Diving in Scotland, Scapa Flow, The scuttling of the German fleet Following the German defeat, 74 ships of the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet were interned in Gutter Sound at Scapa Flow pending a decision on their future in the peace Treaty of Versailles. On 21 June 1919, after seven months of waiting, German Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuter made the decision to scuttle the fleet because the negotiation period for the treaty had lapsed with no word of a settlement. He was not kept informed that there had been a last-minute extension to finalise the details. After waiting for the bulk of the British fleet to leave on exercises, he gave the order to scuttle the ships to prevent their falling into British hands. The Royal Navy made desperate efforts to board the ships to prevent the sinkings, but the German crews had spent the idle months preparing for the order, welding bulkhead doors open, laying charges in vulnerable parts of the ships, and quietly dropping important keys and tools overboard so valves could not be shut. The Royal Navy managed to beach the battleship Baden, the light cruisers Nürnberg, and Frankfurt and 18 destroyers whereas 53 ships, the vast bulk of the High Seas Fleet, were sunk. Nine German sailors died on one of these ships when British forces opened fire as they attempted to scuttle the ship, reputedly the last casualties of the war. SMS Emden was amongst the ships the British managed to beach. This Emden should not be confused with her predecessor, destroyed in the Battle of Cocos on 9 November 1914 by the Australian light cruiser HMAS Sydney. At least seven of the scuttled German ships and a number of sunken British ships can today be visited by divers.

Scubadiving, Red Sea, Egypt.

Scubadiving in The Netherlands? Yes! In the Dutch water you can photograph a great diversity of life, beautiful underwater landscapes and of course the majestic pike.