CENTRE DENIES PROFITEERING - from DIVER Magazine

DATELINE: 6th June 2001

CENTRE DENIES PROFITEERING
An Orkney diving centre has rejected claims that it plans to profit from a war graves memorials fund-raising scheme.
Earlier this year, the European Technical Dive Centre had set up a charity, the Divers' Shipwreck Memorial Appeal, to raise funds for the erection of memorials to the dead of sunken military ships.
It hoped to raise Ł13,000 to construct an obelisk memorial to those lost aboard HMS Dasher in the Clyde, followed by further funds for memorials to those who died aboard HMS Exmouth and HMS Pheasant.
The ETDC also announced that it intended to dive a site this summer it believes to be the Exmouth, the position and identity of which have yet to be confirmed. The statements provoked an attack from Stewart McDermott, leader of a competing Exmouth dive project; and Greg Buxton, who led a British team diving the wreck of the Struma in Turkish waters last year. Letters from both appeared in the May issue of Diver magazine.
McDermott, who lost a relative aboard the Exmouth, said memorial fund-raising should be handled by an organisation such as the BSAC or SAA, "properly set up, accountable and not for profit", concluding: "I'm sure none of us wants to see individuals or dive businesses appearing to profit from the current concerns around
war graves."
Buxton said: "I object to commercial organisations, or individuals, trying to profit either directly or indirectly from the tragedies of the past, especially when dressed up as a charity funded by the diving community."
Rejecting the allegations, Alex Deas, a director of the ETDC, told Divernet: "The Divers' Shipwreck Memorial Appeal is run by a registered Scottish Charity, number SC 023390. It is not owned by the ETDC, nor does the charity have any interest in the ETDC.
"The charity spends nothing whatsoever on admin, or on diving: every penny is spent on charitable work... The charity is not related to a dive agency, as neutrality was seen to be a keen aspect of the appeal. The charity is working with several dive agencies."
The ETDC's other directors are Mark and Sue Reeves. Sue Reeves told Divernet that her husband was heavily involved with the Dasher association, the ETDC having dived the wreck last year. "He was invited to become a member and has done so, attending its reunion. I have many letters of thanks and support from members... He is a link to their loved ones... and he feels a strong bond with members of the association because of this.
"There is no association for HMS Exmouth but we have put relatives in touch with the Dasher association, who will be happy to help them set one up or offer the benefit of their experience in this field."
Sue Reeves also responded to criticisms of the ETDC's plans to dive the Exmouth. McDermott's team had questioned whether the ETDC had obtained accurate information on the ship's likely resting place, and whether it had the agreement of the MoD and relatives of the dead to dive the ship.
She said details had been obtained last year from noted wreck researcher Kevin Heath, who had then been researching the Exmouth for two years. "We have 100 pages of information, including its exact position."
She denied that commercial interests were involved, and said all expenses would be met by the ETDC and 12 boat spaces given to the group of relatives. She added that the ETDC had contacted MoD official Marion McQuaide over its diving plans for the Exmouth "some time ago" and had kept her informed.
"I gave the research to the ETDC's Extreme Dive Team last year," Heath confirmed. "My work has included study of the Board of Trade Enquiry report made by the Cyprian Prince, which Exmouth was escorting at the time of her loss; and the log of U22, which torpedoed her."
"There are not many wrecks in the area and we are pretty certain that, of the few wreck sites that have been located there, we know which one is the Exmouth."