14 episodes
Aquanaut James Wheeler
-
- Society & Culture
Explore shipwrecks with me as I chronicle my real-life adventures during the early years of SCUBA diving, off the Cornish coast in the 1960's. Discover a world where shipwrecks litter the ocean, diving with the Penzance Sub-Aqua Club and then, in further episodes, join me as a semi-professional salvage diver, searching for previously undiscovered ship wrecks, using explosives and risking life and limb in pursuit of big money and the hunt for treasure!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
-
Aquanaut – Episode 13: Bristol Beaufighter; raising a ghost of WW2.
In the midst of WW2, two Bristol Beaufighters were sent to North Africa to see if they were suitable for desert operations. On their root back they stopped in Gribraltar before heading to Cornwall to land at RAF St Eval, but when they neared Cornwall they hit heavy fog, making navigation difficult. Running out of fuel, the pilot of one of the fighter bombers decided to ditch in the sea in Mount’s bay. In this final episode we go in search of the missing aircraft.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. -
Aquanaut – Episode 12: Salvaging from the wreck of the Moorview, 18th century style discipline aboard Aquanaut, and my dive on The Mary Rose.
In this episode we return to the Moorview to salvage the heavy rolls of brass and have to smuggle it back to land. There is another funny prank, this time on the people riding the ferry, and then we round up the episode with my last dive, on Henry VIII's flagship, The Mary Rose, off Portsmouth Harbour.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. -
Aquanaut – Episode 11: Brass, greed and the bends, as The Runnel Stone beckons the dive team back into its maw.
Discovering a gun in the forest of kelp, which turns out to be the wreck of the Moorview, from which we salvage brass that had been destined to make artillery shell casings in WW1. A strange experience of being covered in peculiar parasitic worms, and another close call, getting the bends after the lust for treasure gets the better of me.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. -
Aquanaut - Episode 10: The mysterious and perilous waters of the Runnel Stone nearly claim the Aquanaut.
Exploring the Runnel Stone reef, a notorious pinnacle of rock, home to literally dozens of shipwrecks and diving on the wreck of The City of Westminster, a steam-ship transporting maize which sank in 1923.I recount a spooky dive; deep in a forest of kelp, where I get the feeling I’m not alone.Lastly, a day to remember; frantically bailing out to save Aquanaut from sinking.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. -
Aquanaut - Episode 9: There’s no love between pirates, and rescuing a ship wrecked on the rocks with the Penlee lifeboat.
In this thrilling episode we ditch our tanks and crawl inside a shipwreck, holding our breath, to plant explosives.
Then we steam out to meet the Penlee lifeboat and help rescue a ship stranded on the rocks in a gale.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. -
Aquanaut - Episode 8: The dolphin, the mermaid and the dynamite.
In this episode we are introduced to a new member of the diving team: Beaky the dolphin! Then we have our first attempts at using explosives and need to tweak the quantities a little. A large explosive charge is detonated before I’m back safely aboard Aquanaut, and we meet a mermaid.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.