Most of us had been waiting for this trip for 18 months: the Waltham Forest Sub-aqua club’s expedition to the Artic Circle, to dive the WW2 wrecks in Narvik, Norway. This trip required much more planning and preparation than your regular diving holiday and so the excitement mounted. We had shipped all our dive gear there including twin-sets and spare drysuits; we were relieved when we arrived at the docks to see that it too had made a safe journey. The 12 of us stayed a week aboard Gordon Wadworth’s boat, Jane R, travelling the fjords in the region and diving the wrecks involved in the battles of April 1940. It was fascinating to learn about the battles and then step back in time by diving the wrecks.

We managed to dive 12 different War-wrecks ranging from German destroyers to Seaplanes via Cargo-ships and including a "Recreation ship" for the German submarine crew. Most of the wrecks were fairly intact with areas to swim inside and explore. Those that were broken up had treasures to be found such as unexploded shells! One wreck was an ammunition ship, which when torpedoed, caused one of the biggest pre-nuclear explosions. Whilst some of us dived it, others took a hike up the mountain to find large chunks of the wreck sitting there! The scenery was breath taking; it was stunning to break the surface at the end of a dive and see a snow-capped mountain.

So how does this holiday compare to your average British divers weeks holiday to the Red Sea? It doesn’t! We didn’t see any other divers and the diving was more challenging due to lower visibility, much colder water and extra equipment needed. This was all part of the adventure! We didn’t see any pretty, Nemo-like clown fish, but we saw ugly wolf-fish and many flat fish.

All of us are experienced divers who enjoy the archaeological aspect of diving historic wrecks and we were searching for an unusual trip to add to our catalogue of places dived. This trip certainly fulfilled those dreams.

It was a tiring week, not least because we stayed up late watching the Aurora Borealis (Northern lights). Despite the high cost of beer, we managed to visit quite a few of the sleepy-pubs in the area, so the trip was as much about socializing and seeing Norway as it was the diving. We also sampled the local cuisine of Elk meat, Whale meat, Reindeer and hand-picked scallops.

The skipper informed us that only 1 week before, the weather there had been warm and sunny. A stark contrast to the overcast, icy environment we experienced. It’s a rare occasion to return from holiday, arriving back in Blighty and feel warm!

Report by Joli Riley

Report 2

The Boat Jane R

Skipper Gordon Wadsworth with Andy as cook + deck hand

The 12 divers  Don Downer, Joli Riley, John Bithrey, Su Hill, Daniel Worker, Joyce Palmer, Dave Porter, Dini Patel, Paul Block, Robin Smith, Sean Brockhouse, Mark Kubiki

The dives

The water temp was 10oC which meant we weren’t that cold, but also meant the visibility was poor. Many wrecks were quite silty also, so you needed to be very careful to not stir this up. Due to the freshwater run off from the fjords, the water wasn’t very salty (brackish, even). Also meant in the first couple of meters, the water was “swirly” – you couldn’t even see your gauges! The water was flat-calm all week, and there were no currents, which made surface swims possible (I won’t go so far as easy) and climbing the ladder left difficult than in rolling seas. It was still tiring as it was a long ladder, but the rungs were well spaced and it was low enough in the water. A lift, would, obviously, be much appreciated. Especially for me, mainly because I fell backwards from the top of the ladder! Not really the ladder’s fault – I just slipped: luckily all that ensued was a large bruise.

Herman Künne (Z19) German destroyer. Lays up the fjord so stern is at 40m, bow rises to 7m. Lays on starboard side Seeadler (Dornier 26) Plane, fairly intact. Lies in 25m. Perfect for a short (20min) dive. Strassa & Martha H Fissa 2 ore carriers lying side by side. A line between them makes it easy to dive both in 1 dive, although both quite big so no need to. If you do go over to Martha H Fissa, need to make sure you get back as it’s underneath the shipping channel! Depth of 12-25m. Anton Schmidt (Z21) & Dieter Von Roeder (Z17) & Wilhelm Heidkamp (Z22) 3 destroyers sunk in harbour, then dragged outside. We only saw 2, but not sure which 2 we saw! There were some excellent swim-through the corridors – line had already been laid. Good torch essential! Erich Koellner (Z13) Very broken up destroyer, but we found some shells. 15m max Romanby British steamer – really big and intact. Some quite open swim-throughs with line laid. Karmoy Steam ship, large and intact Black Watch My favorite! Norwegian passenger ship requisition as a “recreation ship” for the German submarine crew. Only the bow remains, but that’s huge. It’s listing to the port side. The mast is around 40m with seabed around 50m. The highest point is around 18m. Its still a good dive if you stay above 35m. Lots to explore inside and out. Rauenfels An ammunition ship torpedoed causing one of the largest non-nuclear explosions! Whilst 2 of us dived it, the rest walked up the mountain to see huge parts of the ship there - including whole lifeboats! Under the water it is very broken and scattered, but still lots to find including shells, water bottles. Depth 8-26m.

Plus a couple of other non-war wrecks on a Barge and a fishing trawler.

There are quite a few wrecks which we didn’t have permission to dive such as George Thiele – famous as it rises out of the water! We did at least view that part of it. Also not allowed to dive Eisvold nor Norge as these are Norwegian war graves. 3 other destroyers lay side-by-side at the end of one fjord, but are not allowed to be dived due to them being covered from a land-fall a few years ago. Others we could have done, had time permitted, were Dronning Maud, a hospital ship, but its such a long journey from Narvik. HMS Eskimo bow HMS Hardy

Wildlife

Overall, a little disappointing. Not a huge amount of fish.

Wolf fish – saw 4 on small Barge we dived. Huge, and very ugly. Plaice, Halibut, other flat fish Small scallops – made an excellent snack! 1000’s of them in shallows near Black watch. Mark and I picked many of them out of the water (as they tried to swim away) which made for an enjoyable deco stop, although the swim “in the blue” (in the green) over to the shallows from the wreck seemed to take forever. Mussels – huge, but not edible due to multiple “shit-bags” which cause the water to turn green when boiled! Jellyfish – including an abundance of stinging Lions Mane Jellyfish Tusk Codling A few prawns, langoustines, crabs, but no lobsters. Heron-type bird. Flying past me when I was at 22m! No – I wasn’t narked!

Topside

When it wasn’t rainy and overcast, the scenery was stunning. It was breath-taking to break the surface at the end of a dive and see a snow-capped mountain.

The aurora borealis (Northern lights) were visible most nights. The first time we saw them, we were moored in Narvik and they were rather disappointingly like a green cloud. However, when moored in Lodingen and Harstad, the light pollution was less so and we saw much more vivid green shafts of light dancing across the inky sky.

All the pubs we visited were very quiet. Not surprising when the beers were £5/pint! Maybe it picks up a little when the skiing season begins. The anti-smoking ban in pubs didn’t seem to prevent people from smoking – there was normally a larger crowd of people outside the pubs than inside. We had a lovely meal off the boat one night where we all sampled the local cuisine of Whale meat (a bit like liver) and Elk meat (delicious – not like venison – more like beef).

I’ll probably not eat porridge for a while. Whilst it fortified us and gave us the energy to undertake the dives, a week of Gordon’s gruel was enough.

Journey there and back

It’s a long journey. Going there was all day, with the only hiccup being the taxi breaking down at the airport, so we arrived later than we hoped at the harbour. It was a quick bite to eat then off to hit the town for most of us… until we realised how sleepy the town was and how expensive the drinks were!

Returning, again, took all day. Even longer because the one taxi had already been booked by 14 Japanese tourists, so we had to go to the airport 3 hours early. Not my idea of fun to get up at 5am to sit at a closed airport.

Most of the equipment was transported by sea-freight to avoid steep excess-baggage charges and to allow us to take plenty of spare pieces of kit. The spare drysuit came in handy when Mark ripped his neck seal!

Song of the week

Fly me to the moon by Frank Sinatra. Why? Because Don sang it as if he was a broken record….

Links