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LOWer Hook 6171 Blackfriars Bridge Bomb (see page 33) www.mcdoa.org.uk Printed by Coasby & Co. Ltd., St. James' Road, Southsea. Hants Vol. 13 No. 1 www.mcdoa.org.uk P. Kirkham's Patented and Designed `SEAFIRE of 1945 has made possible the— KIRKHAM VIXEN SET OXYGEN & HYDROGEN to 301bs. When using our No 4 nozzle To Cut STEEL THICK Stainless steel Rolex Oyster, £37.10s. See it at your Rolex jeweller's now Every minute of the day the VIXEN Oxy-Hydro Under Water YOU WOULD BE PROUD TO Cutter uses even less hydrogen when cutting 2" steel than many cutters WEAR THIS ROLEX OYSTER consume when cutting steel plate 1110 1101 t X OYSTER is a watch which any man only thick wsiu111 Its Ill,lull mown, Its ps•rittatiently scilecl Oyster 1 liar In %voles anti 1.1irtproof. It Is; ssl ICs hlv al l Mills' II l'Irjt,1111 YOH Call sec that-- Inn iiitnally handling Il ‘%111 ii.11 vim lux more ... and 1,4111lly Ivhnl viiiis switicist AN IMPROVED CUTTER USING 14 FEWER 01,, vim sis ills IIIII sill hInt Imlay or %%111r III IIts m1111044 INI ()LI I f, l'he Oyster is the PARTS THAN P. KIRKHAM'S PREVIOUS atoll , watch with the 100% 1114 Immo Mt, I silitloune ellei lire ,ri low 1, whirling lull litmus, ill I Noilor witlehius, Ills hiding Ihr button that 1.1111 111,8 DESIGN WHICH HAS RESULTED IN EASIER „.1,., s. I ,.1.3N. prate, non will ,10 ll it 1110,V1 Hullo ihni alai' the 'met, watch. MAINTENANCE MORE EFFICIENT AND ECONOMICAL CUTTING AT A LOWER It 0 EX PRICE AND A NEW NAME FOR THE MOST ()YU IH14 ADVANCED CUTTER AVAILABLE etIffehtl IiY1U' fin I al Navy Divers I II I I ..1 1 Y§ ,, 11.0041 I imi 11, 1) (hounder, H. Wilsdorf.) I Ills 1.1 1 1 ti A1' 1',1111, 1 1INUON, W.I. P. KIRKHAM & SON Will be pleased to quote 4 RING ROAD for all your welding LANCING and cutting equipment www.mcdoa.org.uk www.mcdoa.org.uk Contents R.N. Diving Magazine EDITOR'S NOTES .. DIVING WORK ACCOMPLISHED IN 1965 .. Vol. 13 Spring 1966 No. 1 WORDS FROM `WHITBY' .. DIVERS AND THEIR BONES 6 EDITORIAL STAFF COMMERCIAL DEEP DIVING 7 Editor P.O. R. NEAVE H.M.S. `PALLISER' REPORT 9 Treasurer .. SILT. J. E. THOMPSON ADMIRALTY EXPERIMENTAL DIVING UNIT U.S. NAVY DEEP SUBMERGENCE PROGRAMME 13 H.M.S. `HECLA' DIVING NEWS .. 13 EDITOR'S NOTES DIVING WITH THE GHANA NAVY .. 15 M .S. ' ROTHESAY' — DIVING IN THE WEST INDIES 17 PART from having survived the move to our new quarters N A IWOTIC MANIFESTATIONS 19 Ain Creasy (W) building, a 11.S.( ..1).'1'., 1-1.M .S. 'DINGLEY' 23 Sub/Smash exercise when several poor unfortunates were dragged R.N. DivIN(i SCI1001., OPEN DAY 25 screaming from their R.A. beds to Sc1)11 AND ( 'INMAN') DIVERS DINNER go to sea with the duty Tug and 29 duty Destroyer. This has been a I)'u' DiviNci 31 fairly quiet Spring Term. I 1 t 1 . 1 1 ' 31 Divers Dinner I III Iii Aoi 1 i , INCIDI NI 33 Following a questionaire being 11 M ti. 'Ai uu)N' 34 circulated around the Diving World it has been decided to bring SAIVADI 1111 I ii111111 36 the date of the Dinner forward to WIIA1 DD WIIII 1111 DIVIRS 37 October. The exact date will be made known later. Pliumomms AND ADVANCLNIENTS 40 NEws FROM BOSSINGTON 41 Horsea Island Open Day • TIN FISH .. 41 In keeping with the Navy's policy to encourage civilian in- A BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE HISTORY OF THE TORPEDO 42 terest in diving and diving safety, , MORE ABOUT SHARKS the Diving Section of Vernon is 6 • 44 holding an Open Day at Horsea THE NATIONAL UNDERWATER INSTRUCTORS ASSOCIATION 45 Island on Sunday 22nd May. LETTER TO THE EDITOR .. 48 The centre pages of this volume have been devoted to the programme FOR THE VERY OLD DIVERS 49 of events and a line drawing of the lake. www.mcdoa.org.uk www.mcdoa.org.uk get any seawater up to the Lab- to them, and in this manner we Diving Work accomplished in 1965 oratory. The intakes were found to managed to approach to within 25 be encrusted with barnacles but still yards of them before they made their by free enough to allow the intake of escape. This proved that seals can be approached successfully using this B. HOLFORD, W. BLACKNELL, M. VINCE AND B. TH A I N water. The engineers then had to recheck the whole of the pump technique, a fact which will no doubt Fisheries Laboratory—Lowestoft system to find the cause of the prove valuable when observations trouble. and captures are required. N March, 1965, the diving team of by a special suction apparatus con- Our last task this year was to pay the Ministry of Agriculture, structed by the team. This apparatus Another expedition took place in another visit to the end of our groyne IFisheries & Food's Fisheries consists of a tube, running from the September when two of the team and nail in place a piece of plastic, Laboratory at Lowestoft became boat to the seabed, which is joined went to King's Lynn with Bill said to be proof against fouling, to operational. The members of the (at about two feet off the bottom) by Vaughan, the Laboratory's authority see whether it is resistant to barnacle team are Bruce Holford, Warren another tube leading from a com- on seals. We donned our wet suits attack. The result will be known Blacknell, Martin Vince and Bernard pressed air cyclinder controlled by and travelled by boat to one of the later. Thain, all having been trained at the diver. When the air is turned on many sandbanks in the area. Our H.M.S. Vernon. Lowestoft is situated it travels up the tube with con- target was in fact a herd of seals Next year much the same type of on the east coast of East Anglia siderable force. Consequently a which were basking and swimming work will be carried out. We are all where unfortunately diving con- suction effect from the tube takes about one mile away. We decided hoping that we can obtain more conditions are far from ideal, the place at the bottom and water with to leave our S.C.U.B.A. sets behind experience perhaps diving deeper visibility rarely exceeding two feet, so seabed contents is drawn up into the and just use snorkels. We then swam and with better visibility, so that the most of our diving had to be carried boat. This method was found to be towards the seals, trying to imitate scope of our work can be increased. out elsewhere. less dependent on the type of bottom them as best we could, and managed Finally, we would all like to thank the instructors of H.M.S. Vernon. In I%4, before the team was than was the action of the grab. to approach to within 15 yards of them in the water, the seals being Our confidence and knowledge of formed, Bruce Milford had already Filming entailed work with a diving are most certainly due to their bottom phinkton sampler; this is a very curious as to what we were. As done some diving for the Laboratory, efforts. hinting the ai lutit 111. 111)ed drifters metal-framed nylon-meshed net the majority of the seals were on top of the sandbank we tried to crawl up HMI 11'11W1', 1'11 111e sensed, The ling which runs along the seabed on tusk to III 1 111&111111e11 in 1965 was to skids. It is towed behind the ship, 1111111' 11 i111111111111S sampling the floating animals living 111.'1 1 1 1 1 n, ,1.t 111 11 1 /1'eg11155, (111 just above the seabed. When the 111(' a, I 1 groyne near the Lab- sampler is lowered onto the seabed a Words from Whitby ortooly. I his enables the sea tem- door on the net is automatically perature to he observed from within opened, and when it leaves the seabed OW that Whitby is on her way A.B. P. Shepherdson the Laboratory at any time. the door closes again. At first this home again from a Far East A.B. P. Houghton operation was not always successful, N commission, and almost safely Our next expedition was to Ang- Of these Messrs. Richards and lesey in Wales, to carry out a samp- but after various defects had been through the Canal, a few words discovered and corrected it worked from the divers may be of interest.