This one was special

By Rick Ayrton on 11 January 2007

After finishing a week’s liveaboard, you often re-live that week, compare it with previous trips and subconsciously score it. Was it in the top 10, top 5 or did it displace the previous number one slot? This one blew them all away!

The trip was to Norway, land of fjords, mountains, Vikings and trolls, joining the ship in Bergen then travelling north to Sognefjord and diving along the way.

Loyal Watcher

Loyal Watcher had come up from Jutland and spent the week before our arrival checking out the various sites but had not dived any of them – this was to be virgin territory for all of us. The dives in question are well known and we were not going to be taking in any unknown sites on this trip. Norway has very strict laws with regard to marine salvage and we were told in no un-certain terms that it is forbidden to remove any artefacts from the wrecks we were to be diving. The ship was likely to be impounded if the Norwegian authorities did a spot check and found any spidge so lifting bags had been left at home. The reward of this rule, for the diver, is that many of the wrecks still have interesting items of bridge gear, portholes and other artefacts that would have been long gone on a British wreck.

Getting there

Getting to Norway is an adventure in itself, a roll on-roll off ferry leaves South Shields for Bergen and takes almost 24hrs to make the crossing of the North Sea. This was a good time to get to know other members of the team who we were joining up with. Needless to say divers, unable to dive, resort to the other pastime they do so well, getting bladdered and recounting tall stories – this time to the sounds of cruise ship band and assorted entertainment. The following morning we awoke with sore heads to find a calm North Sea and blue skies, but no land in sight – this is a long crossing. Time was found to discover a supply of plastic Viking helmets in the Duty Free shop, these were to become essential items of kit and a buddy check was incomplete without checking on the helmet – as accompanying photographs will attest!

The Norwegian coastline eventually came into view and we had a scenic trip up a fjord to Bergen’ passing U-boat pens that were hewn into cliff faces to provide secure accommodation for submarines in the last war. After a trouble free exit from the ship and entry to Norway we drove the short distance to Loyal Watcher’s berth, unloaded our gear then took the cars to secure parking where they would stay for the next week. We were moored next to a traditional square-rigged ship and close to the World Heritage site of Bryggen, a group of old wooden buildings that were originally warehouses for the fishing industry and now a prime tourist attraction in Bergen.

That evening we had a briefing about our plans for the next week, it seemed they would be pretty fluid and we would do what took our fancy, but with the aim of getting about 100 miles north of Bergen to Sognefjord. The weather was set fair for the week – hopefully we would be in for a treat. Bergen has a latitude equivalent to north of the Shetland Isles, in June it barely gets dark, but as we were soon to discover the northern latitudes did not equate with cold – 25°+C at midday was not uncommon during the week.

A booster pump had been added aboard making much better use of gas carried and those on OC would be diving the mix to suit the dive, be it nitrox or trimix, and using rich nitrox for deco as necessary. I was using an Inspiration rebreather and would use air diluent for dives down to about 35m and 10/50 heliair diluent for deeper ones. Water temperature was usually between 10 & 12°C as a result of the Gulf Stream, though I did record a chilly 8°C on one dive. For those who wanted it Argon was available for suit inflation.

Our explorations began just a short steam away from Bergen, a try-out dive for all on board. This was the wreck of the Barenfelts, a ship that had the dubious honour of being sunk 3 times, firstly in 1940 again in 1944 after it had been raised and repaired then again after the war when it was raised in two parts. The bow section was successfully refloated and towed to Stavanger. The stern section was not so lucky and after the tow was started she sunk for the third and final time and has remained where she lies to this day.

The viz at the surface didn’t look too promising and the first few metres were murky with plankton and stinging lions mane jellyfish. But below 15m an undersea panorama emerged with excellent viz. The wreck started in at about 20m and, lying on the side of the fjord, went down to the stern in about 35m – a typical steamship wreck, broken in places, 4-5m proud, scenic. What made this and subsequent dives different to what I am used to in the UK was the lack of currents. Any overhanging metal had countless rusticles dropping like brown icicles from it, giving an appearance that the wreck was slowly dissolving away. The water at this site appeared layered, as if silt stirred up by previous divers had collected in layers related to the thermoclines as you descended through the water column. On occasion this gave the eerie illusion that a shadow ahead was another bit of wreck, but in fact you could swim through it to even better visibility beneath. A striking feature on this and subsequent dives was that the sea urchins all had very long spines, I presume again, because of
the still waters.

Finning away from the starting point, a second wreck was discovered in shallower water. This was a concrete barge, a recent wreck though enjoyable just the same, it was huge and intact with chambers and walkways. Lying between 12 & 6m it appeared to be in very good condition, ideal to complete any deco and then spend a bit of safety time rummaging about.
Back aboard everybody was very enthusiastic about the dive and looking forward to the next site. It was lunch first, a bit of a siesta and then off to the next dive. We had moved a long way up the fjord for this dive that was to be on the wreck of the motor vessel Katja. She was lost in bad weather on 16 November 1964, en-route from Mo-i-Rana to Bergen with a cargo of steel, most of which has since been salvaged.

This was more like a wreck we were used to in the UK. Fairly well broken but with a lot of scenic superstructure, the highlight was that the hull of the ship could be penetrated easily and made a very atmospheric swim through with cables and bits of machinery dangling into the void that was the interior of the wreck. All this in just 24m meant everybody could spend a long time exploring.

After the dive we headed for Fedje, this was to be our anchorage for the night. It was a small low lying island with a whaling station, dotted with colourful weatherboarded houses, building seemed to take place right down to the water’s edge and I realised that this was due to the minimal tide that occurs along the Norwegian coast. This contributes to there being little water movement on the wrecks, the still water equates with good viz. We had just completed two very good dives and as the week progressed it seemed that each dive surpassed the previous in terms of enjoyment, some were deep, others shallow. Visibility, once below the layer of plankton at the surface, was excellent – often in excess of 20m and improved even more the further North we went. I would like to describe dives to four of the wrecks that we explored as the week progressed.

Firstly the recent wreck of a cargo vessel, Kilbulk. She lay level, in two halves, between underwater cliffs in about 38m. The main part was the hull that made an exciting dark swim through with a bit of a squeeze if you didn’t want to retrace your steps. The second part of the dive on the stern section, complete with bridge and accommodation, was probably more interesting. Still painted, everything was in place from toilets and washbasins to all the electronic gear and navigation equipment, some hanging precariously down from the roof of the bridge. Access to the bridge was, as you would expect, above water, up the steps and through the door, windows in the structure still opened and closed. The wreck was lying in a hollow so all around it were steep walls covered with life. It was on this dive that the largest anglerfish I have ever seen (easily 1.5m long) was spotted, several of us spent some time watching its lure swinging back and forth trying to attract lunch. We all kept well away from its front end just in case! This was a tremendous dive. Moving on, we were to dive on the first of what we christened the ‘Disney’ wrecks. We were heading into more protected and sheltered waters and as a result the wrecks often looked very complete, just like Hollywood imagines all shipwrecks should be.Frankenwald

The Frankenwald was lost on 6 January 1940. This German vessel lost control and found herself up a cul-de-sac between sharp rocks, the inevitable happened and she now lies upright and level on the seabed in 45m. The mast comes right up to 8m, the shot line is attached here so thAe dive starts by descending the mast which is covered in plumose anemones and dead mens fingers to the deck of the ship which is at about 30m. The main part of the dive is at this level and takes in everything you would expect to find on a ship – holds, engine room with diesel engine, accommodation, bathrooms, bridge with exciting swim throughs and very little silt. For those that wish a descent to seabed could be made to view the rudder (the prop was salvaged after the war) or the bow. It was a dive that offered everything you could want from a wreck.

Ferndale and the Parat

Although I had seen a report of the next dive before the trip, it did not prepare me for what was, for me, one of the highlights, this was the double wreck of the Ferndale and the Parat. On 15 December 1944 a German convoy led by the Ferndale was crossing Sognefjord under cover of darkness, a strong current misled the Captain and the ship struck a reef off the small island of Seglsteinen. She was stuck fast. Several other ships came to her assistance including German ship V5305 and the rescue vessel Parat. The following day two waves of British Mosquito planes attacked the ships, V5305 managed to shoot down two of the aircraft but both the Ferndale and the Parat were hit and set on fire. The cargo of ammunition that the Ferndale was carrying compounded the problems and both ships sink rapidly after the attack.

The starting point of the dive is amongst the kelp in 6m. The viz did not seem so good here but I could see a lot of fish as my buddy Dan Stevenson and I descended past some large deck winches. As we got a bit deeper the visibility improved dramatically exposing an upright ship with deck accommodation and railings all in place. We went through a deck companionway then over the side of the hull as we approached the stern of the ship and there in the darkness the wreck of the Parrat materialised. This one has to be seen to be believed, perhaps 10m away from the Ferndale’s stern lies the port quarter of the Parrat. She is a small coaster and I could see all of her – bow to stern. She lies upright on the slope of the seabed, her forward mast reaching up complete with rigging. She looks seaworthy if only she could be raised to the surface. Dan and I swam over to the Parrat, her decks were covered with ropes and spars, portholes could be seen in the deck accommodation. We moved down the ship and around the stern viewing the prop and rudder at our maximum depth of 65m. We returned along the starboard side of the ship, around its bow then under the archway formed by the hull and rudder of the Ferndale, over the gunwale and we were back on the deck. Our deep stops were starting so we were able to spend a lot of time slowly coming up the wreck. We enjoyed a spectacular swim through the bridge area before the longer shallow stops where we were able to watch cruising shoals of fish moving around the wreck. It did not stop and we were able to spend our final 6m stop traversing around broken plates and machinery, we wondered if other ships had been lost on this reef since there was so much wreckage.

Diving Equipment

We were both diving with Inspiration Rebreathers, for this dive we were using a 10/50 heliair diluent. Dan was using a new style VR3 computer whereas I was using tables cut from Gordon Henderson’s DDPlan with 20/90 gradient factors. On these multi-level dives Dan was at a distinct advantage, following the VR3 he was able to surface (if he wanted to) many minutes before myself. Different to our normal UK diving, where roughly square profiles mean that computer and tables operate roughly similar schedules.

The final dive that I am going to recall was our most northern site. On the site a telltale slick of oil was rising off the wreck to the surface and shimmered in the bright sunshine. This was the wreck of the Welheim, an armed German supply vessel, she was loaded with coal and was the largest ship in a convoy headed towards Alesund. Welheim was armed with 5 anti-aircraft positions but Norwegian MTB 717 surprised her and a single torpedo sent her to the depths on 28 November 1944. She is now lying on her port side and the shot is attached near her bow in about 16m her stern drops to 70m.

All those qualified to do so opted to use trimix for this dive, aiming to take a tour of the whole wreck. Dan and I headed away from the bow past an intact machine gun position. The viz was again incredible, although rather dark below about 35m. The bridge structure loomed up ahead of us with the port flying bridge helping to support the ship on its side. Behind the bridge the intact funnel lay horizontally in the water giving testimony to the shelter and minimal water flow that this site enjoyed. We carried on past an open hold to the accommodation section which quickly gave way to a squared off stern. We moved over this to inspect the rudder and intact, but bent prop which had sheared off the propshaft just where it exits the hull of the ship. We then started our slow ascent back up the wreck, pausing as deco dictated and examining the ship more intimately. Large holds full of coal and the extensive bridge area were explored. We moved into the shallower parts of the wreck and time was spent getting a good look at one of the machine gun positions, eventually we came up to the bow, the underside of which was festooned with life, it was then back up the shot line to complete deco. It was a fantastic dive. The icing on the cake for this day was the news once we had surfaced that we had just beaten Argentina in the World Cup!
During my week in Norway the diving started at a high level, what made it outstanding was that each dive surpassed the previous one in terms of enjoyment, spectacle and quality (I have not described all the dives!) The weather for the week was amazing and unexpected – everyone went home looking as if they had just had a week in the Mediterranean. Of course it helps when everybody gets on, despite not knowing several of the group at the outset, by the end of the week the camaraderie of divers and the crew was evidence of a special week.

Back to Bergen

We returned to Bergen and enjoyed an evening in a local nightclub to wind down, the highlight was everybody pogoing to God Save the Queen by the Sex Pistols, watched by bemused locals. This was Jubilee week after all. Twenty four hours later our Ferry was slowly moving up the Tyne and we faced a four hour drive home. Time to reflect. It was no contest. This trip became my No1.

Article First Appeared in 990 Magazine

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Author: Rick Ayrton
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