{"id":5459,"date":"2018-04-27T12:46:33","date_gmt":"2018-04-27T11:46:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ecsac.org.uk\/?p=5459"},"modified":"2018-06-11T10:07:40","modified_gmt":"2018-06-11T09:07:40","slug":"narvik-wreck-diving-spring-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ecsac.org.uk\/?p=5459","title":{"rendered":"Trip Report – Narvik Wreck Diving – Spring 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>An intrepid crew set off from the UK via trains, planes and automobiles making our way to Narvik the scene of large scale naval action in the spring of 1940 resulting in one of the few British victories in Scandinavia during the early months of World War II.<\/span>  Flights from Gatwick, via Oslo to Tromso took us up into the Arctic Circle and then a 250km drive down through the beautiful Fjords of Northern Norway down to the harbour town of Narvik, the third-largest town and municipality in Nordland county.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Our host for the week was Skipper\/Salvage Diver and general character Gordon Wadsworth.   Gordon has been running boat charters for 20+ years aboard his boat the Jane R and can be relied upon for many amusing anecdotes of daring doo and disasters from the past, as well as his down to earth (some may say primitive) Yorkshire hospitality onboard the Jane R…<\/span><\/p>\n

The group concluded that Gordon was a maritime version of Fred Dibnah..  “wi tales from down’t pit an blastin t’shit out of owt that din’t move”.  He is certainly a one man show of stories to keep the boat amused!<\/p>\n

Gordon recounted stories of living on the boat in minus 20 degrees, surviving a hurricane (that was too hardcore for even the coastguard to come to his aid) and the boat sinking after being smashed into its jetty.  Certainly hardcore tales of survival in the face of adversity!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>Talking of adversity, to say it was cold would be somewhat of an understatement, although the water was a bearable 4 degrees (with icy fresh water runoff pouring into the Fjord from the rapidly melting snow on the mountains) the boat heating system was still frozen solid from its seven month winter storage at sub-zero temperatures so the only heat on the boat was from the gas ring on the cooker…. amply demonstrated by Mark on the right (and me clutching the hot water bottle on the left).   So once leaving the water after the first dive it was pretty tricky to get warm for the next dive, copious cups of warm tea, hot soup and really good freshly cooked Norweigan food (delivered to the quayside) were the order of the day and of course huddling around the cooker.<\/p>\n

Some of the food did fox us, after the food is delivered to the boat piping hot, we then served the food from the carry crates it was delivered in, one day we enjoyed fishcakes and vegetables and were all looking forward to the waffles and custard that sat in the crate….<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Having served the waffles, and with 10 bowls ready with the waffles in,  the question was asked, “Who wants Custard?”…  to a man the answer was a “Yes, me”..<\/p>\n

So 10 bowls of custard and waffles were duly sent to the table and everyone with spoons poised dug in……     <\/p>\n

It turns out it was not custard but Hollandaise Sauce, meant for the fishcakes….<\/p>\n

Not quite the sweet custard we had been hoping for.. and a culinary delight that is unlikely to catch on…<\/p>\n

That said at least half of the group still managed to eat at least one waffle! At least the sauce was hot…!<\/p>\n

With the next dive looming and the thought of hitting the chilly water a few of us had to admit the fact that we didn’t have an SAS level of tolerance for cold so we asked for an electric heater and sadly we were told that the generator had not survived the harsh winter and so we could not use electric heating on the boat either – so we had to make do with sharing a hot water bottle – at least those of us who weren’t too proud to grab it.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Thankfully the diving did not disappoint, although (due to the meltwater) the viz was not as good as it could be, it was a lot better than Anglesey so we managed to dive the signature wrecks of the Narvik battle, including the really impressive Norge (Nor-Grr), the first ship to be sunk in the battle, which was torpedoed by the Germans when the Norwegians on board refused to surrender.  Two torpedos later and she sank in the middle of the harbour.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>During the week we dived the Strassa, Romanve, Anton Schmidt, Wilhelme Heidkampf, Herman Kunnue, Deitle, Norga and the Neven Felds.  With the Norge and Strassa being my personal highlights.<\/p>\n

Half way through the week Clive’s neck seal split, about 6 inches of the seal was ripped and with no dive shops within hundreds of miles \"\"<\/a>his diving looked under threat…  Discussions of sharing drysuits, duck taping the neck shut and other less viable ideas ensued but Clive had a brainwave after watching Mark swap his leaking drygloves for a new pair of marigolds..  Clive then cut the old gloves into strips and made the best repair I have ever seen..  It managed to hold together for the rest of the week and so no diving was missed..<\/p>\n

On Wednesday we met up with a member of the local club and discussed plans for diving one of the main wartime wrecks, the Norge. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The Norge was one of the two Norwegian naval ships that were sunk by the Germans at the very start of the engagement between the Germans and Norwegians before the British Navy arrived.  The Norge was the sister ship to the Eidsvold, two large heavily armed (but sadly outgunned) warships.  We got to review some detailed plans from the local museum and were able to plan our dives and the features that we wanted to see on the dive.<\/p>\n

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As the dive on the Norge was to be a late one, we took a morning off from diving and visited the local war and natural history museums which gave us some interesting insights into local culture and the battle that created the wrecks we were diving on.  One of the displays showed the quay the dive boat was moored against how it was back in 1956 when it was a ferry terminal.  You can see the “then and now” photos of that below.<\/p>\n

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After we surfaced from the final dive on the last day of the week Gordon informed us that the heating had finally defrosted….  great news….  now get off the boat… <\/p>\n

All in all a real experience, a week of fun and good diving on some of the lesser known and lesser dived WW2 wrecks.  Not to be forgotten in a while – and it redefined what cold is..  I won’t be complaining of the cold after a dip in Capernwray for a while that’s for sure..<\/p>\n

The journey back was also quite varied with some choosing trains to Oslo, some driving to Tromso for a night out and others doing a night out in Tromso and then Oslo the next night.  All in all a very different trip to the usual diving we do and quite an adventure.<\/p>\n

You can watch the video of the trip on YouTube via the link below:<\/p>\n