Portland

Portland in Dorset benefits from miles of coastline with a variety of different habitats from reefs to an abundance of historic shipwrecks. This variety and accessibility makes Dorset a paradise for divers at all levels and from their Portland base Scimitar Diving is in the perfect location to exploit this natural bounty. The area is probably most famous for the extensive variety of wreckage scattered around the coast. There are wrecks suitable for all levels of diving, from the beginner to the most experienced technical divers and the wrecks represent every historic watercraft. From old sailing vessels with precious cargos to relics of the two World Wars there really is something for everyone.

The Boat

Scimitar is named after a Royal Navy, fast-attack training ship which operated from Portland Harbour. She is a South Boat 11m catamaran, renowned for speed and stability, commercially certified to carry 12 divers up to 60 miles off-shore. She has twin 400 HP, Caterpillar engines, and cruises at 17 knots.
For your comfort and convenience, the boat is fitted with a hydraulic dive lift on the stern, which means you are lifted out of the sea easily and safely.
Thorough safety briefings are given before departure and dive briefs given on arrival at the site. In addition to the safety equipment required by law, Scimitar has a defibrillator, extensive first aid kit and oxygen.

Diving

The First dive of the day will be the Frogner. The Frogner was a Norwegian steam cargo shipbuild in Oslo in 1907. Her name comes from an exclusive district of Oslo- Oslo’s equivalent to Knightsbridge London.

On the29th April 1918, Frogner was on route from St Malo to Montreal. She started the started the journey in convoy but parted from near the British coast. Isolated from the convoy, she was sunk by a German submarine UC-17, hit by a torpedoing the aft hold. Her crew of 19 mainly Nordics survived and managed to reach Weymouth 12 miles away.

The second dive is in the harbour on the wreck of the Countess of Erne this wreck sits at 16 metres. This is a paddle steamer built at the end of the 1800s. Towards the end of its life it was used as a barge to ferry coal out to the battleships moored within the harbour. In 1935 it was blown from its moorings and ended up wrecked against the breakwater wall where it remains. It sits upright on a silty seabed with empty holds that you can swim in and out off. An excellent training site