Saturday 26 April, the first Healthy Seas clean-up diving trip took place in the North Sea. The first shipwreck our professional volunteer divers visited, about 33 miles out in the open sea, was the ‘Chamber-pot wreck’. Because of the turbulent weather, resulting in big waves, five divers became seasick. Without them, the rest of the team descended the 30 meters to the wreck. The visibility was very poor because of the algae, caused by the warming up of the North Sea in spring. Still the divers managed to clean the wreck of 80 kilograms of fishing gear.

The second dive in the afternoon was to the nearby HMS Aboukir. The sight at the wreck was even worse so the loot was less this time. Upon return at around 10 in the evening, the divers delivered over 100 kilograms of discarded fishing nets to the Healthy Seas reception facility in Scheveningen, the Netherlands.

The HMS Aboukir was an armoured cruiser built for the Royal Navy around 1900. It was sunk by the German submarine U-9, together with two of its sister ships, on 22 September 1914; 527 men died aboard the ship. The Aboukir lies at approx. 35 meter depth. The top of the wreck extends to 10m above the seabed and there are big holes on the side of the ship. Lots of explosives and shells can be found at the wreck, but also a vast richness of marine life. The wreck is covered by fishing gear, although a lot has been removed during the last years. It is regarded as one of the favorite diving spots in the North Sea.

For more information about the HMS Aboukir and the cultural and biological interest of wreck protection, watch the trailer of the documentary ‘LIVE BAIT SQUADRON’ »

Photos: © Cor Kuyvenhoven