PAST EVENTS-EXPLORATION PHUKET 02.03 Home

This month of February 2003 was dedicated to new wreck research on the many GPS points collected. With my good friend Stephane Havard, we dove first on a what most of us in Phuket believe to the HMS Vestal. This wreck that lies in 72m of water has been visited since 1998 at least, maybe even before, opposing some that claim that they discovered it in 2002!!! During this dive, after a short penetration in the hull, I came back with a few saucers, stamped with King George IV, 1944, data that seems to confirm the identity of this ship. Stephane got a good video shot of the wreck during this dive.
On of the numerous port holesVis was OK
Our next project was a point located off Racha Noi in 75m of water. For this dive Laurent Lefevbre, a long time Phuket diver joined in. We jumped in and headed straight down to this new mystery point. Racha Noi is famous for its good visibility and we where not disappointed. In ambient light, the wreckage appeared from 40m. The outline first and finally the whole wreck. Lying straight up on the sea bed this dumb barge was covered with marine life and appeared to be the CP1238. After a bit of research, we discovered that this barge while in tow, met some weather and sunk with all its load. At the time it was carrying cars. Unfortunately, we did not find any in the close vicinity of the barge, but a further exploration would probably reveal them.
Me and LaurentCliping the decosAfter the dive
Laurent on the deckYou still read the name !

The last dive we did was on a cargo that we believe id the Petaling. Again this wreck has been explored for at least ten years, since one frenchman has been salvaging parts of it since 1994!!! Again the same team that claims to have discovers the HMS Vestal claimed this on in 2004!!! A little late chaps ... They did however find a piece of evidence that gives a good hint on the identity of this wreck. The frenchman's story about this wreck comes straight from the father of his Thai wife. He apparently witnessed the attack of the cargo by an english submarine, saw the ship go down and crew swim towards the shore where they finally reached ground in Kata Noi.

With still many points to explore, we had to give up here our research for this time, the weather had turned bad and Stephane was heading back to Paris. Above are a few pictures of the dives and thanks to the courtesy of Marina Divers, the company for which I was working at the time to allow us to use the vessel, a superb catamaran, fully equipped for this kind of diving.



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