Series 2 – Pacific Shockwave. National Geographic Channel

It was a pleasure working with the Drain the Oceans team for their Series 2 episode – Pacific Shockwave, which aired last week. My role was dealing with the sinking of the British battleship HMS Prince of Wales and the battlecrusier Repulse to a massed attack by 85 Japanese bombers about 200 nm north of Singapore at the beginning of the Pacific war.

One of the Truk wrecks not a casualty of Task Force 58 fast carrier raid Operation Hailstone, in February 1944, is the large Japanese submarine I-169. She was present in Truk Lagoon loading stores on 4 April 1944 when an alarm for an imminent US air raid was issued. I-169 dived before all her deck hatches were closed. Her control room flooded and she sank to the bottom – with crew still alive inside sealed compartments. Despite salvage attempts over the coming days, they would all perish.

My new stock of Shipwrecks of Scapa Flow chart have arrived in time for Xmas. Beautiful A1 size for framing – I can sign it for you as well. If you love Scapa Flow and want one, Contact me through this site

Both the current print runs of these books have sold out. Reprints are underway for the Xmas market – but meantime if you need a copy desperately for an upcoming trip, Contact me as I keep a small stock of all my books. I can sign them for you.

Honoured to be made a Patron of the GB & Ireland Chapter of The Explorers Club and be presented with a commemorative coin to mark the occasion.

Channel 5 – from 4 September 2019

It has recently become clear that illegal salvors have completely removed the Dutch WWII submarines HNLMS K XVII and HNLMS O 16 from the South China Sea off Malaysia. These are naval war graves holding the remains off 79 crew who made the ultimate sacrifice.

Sadly this just adds to an ever lengthening list of naval war graves that are being plundered for scrap in the South China Sea and Java Sea.

The British WWII war graves known to have been targeted are the Force Z battleship HMS Prince of Wales and the battlecruiser HMS Repulse. The 10,490-ton heavy cruiser HMS Exeter and the destroyer HMS Encounter have been completely dismantled and removed – whilst the destroyer HMS Electra has been gutted.

The 8,000-ton Dutch heavy cruiser Hr.Ms.Java and the light cruiser Hr.Ms.De Ruyter have been completely dismantled.

The Japanese destroyer IJN Sagiri has been salved. Three Japanese WWII losses in Usukan Bay Borneo, Kokusei Maru, Higane Maru and Hiyori Maru have been removed.

The Australian light cruiser HMAS Perth has been half removed and the heavy cruiser USS Houston has been targeted.

There are reports of a mass grave into which the remains of crew are dumped when found amongst the scrap.

It is disgusting

Just back from a fascinating week up in Scapa Flow as part of the Scapa 100 celebrations to mark the 100th anniversary of the scuttling of the Imperial German Navy High Seas Fleet there on 21 June 1919. As well as getting a ton of world class diving done, I gave an evening talk highlighting the absolute dearth of information about diving the sunken German warships when I first visited Orkney in 1982. This led on to my idea to write Dive Scapa Flow, first published in 1990, which gave serious diver information for the first time. Now in its 5th, 100th anniversary edition, 19 years later it has evolved along with our diving techniques such that although it still retains the title, it is a very different book.

The 1,999grt Type 1D standard cargo ship Shotan Maru was sunk in Truk Lagoon on the second day of U.S. Task Force 58’s surprise 2-day fast carrier raid, Operation HAILSTONE, by Douglas Dauntless dive bombers from the carrier USS Enterprise. New wreck video tour just posted.

The large 392.5-feet long IJN auxiliary transport vessel Seiko Maru was launched on 14 May 1940 as Japan readied itself for war in the Pacific. She had her machinery, engine and boiler rooms at the stern – so she resembled a tanker or oiler.
On 17 February 1944, as Task Force 58 fast carriers launched their surprise 2-day raid codenamed Operation HAILSTONE, she was at anchor in the IJN Fourth Fleet anchorage north east of the man-made aircraft carrier shaped Eten Island. A valuable target she was quickly attacked and took bomb hits aft from USS Enterprise Douglas Dauntless dive-bombers that blew out both sides of her hull. 
She was set ablaze and settled by the stern into 52 metres of water, where she now sits upright and largely intact – barring the bomb damage aft.