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Mainstream had taken a leap in the dark with me as an unpublished author and my idea for a book, and had published it in paperback initially. As the first paperback print run quickly sold out, it was reprinted in 1992 – and sold out again. In 1993, happy with the figures, Mainstream put out a hardback version that underwent a number of revisions and editions before in 2017, my current publishers, Whittles Publishing, put out a fully rewritten centenary edition to coincide with the series of 100th anniversary events taking place in and around Orkney, such as the Battle of Jutland, the losses of HMS Hampshire and HMS Vanguard, the arrival of the German High Seas Fleet at Scapa Flow for internment, and of course the subsequent scuttle of the fleet on 21 June 1919. The book was given a full 21st-century makeover with new photography, new wreck illustrations and stunning cutting-edge scans that showed the wrecks in incredible detail, as they have never been seen before.

After the success of the first edition of Dive Scapa Flow, I researched and wrote about 14 of the most popular wrecks around Scotland in Dive Scotland’s Greatest Wrecks, published in 1993. It sold well enough, and a second edition was published in 2000. After a break from writing, following the birth of my two daughters, I put out a companion guide, Dive England’s Greatest Wrecks, in 2003.