Complaint threat after Exmouth items removed
Rival claimant angered
(From The Orcadian dated August 1, 2001)

 

Mr Stewart McDermott and his diving team measuring one of the portholes to help positivley identify the wreck as the HMS Exmouth. (Picture: Exmouth Expedition 2001)

A relative of a man killed when a World War Two destroyer was sunk is to complain to the Ministry of Defence after an Orkney-based dive team removed items from the war grave.

Despite claims of the European Technical Dive Centre, based in Burray, to have returned the live shell, Mr Stewart McDermott says it is "outrageous" they were allowed to touch the HMS Exmouth in the first place.

Mr McDermott's great uncle Robert Nash was among the 189 victims when the ship was torpeodeod by a German U-boat off the coast of Wick in 1940.

He told The Orcadian: "I am going to complain to the MoD about the fact they (the European Technical Dive Team) have been removing things from the wreck. They claim to have the MoD's permission. I feel it is outrageous - it is a war grave."

He said there were other, safer ways to identify a wreck, which he had done via video and photogrpah footage.

Mr McDermott (32), from London, also said he was annoyed at media coverage which stated two rival diving teams had laid claim to the discovery of the wreck.

The Extreme Dive Team say they were the first to find it in June, this year. However, Mr McDermott said he, and a team, had dived on it prior to that.

Measuring one of the guns to help positivley identify the wreck as the HMS Exmouth. (Picture: Exmouth Expedition 2001)

"I have no idea who dived on it first, but there are things that would strongly suggest it has been dived on in the past. We found a diving glove down there. From my point of view it is not about being first."

Mr McDermott, an amateur diver and a team of friends carried out several dives during June on the Exmouth and sent video evidence off to a marine archaeology expert, Neil Dobson, from St Andrews, who confirmed "it is definitely the Exmouth".

Several attempts to contact Mark Reeves of the European Technical Dive Centre were unsuccessful, however their website confirmed that they had removed a live shell for identification purposes, which was MoD authorised.

The website states: "Following the first dive, an MoD representative requested the dive team to take photogrpahs of some details from the site. To do this, some munitions were raised, photographed, and then placed back into their original position. This operation was carried out with specific authorisation from the MoD. Live munitions can be exremely hazardous and should not be touched without MoD supervision and authority."