Census of Polar Marine Life

You know how we all hate filling in the official form every ten years asking us what we do, how many people we've got stashed away at home and how much we earn?
Well thankfully there's a few scientists who can't get enough. And God love 'em because they've come up with an interesting study about marine life at either ends of the earth.
And there's some fantastic news. The Census of Marine Life recorded some 7,500 species in the Antarctic and 5,500 in the Arctic, including several hundred that researchers believe could be new to science.
But while polar bears live in the north and penguins prefer the south, researchers also found the Polar oceans shared some 235 species, including whales, worms, crustaceans and angelic like pteropods- despite being separated by nearly 7,000 miles.
University of Alaska Fairbanks plankton ecologist Russ Hopcroft, who took part in the Arctic survey said: "Finding species at both ends of the Earth — some of which don't have a known connection in between — raises a whole bunch of evolutionary questions."
The survey is one of several projects of the Census of Marine Life, an international effort to catalogue all life in the oceans which will be published next year.
Victoria Wadley, a researcher from the Australian Antarctic Division added: "The textbooks have said there is less diversity at the poles than the tropics, but we found astonishing richness of marine life in the Antarctic and Arctic oceans We are rewriting the textbooks."
I guess the polar oceans are not biological deserts after all.
S'pose I best start looking at that PADI Ice Diving Specialty.

Google Ocean - dive without leaving your desktop

Just finished playing with a new version of Google Earth, and it promises to be a fantastic dive-planning-research-gathering-marine-life-saving resource. Or timewaster depending on what takes your fancy.
The plaything of deskbound travellers' (or those who want to zoom into their own house from space as if an invading Martian) now includes some of the great dive spots in the world.
A new layer called Google Ocean aims to bring the Blue Planet to life by featuring large swathes of the ocean floor and abyssal plains.
It gives users a 3D exploration of the sea floor, allowing them to visit underwater volcanoes, run videos on marine life, shipwrecks, clips of favourite dive spots and includes info from the world's leading scientists, researchers, ocean explorers and conservation groups.
Sylvia Earle, the National Geographic Society's explorer in residence, who helped develop the programme said: "I cannot imagine a more effective way to inspire awareness and caring for the blue heart of the planet than the new ocean in Google Earth."
The Marine Conservation Society said they can now map for the public where in the world some of the most sustainably-sourced kinds of fish come from.
In a statement, the charity said: "MCS is tremendously excited by the sheer potential of Ocean on Google Earth. Its new features will help bring the ocean to life in homes, businesses and classrooms in a more visual form than ever before.
"Our first layer shows the fish available to consumers that can be obtained without risk of depleting stocks, a positive message to accompany the launch."

Here's a quick example of what I found.

Thistlegorm - most of us have been there so it seemed an easy one. Zoom in close enough and you'll get an image of the liveaboards lined up (a familiar site for most of us). Click of the dive site symbol and it will show a nice pic of the gun on the stern. There is also footage from Cousteau's Silent World 1956 documentary. If you haven't been to the wreck it gives a nice introduction to where it is and what you can expect.

Nine boats1! Thistlegorm on a good day

Scapa Flow - you get a number of dive sites with pics including sonar images such as this of the SMS Dresden

4009 - that's the number given to a 4m long Great White Shark tagged off the coast of California and you can check out where she's been.

satellite track of 4009

Black bream - according to the MSC black bream caught in the English Channel are kind of okay to eat because they are caught in a reasonably sustainable way.

Zenobia - Oh my God!

Where has the past 90 minutes of my life just gone?

Strange Scuba Diving Behaviour

Is adventure in the world beneath the surface becoming a bit tedious? I only ask because it seems divers are on a quest to find the most bizarre thing to do underwater.
Following on from the Underwater Ironing record at Chepstow last month (watch the video, it is pretty impressive), two divers que'd up for a game of billiards beneath the waves in the Bay of Bengal
Sabir Bux, the scuba diver and Ahsan-ul-Haq, a billiards player, dropped an 8x4 sq feet green coated iron table in about 20 feet deep in the water and used six specialised balls during the play. Now they are too going for a world record.
Bux, 43, who runs Kalinga Divers, said: "This is the first of its kind attempt in the world. It was a trial match. We will play the final in the deep sea very soon to set a world record."

And then there was the breath-taking Scuba Diving Olympics in Florida.

The events included a parade, the 100 meter dive buddy tow, balloon lift, three-legged buddy race, bicycle event and obstacle course for professionals with proceeds supporting a new Special Olympic Swim team program at the pool.

Another US Sport claiming to be a worldwide contest but only featuring the Yanks. Or a bit of a laff that is sure to catch on elsewhere?

Let's hope British divers don't get carried away with a new competition - they are already in an on-going battle with the Aussies over the underwater ironing title.



The divers braved water temperatures of just 5C to carry out the attempt at the National Diving and Activity Centre.
They each had to iron one item of linen within a 10-minute time limit and 86 of them completed the task under the watchful eye of adjudicators, beating the previous world record of 72 set in Melbourne, Australia, last year.
Organiser Gareth Lock said the charity challenge is set to raise £10,000 for the RNLI - while raising awareness about the "joys" of underwater ironing.

Shark Attacks Navy Diver

Australia appears to be in the grip of Jaws fever at the moment with a number of shark attacks being reported over the past month or so.
I came across this interesting story being reported by Reuters news agency about a remarkable escape by a hard-as-nails Aussie Navy Diver.
The 31-year-old punched a shark as he was being attacked in Sydney Harbour last Wednesday (Feb 4) while on anti-terrorism training in waters around the Garden Island Naval Base,
"The attack occurred very quickly. Our diver punched the shark, I believe, a couple of times. The shark then disappeared very quickly," Australian Fleet Commander Rear Admiral Nigel Coates told reporters.
"It was all over, I'm told, in a few seconds."
The diver suffered severe injuries to his right hand and leg.
"The patient said he saw something big and grey underneath him just before the attack," an ambulance spokesman said.
There have been at least four other shark attacks in Australia this summer, one of them fatal. Although it must be stressed, these attacks should not be used as justification for a marine slaughter. As divers we'd all sooner see them in their rightful habitat and not dangling from a fisherman's pole or sliced up and sans fins on a butcher's table.

USS Vandenburg Artificial Reef

Florida is fast becoming a divers' wreck heaven with plans to sink another to decommissioned US Navy warship as an artificial reef.
The 160m-long former Second World War missile tracking ship, USS Hoyt S Vandenberg will become the second largest artificial reef in the world when it is sunk six miles off Key West at some point this year.

The USS Vandenburg will join the USS Spiegel Grove and USS Oriskany as a diver's playground

and the local economy and the attraction will benefit to the tune of an estimated $6.2 million a year.

Reefmakers, the company being the project said on Friday (Feb 6) the Vandenburg was moved from the location where it had been impounded to a new shipyard where final preparations for the tow to Key West will take place.

"After more than 10 years of alternating heartbreak and hope, the Vandenberg team and our loyal supporters are beginning to feel the sweet breezes of success filling our sails at last," the company said on its website.

"We have stuck with this project because of our dedication, as divers, to the underwater environment; because of our commitment to our friends and neighbors in this community who work as captains, mates, divemasters, fishermen, charterboat operators and all those in the hospitality industry; and because of the veterans, sailors, technicians, immigrants and refugees who want to see this history honored and for the ship to have a meaningful ultimate purpose."

There's a great video on the preparation work to ready the ship for its underwater destination and it looks an imposing dive destination.

There is no firm date for the sinking but Tom Ingram, executive director of the Diving Equipment and Marketing Association (DEMA) said it would be a big boost to the local economy.

"We could not be more excited about the positive benefits the sinking of the USS Vandenberg will provide to the local Florida economy."

Let's hope the sinking goes better than that of the Spiegel Grove which required Mother Nature to tidy up the man-made mess.

The 155metre ship turned turtle and ended up on its side when it was scuttled in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary in 2002.

Thanks to powerful waves and currents generated by Hurricane Dennis the 6,880-ton hulk was finally flipped onto its keep on the ocean floor in 2005.

HMS Victory and Gold: The Full (ish) Story

For those with cable or satellite, Treasure Quest on the Discovery Channel gave a glimpse into the search for the HMS Victory lost 265 years ago in the English Channel. But like most shows of it's ilk it was all about glamorous shots and high drama as the Odyssey crew tried to avoid giving the game away to rivals that they had found a possible fortune beneath the waves.



For a better insight into the ship, it's discovery and identification, check out the 46-page Preliminary Survey and Identification on the company's website.

In a (fairly largish) nutshell then;
HMS Victory was classed as a first-rate man-of-war (one of the most impressive warships of it's era) that was brimming with cannons. It vanished in a storm in October 1744 and was thought sank at Casquets, near Aldernay under the captaincy of Admiral Sir John Balchin, taking more than 1,000 sailors to their deaths.
The ship was homeward bound after multi-pronged mission when she was caught in the violent storm. She had helped escort a convoy of vessels heading to America and also to the Med to provide victuals to the allies fighting the War of Austrian Succession. Admiral Balchin was also to liberate a convoy trapped by the French and clear the channel of privateers.
And then she was lost. fast forward 265 years and a team of marine explorers make an amazing breakthrough.

Odyssey Marine Exploration was conducting its Atlas Shipwreck Survey Project when the sidescan sonar pinged a wreck in May last year.
The area, which became known as Site 25C (covering 61x22 metres) was characterised by the discovery of bronze canons, 41 in all exposed on the seabed.

Plan of site 25C

The explorers noted the canons were dragged 90 degrees off their axis of the shipwreck and it became apparent that that which was exposed was being damaged by beam trawlers (it is thought most of the wreck is still hidden under the sands of the highly dynamic sea floor of shifting sand).

During the survey of 2,574sqm of the wreck site over 23 dives, the ROV found an anchor, copper kettle and gunners' wheels. But it was the bronze cannon that were the most important.

Of the 41 fully or partly exposed, at least eight bore the crest of King George I and one the crest of King George II. Some were between six and 24 pounders cannons but at least six were 42 pounders - the biggest guns of the day and saved for the mightiest of ships.

Two, codenamed C28 and C33 were raised to help with identification.

Cannons found and raised by Odyssey

The ship was ID'd in three ways. 1/ an examination of Royal Navy losses in the Channel with at least 41 guns. 2/ ID of ships that would have carried such armament with the crests of two Kings. 3/ A survey of first-rate Royal Navy warships lost throughout the world.

Each study led to "unavoidable conclusion" that it was the Victory.

So what about the loot?

Research shows that substantial quantities of merchants' gold were being carried on a regular basis from Lisbon to England on the larger Royal Navy ships during this period and it was reported at the time that the Victory had 400,000 Sterling on board (an estimated four tons of gold). It was also thought she was carrying valuable prizes from the ships she captured worth 120,000 pounds sterling at the time. It's current market value is estimated at a whopping ONE BILLION POUNDS. All this is thought to be buried beneath the underwater sand dunes which could hide more of the wreck.

For the full details (yes there is more) check out the 46 page report on Odyssey's website and the FAQs. It makes fascinating reading if you like marine archaeology and the solving of mysteries. And considering we spend a lot of out time on wrecks, it provides an in-depth view about what it takes to prove their identities.

HMS Victory Update

Further details of the discovery of the wreck of man-of-war HMS Victory have been released by deep sea explorers Odyssey Marine Explorers in a press release on their website.

Odyssey said it discovered the wreckage almost 100 km from where the ship was historically believed to have foundered on a reef near the Channel Islands.

Two bronze cannons, including a 12-pounder featuring the royal arms of George II and a 4 ton, 42-pounder bearing the crest of George I. The huge 42-pounder recovered is the only known example of a gun of this type and size currently in existence on dry land.


42-pound bronze cannon being recovered
from the HMS Victory shipwreck

During these operations, evidence was discovered of substantial damage to the site from natural deterioration, scouring, extensive fishing trawl net damage and the intrusion of modern trash and debris.

“Rather than staying frozen in time beneath the waves, this unique shipwreck is fading fast,” warns marine archaeologist Dr. Sean Kingsley, Director of Wreck Watch International.

“The Victory lies in an area of intensive trawling, and her hull and contents are being ploughed away by these bulldozers of the deep day in, day out.

"Leaving the Victory’s rich archaeology so vulnerable to the ravages of man is like allowing a motorway to smash straight through a historic site on land without excavating it.

"The archaeological recovery of the artifacts from the site should begin as soon as possible or the story of England’s most important lost man-of-war may not survive to be told.”

The discovery last Spring Odyssey’s work on the Victory site was filmed for Discovery Channel’s “Treasure Quest” were rolling. It will be shown in the UK on Sunday, February 8 at 9PM.

HMS Victory wreck found

Interesting news breaking tonight of the Associated Press newswire. Deep-sea explorers have found the legendary British man-of-war HMS Victory that sank in the English Channel 264 years ago.

The wreckage of the HMS Victory, the forerunner to the ship made famous by Lord Nelson, has been found below about 330 feet of water by Odyssey Marine Exploration.

Odyssey co-founder Greg Stemm said: "This is a big one, just because of the history. Very rarely do you solve an age-old mystery like this."

AP reported that two brass cannons had been recovered from the wreck of the ship which was the most heavily armed vessel of its day.


Photo released by Odyssey Marine Exploration
of a Bronze cannon on the shipwreck site of HMS
Victory bearing the royal crest of King George I

Thirty-one brass cannons and other evidence on the wreck allowed definitive identification of the HMS Victory, 175-foot sailing ship that was separated from its fleet and sank in the English Channel on Oct. 4, 1744, with at least 900 men aboard, the company said.


Photo released by Odyssey Marine Exploration.
The Odyssey Explorer's ROV measures a bore
hole of a 42-pound bronze cannon on the shipwreck
site of HMS Victory

Odyssey was searching for other valuable shipwrecks in the English Channel when it came across the Victory, although the exact location is being kept secret.

Full details are expected to emerge at a press conference in London on Monday morning.

Wreck Divers Plunder Greek Heritage

What happened to ‘take nothing but photographs, leave nothing but bubbles’?

It seems that some divers are prepared to ignore the old diving adage so that they can have a prized bit of ancient pottery on their mantelpiece.

According to the Guardian newspaper, modern day treasure hunters are looting the underwater heritage around the Greek islands since the lifting of a ban on coastal scuba-diving six years ago.

The Mediterranean sea, described by Paul Rose in his book 'Oceans', as the Cradle of Western Civilization, is one of the world’s most important seas when it comes to providing a window on our past.

On its banks it grew many of the great early civilisations and it was the Phoenicians who first developed the science of seafaring. Archaeologists believe it was the Mediterranean itself that allowed this rapid growth, as those intrepid enough plied the waves as both explorers and traders. Such communities became richer, culturally and economically.

As a result, archaeologists believe there are thousands of shipwrecks lying beneath the waves containing priceless treasures and evidence of man’s early life.

Unfortunately, it would appear that treasure hunters, encouraged by scuba-diving websites from America to Australia, are now plundering this archaeological and cultural heritage.

I don’t suppose it should come as a surprise, having read Shadow Divers and Deep Decent (Kevin F McMurray). Both recount tales of 'China Fever' among extreme divers pushing themselves to the limits as they scoured the wreck of the Andrea Doria for bits of crockery. Sadly some didn't live to have a plate or cup on their mantelpiece.

Surely us scuba divers have a responsibility to protect wrecks and archaeological discoveries in much the same way we delicately treat the coral reefs which provide much of our pleasure.

I can’t imagine many of us would stand by watching someone rip up a giant fan coral, so why should we sit back while others take amphoras, ingots and whatever other treasure they can lay their hands on?


Leave the recovery of artifacts to the experts

Maritime archaeologists from around the world regularly search around the Greek islands for ancient shipwrecks that they hope with shed another shaft of light onto our past. Perhaps we should leave the removal of artifacts to their expert hands.

Scuba diver dies at Stoney Cove

Just come across a piece of sad news.

While we were enjoying Dosthill over the weekend, staff at our next favourite inland site were dealing with a tragedy.

The Sunderland Echo reported that a rescue operation was launched at Stoney Cove after diver James Henry Askew got into difficulties and failed to resurface after a dive on Saturday.

The body of the 35-year-old, from Stockton, was found in about 35 metres of water. Stoney Cove boss Alan King was reported in the Echo as saying it was believed he had had a problem with his regulator and had possibly become separated from his buddy, although the events that led up to the tragedy will be accurately determined by the HSE and police investigation.

A stark reminder for us all, particularly in the winter months when the cold puts extra stress on our bodies and equipment, to ensure we check and double-check our gear before getting in the water.

We should also remember our training and always ensure proper buddy contact particularly in the cold when there is a risk of regulator free-flows (although, I must stress that we don't know whether that was an issue here).

Thoughts go out to Mr Askew's family and diving pals at what is an incredibly difficult time for them all.

Meanwhile, a police diver suffering with the bends had to be flown to the Wirral for hospital treatment after becoming ill while on a training exercise near Chepstow.