We were welcomed by our President Mrs Sarah Phillips and the minutes of the last meeting were read and approved.

Mrs Phillips said that our 65th birthday lunch had been very successful.

We had had a very good meal and the staff at the Abbey Restaurant had told her that we were ’friendly and happy’ which was nice to hear. After running through the list of forthcoming events Mrs. Phillips told the meeting that the Arbory team had won the quiz organised by Castletown WI on March 8. After reminding us of our spring outing to the Isle of Man Creamery on May 5, she introduced our speaker, Mr Sean O’Connell who was to tell us about diving on the Titanic.

Mr O’Connell said that his decision to join the expedition was sheer self-indulgence on his part. He had been a member of the Irish police diving team in the 1990’s and wanted to take part in the ultimate dive.

He set off from the Isle of Man to Liverpool and then Birkenhead where he and an ex US Army Ranger, Ralph White, boarded a ship to take them across the Atlantic.

The captain had taken a dislike to them so they were given shoe box-sized cabins in the bow of the ship (the most nausea-inducing area) and, after nine days of discomfort and boredom, finally reached Canada. The Titanic lies 350 miles south east of St John’s in Newfoundland. They transferred to their Russian scientific survey vessel which carries two submersibles, each weighing 11 tons and which were the only craft capable of sustaining the enormous pressure involved in diving the two and a half miles to the Titanic. Three people were crammed in to one of them with the ballast and batteries and the Russian pilot. When it was closed the temperature inside was 40 degrees and the humidity 100 per cent. A system using caustic soda was used to cleanse the carbon dioxide and provide oxygen.

It took two and a half hours in pitch darkness to reach the bottom where the halogen lamps were switched on. Mr O’Connell said there were bottles of wine and crockery sitting around which had been in boxes which had disintegrated. They collected various artefacts, among which was a Gladstone bag containing phials of perfume which were being taken to New York to Macy’s department store. Later investigation revealed that the man who had been carrying the bag had survived and we were shown a photograph of him. The phials had survived undamaged, as had the perfumes in them. The ascent to the surface took over three hours. Mr. O’Connell said that it was an experience well worth having and he had stayed four weeks and made two dives each day.

Finally, he showed us a polystyrene cup which each diver had been given at the beginning of the dive. After the dive and ascent, the cup was the size of a thimble because of the massive pressure.

We all enjoyed the talk very much and found the pictures he showed us fascinating.

The vote of thanks was given by Mrs Muriel Putnam and the competition - an Irish item - was won by Mrs Sheena Gilbert (a packet of Flahavan’s porridge oats) and Mrs Brenda Jackson was second.

Our next meeting will be held at Arbory Methodist Hall on April 13 at 7.15pm.

Sheena Gilbert

Arbory WI