Family and friends gathered in late July at Wastwater in the Lake District to lay a memorial plaque for Nick Jackson, the diver lost during a wreck dive off the River Amble in June.

Six divers present included the three who were diving with Jackson when he disappeared at a 57m-deep site known as Danny's Wreck. Joined by Jackson's brother Matthew and partner Emily, they laid a porthole set in a concrete plinth and carrying an inscription set in brass.

Wastwater was chosen because the close-knit group had originally trained there. They had gone on to develop deep-water technical diving skills, and dived regularly together off the North East coast from the charterboat Spellbinder II.

At the time of his disappearance, Jackson was diving from that boat with members of the group from the Newcastle area. All were diving on rebreathers.

Contrary to previous coverage on Divernet and in the August issue of Diver magazine, Jackson had not planned a particularly long dive. Police information that the dive was lengthy, involving an hour of bottom time, was based on a dive profile described by one of the divers, John Downey.

Downey, the last diver out of the water, told Divernet: "I elected to spend an hour on the bottom, but Nick and the others planned much shorter dives, involving less than half an hour of bottom time.

"Nick had recently qualified as a trimix rebreather diver, and was building his experience at a sensible pace."

Before the dive, added Downey, Jackson had clearly stated that he was not set up gas-wise for a lengthy profile, and was not going to spend long on the wreck.

Related links
Search for missing diver called off
Diver lost on deep dive

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