Rathlin Island Waterworld

This is a wild and moody island, and so too is the sea.

I'm taking a stroll to the exposed cliffs at the East Lighthouse with Wes Forsyth.

Wes is a marine archaeologist who knows that tragedy haunts this treacherous shore.

For as long as people have been coming here, Wes,

that tidal rip that races round the side of the island has been posing problems, hasn't it?

They're really quite dangerous waters, really.

Right beside Rathlin, the whole of the Irish Sea is being filled up and being emptied every single day,

and this creates some very strong currents, and of course, before the lighthouse was built,

mariners travelling at night or in a sea mist really had to be very, very careful they wouldn't be wrecked.

This place is quite strategic, isn't it?

In the two World Wars, it was very strategic,

because the United Kingdom and the Allies really needed the lifeline with North America,

so there would have been large convoys heading across the Atlantic from this point,

but there also would have been U-boats,

and as a result, there's thousands of wrecks off the north coast here,

and the south coast, that date to the two World Wars.

And, of course, evidence of that in the graveyard here as well.

Yes, but amazingly as well, there are people interred in the graveyard that maybe come from ships

that were sunk far out, even as far as Donegal, and the bodies have washed in and onto the island,

and they're buried in the graveyard now.

That's a testament, if you like, to the nature of what's out there,

the elemental power of what washes the doorstep here.

Very turbulent area, and a very, very dangerous North Atlantic,

a very dangerous environment to be in for any length of time, really hard to survive at all.

Our next dive proves the point.

Rathlin's worst maritime disaster happened under these cliffs.

We're sailing half a mile off Doon Bay to the wreck of the troopship the SS Lochgarry.

It's a spectacular dive for the team, and a real challenge for a novice like me.

We need a bit of discipline on this dive. It's deeper than you've been before, right?

We've got tidal conditions that won't bend to us. We have to work with the tides.

This is a classic example of time and tide wait for no man. All right?

-Yeah.

-Anything goes wrong at all, you're out of there. All right?

-Are you sure I want to get into the water?

-Yeah!

This is what diving is all about, Darryl. It's that little extra bit.

This is not beyond you, this is well within your capabilities,

but it's a little bit beyond what you've done before, and that's exciting.

It's really exciting, actually. I'm all geared up for it.

I'm not going to be diving in the full face mask, I'm on ordinary scuba.

It's your first dive on the Lochgarry as well, so, yeah, it's going to be good fun.

Another dive club has just arrived at exactly the same time that we're hoping to get into the water,

so we're going to let them get in first, and it's going to be really interesting,

because whenever we're down there, there's going to be lots of divers in the water, and they'll all

need to get up and down at the same time, so it's going to be really busy.

We're dropping 30 metres, or 100 feet down to the deck of the Second World War wreck.

She once played a part in the troop evacuations at Dunkirk,

but now she lies upright on the seabed, a rusting hulk, a living reef.

We're swimming into the past, touching history in the cold Atlantic.

This enormous troop ship sank in 1942, after hitting rocks off the Mull of Kintyre.

Helpless and drifting in a storm, she finally disappeared off Rathlin's east coast.

There was time to abandon ship, but tragedy struck when one of the lifeboats hit rocks.

23 lives were lost when it capsized.

This ship is silent witness to their fate.

The scale of this gigantic vessel is incredible.

She was built in Glasgow in 1898,

as a passenger ship for the Belfast to Ardrossan route, and later converted for the war effort.

She's now a popular dive destination for underwater tourists like us,

specks of humanity marvelling at the life that cloaks her bows.

We press on, and among a forest of feathery hydroids,

bright buttons have replaced the rusting rivets.

Cup corals, with their delicate stinging tentacles, investigate the tide for food.

Their mouth is in the centre of a calcium carbonate skeleton.

These translucent creatures are our only common stony corals.

There is never enough time down here, and as we head back towards light, warmth and air,

I'm struck by how lucky we've been to share an encounter few people will ever experience.

It's like hanging in space, being in air.

It's all laid out in front of you, and the thing is entirely painted in life, you know,

all those anemones and hydroids and fish swimming everywhere,

it's like being in some giant aquarium.

It's wonderful!

As a marine archaeologist, is that, like, as good a wreck as you've been on?

It's in great condition, but then of course, you know, it's only 60-odd years old,

but it's fantastic to see so much structure still there, you know.

A lot of the time, it's just flattened down in the sea bed after a while,

all wrecks kind of collapse in on themselves,

but the fact there's still upstanding decks and different levels, very interesting dive.

The waters around Rathlin never fail to surprise and delight,

and on a perfectly airbrushed summer evening,

we're heading out into Church Bay,

to explore another shipwreck, in the dark.

The emotions on a night dive are entirely predictable.

I don't care who you are, on your first night dive, you're going to be apprehensive.

-Yeah, got that.

-If you're not, I want to know why!

And the second one is elation. You don't go anywhere on a night dive,

because your attention is focused entirely on that bit in front of you that's lit.

On this night dive, you're going to see what's in front of you, and it will be magic.

As the light fades, so too do our chances of making a dive.

While the islanders are tucked up in bed, just beyond the harbour,

the sea is still wide awake at midnight.

The tide refuses to slacken, despite hours of waiting.

Principal thing now is to test this and see if it's diveable, right?

And if it's not diveable, you two are out of there, and we're out of here.

We'd love to do it, we're all excited about it, but if it's not on, it's not on.

-I see.

-We don't want to look back on this after the event and say,

"We knew we shouldn't do it," and all the rest of it.

The divers head into the crystal clear water to check it out.

The kelp on a huge gun barrel tells a tale. The current is still running.

It's borderline, but we're in business.

We're going to send the guys in, they're going to descend to the bottom,

pulling themselves down on the rope.

OK, guys, this is it. Just go for it. You can see the bottom.

-It's worth the wait.

-It's like the Caribbean!

-It is.

We've had to wait for quite a long time, actually, for the current to ease off sufficiently

so that we could get into the water, and we're using this enormous

light over the wreck, and I just can't believe it, looking down there.

It looks almost like a swimming pool!

In a silent, torchlit world,

the ship is barely recognisable, smothered in kelp.

It looks like a ghost ship.

One o'clock in the morning, the gun stands silent here.

All of the kelp waving in the current.

19 sailors lost their lives when this ship went down.

The HMS Drake was torpedoed in 1917, and simply being here is a privilege.

This is really what you'd call a deep sea adventure.

Who would have thought it? Wonderful!

How are you doing down there? It's beginning to run quite fast up here. Over.

We had planned to film the nocturnal creatures here, but the conditions won't allow it.

The tide is really beginning to run. I have no more time down here.

Darryl, if you're coming up, make sure you come up that line, because it's going like a train up here.

I'm scared, terrified I'll be swept away and lost in the darkness.

I'm so much happier now I have my hand on the rope to the surface.

I'm with Jim, everything's fine.

You're hanging on to Jim, are you, Darryl? Over.

Yes, I'm going to hold onto Jim coming up.

I'm scared, it's really beginning to rip through here.

Hang on to that line, we're ready up here. Hang on to that line, hand over hand. Over.

We've got a boat stationed downstream, we've got ropes out, you hang on.

Hang onto Jim, we're ready to grab you when you come up. Over, Darryl.

It should have been an easy dive, but Rathlin's infamous tides caught us out.

That was really very scary at the end there,

because the tide started to run,

and I had to take Jim's hand and be led out of it.

-Jim.

-All right there, man?

-Thanks a million, mate, really.

My life's in that man's hands! That was serious, wasn't it?

There's relief all round, and frustration for Doug.

In a way, it was disappointing, because I started picking up shots of pollock coming through.

-Did you?

-You know, those that come in just the edge.

-Really?

-And I thought, if we could have spent an hour there, and just really soaking it up.

-Yeah.

I'm ever so pleased to see you lot back.

I could see you all from up here, and it looked fantastic,

but I'm just thinking, "I want them out, I want them out, I want them out!"

At last, we find the jetty, in a pea soup fog. It's been a long, hard night for everyone.

With the searchlight, we could just see both piers and no more,

and then the distant, the green, bleeding light of the harbour, and that was the only way in.

We couldn't see that green light for more than about 100 yards out. I'm glad to be in and safely in.

We came to Rathlin in search of adventure, and at half past three in the morning,

I'm off to bed, humbled and happy that we did just that.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

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