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Print versionShipwrecks, a divers view
Based at Holyhead in North Wales. I first started diving way back in 1970 rising to British Sub Aqua Club Advanced Instructor, I have worked in Diving schools and as an under water camera man for a television company.
I now concentrate on writing articles and underwater photography for diving magazines in the UK, the Mediterranean and beyond.
I passionately believe in Marine Conservation.
It's a fact that 70% of this planet is covered in water. We must realize that mankind are not the worlds only inhabitants, we share it with others. We are the only species that has developed the intelligence to manage the resources we have been given and not plunder the Earth like some 17th Century pirate.
 The rich ocean life around wrecks |
I am glad to say that today there is a new batch of ships been sent to the bottom of the Davy Jones' Locker completely intentionally. Not out of malice, but of benevolence.
More and more countries are beginning to realise that their under water resources are extremely valuable, and instead of scrapping old ships past their sell by date, they are cleaning them up and deliberately sinking them in carefully selected sites. This occurs in the USA, Canada and now even Malta.
Within weeks of these vessels hitting the seabed algae starts to grow on their hulls and the fish move in. First the small grazers like urchins, starfish and barnacle worms arrive, quickly followed by fish. The ship eventually becomes an artificial reef with its own flourishing ecosystem.
This ecosystem can be a barometer for the diver to ascertain as to whether there are larger predatory fish in the wrecks vicinity, particularly in Maltese waters. You may dive the same wreck on four consecutive days and it's been teaming with fish such as Two Banded Bream, Saddled Bream, Picarel and Damselfish. On the fifth day, only Damselfish remain. That is the time divers scan the limits of their visibility for shoals of Amberjack, Tuna and Shark (The largest Great White ever was caught off Malta. It was bigger than the fishing boat that towed it). Yet return on day six and the fish are back.
The condition of shipwrecks can vary. Some are just a collection of Ballast stones, others a series of broken, buckled steel plates and girder work with overhands, crevices and holes that hide crabs, lobsters, octopus, conger and morey eels. This pile of rusty metal can be razor sharp. In deeper water away from wave motion the wreck may still be fairly intact but they become very unstable after only a short time underwater. Most of the "artificial reef" wrecks are intact and sitting upright.
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Some wrecks are awesome in their size and appearance. One that comes to mind is the "Zenobia" a car ferry of the coast of Southern Cyprus. She lies intact on her starboard side with fully laden lorries still hanging in their chain on the after deck. Fortunately no one was injured when she went down. Others can only be described as eerie.
No matter where in the world it is the word shipwreck always conjures up impressions of adventure, but to me a wreck is a living thing with many forms of marine life colonising in every space. The more countries that employ the artificial reef program the better it will be for marine life, providing it is done properly and responsibly I can only see it as a beneficial exercise.
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