Newhaven in April
Sunday, April 6th, 2008Yesterday, I got wet in the sea again. After few unsuccessful attempts in March, we have finally found a skipper who didn’t mind going out when everyone else called a day again due to the weather.
Adrian warned me that it was going to be 4-5 knots this weekend, so although prepared, I wasn’t very optimistic on Friday evening.
It was Saturday morning and the dive was still on. We left Bow in good spirits at around 7.00am. The mood has quickly changed as the skipper called to say it was blowing westerly and over 5 knots already. Quick decision and were back on the road to see in person how it looks like.
Down in Newhaven Marina it wasn’t too bad and we have decided to get on the boat and give it a try. We met with Ray Leriche, a very good skipper of The Mistress. No fancy features such as power lifts or compressor, but really patient and capable man. He made my day and got me wet! 
We dived Clan McMillan, an armed merchantman of 4525 tons and 380ft length which was built in 1901 by McMillans of Dumbarton. On 23rd March 1917 she left London for Glasgow. At 1am on 24th March a torpedo from UB-39 hit her in the starboard side amidships, the explosion bursting through the forward engine room bulkhead and the upper deck.
The downside of the today’s weather conditions was the visibility and current. A bunch of divers on Brighton Diver have aborted their dive just before we went it. Luckily we didn’t cancel our dive and it was worth the hassle. Plenty of life, I have promised myself that I will take a bag with me on the next dive and catch one of those lobsters or crabs. 
