No dive survey can be undertaken without a serious amount of kit. This blog entry will show some of the equipment we have used for this year’s SAMPHIRE survey.

SAMPHIRE Principal Investigator Dr. Jonathan Benjamin on duty as dive supervisor in the wheelhouse of the MV Nimrod. Our communications system allows us to maintain a continuous two-way verbal contact with divers in the water.

The divers wear full-face masks allowing them to speak to the dive supervisor and also carry cameras, buoys, scales and other equipment to record anything they find. It is vital to check over all of the equipment before making the dive. Here the volunteers and archaeologists kit up with help from the tenders while the underwater camera is double-checked ahead of a dive in Loch Laxford.

The remote location of the dive sites also meant that it was necessary to bring our own compressor. Unfortunately the noise did not drive off the midges!