Читать книгу Into the Abyss. Diving to Adventure in the Liquid World онлайн

77 страница из 133

Richard was the dive-leader for our group and beckoned for us to follow him. We kicked our fins and moved slowly forward past the foremast to the open expanse of the foredeck holds - which had been covered over when she was converted to a minelayer. Wooden deck planking was still visible, something I had not expected.

As we moved forward the lower of two side by side 4-inch deck guns came into view, its huge barrel still pointing defiantly dead ahead. I had never seen a wartime big gun like this underwater before and I was able to drift around it and get a feel for its dimensions.

Looking upwards, I could see the silhouette of the upper most 4-inch gun - but it lies in much shallower water nearer the surface where the kelp is thick and strong and so it was partially obscured by a carpet of kelp fronds.

Just forward of the 4-inch guns, anchor chains rose out of spurling pipes from a chain locker below decks and ran to an anchor windlass before snaking off in great suspended loops to the anchor hawse pipes. Beyond the hawse pipes, the hull started to sweep together and narrow as we headed to the very tip of the bow itself.