Читать книгу Deeper into the Darkness онлайн
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The designation of Hampshire as a Controlled Site meant it was now off limits to divers – and no diving was permitted on it in the years following 2002.
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Explorers Club Flag #192 expedition on the 100th anniversary of its sinking
Notwithstanding that diving had been forbidden on the wreck of the Hampshire since 2002, in 2015 I was approached by Paul Haynes, and by Emily Turton and Ben Wade, the owners and skippers of the fine Scapa Flow dive boat, MV Huskyan. They had an idea about mounting an expedition to survey the wreck on 5 June 2016, the 100th anniversary of its loss. As I had previously worked my way through the corridors of power in 1997 and 2000 to get permission from the MOD to dive the wreck, they wondered if I would take on the role of expedition leader and make an application to the UK Secretary of State for Defence for a licence to dive the wreck.
At this point, I had thought since 2002 that I would never dive this particular wreck again. But the more I thought how historically important a wreck it was, the more I thought that it would be absolutely fitting to record the wreck for posterity at this important anniversary. Wrecks from both wars are now rapidly falling apart – it would never be in as good a condition again. We could record the wreck in detail as it was just now – information that would be made available for the public good and posterity.