23 SEPTEMBER 2001

Once again the first teams in were to be Guy and Rod and Dan and Dave. With no sign of any slackening of the continual northwards oceanic current the teams went in. After pulling down the line hand over hand for only 10 metres the now familiar outline of the Repulse materialised out of the blue beneath like an old friend. The dive today was to be devoted to getting some good stills - so immediately Guy & Rod headed up to the inverted twin 15-inch guns of A & B turrets. Rod hung motionless beside the massive twin barrels of B turret lighting sections with his Zepp whilst Guy moved around to get the best angle and lighting conditions. The large winged optical range finder from behind B turret lay on the sand beneath them. Nets were everywhere, suspended on their buoys up to a depth of 40 metres. Although they were an entanglement risk for the divers they created a very atmospheric affect both down on the wreck and in the resulting still pictures.

From there Guy & Rod moved aft slowly on their Zepps towards the main bridge superstructure. The White Ensign laid yesterday by Dave still flew proudly in the underwater breeze.

More photos were taken of the searchlight platforms and spotting top before the pair moved further aft to shoot the high elevation twin 4 inch barrels and turret of an anti aircraft platform now lying upside down on the sand. Further out from the wreck amidst the debris and chaos that resulted from the bomb strikes an Oerlikon gun platform laid on its side. More Carey rafts were dotted about in the mangled superstructure.

Silhouetted against the lighter water above, around midships, Rod noticed bent and damaged plating of a possible torpedo strike. Moving up the wreck they were able to see a hole torn above the bilge keel some 25 feet across. All too soon the time for them on the bottom was spent and it was time to return to the up line for the mandatory long deco ascent.

Meanwhile Dan and Dave, both with videos mounted on their Zepps returned to the Ensign and reinflated the deco bag suspending it for good measure before moving off to film around the wreck

Hot on their heals followed the Doc and Greg, who ventured to the bow to examine the remnants of the flagstaff tripod. After the bow they made their way to the forward guns and swam around the bridge area, avoiding the barrage of fishing nets draping the ship, before returning to the shot and the long incurred decompression schedule.

The second wave of Martin, Paul and Stu, followed when the first Supervisor was back on MV Mata Ikan. By now the current had started to increase and after a strenuous haul down the shot the team arrived on the wreck and headed for shelter in it's lee. Moving initially to the conning tower structure on the seabed details such as voice pipes and a helm could be observed through the open windows. Moving further aft of the bridge the massive damage caused to this area was evident with a chaos of pipes and machinery clearly visible. With limited time remaining, the last few minutes of the dive was spent in the area of B turret before returning to the shot-line and the long deco ascent hanging like washing on a line in the strong current.