BRITANNIC

BRITANNIC


DIRREBREATHER BRITANNIC EXPEDITION 
2 - 11 OCTOBER 2016

DIRrebreather has successfully completed a series of deep dives on the wrecks of the ocean liners HMHS Britannic and S/S Burdigala in the Mediterranean Sea near the island of Kea, Greece. The purpose of the dives was to get detailed pictures and video recordings of both wrecks in order to facilitate further research and publications. Both ships sank during WWI, exactly 100 years ago. They were probably hit by a mine or torpedo from a German U-Boot. All divers used rebreathers: diving equipment that facilitates long and deep dives. The divers operate autonomously (without surface supply). This expedition is probably the biggest in terms of number of divers and dives since the discovery of the Britannic by Cousteau and his team in 1975. These kinds of dives are not without great risks and require thorough preparation and experience of all participants. We are happy that not a single diving incident occurred during the expedition. 

Expedition leader: Pim van der Horst, President DIRrebreather 

12 divers from 9 countries: 
Vic Verlinden, Belgium 
Marco Valenti, Italy 
Diego Esposito, Italy 
Pedro Lage, Portugal 
Armando Ribeiro, Portugal 
Brian Busuttil, Malta 
Mark Powell, United Kingdom 
Aaron Grigsby, United States 
Sabine Kerkau, Germany 
Boris Kokoszko, France 
Dennis Blom, The Netherlands 
Pim van der Horst, The Netherlands 

Dives: 72 
Dive time: >180 hours 
Pictures: >3000 
Max depth: 117 mtrs 
Scooters (DPV’s): 6 

Rebreathers: 
Divesoft Liberty (2) 
APD Inspiration (4) 
X-CCR (2) 
rEvo (2) 
JJ-CCR (2) 

Many thanks to: 
• The municipality of Kea, Greece for admitting us to the wrecks 
• The ministry of Archaeology of Greece for admitting us to the wrecks 
• The port authorities of Kea
• KEA Divers for operational surface support 
• Captain and crew of the Proteus III


This is a list of divers who dived the Britannic. If you want to have your name added to the list just send an email to: BRITANNIC

NAME  NUMBER
  OF DIVES
   YEAR   EXPEDITION
Sabine Kerkau        2   2016   DIRrebreather
Dennis Blom        4   2016   DIRrebreather
Vic Verlinden        4   2016   DIRrebreather
Diego Esposito        4   2016   DIRrebreather
Marco Valenti        4   2016
   DIRrebreather
Brian Busuttil        4   2016
   DIRrebreather
Mark Powell        4   2016
   DIRrebreather
Aaron Grigsby        4   2016
   DIRrebreather
Boris Kokoszko        4   2016
   DIRrebreather
Armando Ribeiro        4   2016
   DIRrebreather
Pedro Lage        4   2016
   DIRrebreather
Pim van der Horst        4   2016   DIRrebreather






























Our instructors

Pim van der Horst

Pim van der Horst

The Netherlands
Simon Townsend

Simon Townsend

Spain, United Kingdom
Christian Massaad

Christian Massaad

Spain/Lanzarote
Bruce Konefe

Bruce Konefe

Thailand
Marco Valenti

Marco Valenti

Italy
Patrick Vanstraelen

Patrick Vanstraelen

Belgium
Diego Esposito

Diego Esposito

Italy
Helmut Spangler

Helmut Spangler

Switserland
Constantin ¨Costa” Benedic

Constantin ¨Costa” Benedic

Romania
Victor Hsu

Victor Hsu

Taiwan
Raymond Chan

Raymond Chan

Hong Kong