CLUBFOCUS
Members at a BDMLR course
Quarry dive at the nature reserve
full story of the Racehorse is covered in a blog called HM Sloop Racehorse , written by our Chair , Leigh Morris ( https :// leigh3666 . wordpress . com / 2022 / 12 / 19 / hm-sloop-racehorse / ).
We rediscovered the wreck site in April 2022 when Jon Chamberlain from Essex University carried out photogrammetry of the main wreck site and created a 3-D model . Jon and his team returned to the IOM
Dive briefing in process
At the litterpick
34 in 2023 and carried out wider mapping of the wreck site with UWIS tracking equipment , and on this visit we were delighted to find three of the cannons , carronades actually ( short , light cannon with a large bore , used at close range ) from the ship . Jon and team , now members , returned again in May 2024 to do further mapping . As a club we dive the site regularly and are finding new artifacts on every dive .
But it ’ s not all about wreckage ?
No , our Club Secretary Lara Howe is the IOM coordinator for the citizen science marine life recording project Seasearch . Lara is also the Marine Officer for Manx Wildlife Trust , and , assisted by our Club Chair Leigh ( who also works for Manx Wildlife Trust ), she coordinates the Manx Eelgrass Project . This provides opportunities for our club members to engage with underwater surveys and we also carried out seagrass translocation . Oh , and we aim to do a dive-litter pick once a year , typically to coincide with the global marine litter clean-up day in September .
The club was recently contacted by Merv Williams , an amateur lighthouse enthusiast with links to heritage organisations , who asked if we could do a search dive around the base of Douglas Lighthouse to look for the metal frame of the old light lens that is believed to have been thrown in the sea during an upgrade in 1986 . It will be our next mission .
What else is the club planning for the next few years ?
We will be developing our membership , particularly in the island ’ s capital city of Douglas . We know there are scores – maybe hundreds – of qualified divers in the Isle of Man who probably never dive in British waters . We are keen to launch club pool / social nights in Douglas , hopefully encouraging more to join the club , try IOM diving and maybe go on foreign diving holidays together .
The Isle of Man is a well-kept diving secret . We are only a two-and-ahalf-hour ferry crossing away from Liverpool , so we are always amazed that more UK-based divers don ’ t come here to dive . We ’ d love to welcome you to come and dive with us around our island . �