Читать книгу Deeper into the Darkness онлайн

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We moved aft down the port side of the wreck, past more empty lifeboat davits, the three funnel openings and the skeletal one-storey deckhouse from which they rose. As we moved aft we began to see the torch beams of the other divers moving here and there like light sabres, the divers themselves invisible in the darkness.

As we got to the very stern we found more scattered 4-inch shells beside an empty 4-inch gun mount. Was this the mount for the 4-inch gun which had been fired after the torpedo hit and had gone over the side taking its crew with it?

Moving round the stern, I shone my torch downwards and could see the three-bladed starboard prop in free water where the tide had created a scour pit round the stern of the ship. I traced the free section of shaft forward from its support bearing until it disappeared into its hull tube and forward to the engine room.

After 25 minutes exploring her remains, Paul and I called the dive and began to scooter back to the downline to ascend. The downline was easily found off the starboard side – a number of strobes were flashing away on it 5 metres off the wreck in the gloom. We retrieved our reel and wound in our line as we moved towards the downline and began to ascend.