Weekend dive to Portland 26th to 28th June 2004

Report compiled by Alex Liddon

On Friday 26th June 2004 Glynn Conolly, Dave G Whitlam, Dave W Whitlam, Garry Knights, George Sheppard, Paul Catchpole, Nick Henderson and Alex Liddon headed down to Portland for a weekends diving from a small rib.

I collected Dave W. at his house at about 0845 and then headed to Kessingland to pick up Paul. We then headed south to Portland.

At the Fleet service station we met up with Garry, Nick and George for lunch and a chance to stretch our legs. Then we departed in convoy.

We arrived at the Portland Lodge, our accommodation for the weekend which at £30 B&B was adequate for our purposes and after unpacking headed north to Weymouth for a few pints, dinner and polite conversation. (Well you never know!)

We found a nice pub with a view looking out over the harbour, Portland Coastguard station and Weymouth RNLI station. (Well it interests me and I'm writing this report). The food took a long time to arrive but was very nice. I wasn't drinking but I gather the beer was nice as well. We then headed to a Wetherspoons. Finally after closing time we went for a walk around Weymouth before heading back to bed.

On Saturday 27th June we woke up ready for a good days diving, but the weather was appalling. Rain and a Westerly force 4-5 greeted us at breakfast but still never mind.

We drove to Castletown to meet Ian, the skipper and his rib C-DOG. We parked up on the road outside a dive shop and kitted up whilst Ian launched the rib.

C-DOG www.oldharbourdiveschool.co.uk

We were then given the briefing for the days diving and loaded up the rib.

o Dive 1 the COUNTESS OF ERNE

Built as a passenger carrying cargo paddle steamer in early the 1880s working the Dublin to Holyhead route, the Countess of Erne was converted into a coal hulk in 1889 where she worked within the confines of Portland Harbour. Breaking free from her moorings on the evening of 16 September 1935, she holed herself on the inner wall of the North East arm of the Harbour and rapidly sank.

Although much of the superstructure is gone, she lies upright in no more than 10-14m (depending on the tide). A lovely shallow dive, home to much marine life wrasse, pollock, pipe-fish, crabs and lobsters and there is still much to see of the wreck, the prop is still in place as is the rudder, bow and stern. The Countess can be dived at any state of the tide and makes an ideal wreck penetration training exercise, although the seabed is silty and to maintain visibility care should be taken.

o Dive 2 the SPANIARD

A 3000-ton Spanish Steamship, about which very little is known concerning her history. On 28 December 1900 during a force nine north-westerly gale she dragged her anchor and went aground on rocks close to Breakwater Fort. The lifeboat was unable to render assistance due to the severity of the weather; however the crew of twenty-six were able to escape to the harbour wall and were saved by the Chief Engineer who heroically swam to shore with a line attached to him. Despite the advice of the coastguard, and for reasons unknown, the Captain and his dog boarded the vessel the next day and made no attempt to escape when the Enecuri finally slipped off the Breakwater and sank. A few years later, divers working on the wreck discovered his skeleton and that of his dog in the cabin.

Badly silted and well broken up, the Enecuri lies at the foot of the wall in 12m of water, almost unrecognisable as the great Steamship she once was. Lying along her port side is a Pontoon, quite prolific in marine life.

Picture supplied by Gary Knights

After de-kitting and a drink from the café Dave W, Paul, Nick, George Garry and I went for a walk. As we headed to the castle passed the HM Coastguard SAR helicopter WB. As we walked into the castle and followed the signs we came across a model of Henry VIII. As we were making jokes about him a tour guide came to tell us we had gone in the wrong way and needed to pay to enter. As it was closing in 30 minutes we just left and went back to the B&B so we could fill in our log books, shower and rest up.

That evening we headed back to Weymouth and eat in the same pub as before. As the waitress said when we walked in "that will liven things up around here" were we that noisy? We stayed here till about 2230 as it was too wet to do anything else, and then headed back to the B&B.

Sunday 28th June. Our last day and the sun came out leaving Portland harbour with only a slight swell. Again we met Ian in Castletown kitted up and headed out onto the water.

Picture supplied by Gary Knights

o Dive 3 the BOMBARDON UNIT & LANDING CRAFT

The Bombardon unit is a 2nd world war experimental wave breaking unit and can only be described as a star shaped barge surrounded by lots of hatches and girders? Although in only 15m of water, the bed on which it lies is very silty. Directly alongside is a barge with rudder and propeller still intact.

A landing craft with the bow doors open. The wreck is intact and home to much marine life. At a depth of about 12-15m and on a silty bed. Care should be taken if entering the wreck and only then by the more experienced diver

o Dive 4 - Drift dive

Picture supplied by Gary Knights

Drift dive out of the Harbour on the eastern side of the Isle of Portland.

On completion of the final dive we headed back to Castletown to de-kit and pack up the cars ready for the drive home. But before that we headed back to the Portland Lodge to use the showers and collect our non- diving related kit.

We finally left Portland at 1600 to drive back to Lowestoft.

The drive home was fairly eventful because the timing is wrong on Salsburys town centre's traffic lights. They were only letting a maximum of 3 cars through at a time. The motorways were also busy which was surprising as it was a Sunday evening. It may have been due to Glastonbury.

I think everybody enjoyed this weekend as it gave the relatively new divers a chance to experience a different diving environment to Stoney Cove or Gildenburgh, where our diving had taken place before. Thanks go out to Glynn, Dave G & W and everyone who helped make this a memorable weekend.

Alex