LEARNING CURVE
Good wreck diving Inspired by diving the German fleet wrecks, the salvage sites and the blockships of Orkney, First Class Diver Kristina Pedder has some tips to help develop your wreck diving skills. Photography by Steve Jones
O
rkney has an outstanding collection of remnants from the two World Wars, both on land and underwater. Where better to practise your wreck diving skills than on the amazing marine heritage in the great natural harbour of Scapa Flow, where the First World War German High Seas Fleet was scuttled in June 1919.
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KNOW YOUR WAY AROUND A WRECK
Shipwrecks across the world range from those that look as if they could sail away
right now to those that have completely collapsed into a pile of scrap metal; but once they all shared similar features. If you know a little about the basic structure of a ship, it is surprising what you can recognise among the scrap and discover about the ship’s past. Looking around the WW1 German wrecks in Orkney, it’s obvious that some features such as funnels decay quickly, others such as sternposts, rudders and engines are made of stronger stuff. The armour plating on the battleships scuttled there in 1919 is as thick as the day it was made, even if the rivets that hold the 12-inch (30cm) thick plates on are
decaying and the massive steel slabs are sliding towards the seabed. It is truly amazing that some delicate objects, such as the search light irises seen on several Scapa sites, survive today. So, before you even enter the water, take advantage of those shipwreck geeks in your club and get them to show you around. When you can identify the typical features of a stern or find the engine and know where the boilers and propeller shaft will be, you can get your bearings.
Above: bow of SMS Cöln
