April Posts

George Wookey, Naval Record Breaker Dies At 84

George Wookey, a Royal Navy diver who in 1956 dived to a record breaking 183m, which is still a record for a dive in flexible diving dress has died in Australia at the age of 84.
In October 1956, just before his 34th birthday, Wookey set his world depth record near Bergen in Norway's Sorfjord, diving from HMS Reclaim.

Two Missing After Greek Cruise Ship Runs Aground

Two French tourists a 45-year-old man and his 16-year-old daughter are missing after a cruise ship ran aground off the Greek island of Santorini.
The 143-metre vessel 'Sea Diamond' was approximately one nautical mile off the coast of Santorini when it struck a reef.
Greek navy divers smashed the port hole of their cabin, but failed to find any trace of them.

SS Storaa Gets War Grave Status

The UK Ministry of Defence has agreed to grant the SS Storaa, which was torpedoed off the Hastings coast in 1943, full military protection.
The SS Storaa was attacked by German E-boats as it transported steel in convoy to a weapons factory in Cardiff.
Rosemary Fogg and Valerie Ledgard, from Worthing, won a court case and then an appeal in 2006 to protect the vessel.
The women are the daughters of Petty Officer James Varndell, who died with 21 others when the ship was torpedoed.

Divers destroy WWII Bomb Dragged Up In Fishing Nets

Army explosives experts have destroyed a 500lb World War II bomb after a fisherman fishing near Hythe took a picture of the device in his nets and sent it to Dover Coastguard.

Police Divers Assist As Cars Are Pulled From Water

Two cars have been recovered from Bristol's Harbourside by police.
Officers involved in investigating the case believe both vehicles were stolen.
Police divers began exploring the water after a tip-off from a member of the public.

Vessel Capsizes In North Sea

8 people died including a 15 year old boy when the anchor handling vessel Bourbon Dolphin capsized in the North Sea.
Royal Navy divers entered the submerged vessel three times but found no signs of life.
During later salvage operations conducted by Smit Salvage the ship sunk and now lies in 3,600 feet of water.
The Bourbon Dolphin, although only launched last autumn was of a traditional design and similar to many others in the North Sea and Atlantic.
Anchor handling is generally regarded as one of the most hazardous offshore activities because of the risk to crew on the deck, but capsizing is not regarded as a threat.

Busy Weekend For Portland Coastguard

Two divers were airlifted to safety after getting into trouble in separate incidents off the Dorset coast.
As the Coastguard's helicopter was winching a diver from a dive boat near Lulworth Cove it received another distress call and then went on to rescue another diver who had made a rapid ascent just off Anvil Point.
Both men were airlifted to the chamber at Poole for treatment.
Rescue teams also helped a broken down dive boat in West Bay.
Ros Evans, of Portland Coastguard, said: "The dive season has begun with a vengeance.

Body Found In Quarry Search

A body has been found during a search for a teenager at a flooded quarry.
Divers found the body in the Blue Lagoon beauty spot in Arlesey.
During the search thieves broke into an emergency vehicle and stole a radio, mobile phone, digital camera and nitrous oxide.

New Chamber In Dominica

A new hyperbaric chamber has been installed on the island of Dominica in the West Indies.
The chamber at the Princess Margaret Hospital in the capital, Roseau, was financed by the EU, through the Ecotourism Development Programme at a cost of $750,000.

Body Recovered From Car

A Royal Navy Dive Team have removed the body of a man from a car which crashed off a pier and went into the water at Graemsay, a small island south of Stromness, Orkney.

Dr. Joseph Bauer Dies At 76

Physician, Dive Historian and Co-Founder of History of Diving Museum Dr. Joseph Bauer has died after a brief battle with cancer.
The Florida Keys History of Diving Museum, which is based in Islamorada, boasts artifacts collected by Dr Bauer and his wife for more than four decades. It is a historic progression of diving technology from every era and from every part of the world.

WRSTC Endorses DAN/UHMS Diabetes Guidelines

After a thorough overview of the new DAN Diabetes guidelines, the WRSTC unanimously endorsed the guidelines and agreed to work to with the UHMS to add the new information to the current WRSTC Medical Guidelines to the Physician.
The WRSTC is dedicated to the worldwide safety of the recreational diving public. As such, one of the WRSTC’s primary goals is the development of worldwide minimum training standards. The establishment of globally recognised and implemented standards is a valuable asset in addressing local and national regulatory issues.

The WRSTC consists of the following organisations:

* International Diving Educators Association (IDEA)
* Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI)
* Professional Dive Instructors Corporation (PDIC)
* Scuba Diving International (SDI)
* Scuba Schools International (SSI) and
* Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA).

The organisation meets throughout the year to deal with issues involving training in the scuba industry. WRSTC is also the Secretariat for the ANSI Committee Z-375, Scuba Diving Training Standards and Safety.

Body Found In River

The North Yorkshire Police underwater team searching the River Foss in York for a missing man have recovered a body.

British Diver Dies in Spain

A British diver has died after a dive off Malaga, Spain.
The diver, a father of four, was one of Britain's leading classical musicians, working as principal double bassist with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
He is believed to have suffered DCI following a fast ascent.

Joint Search For Belgian Diver

An RAF helicopter from Wattisham joined a Belgian rescue helicopter from Koksijde and a fixed-wing aircraft from the Netherlands in the search for a missing diver 40 miles off Aldeburgh in Suffolk.
The diver was diving from a hardboat based in Antwerp and failed to surface during a 35-40m dive.
After the unsuccessful search the diver has been declared lost, presumed dead.

Divers Warned Not To Remove Scallops

A warning has been issued to divers off the Isle of Man about its protected shellfish stocks. The Department of Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry said that divers should be aware that the rules apply to them, and not just those who fish.