News - 14/09/16

At the beginning of September Cowes Harbour Commission (CHC) welcomed a team of Army divers into Cowes for a training exercise held alongside the Red Ensign training ship MV Sea Trident. 

The Marchwood based 10-strong team arrived on their dive support vessel, mooring alongside Sea Trident, to carry out trials on hydraulic cutting and rescue equipment, including an impressive submersible chainsaw. They also carried out emergency drills to test their diver recovery and first aid techniques. 

After official consent was granted by the Cowes Harbour Master, diving operations took place over the slack High Water period to avoid the strong spring tides. The team of divers were working in depths of up to 8 metres with reputedly moderate visibility.

Whilst submerged, as well as conducting equipment tests, the divers carried out a “ship’s hull familiarisation” on Sea Trident (a 58m ex-survey vessel), in order to differentiate between what should be present on the hull and what could be a suspicious object.

The unit’s Commanding Officer Nick Buzzard said: “It is good to venture out and work in a different environments such as Cowes Harbour. We are always looking at opportunities to work in challenging locations like a busy harbour, and are keen to build on existing relationships with local providers.”

Andrew Dale, Managing Director at Red Ensign, added: “We were absolutely delighted that our training vessel MV Sea Trident was instrumental in helping the Army divers carry out their trials, and so pleased that the training day was such a success, both for CHC and Red Ensign.”