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Diving

Dives

I've dived with Malcolm Gauld 22 times:

Dive number	Date	Site	Location	Area	Country	Wreck	Freshwater	Depth (m)	Bottom time (min)	Total time (min)	Divers	Quality	Summary	Equipment
2	15 Mar 1980	Breda	Benderloch	Oban	Scotland			23	30	30	Iain Hosking, Malcolm Gauld		Dived with Malcolm Gauld. Mouthpiece split on demand valve so used Derek's. Boat dive. Weather - warm & sunny. Didn't find actual wreck, but lots of bits lying about. Saw dead men's fingers, spider crabs etc. Silty bottom. Vis 20 feet. Filled Fenzy by mouth. Dropped weight belt but had it recovered [by Derek].	Steel 60, Derek's Poseidon, ABLJ 6, 24 lbs weight
4	30 Mar 1980	Gitana	Loch Rannoch	Scottish Highlands	Scotland			10	20	20	Iain Hosking, Malcolm Gauld		Shore dive, with Malcolm Gauld. Water fairly cold (2-3°C). Very dark, but vis with torch OK, about 3m. Circumnavigated the ship, and took a look inside. No life: too acidic. P.S. Also took soundings from wreck to the shore, from small inflatable.	Steel 60, own dv, ABLJ 6
6	20 Apr 1980	Gitana	Loch Rannoch	Scottish Highlands	Scotland			10	15	15	Iain Hosking, Malcolm Gauld, Murray Grant		Dived with Malcom & Murray & took a quick look at stern cabin, gents loo etc.	Steel 60, own dv, ABLJ 6
17	6 Aug 1980	Islay	Port Ellen	Islay	Scotland			12	45	45	Iain Hosking, Malcolm Gauld		Fantastic dive. Swam around ship, which consists of ribs & boilers & assorted bits. Also giant sunstars, fish of all shapes & sizes, and two crabs making out. Giant lobster. White sandy bottom. Very good vis (40 ft). Warm (no gloves). Also went for a snorkel. Ship is a MacBrayne's paddlesteamer, 187 tons net, which sank in 1902 en route from Glasgow to Port Ellen.	Steel 69 cu ft, ABLJ 5, own dv, ~22lbs weight
18	6 Aug 1980	Harald	Mull of Oa	Islay	Scotland			10	12	12	Iain Hosking, Malcolm Gauld		Wreck very kelp-covered. Bows impressive, with anchor & chain. Hull on its side on bottom. Conserved air for next two dives. (1909 collier.)	ABLJ 5, steel 69, own dv, 22lbs weight
19	6 Aug 1980	Mull of Oa		Islay	Scotland			6	10	10	Iain Hosking, Dougie McEwan, Lizzie Daw, Malcolm Gauld, Robert Sproul-Cran		Photographic sortie. Visibility excellent (50 feet+). White sand, lots of fish. Robert took group photograph.	ABLJ 5, steel 69, own dv, 22lbs weight.
24	10 Aug 1980	Furnace	Loch Fyne	Kintyre	Scotland			31	25	25	Iain Hosking, Malcolm Gauld		Shore dive. Down cliff to 31m (100 feet). Silty, sloping bottom. Then back up to 16m and along cliff. Sea squirts, hermit crabs, sponges, giant jellyfish, tubeworms (very pretty). Vis good but we kicked up some silt. PS Saw mobile clam.	Steel 69, ABLJ 7, own dv, 22lbs weight
32	1 Feb 1981	Eyemouth		Forth	Scotland			14	25	25	Iain Hosking, Malcolm Gauld, Mike Malone		Entry off rocks east of harbour. Down gully onto sandy bottom. Brittle stars, dead men's fingers, urchins, starfish and a lobster. Wind force 2. Vis 20ft, current 1 knot.	ABLJ 5, steel 69
33	29 Mar 1981	St Abbs	South side of the Firth of Forth	Forth	Scotland			10	25	25	Iain Hosking, Malcolm Gauld		Cold & choppy. Down immediately and out to left of harbour. Found a tunnel. Strong wave action and I repeat, very cold. OK, I enjoyed myself.	ABLJ 3, steel 69
37	13 Apr 1981	Hispania	Sound of Mull	Mull	Scotland			25	20	20	Iain Hosking, Eric Franz, Malcolm Gauld		Dived with Malcolm & Eric in 2nd wave. Strong current, ~1 knot. Toured hold on two levels, then proceeded to bridge. Saw mast & derricks. Ran low on air so came up. Very pretty anemones, many of which we accidentally squashed.	Steel 69, ABLJ 2
40	15 Apr 1981	Ostend		Mull	Scotland			7	10	10	Iain Hosking, Malcolm Gauld		Malcolm's rope search - unsuccessful. Vis low, about 3m. Bottom - shells! Cold.	Steel 69, ABLJ 2
55	14 Jun 1981	St Abbs	South side of the Firth of Forth	Forth	Scotland			13	25	25	Iain Hosking, Malcolm Gauld		Took dry suit for its first outing, inaugurating a new period of comfort and warmth. Swam around Cathedral and studied squidgy things.	Dry suit, twin Draegers, SLJ, extra 8lbs weight.
146	17 Jul 1983	Dunbar	South side of the Firth of Forth	Forth	Scotland			15	60	60	Iain Hosking, Geoff Hide, Malcolm Gauld		Opposite end of the diving spectrum from Orkney. Three times round Johnson's Hole. Vis quite good, maybe 30 feet. Pretty sea squirt colonies and lots of crustaceans. Good fun actually.	own
230	6 Jul 1985	Sgeir an Oir Ealean	North-east side of Tongue Bay	North-west Scotland	Scotland			25	14	15	Iain Hosking, Malcolm Gauld		FTF on the 'Nitedal'. Grapple snagged but when we went down there was no wreck in sight so we drifted along above the sand with the rock to our left. Plenty of anemones so would have been a good dive if we'd had time to enjoy it.	own
231	6 Jul 1985	Dubh-sgeir Mhor	Tongue Bay	North-west Scotland	Scotland			20	13	15	Iain Hosking, Malcolm Gauld		Gave up search for the 'Nitedal' and moved on to the 'Ashbury'. We found a couple of bits, and also a huge lobster which we put back because it was soft [so had just changed its shell]. Now camping in idyllic spot outside Tongue and waiting for the sun to appear. [STOP PRESS. The 'Nitedal' and the 'Ashbury' are one and the same. GR cocks it up.]	own
234	8 Jul 1985	Meall Thailm	North-east of Tongue Bay	North-west Scotland	Scotland			20	40	42	Iain Hosking, Adrian Roddam, Malcolm Gauld, Sarah McCracken		Too good a site not to have a full dive on, so we hit it again, in a loose foursome with Malcolm and Adrian. Found three lobsters - one was huge, with one claw guarding a dead dogfish. Saw crabs sitting in holes in the rock wall, also shoals of small fish, the usual anemones and sponges etc.	own
237	11 Jul 1985	Little Loch Broom		North-west Scotland	Scotland			20	35	35	Iain Hosking, Malcolm Gauld		Not the Ardross Rock: Searched twice for Ardross Rock but no decent transits. Dived anyway, onto mixed sand/bedrock, boulder with some scallops and an unusual anemone thing [sea cucumber].	own
307	28 Sep 1986	Beagle	North of Great Cumbrae	Clyde	Scotland			34	16	20	Iain Hosking, Malcolm Gauld		What a fantastic dive! Down line expecting it to get dark, and it didn't. Could see the whole wreck laid out below us from well above it. No torch necessary. Apart from the good vis and interesting artefacts we were also the subject of examination by a shoal of fish. Didn't want to come up.	Twin 55s, 24lbs
317	17 Jan 1987	Paddy Hinkley's Quarry		Forth	Scotland			8	10	10	Iain Hosking, Malcolm Gauld		Another long-awaited dive, this time under ice. 15 divers, 3 hours. The ice was very thick (thick enough to jump up and down on). Dived singly, roped. Very muddy, but weird to see the ice overhead and the silvery air bubbles. Not at all cold. [Malcolm held the other end of the rope.]
356	14 Jun 1987	Hispania	Sound of Mull	Mull	Scotland			24	32	34	Iain Hosking, Malcolm Gauld		Our first boat dive on a wreck at night. Surface visibility exceptional, underwater ditto. The phosphorescence was incredible - we descended and ascended without torches, and the mast left a wake of phosphorescence behind it in the current. In between we saw most parts of the wreck, including the tunnel past the bridge (epic), the engine room and chain locker. An absolutely magic dive.
443	21 Dec 1990	Seal Rocks		Forster	Australia			24	24	24	Iain Hosking, Iain Fairbrother, Malcolm Gauld		Began the dive attached to Ian Fairbrother and Malcom, but lost them. Persisted in my vain search for sharks. None. Swam back above an atmospheric gully. Heaps of blue groper. Surfaced to a long snorkel in worryingly rough seas.	Drysuit, twin set etc as in this morning's abortive dive on the 'Satara'.
483	29 Jan 1995	Akka	The Gantocks	Clyde	Scotland			25	25	28	Iain Hosking, Malcolm Gauld		A cold, dark, wet morning in Edinburgh turned to a beautiful day on the Clyde, calm, clear and cold. Even Dunoon looked lovely. Bacon rolls and potato scones at Port Glasgow. Found the wreck with no trouble. Freezing cold going down the line. Water green but clear. The wreck is big, with plenty of swimthroughs. Covered in plumose anemones and plenty of crabs. Some fish. Baked potatoes afterwards - lovely.	Geoff's dry suit and woolly bear + stab jacket + valve. 100 cu ft steel tank + various other borrowed bits and pieces. Dived from Graham and Mary's boat. Graham found a ship's log. (This looks like an artillery shell with canted fins It spins around when towed behind the ship, and the number of revolutions in a given time interval yields the speed.).