, and she sits at a modest depth of 40m. I cursed those rebreather divers as I calculated how much this dive would cost since I only had the one twinset and had already filled it up with Trimix. Never mind I thought and hoped I would find one of the unaccounted gold bars, which was never salvaged but I knew I would never find the ships bell, as it is hanging in a church on the mainland at Loch Swilly. Leveling off at 38m I followed Alex, my buddy for this dive. The viz on this dive was a mere 12m and the wreck is fairly broken up, but is still off massive proportions. While swimming through what looked like part of the engine room and boilers, I could see several congers poking out of holes in the wreck. Again I cursed those damn scooters, as I gave way to a diver on one, as he zipped passed me. Alex and I headed off to the bow section and before long, I waved goodbye to Alex as I now had racked up a bit of deco and Alex had more time since he was diving on a KISS rebreather and was quite happy to hassle the congers on his own. The Laurentic is normally used as an alternative if the weather picks up but is still worth a dip and is a short steam back to Loch Swilly for refreshments!
The Audacious was the next day’s target. Taking easy down the shot this time I again took in the awesome site of the wreck appearing below me at about 35m. I waited at the bottom of the shot for Gawaine and Jenny at 58m and George swam passed waving his hands frantically in a circular motion. I wondered for a second if he had a problem but then realized he was directing me towards the stern and the amazing 4 props. The three of us swam off and before long the incredible site of The Audacious props came into view. Kneeling on the upturned keel we stopped for as long as we could to take in the awesome site before turning round and slowly made our way back to the flashing strobe and our long ascent to the surface.
The next day was the last chance to try and dive the Justicia and I was praying it would be 3rd time lucky since weather had stopped our previous attempts. The hours that passed on the way to the dive site seemed long and I had my fingers crossed the whole time. Luck was on our side! Rich threw the shot in, and helped us kit up. I had seen pictures before of the Justicia but I was not prepared for what I was about to see. The Justicia was part of The White Star liners and is 32,324 tons sitting almost upright on the seabed at 70m. I placed my tag on the jump line and looked down. I could not believe what I could see! I was at 35m and I could see the distinct yellow boxes of Inspiration divers zipping around the wreck below me on their scooters. I could make out the whole bow section. The viz here was easily 30m. I stopped at 50m to take in the awesome site. My buddy and I headed off to follow the starboard side of the bow section and met others coming the other way with faces like kids on a fairground ride. I could even make out the screams of excitement from the rebreather divers. We continued along the starboard side and moved out to see the massive anchor, then up to the very tip of the bow where the safety rail still sits intact and gives a very ‘Titanic’ feel to the wreck. We moved off and followed the port side of the bow and now I looked along the length of the wreck and could clearly see the strobe firing away on the shot and other divers exploring towards the mid-ships and her huge boilers. Everything is of incredible size and proportion on the Justicia and you could easily spend a whole week exploring her. This is one wreck where I wished I had loads more gas and propulsion to go with it. We squeezed our last minute of bottom time watching Alex pop up through a hole in the wreck with a smile that was from ear to ear. The whole time during the ascent I never stopped looking at the amazing site below and wondered if I would ever get to see this spectacular wreck again?
The next day’s plan was to dive the Audacious again and find her massive guns.
I followed Gawaine and Jenny down the shot and started go get use to the amazing visibility. I knew I had been spoilt on this trip and would only find visibility of the same quality in the Red Sea. Once again we found ourselves on the upturned hull at 57m and quickly headed off to where we thought the guns would be lying. After swimming 10 mins against a modest tide, I spotted the unmistakable sight of the Audacious prop shafts. We realized we had swum the wrong way from the shot and ended up back at the stern. Jenny had stopped in front of us and was fixated on a part of the wreck. She had found a nudibranch on the hull of this huge wreck. Bottom time was ticking on so we turned around and gently floated back towards the shot. We glided over what looked like large shells and debris. I spotted a pile of broken plates and for a passing moment thought about getting a souvenir but came to my senses and left them on the seabed.
All too soon we reached the shot and started our lengthy trip to the surface again, only this time we knew this was going to be our last dive and would be heading home.
The trip back to Ayr was spent talking about the week's diving and swapping photos, telephone numbers and signing log books, until Steve the skipper announced that there was an official hurricane warning for Northern Ireland and West Coast of Scotland. He hoped that we could run to the mainland before it was upon us!
Safely back to Ayr we offloaded the boat, paid our gas bills and said our good-byes.
The trip cost £550 plus gas and was worth every penny. For me the highlight was the Justicia but I know everyone on the trip had different views. The outstanding visibility is also a highlight of the trip and at no point did I need a torch. I only used it to look into holes. You are at the mercy of the weather and we were lucky to achieve all that we did, but if you are prepared to take the gamble and the effort to go on this type of expedition to Northern Ireland you will not be disappointed.
Acknowledgements
I could not complete this article without mentioning and thanking the following-
Thanks to Grannie Patton for the use of the underwater photos for this article, Daniel Wessel, Malcolm Gauld and Liz Mcternan for accompanying me on build-up dives.
Bill Ruck who runs Moray Diving from Lossiemouth in the Moray Firth for giving me the kick off the boat I needed during build-up dives.
To Aberdeen Watersports and Deep Blue for an amazing trip I will never forget!
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