The popular Scottish and Norwegian diving vessel Jane R suffered a mishap when she filled with water on 15 December, near Oban.

The boat is now ashore being dried out and refurbished. Skipper Gordon Wadsworth is confident that he'll soon be back running diving charters.

"I planned to go away for a well-earned holiday having been away up in the Barents Sea for seven months, so we hired a commercial mooring, which I was assured was secure and suitable for the boat," the skipper told Divernet.

"But within 30 hours, when I was 400 miles away, Jane R grounded by the stern on a severely sloping shingle bank, so that when the tide ebbed she was on her side. She filled on the flood tide."

The boat did not disappear from view, but took enough water to wreck some interior trim, most soft furnishings and some electronics. Machinery needs to be overhauled.

"It's an insurance job. We'll get there soon enough and we expect to be operational again in February, before leaving in April for a diving charter to Norway and Finmark," said Wadsworth.

Jane R is a 72ft former herring drifter, built in Scotland in the 1950s. Adapted to accommodate charterers in six cabins, she cruises western Scotland from November to April, then heads for the Norwegian fjords where, between May and October, she operates out of Bergen and Narvik.

Related links
Jane R Expeditions in Scotland
Jane R Expeditions in Norway


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