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 By Cedric Verdier,
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What could be the common point between a fish exporter from Norway, a Chief Information Officer and diving instructor living in the Netherlands, a renowned lawyer based in Cyprus, a Project Managerworking in Sweden, and a Technical Diving Instructor far from France? Since summer 2007, Spyros and Cedric have been discussing about the HMS Victoria, the impressive and quite unusual wreck that lies vertical between 140m/460ft and 77m/250ft, her bow deeply stuck in a thick layer of silt, a few miles off Tripoli, Lebanon.
Apparently none. Except their love for underwater wrecks and their desire to explore some of the most famous ones all over the world.  The Team
A few months ago, Per Bjorn Rakvag, Pim van der Horst, Spyros Spyrou, Henrik Enckell and Cedric Verdier decided to participate in a wreck expedition to Lebanon. Their goal: exploring the HMS Victoria, a British battleship sunk in 1893 between Beirut and the Syrian border. Their main tool for this impressive exploration to 140m/460ft is the ISC Megalodon Closed-Circuit Rebreather. Their life insurance for such a big exploration: the DIRrebreather diving standards. 
Spyros has contacted ambassadors and officials from Cyprus and Lebanon in order to get the proper authorisations. He soon became in touch with Christian Francis, owner of Lebanon Divers and original discoverer of the wreck. During that time, thanks to the DIRrebreather forum and its members, Cedric spoke with several experienced rebreather divers who wanted to participate in this interesting project. Soon a team was formed. But this kind of expedition not only asks for a lot of good will and tenacity, but also experience and finances. On April 2008, the plan for the team was to finally meet in Cyprus a few days before the trip to Beirut but the mysteries of airlines traffic and multiple delays decided that some of the participants would have to go directly to Lebanon after some adventures comparable to Ulysses’. Some of them even used a Rolls-Royce as a taxi to the airport!  The vertical wreck
When you mention that you are going to Lebanon, you get the same strange look in the eyes of your public, a delicate mix of surprise and scare. Lebanon is not the usual diving destination. After so many years of civil wars, conflicts with the neighbouring countries and military actions against extremist groups, Lebanon is not the touristic destination that it used to be a few decades ago. The southern border is still quite “active” and Beirut International Airport has been closed several times in last few years. But one has to admit that Lebanon is a beautiful country, also well known for its surprising nightlife, its extremely rich archaeological heritage and the warm hospitality of its inhabitants. Lebanese people, who are most of the time multi-lingual, have also learnt to live with war and enjoy peaceful moments in their stunning landscapes. Once very westernized in their tastes, religion and manners, Lebanese people have been very close to France and the UK.  Shooting the huge propeller
That is the reason why a fleet from the Royal Navy went to anchor off Tripoli, a couple of hours north of Beirut. According to the Naval Historical Collectors and Research Association (Review Autumn 2007): “The tragic sinking of the 10 470 ton HMS Victoria remains the Royal Navy’s biggest peacetime disaster [...]. On 22 June 1893 twenty-two officers and 334 of her crew were drowned after the HMS Camperdown accidently rammed the Mediterranean flagship in an elaborate and ill-judged fleet manoeuvre ordered by Vice-Admiral Sir George Tryon KCB.” Within 13 minutes, while most of the crew jumped in the water, the proud battleshipwasdragged downward by the 111 tons of her two forward-mounted main guns in their huge turret, the ship still being driven forward by her churning propellers. After reading a very epic court martial of the main officers involvedat that time, and many attempts to find the wreck, Christian Francis, a local Dive Centre owner, finally found her resting place, where the battleship was last spotted by the nearby Tower of Lions. 
Why was the wreck so difficult to find? Simply because the HMS Victoria is vertical, her bow deeply buried in a thick layer of mud, making any search with a depth sounder very difficult…If you ask the five DIRrebreather members who explored this wreck in April, what are the most impressive things, you’ll definitely get five different answers. Spyros will tell you that “this wreck is clearly like no other, as it’s so weird and disturbing to go down along what you are used to see horizontal”. Pim and Per Bjorn will speak about the pictures they took of the two impressive propellers pointing toward the surface. Henrik will maybe mention the artefacts and portholes, the fishing nets and the huge rear gun he looked at for a few minutes. 
Cedric wouldn’t avoid explaining how a wreck of this kind could accommodate any level of Trimix Divers, ranging from the comfortable tour of the stern at 77m/250ft to the extreme exploration of the wreckage at 140m/460ft. It looks like Victoria has got something for everyone! These five rebreather divers were lucky enough to find the perfect weather conditions to explore the whole wreck. They shot pictures and videos, paying their price at the end of the end with long decompression stops in 18C/64F cold water. Thanks to the robustness of their ISC Megalodon rebreather, they didn’t experience any single equipment failure during their expedition in Lebanon. All the dives were done according to strict DIRrebreather team procedures, using standards mixes, setpoints and decompression schedules. None of the participants suffered of any sign of decompression sickness, something quite required by the remoteness of the location and the relative lack of state-of-the-art recompression chamber. Apart from the trouble eating the local corned beef, everyone has participated in a safe and extremely enjoyable deep rebreather diving expedition. 
Divers: Per Bjorn RakvagHenrik EnckellSpyros SpyrouPim van der HorstCedric Verdier Photos: Pim and Per Bjorn. Videos: Per Bjorn All the team members want to express their acknowledgements to Christian and the staff of Lebanon Divers. Regards to the DIRrebreather members who couldn’t join this expedition (David, Gilles, Gian, Antoine) but who will be there the next time! For more information, visit: http://www.dirrebreather.com/ |
