Hidden dangers:

A shipwreck is often the only thing standing up from a flat seabed plain. Consequently, it becomes a magnet for all kinds of fish, shellfish and other marine life. Big conger eels live in most shipwrecks. Lobsters call them home. So do big crabs. And huge shoals of pouting and pollack are always to be found circling around.However, there are serious dangers that must be watched. There is little danger from sealife as big congers will not attack you, nor will big lobster or crab unless you put your hand in their claws.

The real dangers are the depth and the time spent underwater which must never be forgotten. Decompression sickness - the “bends” - is always waiting to strike divers who break the rules and make fast ascents from deep wrecks. The British Sub-Aqua Club has always recommended 50 metres as the sensible limit for experienced amateurs diving using compressed air. Wreck divers should stick to that limit, even though modern gas mixtures appear more tolerant than compressed air. They should be wary too of their depth when exploring the ship. The inside may be much deeper than the outside if the ship has sunk into a soft seabed.

Wreck diving is not for the inexperienced and has it’s own special dangers. Like all amateur diving, it is never carried out alone. There is the risk of running low on air due to becoming absorbed in exploring the wreck, or getting entangled in a fishing net (sometimes many nets are draped over one ship). The wreck diver is bound to consider exploring inside the wreck if a suitable hole or entrance is found. However wreck penetration is the most dangerous part of this kind of diving.

Even swimming under a piece of wreckage is dangerous. Hanging wreckage may be so unstable that it will fall because of the disturbance which is caused by the diver’s exhaust bubbles or fin movements. One diver on a wreck recently was trapped by a steel door falling on him and pinning him to the seabed. He was saved by the prompt action of his buddy diver.

Forbidden wrecks:

A number of divers have died trapped in wrecks. Silting of a wreck takes place very quickly after her sinking. This makes it very dangerous to enter a wreck without some foolproof method of return to a clear exit point. One such method is a lifeline. A few fin strokes inside a wreck are enough to turn visibility into absolute zero. In that black cloud, even the powerful torches which every wreck diver carries, could not show them a way out to the open sea. Wreck penetration is not a spur of the moment thing. It has to be carefully planned in the same way as cave diving.

There are certain wrecks that are protected by law. These are wrecks of historic importance and “War Graves”. Forty-eight wrecks dating from a Bronze Age galley to a submarine of 1880 are designated under the Protection of Wrecks Act of 1973 and all diving on them is banned without special permission. A classic example of this kind of wreck is Henry VIII’s flagship Mary Rose, sunk in 1545. After being found by amateur divers, she was protected until raised and put on show at Portsmouth. It is also possible to see some protected wrecks through the Nautical Archaeology Society.

The Military Remains Act of 1986 puts other restrictions on some wrecks of ships and aircraft “known to contain remains of service personnel”. Though divers may visit these “war graves”, it is only on a look-but-no-touch basis. Divers may not enter such wrecks, disturb them or remove any artifacts.

Wreck divers like to collect souvenirs from wrecks but every item recovered from a wreck must be reported to the Receiver of Wreck at the Coastguard Agency in Southampton. In the case of a small fairly modern item, such as a porthole, the diver is usually allowed to keep it. Other more valuable items are held by the Receiver for a year and a day and, if not claimed by their owner during that time, become the property of the Crown. They then may be auctioned. In such a case the diver is entitled to a salvage award from the proceeds.

A historian’s report that the wreckage of an Air Force jet lost at sea 54 years ago has been found off the Southern California coast brought a surge of emotions for Thomas Theiler, 77, a retired executive and former Air Force pilot.

Theiler’s older brother, Richard Martin Theiler, was in the front seat of a Lockheed-Martin T-33A that went missing just after take-off from the Los Angeles International Airport on Oct. 15, 1955.

Aviation archeologist G. Pat Macha said Tuesday that he and a group of volunteers found Theiler’s plane underneath 100 feet of water earlier this month.

When Theiler, of Savannah, Ga., was informed, he was shocked to find himself grieving for his brother all over again, 54 years later.

“He was five years older than me, a good athlete and everyone loved him, so there was a lot of hero worship involved,” said Thomas Theiler, who followed his older brother into the Air Force. “He probably got his wings two years before I did. We were buddies.”

Macha, 63, is an amateur historian who collects documents about military plane crashes. He is heading up a search for another historic wreck in Santa Monica Bay, a plane flown by a female World War II pilot who disappeared in 1944.

In April, a sonar survey turned up another missing aircraft, and Macha said he identified it by matching Air Force records to the serial number on a piece of the wreckage that the salt water had spared.

The Joint Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Command says it appears likely Macha’s finding on the Air Force jet lost at sea 54 years ago are correct, but Lt. Col. Wayne Perry says the command plans to investigate further and determine whether the water is shallow enough to recover the wreckage.

Thomas Theiler said his brother had a wife and a 6-month-old son. Both died years ago.

The younger Theiler also lost a close friend from flight school that day, Lt. Paul Dale Smith, who was in the cockpit. Smith and the elder Theiler were training to fly with the Aerospace Defense Command and practicing navigation and night flying.

Los Angeles County sheriff’s Lt. Jack Ewell said his department notified Theiler.

“It’s particularly shocking because it’s so long ago. It’s not like people are just sitting and waiting for news,” Ewell said.

Divers are examining the site, but there’s only a remote chance that they’ll find personal effects, remains or any clue about why the plane went down, he said.

The plane had just departed in bad weather bound for its base in Yuma, Ariz., but the pilots didn’t make contact after they cleared the clouds.

At his base in Minneapolis, Theiler got word that his brother and friend were missing and a commander gave him a plane to fly to Yuma and wait for news.

“A pickup drove up with a wheel that a lifeguard found. It was from a military aircraft and they don’t just float up onto the beach. So we knew what happened,” Theiler said.

Macha said Theiler and his daughter got emotional when he spoke with them on the phone.

Theresa Morton, of Lake Forest, Ill., the dead pilot’s niece, grew up imagining her uncle living on a desert island with his friend Smith.

She said she was grateful to Macha for helping write a closing chapter to her family history.

“This news has rocked our world, but on the other hand, it’s really neat,” she said. “I’ve been pulling out all the family photos, my dad’s fighter wings, to show to my kids. It makes for wonderful family time.”

A top diver has died while filming the wreck of the sister ship of the Titanic on an exploratory mission for National Geographic magazine.

The 37-year-old, named by the Greek merchant marine ministry as Carl Spencer, is believed to have suffered from decompression sickness, the bends.

The fatal condition can occur when divers surface too quickly and nitrogen bubbles form in their blood.

Spencer was part of a National Geographic crew exploring the Britannic, which sank in the Aegean Sea in 1916. A military helicopter flew him to Greece’s naval hospital in Athens where he was pronounced dead.

The diver, who has led a number of high-profile wrecks explorations had been on board the Belgian-owned research vessel CDT Fourcault.

“A Super Puma rescue helicopter was dispatched to collect the diver who was unconscious with decompression sickness symptoms,” said a spokeswoman from the Greek ministry. “He did not regain consciousness and was pronounced dead on arrival at hospital.”

The National Geographic team had permission to film the wreck of the Britannic from 19-31 May, the spokeswoman added. No one from the magazine was available for immediate comment.

The diving mission comes amid efforts by the Britannic Foundation, headed by British businessman Simon Mills, to preserve the ship. Foundation member Mark Chirnside said: “I understand there is an expedition going on at the moment. I think it’s about 120 metres down and so it’s quite a tough dive and you need really qualified people to go down.”

Spencer’s team was to spend nine days doing an internal and external analysis of the wreckage. He led a similar expedition to the Britannic in 2003.

Following the sinking of the Titanic in April, 1912, the hull of its 53,000-tonne sister ship was redesigned and it was launched on 26 February 1914.

On its sixth trip, on its way to pick up wounded soldiers from the disastrous Gallipoli campaign, it was sunk on 21 November 1916 when it hit a mine. Of the 1,066 passengers aboard, 30 died.

The Diving Legends website lists Spencer as one of the world’s most accomplished divers. “Carl Spencer has been involved in and led expeditions to HMHS Britannic, still considered the benchmark expedition dive in the industry, and co-led joint military expeditions with the Royal Navy and British Army.

“His Britannic expedition in 2003 was successful in locating and documenting the open water-tight doors and proved why she sank so fast. His team also located the minefield which she sailed through that caused the fatal damage.”