DIVEUK2024
Inside the block ship Tabarka , Scapa Flow
9 You ’ ll feel closer to history than at any museum
Some of us love our squidge , but for many British divers the main event has always been shipwrecks .
These days , it ’ s all about research , even surveying sunken vessels to professional standards ; the lump hammer has been replaced with photogrammetry and quadrats .
Still , one attraction that remains the same is the tangible sense of history that comes with diving a wreck , its final moments frozen in time . I started off diving wrecks because that ’ s what my fellow divers wanted to do , and I enjoyed the life I found on the crumbling structures . Then I went to Scapa Flow in Orkney and dived the Konig-class battleship , SMS Markgraf . We descended down the immense hull , arriving at the array of 12-inch guns that had once fired against the British fleet at the Battle of Jutland . As the massive guns emerged under our torchlight , the atmosphere around us was charged with the power of the past .
Another example – in the far north of
Shetland there is the wreck of the British submarine E49 , which sank after hitting a mine in March of 1917 . The submarine lies at 29m with her bows blown off , gradually sinking into a bed of white sand . A war grave , this ethereal site is the final resting place of 31 submariners .
Those who have visited this wreck speak of a profound respect for the men who died on board . It ’ s not the most challenging of dives , but its remote location and stark beauty make it quite unique . It ’ s a dive that lives with you long after you return to your own boat and gaze across Balta Sound . �
The fallen conning tower of HMS E49 , Shetland
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