The Underwater Centre, Fort William, has just completed an investment approaching £1 million in a saturation diving system, the first and only one in the UK since 1991, for diver training. The divers are trained to use helium, oxygen and air for diving in a closed bell which allows them to work at depths to 400 metres. Under training at Fort William, they will dive to the seabed of Loch Linnhe, some 100 metres down.

The Underwater Centre has recently, as part of this diver training programme, acquired three military armoured vehicles - a Conqueror tank, weighing some 80 tons with a six-metre gun barrel; a Saladin armoured car; and a Ferret armoured car.
These objects are used for heavy-lift practice, which includes underwater welding to secure the lift bags, while the shipwrecks Nunky, Calypso and Snoopy are used for a variety of other training scenarios.
The trainee divers come from around the world. The first course to use the new saturation diving barge includes Indian, American, Swedish and British divers who have, since completing their initial training with The Underwater Centre, gone to work in various diving operations around the world which allows them to qualify for the high level saturation course.
Says Stenmar spokesman Don McGregor: "The courses last from 21 to 28 days depending on the weather and a few other factors. There are seven courses a year, with 12 divers per course, and they cost £8500, including VAT."

Three courses
"We have so far completed three courses since their reintroduction last year, and most of those who have taken part have gone straight into work, mostly in India and the Far East. They earn somewhere between £603 and £670 a day and deserve every penny of it. Normally, 60 to 100 working days a year is enough".
On the courses, divers learn how to mix the various breathing gases, such as helium and oxygen, with conventional compressed air to allow them to dive in safety to great depths. This mixed gas has to be allowed to leave the divers blood streams slowly, so they live on -board the barge in a large decompression chamber for some 56 hours following a two-hour diving excursion to the bottom of Loch Linnhe. In real offshore work, the divers stay saturated for up to 28 days and are able to do repeated excursions in the closed bell to depths up to 400m.
The operations using helium gas are also very expensive in terms of the gas used. The closed bell, chamber and the saturation dive control along with the bell handling system, which allows two divers to work on the sea bed, has a capital cost approaching £1 million. These divers often joke about a cost of £30 per breath while on a job.

Loch Linnhe
The training Centre at Fort William on Loch Linnhe claims to be the world's leader in underwater technology training, with five underwater Remotely Operated Vehicles. These work closely with the divers, as they do in the real world.
"The ROV course is in its third year", says Don McGregor. "We have four new ROVs and there is now acoustic navigation available for use with them. Five divers have been through the last course, and some have already got work with cabling companies".
The technicians who operate the diving systems and remotely operated vehicles are trained in life support, and electronic and hydraulic theory in state-of-the-art lecture rooms. Practicals are executed from the 1-kilometre-long pier, or the barges Talon, Air Diver II and Red Baron which are moored over the array of seabed assets including the tanks and shipwrecks of Loch Linnhe.
All of these assets are available at weekends for viewing by the public. Indeed the Centre recently ran a treasure hunt for sport divers in which 10 gold bars, each worth £250, were placed on the seabed. So popular was this event that, in the disturbance, three of the gold bars were lost and now add to the excitement of each dive, with everyone who has booked with the Centre eligible to retain the bar if recovered.
Details: Don McGregor, Tel: 01397 703786 or 0468 571026.

© 2000 Underwater World Publications Ltd.