The intention of this web site is to allow underwater motion images of some of the worlds most famous shipwrecks into your living room. Sitting on the seabed, like unseen museum artifacts, are wrecks which are part of our maritime history. They are seen only by a few privileged individuals. These wrecks are being consumed by the sea and within a few years will be lost forever.
Many of the shipwrecks featured in this site are out of reach of the majority of SCUBA divers. RMS Lusitania is in 93m, HMS Russell and HMHS Britannic lie well below 100 metres and most of the rest are deeper than 70m.
The site covers English Channel wrecks as well as wrecks in the Mediterranean, Ireland and The Shetland Isles, where I work.
HM Submarine Vandal is the only wreck in Scottish waters and was the most challenging wreck to film. At the time I wondered what I was doing at 100m in cold, dark waters with one metre visibility and tangled in abandoned fishing net. But the object of the expedition was achieved and that made it worthwhile.
All original footage is broadcast quality and filmed using a Sony VX2000, PD170 or Hi Def HVR Z1 However the short clips featured on this site are heavily compressed to try to reduce download times, so the quality is degraded. I have tried to make download times acceptable to 56Kbs modem users but, obviously, broadband users will have much quicker downloads. Each clip is 20 seconds to 4 minutes long and the file size is about 1-17Mb.
At the moment the video files are .wmv and will open with Windows Media Player. Please contact me if you think other formats should be supported. I would also like feedback on the quality and size of the video files and any suggestions for improvement.
This site has taken a long time and a lot of patience to develop and is being added to regularly. About half the planned content is in place. I have tried to keep it simple and avoid the temptation to use flash graphics and animations. It is a website purely to take you sub-sea exploring from the comfort of your chair.
Kevin Pickering
Footage from my library has been used in the making of many documentaries by companies including National Geographic, Sky, Channel 5 and TG4. Please feel free to contact me if your production company requires quality deep wreck footage.
This web site and all photographic images © Kevin Pickering 2004
Eurotek was a huge success. Well done to Leigh and Carl for all their time and effort, and for taking the risk, which made Eurotek the best dive show for years.
Teresa was one of the key speakers and gave a presentation on the deeper wrecks of Truk Lagoon which included a 17 minute video from Shipwreckfilms.
Click here to see a Submerged Productions interview of Teresa.
Teresa with Pete Mesley, organiser of Tech Diving expeditions to Truk and beyond.
