SEA Explorers Club

Back to Basics

djl_team — Fri, 18 May 2012 03:09:58 +0000

Every year the north east monsoon gives way to the south east monsoon.
The ancient Chinese called them trade winds and built ships that could sustain sailors for the whole year, thus taking advantage of the north east wind to sail to Mallaca and Indonesia, to trade and then return on the south west wind to their home port. This practice has been used by sailors since the start of trade and which, sadly, has been forgotten by most when steam and eventually diesel started to carry the trade ( with less romance but more speed). The Trade winds themselves have continued unabated, with irrelevance given to the technical advances made by man to progress trade .
There are, however, some sailors and and other people of the sea that still watch the rhythm of the wind. Whole islands in the alderman sea close when the wind driven waves blowing out of the south west monsoon make them inaccessible to small ships bringing supplies. Resorts and dive centers close even though the opportunity to dive and swim in the Leigh of the wind in brilliant sunshine still exists.
Those of us that still watch the rhythm of the wind see that twice a year, although not exactly the same date but around the same period, notice the strength of the wind drops off and starts to shift .This time frame can last anywhere from a week to a month, at the end of which, the opposing trade wind truly kicks in. It is during this period that the calmest sea states occur and the maximum opportunity for looking for anomalies on the sea bed occurs .
With this in mind, myself and Dave, our leading technical instructor, set off this year not only looking to locate previously undived wrecks but also enjoy the beauty of sailing. Our vessel of choice was the Inasfail, a small ketch run by Steve, an old mariner with more sun rincals in his skin than in his sails. Looking at the tides, which are extremely important when diving in the straights of Mallaca, we decided to set off on the 20th of April hoping that the change in wind would start around then but also knowing that Sumatra would keep us out of the worst of the wind driven waves. If the change of wind where to have happened earlier and knowing that we would be protected by the peninsula after rounding Singapore,if that were to be the case, sound planning as this was exactly what was to happen. A shame as then we were only able to cross over the marks in the straights of Mallaca, confirming the presence of two large vessels but unable to dive them due to the difficulties of getting back on board a sailing ship in full technical rig. Frustrating, but there are a few more adaptable vessels in Penang we can use, now that we know they are there .
We decided to rush down to Singapore and around into the gulf of Thailand as quickly as possible to maximize our rations and time for searching for our targets in that area ,with a day spent on the HMS Repulse and IJN Hatsutaka. After a few days shooting video of these most impressive of shipwrecks, we continued north and ran a search on a mark we thought could be the Akita Maru. Very quickly, we had a large return. We shot the mark and readied our equipment although the visibility was very bad .We believe we located a large cargo vessel in 56 metres but as our rations were getting low and the diesel fuel nearly on fumes, we had to make the decision to head to port with what little wind we had, arriving back in Koh Samui on the 7th of May.

Back to Basics

djl_team — Thu, 17 May 2012 06:20:37 +0000

Every year the north west monsoon gives way to the south east monsoon.
The ancient Chinese called them trade winds and built ships that could sustain sailors for the whole year, thus taking advantage of the north east wind to sail to Mallaca and Indonesia, to trade and then return on the south west wind to their home port. This practice has been used by sailors since the start of trade and which, sadly, has been forgotten by most when steam and eventually diesel started to carry the trade ( with less romance but more speed). The Trade winds themselves have continued unabated, with irrelevance given to the technical advances made by man to progress trade .
There are, however, some sailors and and other people of the sea that still watch the rhythm of the wind. Whole islands in the alderman sea close when the wind driven waves blowing out of the south west monsoon make them inaccessible to small ships bringing supplies. Resorts and dive centers close even though the opportunity to dive and swim in the Leigh of the wind in brilliant sunshine still exists.
Those of us that still watch the rhythm of the wind see that twice a year, although not exactly the same date but around the same period, notice the strength of the wind drops off and starts to shift .This time frame can last anywhere from a week to a month, at the end of which, the opposing trade wind truly kicks in. It is during this period that the calmest sea states occur and the maximum opportunity for looking for anomalies on the sea bed occurs .
With this in mind, myself and Dave, our leading technical instructor, set off this year not only looking to local ate wrecks but also enjoy the beauty of sailing. Our vessel of choice was the Inasfail, a small ketch run by Steve, an old mariner with more sun rivals in his skin than in his sails. Looking at the tides, which are extremely important when diving in the straights of Mallaca, we decided to set off on the 20th of April hoping that the change in wind would start around then but also knowing that Sumatra would keep us out of the worst of the wind driven waves. If the change of wind where to have happened earlier and knowing that we would be protected by the peninsula after rounding Singapore,if that were to be the case, sound planning as this was exactly what was to happen. A shame as then we were only able to cross over the marks in the straights of Mallaca, confirming the presence of two large vessels but unable to dive them due to the difficulties of getting back on board a sailing ship in full technical rig. Frustrating, but there are a few more adaptable vessels in Penang we can use, now that we know they are there .

We decided to rush down to Singapore and around into the gulf of Thailand as quickly as possible to maximize our rations and time for searching for our targets in that area ,with a day spent on the HMS Repulse and IJN Hatsutaka. After a few days shooting video of these most impressive of shipwrecks, we continued north and ran a search on a mark we thought could be the Akita Maru. Very quickly, we had a large return. We shot the mark and readied our equipment although the visibility was very bad .We believe we located a large cargo vessel in 56 metres but as our rations were getting low and the diesel fuel nearly on fumes, we had to make the decision to head to port with what little wind we had, arriving back in Koh Samui on the 7th of May.

Repulse and prince of Wales

djl_team — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 07:31:10 +0000

tottori Maru

djl_team — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 06:07:54 +0000

Shipwreck report for the third shipwreck located on the recent expedition

djl_team — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 04:58:46 +0000

After the excitment of the previous dive, we settled down and topped up our gas for what was to be our last dive on this expedition. The target mark was believed to be a victim of the British minelaying submarine ,HMS Porpoise. On the chart, the depth showed only 50Mtr. On the fishermans mark, this was only 1 nautical mile away from the war record report for the Choko Maru.
We believed that this IJN minelayer was also requisitioned from the local ships plying harmless trade ,and converted for this task. She strayed into a minefield laid by the Porpoise and was sent to the bottom.

We arrived on the mark and had a result on the sonar almost straight away .The shot was placed and, for the last time on this trip, we all jumped into our gear with myself and Dave jumping in last. The current was running and by the time we got down to the bottom we met the rest of the team starting their ascent.They were signalling a no show on the wreck. I signalled to Dave and we decided to continue .There was a trail in the sand in the direction of the mark and at this depth we were breathing a TMX bastard mix left over from the previous dives top up.This gave us a very light narcosis . I attached the reel and headed off along the trail. We were soon to be rewarded by the sight of a huge net in front of us, rising from the bottom at 50mtr to the top at around 35 mtr. We scrambled up the net trying not to reduce the visibility any further. Arriving at the top, we still found the net almost covering this mark.The current kicked in and started to push us into a raised piece of netting .We both instinctivly went to ground and started pulling ourselves, hand over hand, away from the hazard.
The shape clearly indicated a shipwreck, with passages and stairways carved into the remains of the deck, but the net was obscuring the ship sufficiently to make any further identification almost impossible.Is this the Choko Maru or not? To be continued…………

2nd wreck located on recent tech wreck diving expedition

djl_team — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 04:55:37 +0000

As the weather closed in we tucked ourselves into the shoreline, as there was a blow up from the south west monsoon , tucking into the east coast reduced the effects of wind driven waves.The calmer waters gave us a chance to video the wrecks of the Hatsutaka/ Prince of Wales and the Repulse, before heading up the straights of Mallaca and our next exploration mark .

A few years ago I got interested in a British minelaying submarine called HMS Porpoise. She was sank in the vicinity of Penang by an aeroplane. The problem with locating this sub is that with air attacks there is no position given for the initial contact, only a vague “in the vicinity of” ,to make it more complicated .The submarine was also last seen going over the horizon, trailing oil, with no bearing given. Its down to guess work on where she could be -we knew the attack was conducted after she had laid a string of mines near Penang, and we have a good idea where the minefields were by looking at the positions of the unfortunate ships that strayed into them, one of which we were to look for next .

When looking at the chart, my mind tried to imagine what the captain would have done base the starting point close to the minefield and the max speed submerged while trailing oil what bearing the captain would have taken in those frantic momments of the attack my logic would point to a straight forward dash to get some depth under her keel and avoid damage from rebounding resonance off of a shallow bottom .With this in mind we decided to look due west of a known field, concentrating on a fisherman’s mark around 30 nautical miles away. My local contact had told me of three likely positions here, but we only had time to explore one , so I targeted the mark that was the best guess of my fishing contact .
As we approach the mark a huge return showed on the sonar and we all rushed to get kitted up. The bottom showed to be 75 mtr and already had a nice 18/35TMX the current was also slack: another piece of luck.We jumped in and followed the line into the mark, passing Dave on the way down, at the bottom we found the shot hanging over the side of a large bridge, next to an opening where a cast iron whb sat, unmoved since the day she went to the bottom. The back of the bridge dropped away to the sand. Just forward there was a cargo hold. The construction appeared to be that of a small coastal cargo vessel, the type of which was commonly requisitioned by the Japanese to help keep their supply routes open.

The portholes were poorly constructed, with little beauty in her design . The electrical cable was more modern indicating a post war ship, not the result we were looking for, but still an interesting find. With only a 25min bottom time, further investigation will have to be put off. The list is growing for ship wrecks we need to return to .

three shipwrecks located on the recent expedition

djl_team — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 04:26:40 +0000

A team of divers from Davy Jones Locker recently took part in a wreck expedition around the gulf and into the Mallaca Straights. The expedition concentrated in taking video images to document known shipwrecks and to investigate some new marks in the gulf and the straights. The first mark was supplied by Miko from Koh Tao Tech divers and all the marks in the Straights of Malacca were supplied by Tim from Davy Jones Locker. All these marks turned up interesting results ,and on the first search we ran across in the Gulf we were presented with a large return on the sonar, The weather however was not helping this day and there was a heavy swell building there was a large rise on the bottom around 65 meter deep and around 80 meter long which could turn out be the Akita Maru or the Tairyu Maru as they were both sank in close proximity according to the war record report and the team have already located another shipwreck close by but as yet have not been able to confirm her identity so this new mark could be either or nether another mystery waiting to be solved by future teams of divers but with the conditions being so bad and the visability being low making the video images difficult to determine the outline we will have to return to these marks to complete this task for more information on these wrecks contact Dave info@davyjoneslocker.asia

Three new ship wrecks located on wreck diving expedition

djl_team — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 05:37:20 +0000

Diary of the recent expedition: Dive 14

djl_team — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 08:38:28 +0000

11/10/2001 day 11

Today I wake up to a thousand ships outside my porthole. We are at anchor ,waiting for the fuel boat to refuel the Giovanni, so we can continue our journey. We have anchored at one of Stu’s waypoints from which he has obtained gas before, and are waiting for the supply ship to come alongside . Stu only has Thai Baht and will need to go asshore to change it if the Singaporeans wont take it, which has the potential to hold us up. We asked the captain and he has informed us that he has enough diesel to get to Penang .Its around 330 nautical miles. Stu who has hired the boat has decided to go for it so we head out of Singapore through a truly amazing sight, one of the great engines of the far east, Singapore.

We settle down to 48 hours of making headway towards our next target. Arrive Penang in time for a few beers ,no diving for a few days . The sea is flat and calm although the surface viz is cut to around 100 mtr .The captain suddenly makes a big correction on the helm. We go to see what’s happening and a huge freighter comes across our bow. Good job for radar .

12/10/2011 day12

I wake up to flat calm seas .The captain is switching watches with our engineer. My head hurts a little. We have breakfast and I blend the gas for myself and Tom . The target depth is 60m- an old cargo ship I located a couple of years ago .We partial pressure blend a 17/35 and decant 02 then continuously flow blend the 36% nitrox.

This job is often overlooked on a Tec boat but is a skill no Tec boat could live without. Dave has born the brunt of this work, and has done a great job, but I think its time I take over. No beers today! After analyzing the gas, I settle down to the rest of the voyage. We are hugging the coastline on the Malaysia side in the small boat costal traffic zone. When travelling south, the small boats hug the Indonesia side. I’m happy to be on the Malaysian side heading north because there’s less chance of a pirate attack here. We pass the entrance to port klang and KL and I hit the sack with a good book.

13/10/2011 day 13

We awake to the sight of Penang. We have to enter Georgetown from the north ,as there is a huge suspension bridge joining the island to Malaysia and according to the sat nav we need permission to pass underneath .This will add another 40 nautical miles to our journey.

We arrive in Georgetown at 0800 and look for a diesel barge . I get on with some chores and do my washing , good job as I’m becoming socially unacceptable.

09:00 we go ashore for some supplies and to stretch our legs. The guys go to immigration and we head up to see an old friend at jim’s place. We do some shopping and have a great curry at Captains restaurant in Chulia street.

The architecture in Georgetown is stunning and deserves it cultural heritage city status . We get back to the ship at 1700 with all the gas pumped and ready for the next adventure.

14/10/2011 day 14

I awaken this morning to Tappy knocking on our cabin door .He informs me that the captain can’t find a return on the mark. I stumble out of my bunk and up to the bridge to check the GPS systems we’re using are the same and at first glance they appear to be , but nothing shows on the sonar. The last time I was here the return was huge, we search for half an hour then try to speak to some fisherman nearby.

Something smells a little fishy. As I turn on the radios to monitor any radio traffic ,its strangely quiet for a group of three fishing boats with a large vessel bearing down on them. You would expect them to be communicating over the radio. I see the flashing lights of signaling mirrors, the captains are contacting each other, but maintaining radio silence a sure sign they’re up to skullduggery.

When we come along side the first boat, there appears to be nobody in charge. We try to raise them, but nothing .We come alongside the second boat and the captain ignores us. The ships are fishing in Malaysian waters but the crew are probably from Burma or Indonesia and fishing illegally, we will never know. We move onto the next mark, its only 0700.

The next mark is 13 nautical miles away: two hours at 7knots

note:- I think the engineer has been at sea too long he keeps on making suggestive remarks about lady boys leaving me feeling a little uncomfortable.

We arrive at the second mark and start running a search. The bottom reads 75 m and after 10 min we get a spike on the sonar. A 10 mtr rise, but the return looks like an undulation on the bottom so we go off to check another mark nearby. There we get a nice return , definately a return off of something. The trouble is that the current has started running, so we decide to put the shot in and go and have a look, keeping the bottom time down to 15 min so as to minimize the deco and save gas. We get ready and the captain drops us in up current so we can drift back to the line.

We leave the surface early and join the line halfway down . When we arrive at 67 mtr we find the weight drifting in the current. Vince tries to follow the line in the sand but I see the shot moving too quickly so I cut the dive to save gas for the next effort. We run the 15 min plan and hit the surface after 52 min.

We then have a chat. The team want to move onto another mark. I guess this wreck will have to wait to be discovered.

Diary of the recent expedition : dive 13

djl_team — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 08:30:38 +0000

1o/10/2011 day 10

Wake up on the Sara Dee, a cargo vessel that sunk approximately 25 years ago. The captain comes off the anchor and we close the distance to the mark. We’re right next to the mark, but it takes some time to locate her. When we do the sounder shows 53mtr to the sand and 43 to the top with some large empty holds. We shot and stu ties in .

I then get ready. The plan is to get in early so we can get away towards Singapore where we can get coverage for the phones.There is lots of large shipping here because we’re right in the middle of two primary shipping channels.

The bag comes up. We’re tied in and I get ready with Tom, the plan is for a 25 min bottom time and to return to the line. Tom is taking 3 stage tanks to practice. He will need the extra gas when we go deeper because his breathing rate is high. I shoot the video. We jump in. The wreck is on its side, picked clean by salvage divers and tech divers . She’s only 12 hours from Singapore. We run a distance line and head to the bridge. I shoot some video because there is lots of colored hard and soft coral. We run the line down to the bridge, then to the forecastle, then back to the line. A great dive, good viz, very pretty, with all the fish but picked clean by other divers .

When we hit the surface I pass the camera off to Dave and get out of the gear. I wait for the other divers to return and then jump in to untie. Taking the line to the weights then securing it, then lifting the weights off of the wreck for ease of recovery. I then run a slow ascent and do some precautionary deco on o2.

We then head for Singapore.

All day we pass ships at anchor, some huge 300mtr long V L C C ,container ships, cargo carriers ,freighters, car carriers, coastal tankers, then as we get closer, we start to see all the ships that service these ocean traders: supply vessels, tugs ,barges, every kind of ship, of all descriptions. The amount of shipping here is mind blowing and the logistics and competence of the local pilots and harbour masters must be enough to cause you to break into a sweat, while sitting in a cold bath.