CONTACT STINGGUARD
THE HISTORY BEHIND STING-GUARD
The diving trip that lead to Sting-Guard
UC70 SUBMARINE
On Friday 27th June 2003 I was invited to join a group friends for a dive off Whitby we met at the mariner slipway at the mouth of the river Esk at 7pm. The rib was loaded with dive gear and launched. I had my video camera and housing and I was looking forward to getting some great footage. I was budding with my mate Pete O Flannagan. On the way out we discussed the dive plan and video schedule how we would take turns in videoing each other around the wreck of the UC 70.
The UC 70 was a small U boat of 417 tons and 49m in length, she was lying about 3 miles outside Whitby Harbor close to the wreck of the Giralda, which was her last ‘victim’. The armament on this World War One, U-boat included an 88mm gun, two forward-facing and
one aft-facing torpedo tubes. These were outside the pressure hull and could not be reloaded underwater so surfacing was necessary. The main purpose of this 31 crew submarine was mine laying, she had a capacity of 18 mines loaded in six tubes near the front of the submarine.
She had successfully sunk 33 ships totaling a devastating 25.978 tons with 8 ships damaged at a total of 31.285 tons. Her career spanned 10 patrols from February 22nd 1917 to August 28th 1918. The UC 70 had three commanders throughout here World War One service; the first was Werner Fürbringer who commanded her from the 22nd November 1916 to 22nd June 1917. Her second commander was Kurt Loch he led her on patrols from the 15th April 1918 to the 8th June 1918 and her final commanding officer was Karl Dobberstein who patrolled her off the East coast of Yorkshire from the 8th June 1918 to her final ill fated patrol on the 28th August 1918 she was sunk by HMS Ouse by Depth Charge at 54.32N, 00.40W. All 31 hands were lost.
The boat lies in position 54.31'.611 N 000.40'.024 W WGS84 differential GPS co ordinates are 54.31.597N 0.40.131W degrees, minutes and decimals in a depth of 24m lowest depth , 2.80 miles NW from Whitby north pier, North Yorkshire. She is intact and upright, but many parts of her seams have blown and two hatches are open, plus the conning tower hatch is open. The deck gun and periscope are still in place. She is half full of silt, with wires and cables festooning the interior. She is a really interesting site with a lot of life on the wreckage, although visibility can be poor after heavy rain, due to mud and peat being swept down the Esk and out to sea.
The UC-70 Mine laying submarine wreck site
The UC-70 Mine laying Submarine points of interest
- Six mine-laying tubes, running vertically through the forward end of the hull. with a solid-looking cog on the end projects from the top of the hull.
- Vertical shaft which might have been the drive for an anchor winch.
- Shaft with the skeleton of a bow hydroplane on either end resting on the seabed and a few assorted steel plates.
- Remains of the ballast tanks start about level with the fourth mine-laying tube. The ribs of the ballast tank are mostly intact, but the plates have rotted through or even fallen clear in several places, making it easy to look inside.
- Open hatch with cover intact.
- 88mm gun.
- Section of mast that used to house the search periscope then twisted plates where the conning tower has collapsed to port.
- Hollow mast at the top of the conning tower, with the broken attack periscope retracted inside it.
- Protruding unidentified cylinder.
- Ballast tank.
- Pair of pipes and valves which would once have been flush with the outer skin of the sub.
- Aft hatch, which is also open and in better condition than the forward hatch.
- Rear hydro-planes.
- Stern torpedo tube.
- Rear hydroplane assembly.
The shot line was deployed once the submarine was located on the GPS and a visual was determined on the fish finder. We took turns in kitting each other up to save time. The sun was still quite high and it made thing uncomfortable wearing our dry suits. After a swig of cold water and a final buddy check we rolled off the rib and began the dive. Peter started down the shot line, the visibility was excellent about seven meters, ten meters down we saw our first jellyfish. The lion’s mane was a whopper like a dustbin lid, we paused for a moment as it drifted past.
The deeper we went the more jellyfish we saw I was trying to video Peter going down the shot line but spent much of my time with one hand across my regulator to try and stop the jellyfish stinging my face. Twenty four meters down we had reached the wreck, we gathered ourselves and after a quick gear check then proceeded around the submarine. The wreck was covered with stranded jellyfish. These lions mane not caught up on the wreck, drifted passed with the current.
We explored the wreck taking turns to video each other, we saw the hydroplane, 88mm gun, the section of mast that used to house the search periscope, stern torpedo tube, aft hatch, forward hatch and six mine-laying tubes.
Peter was looking into one of the six mine-laying tubes and I was busy videoing him and did not see a lion’s mane heading my way in the current. It hit me in the side of the face and its tentacles tangling around my regulator stinging my cheeks and lips. I pulled out my regulator and the jellyfish moved away in the current. I reached for my other regulator and could feel the venom quickly take effect. Peter by this time had also been stung quite badly and so we both decided to head back to the shot line to ascend. As we headed back to the shot line we met up with the other divers on the trip and each one motioned to being stung. The shot line was covered in tentacles from jellyfish that had drifted passed. Safety stops complete we got back into the rib.
The atmosphere on the rib was somewhat subdued, as we had all suffered from the jellyfish, some felt it more than others. My face was beginning to swell quite badly and was stinging. I started to get a nervous twitching sensation throughout my body, by the time we set off back to the harbor. Where the tentacles had made contact you could see red lines across my face.
We had not made provision for encountering with so many jellyfish so we had no vinegar to ease our swollen faces. We made for the harbor and the nearest chip shop.
After a good dowsing with the chip shop vinegar and a big helping of fish and chips we made our way home. With the help of anti-histamine tablets and calamine lotion to get to sleep, my face was less swollen the following day.
I was now on a mission to find a solution to the problem I had encountered with the jellyfish. I began searching on the various web sites for a mask that would give me the necessary protection to prevent this from happening again. I searched and searched all I could find was articles about the full-face masks the police and army use. I couldn't afford this expense at the time and decided to come up with a cheaper solution.
Armed with my mums sawing machine and some old material I produced numerous variations to try and solve the problem. I needed something with enough elasticity to stretch over the divers head and strength to prevent tearing. I decided to buy some neoprene, some time later I had my first rough prototype and I mean rough, if you have ever tried to cut neoprene with a pair of scissors you will know what I mean.
I happened to show my idea to Paul at Divers Warehouse and he called Martin at Beaver in Huddersfield who suggested I should come over for a chat. I couldn't believe how helpful he was, we spend a full day in the workshop on the cad machine cutting out various patterns and variations of my prototype until we finally hit on the one that worked.
I had a name already in mind, which was Sting-Guard. I had also designed a logo and packaging, as I am a Graphic Designer by trade. After getting positive feed back from fellow divers who had similar experiences with stinging jellyfish we asked Martin to manufacture it.
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