Human Factors in Diving Incidents - Or how to learn from other's mistakes!

Gareth Lock posted a link on Facebook regarding a talk he was doing in Plymouth on 'Human Factors in Diving Incidents'. The description stated -

“Gareth Lock is the founder of Cognitas http://www.cognitas.org.uk/cognitas/Index.html, an organisation promoting a "just culture" among divers and highlighting the need to encourage divers to report all incidents, however minor or innocuous they appear to be at the time.

ss Great Britain.

I had arranged to pick up a new four wheel drive near Bristol on Friday, the travel arrangements and timings meant I would have most of the day to kill in Bristol. The choices were Ikea or the ss Great Britain, I decided to go to the ss Great Britain first and Ikea afterwards. I didn't know much about the ship or the museum but would have plenty of time to find out. I had to use the satnav as I missed the turn somewhere after leaving the M5. The nice new shiny building close to the river was filled with gifts relating to the ship or the sea. I paid the £12.50 entry fee and walked out through the glass door.

The first thing I saw was the stern of the ss Great Britain, it was quite impressive. The small paper guide suggested a visit to the dry dock first, so into the glass room and down the stairs I went. The ship is lying in the original dry dock it was built 170 years ago. A glass flat roof had been built at the ships water line around it, a shallow layer of water trickled overhead. The glass roof sealed the whole area below the ships water line which has some large ducting connected to a huge dehumidifier. According to research, as long as the relative humidity was below 20% it wouldn't rust any more. It felt warm, dry air always feels warm. It also felt a little weird, I was under water albeit an inch on top of the glass, warm & dry and looking at the hull of a 170 year old 100m long ship. I have seen a lot of wrecks of various sizes in various states but this was complete and upright with the best vis you could want. I wandered around the hull, there were many holes that apparently started to appear whilst it was abandoned on the Falkland Islands. The humidity controlled environment would hopefully mean it would stay as it is without further corrosion. The ship had been fitted with a replica of the original propeller. There were information boards around the place explaining about the propeller, the bows and the dry environment. The next stop on the route was the museum.

The museum housed many items recovered from the ship, including the propeller and rudder that was fitted to the ship at the end of it's life. Described as a 'Journey back in time through the history of Brunel's great ship'. There were interactive pieces and a film show too. There were a lot of bits, which were all of interest, especially the bell. I did spend quite a while in there but wanted to board the ship. A gangway from the top of the museum lead across to the ship.

The ship has been restored to as close as they can get to the original 1843 version. I could hear a winch being operated and a cow was mooing! I eventually found the cow just behind the place where we could pick up the free audio companion. There was a choice of four settings depending on your level of interest, I chose 'Maritime Archaeologist'. The Maritime Archaeologist setting was supposed to be more technical. I wandered around the weather deck before making my way below deck. The middle deck was the promenade deck, I had come down the stairs next to the Captains Cabin and headed aft towards the promenade saloon. Off of the saloon there was the surgery with a couple of manikins, in the saloon another manikin sat at a table with a newspaper. There was also several passenger cabins, made up as they would have been 170 years ago with various scenes being played out. The audio companion was going off with long stories of people who had sailed on board, spoken quotes and comments of passengers played in various accents. Fore of the captains was the engine room. Although none of the original engineering components were left, most of it had been rebuilt and put into motion. The whole mechanism slowly rotated the same way as it would have originally, albeit under electrical propulsion and not steam. There were more cabins around the engine room with the galley fore of the engine room. The galley was fully fitted out with stove fires lit (electrically) and food being prepared. Fore of the galley was the steerage accommodation. Down stairs to the saloon galley where the splendid dining saloon was situated. Tables laid out with ssGB plates, cups & saucers ready for a meal. There were several locked doors around the saloon which may have been states room. Fore of the dining saloon there was a better view of the engine room behind perspex. Then there is another dining room that was closed to the public. Close to the bow was the cargo deck and a walkway to viewing the forward hold. That was about as far as we were allowed to go.

I slowly made my way back up to the top deck and handed back my audio companion. I had commented about the fact there were two cannon on deck, I was told that on trans-Atlantic voyages it never carried any but for the long haul to Australia, where it would return with gold, it would carry eight cannons and a hundred muskets.

Some modern additions to the ship included two lifts, one normal and one wheelchair, to get from the weather deck down to the promenade and saloon decks. Public toilets are available on the saloon deck.

I made my way back through the museum and around the rear to look at the masts that were fitted to the ship after it's last modifications, they were huge, the largest masts ever. I wandered around the Great Western Dockyard before heading back to the shop and exit. Whilst in the dockyard I had spotted Matthew, a 500 year old replica of a square rigged caravel, would be nice to get close but couldn't work out how. I went into the shop and bought the guide book and a couple of other bits, after all the ss Great Britain is a charity. I also asked how to get closer to Matthew to get some better photos than the ones I got at the Sea Shanty festival in Falmouth earlier in the year.

In summary, the whole site is both very interesting and fascinating. A must for anyone who has any interest in ships, especially divers. I am used to seeing the remains of old ships without any understanding of what the used to looked like close up, now I have some knowledge. As a charity the ss Great Britain needs all the help it can get to keep up the good work and look after the worlds first steel ship, the largest of it's day. So if you are near Bristol and have a few hours spare, find the ss Great Britain and enjoy.

The weekend before they protected the UB65 four divers headed out for one last rummage. One of the divers was after one of the 100mm deck guns shells which were lying around. I told him if he was going to bring one up he needed to bring makes sure it was without the head/projectile. If he couldn't find an empty one then knock the head off. The wreck is between 54-58m so not shallow but not too deep. We all jumped in at pretty much the same time and headed down. We were soon swimming around, I was taking pictures while everyone else was seeing if there was anything worth having. It wasn't long before I heard some banging noises, someone's knocking the head of the shell off I thought. It wasn't long before the banging stopped and I was the last one on the wreck. One last glance and some photos of the exposed torpedo tubes and I headed back up the shot line. I had been down there the longest and had the most deco, I met a couple of divers at the 6m stops but they didn't hang around for long. Slack water had finished and the water started running, it was getting quite exciting hanging on when all of a sudden I got a sinking feeling. I looked up and the boat had gone leaving me on the shot line in a strong current, the buoys had both sunk and I was hanging on to the top of the tell tale buoy at 9m. The current backed off a bit, the buoy popped back up and the boat returned and tied on again luckily. After I got out they told me one of the divers decided to do his last stop on his DSMB, not realising that the current was that strong on the north coast. He was drifting away, they knew where I would be so went after him. We then had to go and find the lift bag with the shell case hanging from it, it was over half a mile away. When it was lifted out I noticed it still had the head on it, 'I thought I said to take the head off!” I said. The divers response was “I thought you meant the little brass bit on the end, I Got that off”, “that was the detonator cap for the explosive head” I replied, “Oh!” was everyone's response.

After seeing Gary's post for the 'winter warmer' dive trip to Plymouth on Yorkshire Divers I sent Ruth a message and she replied saying she'd go as well. Four dives including pasty lunch, evening meal on the Saturday, B&B and air fills for Sunday all for £95 how could we resist. We booked on the trip. After weeks of strong southerly and easterly winds they switched direction and it looked like it would go ahead, a message from Gary on the Friday said it would.

Saturday morning I rang Gary, we had 3” of snow in Cornwall! Gary said it was clear in Plymouth so we switched from the van to the 4WD and made our way there. Saturday was going to be a later start as the 2^nd dive was a night dive. The snow seemed to stop a few miles up the road and it was then clear to Plymouth so we arrived in good time. We loaded up the boat, parked the car and when we were all ready we set off. There were only six of us, why? It was a cheap and sociable weekend, where were the divers?

The winds were still strong and very cold but we were heading around Rame Head to the Scylla so we would be fairly protected. We had decided to dive the Scylla during daylight hours so everyone could have a good look around safely, the James Egan Layne would be the night dive. The Scylla wasn't everyone's first choice but it was probably the safest. Gary dropped us in on the Bow shot line and down we went. The visibility was normal for the Scylla, around 4-5m, the temperature was 12C and that was a lot warmer than it was on the surface. We headed down the port side and swam through a few times and made our way to the stern, where we swam underneath around the prop shaft area. We ascended up the stern and made our way along the starboard side, again swimming through a couple of times. Into the bridge and out through the side, back to the bow and made our way back up. There wasn't any more life than the last time I was there, the usual wrasse and pollack, only a couple of nudibranchs but loads of plumose anemones and dead mans fingers.

As soon as we were on the boat Ada brought us drinks, when we were all aboard pasties were served, followed by chocolate. Gary put Topgun closer to the coast to give us some cover from the wind while we waited for dusk. It wasn't long before it was getting dark, Gary headed for the marker buoy and gave me a strobe to attach to it so he knew where we should end up. We jumped in in the last of any daylight. It was surprising how different it seemed at night, it's normally so green, now you could really see the rusty brown everywhere. To play it safe we swam down the port side, making our way through the remains of the bulkheads, to the broken area near the stern and swam back up the starboard side. Throughout the whole dive there were eyes everywhere, prawns of every size. We also saw several congers, crabs, lobster and a big tompot blenny as well as the usual wrasse, bib, pollock and whiting. A cracking dive and one I'd really like to do again. We only stayed down 45 minutes but by the time we surfaced it was pitch black, once everyone was back on board we headed back, into the wind and waves slowly and safely. We left all our kit on board apart from our cameras and went to the Boringdon Arms to book in. The Bori is an inexpensive pub/hotel where a lot diver stay as it is close to Mountbatten. We all met up for our evening meal, Gary and Ada left early to stay on the boat while we stayed up for a drink or two.

The following morning the winds had dropped, the sky was blue but there was still a nip in the air. Our cylinders had all been filled, all we had to do was to carry them back to the boat. We had gained a couple of extra divers for the day so now there was eight of us. First dive of the day was going to be the Elk, a little deeper at 34m. The shot was dropped and down we went. The visibility on the Elk has never been great and today was no exception, at the surface there seemed to be very little current but down below it was running a little. We swam around it a couple of times and our bottom time was over. We couldn't find the shot line, it wasn't where it was when we went down, so we sent up the DSMB. More pasties & chocolate for lunch and we basked in the sunshine while we waited. Our last dive was going to be back on the JEL. We went down the shot again, this time we went down the starboard side first. Visibility was 4-5m still and the temperature was still 12C. The JEL never disappoints as a dive, always lots to see. Once we reached the stern area we swam across to the stern section, Ruth and I were the only ones there and we spent a little time to look around it. After 35 minutes we swam back to the main part of the wreck and up the port side. Surfacing after 60 minutes we both had smiles on our faces.

A great weekend was had by all and what value for money. We look forward to our trip in January when we are on the Coronation dive weekend.

Wednesday October 3^rd

Scuba Divers have released over 300 juvenile lobsters onto the Manacles Reef.

A volunteer team of scuba divers, organised by Mark Milburn of Atlantic Scuba, collected juvenile lobsters from the National Lobster Hatchery in Padstow. They then transported them by boat from Mylor Yacht Harbour to the Manacles Reef, where they were to be released into the wild. The lobsters were taken underwater to the sea bed by the volunteer divers, then carefully released into areas where they are known to thrive. Mark Milburn said he thought the Manacles was an ideal place for the juvenile lobsters to be released, eventually benefiting both the fishing and diving community.

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