Expedition diving is what diving is all about, expeditions operate with teams of divers working together to achieve a specific objective underwater. An example of this would be the famous Britannic expeditions where teams of divers have worked together to explore Titanics larger sister ship Britannic in 120m of water off Athens. Britannic is the largest sunken ocean liner in the world and a mecca for divers.

Teams of divers have worked together to put answers to why the ship sank and why she sank so fast, 4 times faster in fact than her sister ship Titanic when in theory she should have floated. I was lucky enough to join the expedition that put answers to these questions, Carl Spencer's 2003 expedition. Expedition diving is the ultimate here is a potted history of the diving I have been fortunate enough to be involved with:

Coniston Copper Mines, September.

Mike Norwood and myself became the first divers to explore below 100m in a flooded series of mines in the hills of the Lake District.

Of course 100m was a serious dive back in 1996, few people had been to such depth let alone in a copper mine.

Georgia K Expedition, Menorca, May
Ron Mahoney's trip to locate and dive this lost Cargo ship that had never been dived in 90m. This was one of the first trips a Closed Circuit Rebreather was used with great success.

Leigh Bishops Deep Week, Weymouth, UK, August

My first invite to dive with the ‘Starfish Enterprise’ diving group. It was on this week where we dived mid channel in depths up to 80m and was the first time an Inspiration Rebreather was integrated with the mainly OC based group. It would be 5 years later that some of the group embraced CCR.

Lusitania Expedition.

This was the first of 2 trips that I was fortunate to be involved with diving on CCR. I have fond memory’s of being able to swim for 25 minutes along the length of this once proud liner without fear of running out of gas in 94m.!

HMS Repulse and Prince of Wales Expedition in Malaysia, October

John Thornton's trip to explore these 2 huge Warships in 65m depth in 30 degree blue water, bit too comfortable really!

Cave Diving in Mexico, October

Not really exploration but my first of 6 weeks total diving in the Mexican Cenotes, awe inspiring diving.

2000 Expeditions:

Cave Diving in the Florida Springs, USA: Summer.

The year after I became a Full Cave Instructor I took a group out to dive the Florida Springs. These systems are very extensive and the possibilities for exploration are endless.

Photos of cave diving in Florida click here >>

HMS Submarine M1, Plymouth, July

Diving this great and atmospheric Submarine in 75m is a fantastic experience.

This wreck is one of the classic wrecks on the doorstep of Deep Blue, why not dive this wreck yourself click here for more information.

Read more about the wreck with Leigh Bishops article click here

Northern Gas Team's Expedition to the HMS Pheasant and Edward VII, Orkney's, July

Ric Waring, Zaid Al-Obaidi and myself put this team together in the late 90’s and almost immediately went onto CCR. This put us near the forefront of wreck exploration diving in the UK seeing us dive deep and challenging wrecks such as the Pheasant and the King Edward VII which lies in 115m depth in the middle of the Pentland Firth. These wrecks had originally been dived by well know deep wreck diver Leigh Bishop in 1997 around the time our friendship began. I would later join him as his dive partner on many expeditions.

Starfish Enterprise Jutland Expedition based from Loyal Watcher

I went out on a limb on 1999 and bought a fleet tender named ‘Loyal Watcher’ with the intention of using her as an exploration vessel. No one backed me up other than the likes of Dan Stevenson, Leigh Bishop and Chris Hutchison. Without the support of these guys I doubt we’d have got off the ground. We had such a fantastic time in Jutland we spent the next 3 years going back there exploring the wrecks from the great battle.

Well known US wreck photographer / diver Brad Sheard joined the Jutland expeditions see more of his pictures click here

Loyal Watcher in Northern Ireland for 4 weeks, September

Legendary diving in clear water. Anyone who has swam past a tank sitting on a 70m deep seabed or gazed at the bow of the Justicia will know what I mean.

Chris Hutchison, Dave Greig and myself became the first divers to dive the Transylvania in 125m depth although we had a very short bottom time and it was purely a recce dive for a later planned expedition.

Photos of Wreck Diving off Donegal click here >>

Left: Richard Stevenson dwarfed by the prop pf the Empire Heritage© Leigh Bishop click to enlarge

2001 Expeditions: A classic & Vintage year

For me this was the defining year of wreck exploration and I doubt it will ever be repeated. The team that were involved with most of the exploration during this year are still largely diving today.Starfish Enterprise Expedition to the Egypt in 125m on Loyal Watcher, June.We had tried to dive this deep liner previously but weather had forced us to abort.

Photos of ss Egypt Expedition click here >>

Click here to read more about the Egypt

We had near perfect conditions in June 2001 and we made 2 dives on this deep wreck in very good conditions from Loyal Watcher.

On the way back we decided that 1 virgin wreck was not enough and Leigh Bishop and myself became the first divers to descend on the Flying Enterprise in 80m depth. Neither of us will ever forget what we felt and saw that day, inspirational diving and for me what exploration is all about.

right; Richie next to a telegraph inside the Flying Enterprise© Leigh Bishop click to enlarge

Expedition to the RMS Carpathia in 153m on Loyal Watcher, August

Finally we got there. An amazing experience 260 miles offshore with 3 other close friends and Fred Buckingham. Steve Wright took us out there in flat calm conditions and then watched Bruce Dunton, Ric Waring, Zaid and myself throw ourselves into 150m depth of water to become the first divers to explore the most famous rescue ship in the world.
Link to news about exedition click here
Link to PDF download about Carathia expedition click here

2003 Expeditions:

Yet another defining year of adventure. Steve Wright steamed Loyal Watcher down to the Med for a TV documentary on Britannic. We were very fortunate to be involved with Carl Spencers project which saw us based in Kea for 2 weeks enjoying stunning diving on a stunning wreck.

For me to see Loyal Watcher tied up where Cousteau’s Calypso had been decades before was a fantastic sight.Other than all these wreck projects, I have been involved with lots of cave and TV projects too.

Photos of Carl Spencers Britannic Expedition click here >>

For many years I have been close freinds with well Known deep wreck diver leigh Bishop and both of us have dived together on several expeditions. I've worked together with Leigh and his photography mainly as his prime diver model in many of his images, some of which have appeared on several front covers of magazines around the world. Why not check out Leighs Own website with many stunning underwater photos and expeditions we have both enjoyed over the years. Expedition diving www.deepimage.co.uk

Also check out www.global-exploration.com my site that the above projects have been taken from. Some not so stunning photos online, but hopefully will give you a feel for what I’m about.