The Orkney Islands, location of Scapa Flow a natural harbour
since the days of the Norse invaders, more recently a base for
the British Royal Navy, The final resting place for the remains
of the German High Seas Fleet and the destination for this years
Selby Aquanauts diving expedition. The story starts at the
beginning of the twentieth century when Germany envious of the
colonies of her European neighbours and the wealth they are
bringing decided to build a navy to match that of the British
Royal Navy, at the time the most powerful in the world and
protector of the biggest empire the world has known. With the
Royal Navy as her target Germany started the first arms race of
the 20th century.
The Royal Navy’s policy at this time was to be able to outfight
and outgun the 2nd and 3rd navies in the world combined so no
two countries could form an alliance to defeat Britain and when
Germany started their building Britain took a close interest.
Since Britain was always more of a maritime nation than Germany
the infrastructure was in place to build ships at will so this
was a race Germany was destined to lose, especially when Britain
brought out the first of a new class of warship, “the
Dreadnought” larger and more powerful than any war ship ever
built it gave its name to a new class of ships.
As the great war started Germany’s naval policy was to shell
Eastern towns of England to tempt the Royal Navy out and take
them out individually. This policy never worked as, Germany,
always nervous of what was over the horizon, tended to hit and
run so the two powerful navies played a game of cat and mouse
around the North Sea, Each wanting to meet in battle, but
nervous of the power of their adversaries, until May 1916. Both
fleets were out in force when a Danish merchant ship steamed
past on the horizen and both navies sent a detachment to
investigate. The British ships were met by an outnumbering force
of the German “High Seas” fleet so turned and lead the Germans
in a running battle onto the guns of the rapidly advancing
dreadnoughts of the “Grand Fleet”. As darkness fell neither side
could claim a definite victory. The Royal Navy had lost more
ships but this was down to lighter armour to keep the ships
faster and more manouverable. Most of the German ships had
sustained damage that would have sunk a British ship so come the
morning the German fleet had fled to harbour for repairs, many
of them just floating hulks.
The following day the “Grand Fleet” was back at sea and the
“High Seas Fleet” was blockaded in port never to take to the
seas in force for the remainder of the war. As the war came to
an end the once proud German navy was escorted to internment at
Scapa Flow where in a final defiant act they scuttled 74 of
their own ships. Some were saved, others beached and during the
20’s and early 30’s a massive salvage operation took part and
many of the ships were salvaged for scrap, but, with the onset
of the second world war this came to a stop, and then, in 1945
when W.W.2 ended there was no shortage of scrap iron so the
remaining 14 ship were left to rest. The Dive Trip
Sailing South from our base at Stromness on the mainland of
Orkney we pass the brooding high hills of Hoy on our right and
as we head slightly east into the calm waters of Scapa Flow the
islands part. In the distance we can see the low mounds of
Burray, Flotta,Holm, Fara and Ronaldsay. Hoy by the way got its
name because it’s the hoyest island in the Orkneys, the Vikings
either had a dry sense of humour or were not very imaginative
with name giving. It’s a glorious day, the sun glistening on the
blue green water ahead. It’s a forty minute trip out to the
wreck we are diving today. There is no rush to get our equipment
together so during the next half hour the usual leg pulling and
mickey taking goes on. During this time most of the divers have
brought their gear up from the drying room where it was hung up
last night and are starting to assemble it. A number of jobs
need to be done, making sure you got a good air fill yesterday
and for the majority of divers aboard analysing the Nitrox fill
(Nitrox is an oxygen enriched air which has recently become the
gas of choice for most responsible and suitably qualified
divers) Because the boat was full of Yorkshire folk there was of
course the tight wad who used air all week because it was free,
my nitrox bill for the week was £19.50 which I though was good
value especially when it was increasing my diving time by about
30%. We are diving on the “Brummer” today and with ten minutes
to go the skipper Robert shouts down from the wheelhouse to
galvanise us into action.
We arrive at the wreck site kitted up and ready to go and as
Robert slows down we step off into the water. The wreck is
bouyed so meeting my buddy at the bouy we exchange signals and
begin our descent. Natural light fades as we go deeper until we
see a dark shape below in the gloom. Landing on the deck along a
row of empty portholes we exchange O.K.signals, make adjustments
to our bouyancy and glide over the side. The Brummer lays on her
side and we intend finning along the deck which is now vertical
at our side.Descending to the seabed we look up and the wreck is
silhouetted in the greenyblue glow from above. Ascending
slightly we set off along the deck our torches picking out
various features until, passing the anchor chain capstans we
come to the muzzle of a 5.9″ gun, gliding along the barrel and
round the protective shield we come to the conning tower, the
command centre when in battle, the access door behind the
conning tower is missing so we cautiously enter, disturbed silt
threatens our vision so leaving we come to the bridge where
empty windows still look out for the battle that will never
come. Beyond that broken rigging,sagging handrails and dangling
wires attest to her age. Checking our computers and contents
gauges 35 minutes later we decide that’s it for this dive and
retrace our route to the line. The sunlight shines down to meet
us as we make our ascent and after pausing at 6 metres for a
safety stop we finally emerge into the morning sun. James on the
bridge is waiting to exchange O.K. signs with us and soon Robert
is coming to pick us up. Another great dive. Once everyone is
back on board we’re off to Lyness where the naval base used to
be to visit the museum and have a bowl of soup in the NAAFI. By
the time we return about an hour and a half later James is just
finishing charging up our cylinders and Robert is flat out on
the upper deck asleep in the sun. Woken by our return he soon
has James casting off and it’s away to our second dive.
The Second dive brings a choice of shallower dives. There are
the blockships sunk in the sounds between the islands to keep
out the U boats,both second and first world wars,a dive boat,
bottle dives where the rubbish of years has been dumped over the
side (I found a glazed stoneware preserve jar similar to one in
the Stromness museum, others found an assortment of interesting
old bottles) and the F2 a German escort boat similar to the R.N.
corvettes. This was taken in war reparation but sunk, believed
to have sprung a severe leak soon after and was not considered
worth lifting. This is the one we’ll choose. An interesting
point of this wreck is that it was sold for salvage in 1968 and
during salvage a gale blew up and the salvage barge with all the
salvaged parts went down yet again. The wreck lies in only 16
metres at high water and rises to within 7 metres of the
surface. The hull is broken in two with the stern upright and
the remainder on its port side. We drop down onto the barge and
explore the salvaged parts for a while then follow the weed
covered line to the F2 where we seem to be a source of interest
to a number of wrasse about a foot long that follow us around
the wreck. Like all the wrecks it is covered with life. Apart
from the many types of fish we see the odd seal. There are
numerious specimens of the tiny Devonshire cup coral, many types
of anemone including the large plumose, many types of starfish
including some huge sunstars over a foot across and on all the
overhangs and superstructure grow dead men’s fingers, a soft
coral. There are also many sponges,sea squirts and sea urchins
and of course crabs, lobsters and shellfish Many of the spider
crabs grow a garden of weed on their backs so sometimes while
near the seabed a clump of weed suddenly walks away. As we leave
the break in the hull behind we need to ascend slightly to go
over to the other side to reach the superstructure where we find
the single mast laid on the seabed the searchlight platform
still recognisable. The forward gun is intact and the starboard
anchor chain leads out from the bow. Being a smaller ship at
shallower depth we are able to cover the whole wreck in one dive
and still find time to collect a bag of scallops for tonights
meal. Lovely fried in garlic butter.
Other wrecks dived on the trip are Kronprinz Wilhelm, Karlsruhe,
Koln, Dresden, Gobernador Bories and the Tabarka. The latter
being a blockship in Burra sound. Formerly a merchant ship she
lies upside down and being in a place of strong tides is swept
clean and consequently there is no silt inside to disturb.
Plates are missing but the construction seems sound so we enter.
Passing through the engine room torches are needed as without
them it’s pitch black. Three boilers lay in a row on the bottom
and underneath one is a large lobster (tonights tea) While
Christine my buddy is trying to tease it out I nipped the back
of her leg, After she jumped I got a punch for my troubles.
Passing through the dark engine room we see two more torch beams
coming towards us and two more from our club pass by exchanging
O.K.s on the way. This was the last dive and so with heavy
hearts and fond memories of a fantastic week of diving we head
back to Stromness to pack ready for the long drive home tomorrow.
If you are inspired by the tale of our diving trip why not take
a diving course and join us on one of our many trips around
Britain. Contact John Hewitt. Master scuba diver trainer on
Selby 702487 and the adventure can begin. The club meets in the
Bay Horse in Selby every Thursday evening if you would like to
call in for a chat.
