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On balance, I thought it was a great idea and agreed to take on the position of expedition leader. Paul Haynes, with his military and diving safety background would be the diving safety officer. Via a number of Skype video calls we agreed that a two-week expedition would be required to guarantee getting the results we wanted as it was foreseeable, given the exposed wreck site, that we could be blown out for 3–4 days. Sitting out to the north-west of Orkney, there is nothing for thousands of miles to the west until America, and great Atlantic gales and storms regularly sweep in from the west. We reviewed the tidal projections and thrashed out a mission plan: what results we wanted and how we would get them.

Armed with this rough framework, I contacted the authorities with the idea – more in hope than expectation. All my old MOD contacts from 1997 and 2000 were now gone, but I was passed on, and to my surprise I was told that the expedition plan was acceptable to them and that Navy Sec-3rd Sector would deal with the licence application. They naturally wanted to know who would be in the team, our backgrounds, the expedition aims, diving methodology and what new technology we would bring to recording the wreck. But in principle, if we could satisfy them in more detail, a licence would be granted.