GO WITH THE FLOW
by Helen Lear


I have always wanted to visit the Orkneys, a group of islands 6 miles north of Scotland. I was interested in their pre-historic remains; some of the most fascinating to be found anywhere. While it was ancient history that drew me to the sights on land, it was more recent history that led me to explore underwater.

When the British and German governments were discussing an amnesty at the end of World War II, the Germans surrendered the high seas fleet, consisting of 74 vessels. They were interred at Scapa Flow, a natural anchorage in the middle of the Orkneys, sheltered on most sides from the otherwise ferocious seas.

Admiral Von Reuter, the man in charge, fearing the break down of negotiations, made plans to scuttle the fleet. On 21st June 1919, under the impression that hostilities were to continue, he gave the order for the fleet to be scuttled. In response to a pre-arranged signal the sea cocks were opened and all 74 ships began to sink to the bottom of the sea.

The British tried to prevent the ships from sinking and while some of the ships were towed into shallow water the majority were lost, most of them coming to rest on their sides. The large warships, carrying 12" thick armour plating and massive guns, turned turtle due to their weight.

Extensive salvage operations were carried out in the 1920s when the holes were filled in their hulls, compressed gas pumped in and the ships re-floated to be towed to shore and broken up for scrap. Seven ships remain however, a mixture of warships, escort vessels and mine layers, lying between 25 and 40m.

I arranged for guided dives with local firm Scapa Scuba, based in Stromness. There are 10 dive operators based in Stromness, the town in Orkney where most of the dive operators are based. Scapa Scuba specialize in guided dives, individual divers and trainees and offered a very good service. Their boat, the "Radiant Queen", had a very well organised deck space with a central bench for kitting up, and on which kit could be left for the next dive, or even the next day. There was a galley upstairs and below deck was a loo [very important!] and both a dry room and wet room for getting changed, storing kit etc. The dive plans were thorough and the staff, mostly female, were extremely helpful. The boat could hold 12 but the most people that were on board with me, including staff, was 7, giving lots of room and personal attention.

The ships are all buoyed and although it was interesting to have a guide to point out various bits ["That big pointy thing that looks like a gun - that's a gun"] it wasn't really necessary. Basically we descended a shot line and hey presto! there was a ruddy great ship at the end of it. The only real difference was that I wouldn't have attempted swim- throughs without a guide, as I didn't know the ships layout.

I dived on 8 ships in all including 4 from the German fleet. My first dive was on the "S.M.S. Köln", a German light cruiser. The visibility was about 12m and the wreck, as well as the life on and around it, was spectacular. I also dived on other light cruisers and escort ships including the "Brummer", "Karlsruhe" and "Dresden", weighing in at between 4-5000 tons, and they are called LIGHT cruisers! I also dived on the battleship "Kronprinz Wilhelm", a dainty 35,000 tons [no wonder it sank.] This is a real must for wreck ferrets as it is possible to swim for a considerable length of the ship tucked between the sea bed and the deck [she's upside down remember.]

Just off the island of Hoy lie the F2 and the YC21. The F2 sank in 1946 when salvagers took a bit they shouldn't have. The YC21 was a vessel used by salvagers that sank beside her some time later. Both ships, one metal, one wood, made for a very nice dive after a lunchtime visit to the Scapa Flow museum on Hoy. The museum has a history of wartime Orkney as well as many artifacts from the high seas fleet.

One of the best dives for sea life was on the "Doyle", a boat lying in the tidal Burra sound between Hoy and Mainland. The wreck can only be dived at slack and for us this lasted about 35 minutes. The tide means that the visibility is stunning and the wreck lies at a mere 18m so it is very light and the sea life abounds. Ballan wrasse are especially friendly, following divers about inquisitively. Lobsters lurk unafraid under the deck and I got close to 2 large congers , one of which swam along the bottom of the hull beside us. The wreck could be entered on 3 levels and was covered in soft corals, sponges, anenomes, brittle stars and colourful weeds. On other dives I also saw scorpion fish, starfish of every size, shape and colour, and cuckoo wrasse.

As with all of the dives it was over all too soon. My final dive was again on the "Köln", and it was even better than the first. There must have been thousands of fish inside and out. Fantastic. Of course, on the one day I could have dived but didn't, a large basking shark swam up to the boat followed by a Minke Whale. As it was I chose to dive on more occasions than I had originally planned for. I just couldn't resist it.

Stromness is a town populated by divers and it offers a wide range of accommodation to suit everyone. The people are extremely friendly and if the diving should be blown out, remembering that Scapa is sheltered and has a wide variety of wrecks to choose from as well as the Churchill Barrriers, you will never be short of places to visit on land.

Scapa is famous for its wreck diving and they don't call it the best in Europe for nothing. I met divers who had travelled from Canada, Germany, Stoney Cove, New Zealand and Japan. I will do everything I can to visit again, and as we are so lucky to have all this on what is really our doorstep, I strongly recommend that you pay a visit too.

Helen Lear
Newman Sport Diving club
Coventry


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