WHITSAND BAY, UK (4 Aug 2004) -- The young Ivybridge boy who flicked the switch to blow up HMS Scylla and sent her to the bottom of the sea has now dived to the wreck for the first time. Daniel Green won a competition to trigger the explosives to send the former Royal Navy frigate to the seabed to form an artificial diving reef. Now the 12-year-old has completed the qualifications he needed to dive 30 metres to see the sea life on the wreck. "It was brilliant," he said. "We saw scallops and lots of jellyfish - it was a real thrill." Daniel, who attends Ivybridge Community College, had to go through a number of frustrating aborted dive attempts because of bad weather. Finally, the winds were set fair and he was able to realise his dream. "It was difficult all the other times we went because the weather was really bad," he said. Now Daniel is hoping to do the dive again and carry out surveys on the marine life. | | Dad Rick, who accompanied him on his underwater adventure, believes he could be the youngest person so far to dive the wreck. "It was the last of his five dives for his course and now he is qualified at advance level. "The dive was fantastic, the life on it is just incredible now. "And Daniel was ecstatic to get the chance to dive it." Since Scylla was sunk in Whitsand Bay on March 27 it has proved a magnet for divers across the globe; it is estimated as many as 300 are visiting the wreck at peak times this summer. When the Royal Naval frigate was sunk in the bay, business experts predicted as many as 200 divers would visit during the peak periods, bringing an extra £1 million a year to the local economy. SOURCE - Evening Herald |
