Diver UK – July 2019

I have inherited a World War Two find that I think is

something quite amazing historically. It’s a pity that

the Fleet Air Arm Museum doesn’t seem to think

the same!

It was found off Rame Head, Plymouth around

2003 by Ian Brittain, a diver friend who passed away

a while ago, and his mum handed it on to me. Ian

and I were BSAC divers and I was diving nearby on

the day, but he made the find.

The item is a Bakelite 220 x 140mm slate, etched

on both sides with aircraft-carrier launch settings

for various British and US fighters. One of the planes

is the Seafire, the marine version of the Spitfire.

I reported the slate to the Receiver of Wreck, and

was told

that they

would

help to

find it a

home, but didn't hear from them again. Not helpful.

The museum told me it would be difficult to pin

the slate down to a particular vessel, but there was

no suggestion of them doing any research to find

out which vessels carried both UK and US aircraft,

for instance. Perhaps there were more of these

than I thought? They did say that US pilots were

trained about British aircraft – so might this have

come from a US carrier?

I’d like to get a decent amount of information

about the slate, for me and my club, so I thought

I’d see ifdivEror its readers could make any

helpful suggestions about its origins, or where it

might find a good home.

STEVEN HEYNES

Comment:We contacted the curatorial team at the

RN Fleet Air Arm Museum, which told us that it had

been offered the slate twice but that the sticking

point both times appeared to be that with so many

exhibits it could not guarantee that it would be

placed on permanent display. It said that it was still

“more than willing” to take the item on that basis –

but can any reader tell Steven more about it?

OFFGASSING This month’s selection from the divErinbox...

I have dived out of Los Christianos

in Tenerife quite a bit over the

years. While there recently,

I became aware of the practice

by some divers – perhaps with the

acquiescence to some degree of

certain dive-operators – of finning

up to turtles under water, taking

hold of either side of the shell and

being towed by them.

I can’t imagine that the turtles

enjoy this but, worse, I heard that

one population at a site I know well

had been wiped out by the practice.

The population was declining

anyway through the activities of

divers, but I was shocked and

saddened to hear this. There are sites where

turtles will approach divers, but they should

not be touched. What the divers don’t seem to

realise is that the practice can prevent turtles

from surfacing to breathe – so they drown.

Tour- and activity-sellers also display

photographs advertising the practice. I asked

one to remove the photo, but this was not done.

Perhaps if people stopped patronising these

sellers and requested that they stop promoting

such cruelty, we might get somewhere.

MILES BARKER, YORK

Local dive-centre Ten-Dive comments:The sad

reality is that this is true. We encourage NO feeding,

NO touching, and ask other partners to reflect our

philosophy. Unfortunately many colleagues do not

share this philosophy and see not a living being but

a money-making machine. This saddens us greatly!

The photograph shows the notice on our door,

specifying that we do not feed or touch the turtles. In

fact we collaborate closely with the Canary Islands

green turtle project, from which we have learnt that

at a certain age the local turtles switch from feeding

on fish to eating only

algae and seagrass.

Giving food to the

turtles therefore goes

against their nature,

making them sick.

We avoid diving

these turtle sites if we

have another option

but, if we do, we always

respect the marine life

and its environment.

Madge Hawkes of Aqua-Marina Dive Centre

comments:Sadly, we can confirm that this

abhorrent practice does occasionally occur because

of the ignorance and insensitivity of some divers,

including some dive professionals.

We’re confident that reputable dive-centres

properly brief and supervise their divers. What we

see appear to be beginners on try-dives who have

not been educated in diving protocol, accompanied

by unlicensed, illegal dive professionals who don’t

respond to calls to desist, because this is how they

divEr 8 divErNEt.com

make their living. Similarly, some excursion-sellers

are interested only in their commission.

Regarding the turtles at the previous site Mr

Barker mentions, their injuries were caused not only

by divers but also by propellers, fishing-line and fish-

hooks. Too many excursion-boats were calling into

“Turtle Bay” to round off their trips.

Those turtles were rescued, treated / rehabilitated

by the wildlife rescue society and released into the

sea in the north of the island. We hope they will live

healthy, stress-free lives for many years to come.

In the real world

Regarding your seahorses and strobing article (Flash

Doesn’t Harm Seahorses – Let’s Worry About Real

Problems, Deep Breath,May), this research was

conducted in a controlled environment where all

“natural” factors are controlled, and the seahorses

themselves are used to human contact on a daily

basis.

Given that the research is relatively new and

there are a lot of arguments regarding strobes

and seahorses, this article doesn’'t shed light on

any “real world” diving conditions or varied

species. The seahorses were moved into the

tank daily, which causes them stress anyway.

As a marine biologist, I understand that

research is important in justifying whether or

not something that has been said for many

years in the diving community is true or not.

At the same time, you have to look at the

controlled / natural environment for the research.

It is still a great article, however, as it benefits

aquariums in which members of the public might

accidentally use flash.

CRAIG OXLEY

FIGHTER GUIDE

BAN THE TURTLE-RIDERS

PHILIPPE GUILLAUME

Turtles: look, don’t touch!

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