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The sea state being predicted to be flat and on a neap tide, we had another go for the Zainab on Friday and wonder of wonders – we made it. It helped that Mike had got the GPS back into action and I also brought my own so no need this week to go frantically chasing after other dive boats, hoping they’ll guide us to a wreck. Except that we nearly didn’t get out at all. The coastguard at Umm Suqeim 1 was a serious pain checking life-jackets, transponders and demanding proof of ownership, by which he meant  a labour card showing that someone on the boat worked for the Wanderers – which of course we didn’t have. Some time ago I wrote a letter on SWSC headed paper explaining that we were authorized to take the boat out. This was hastily retrieved from the blue folder and after a telephone conversation between the coastguard and his boss, was deemed acceptable. I was left with the impression that if he could have stopped us from going out, he would have done. Those using US1 be warned!

Not so much follow that boat this week as follow that moon. As chance would have it, our celestial neighbour was exactly on the bearing we needed to follow. So all commander Mike Dalton had to do was to keep an eye on the sky to guide Apollo 406 to a soft landing on the Sea of Tranquility. Appropriate as the sea really was flat calm. Also possibly fortuitous – Mike’s recent navigational record – albeit under water not on top of it – is a little less than exemplary.

The Zainab was a favourite when it first went down, over ten years ago now. The number of port holes and brass that came up was exceeded only by the amount of Iraqi crude that attached itself to the diver. A small price to pay. Nowadays there’s still some oil dribbling out of the wreck and causing a sheen on the surface. Under water there were plenty of snappers, jacks, a few batfish and angel fish and some barracuda circling around with their usual beady eye.

The wreck has some areas accessible inside. The bridge section is easy and the engine room is also good if you don’t kick up the silt. Since this is easier said than done, string lines are advised and vital if you’re going any distance past the entry point.

Back at Umm Suqeim we found ourselves in the middle of the rush-hour with boats being lauched, being recovered, entering port, leaving port all at once with some officials attempting to control the shambles. Derek got a caution from a policeman after an altercation with a gentleman who was demanding to launch instantly. We escaped with some relief and headed back to the club.

After last week’s roller-coaster, we might have expected an uneventful dive but it didn’t quite work out like that. Towing the boat down to Umm Suqeim 1 for a trip to the Zainab, the boat must have been a bit too far back on the trailer and hence a bit unstable. Heading towards the Galadari underpass, at no great speed, the trailer started swinging from side to side at an alarming rate. Coasting through the underpass, the thing eventually came back under control and the incident probably only lasted a few seconds but it got the pulse racing believe me.

Having launched the boat we quickly found that the GPS wasn’t working and no amount of fiddling with switches or wires would persuade it to come to life. Normally this would be a minor problem since I almost always have my own GPS with me. Almost always. This time……you guessed. However, we noticed in the harbour a boat loading up with dive tanks that clearly wasn’t going fishing. Once it set off the name of the game was “follow that dive boat”. Unfortunately it had some serious engines and it became clear that we couldn’t keep up without flogging our engines to pieces so we let it escape. By then we had the bearing they were headed on and we thought we’d catch them eventually.

As the boat disappeared over the horizon, we spotted a cardinal buoy – but which one? No boat was near it so clearly our hare had gone elsewhere but we decided to stop where we were. Getting close we discovered we were about to dive the Mariam Express. It would have been quicker to launch from Al Khan but never mind – at least we were getting a dive in.

The Mariam used to be a superb dive until a storm in 2008 picked it up and punched it through the seabed. A lot of what was accessible is now buried and much of the rest is covered in silt but there still a couple of places to get inside. The hold is still open although the most of the china coffee sets have now been liberated. When Ken and I surfaced (second wave), we found the boat we’d been following tied up to the back of us. They’d been to the Neptune apparently and returned to the Mariam for their second dive.

The return journey was mercifully without incident but back at the club an innocent question nearly had unexpected results. When I asked Janette to “close-off” the compressors, she didn’t quite get the word “compressors” and took it as an invitation to get undressed.

While this was happening, Derek and Geoff were diving Dibba Rock. Geoff reports:

While SP312 set out west, Derek and I headed across to the east coast for a morning dive with ‘Freestyle’ at Dibba Rock. Max, David and Karyn of Freestyle arrived at ~09.15 having burnt the midnight oil in the hot spots of Dibba the previous night. I noticed four other dive boats already in the area and with no other divers showing, Max took us across and dropped us in to the south of the island. After a short swim across the shallow western reef we arrived in ‘the aquarium’ part of the site and were welcomed by the usual large shoals of reef fish in good visibility. Moving around the northern tip of the island we were treated to a variety of marine life including several lion fish (one unusual black one), box fish, a solitary pipe fish (~30cm long) on the sand, some very territorial clown fish and harlequin shrimps hidden in the rocks. After the dive we relaxed while our gear dried before setting off to explore the tracks and hills behind Khabb Hot Springs on the way to RAK, which could provide a good dive / camp combo in future!

This was an eventful weekend just gone. On Thursday afternoon some of us went to Al Ain for Jutta’s funeral. This was a sad occasion of course but also moving – particularly Oliver’s eulogy and Peter’s poem and impromptu account of how he came to meet and marry her. Afterwards we went back to Sharjah for a gentle wake at the Wanderers.

Peter Jackson asked me to add the following:
Oliver, Karsten and I would like to thank all the dive club members who have supported us through Jutta’s many months of illness on Tuesday nights and at our Friday tables. Finally to all of you who came to the house or to Al Ain to bid your fond farewells on Thursday, again we say thank you.

Below a lovely tribute to Jutta from John Miller a leading South African aviation journalist: John Miller posted in They Served AFRICA With Wings by Mitch Stirling & John House
“It is with sadness I report that well known Zim aviation personality, Jutta Jackson passed away this week. She succumbed to cancer, which the family has been battling with for some years. I have Peter’s email address for anyone who would like to send condolences. This family were mainstays of the Mashonaland Flying Club and found happiness working in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. Amazingly hospitable, I remember the times they welcomed into their home during various aviation events held in Zim and the fun they had when completing the Zim Sun Rallies. Condolences to Peter and sons Oliver and Karsten.”

Friday was very much the morning after the night before but undaunted we headed out to the Ajman Glory but it turned into an eventful day. The fun began while we were fuelling the boat. Finding a pump out of action, Mike was forced to reverse on to the one behind. Being unsighted, he asked the station staff to watch the trailer while he reversed. Unfortunately they did precisely that – watching carefully while the trailer wiped out two fuel hoses. This caused a delay while the police came and issued their report. Having to apportion blame between Mike and a petrol pump was, one suspects, not the toughest decision they ever had to make.

It’s possible that Mike was still feeling a bit tired and emotional from the night before, a feeling reinforced when he tried to change the name of the wreck in the GPS. It was still in there as the old name, “MULLA2” and while I drove the boat, I watched it change first to “AGGLNR”, then “AGGLOR” before becoming “AJGLOR” by which name it should remain until we need a new GPS.

Once we anchored on the wreck, Mike Dalton and Robin were the first over the side. They came back reporting excellent viz but also the bad news that the anchor had landed 40m from the wreck. Mike, PJ and I were the next down the line and we found that this figure was slightly exaggerated – in fact we almost collided with the mast on the way down. The anchor had indeed missed the wreck but was lying in the sand alongside it. A string line had been tied to the anchor and ran almost parallel to the wreck at least a metre away (maybe 1½ metres) before being tied on near the bow. Back on the boat, Mike D offered some inventive explanations for this situation, some of which involved the warping of the space-time continuum and some other less believable possibilities. The idea that the anchor might have moved was dismissed as too far-fetched.

And there was also some diving. The viz was very good and there was lots of fish life to look at including three very friendly batfish. There was also the usual quota of snappers and jacks although the resident turtle seemed to be off on vacation somewhere. Mike A had a look in the forward locker resulting in the attached photo taken by PJ. Suggestions for captions are invited. The best one will receive a signed copy of Mike’s seminal work: “My Life with Wrecks”.

We decided to stick around the Ajman Glory for the second dive and although it was good, the current had picked up and the viz had deteriorated accordingly. We then headed back to the SJHARH WNADRES DVIE CULB for some refreshments.

Not just any refreshments either. Friday night was barbecue night and very good it was too. We sold 35 tickets in the end, a number of whom were new and interested in diving which was the point of the thing really. Thanks go to Mike Dalton whose idea it was and to the Wanderers for laying it on. We should plan another one I think.

Diving events this week have been overshadowed by the sad passing of Jutta Jackson, yesterday afternoon as I write. Although not a diver, she was very much part of the club, maintaining the web site and joining us Tuesday nights and post-dives round the pool and on dhow trips. For the last twelve months she has known very well what the future held but she faced this with the same quiet fortitude that she seemed to approach life generally. She will be greatly missed and our thoughts are with Peter, Oliver and Karsten.

The diving goes on of course. Last Friday we made another attempt to get to the Neptune and Mike’s Tug and just like last week we were defeated by the sea state. There was supposed to be 1 – 2ft off-shore and there may well have been but this was on top of a big swell and the result was very slow progress. Deciding against the Taha for a third week running, we diverted to Karen’s dhow and spent an enjoyable 40 minutes swimming with the baby barracuda and the snappers as well as the smaller inhabitants of the wreck. The turtle was unfortunately absent but we came back with a bit more glassware.

For the second dive we went to the Bigprop dhow, 2½ km away. Now that the bigprop is really a noprop it’s not quite so compelling but on its day it can still be a good dive. On Friday the viz was not great and the fish life not especially exciting. After about 25 minutes Mike and I noticed the string line to the anchor had gone taut, indicating that the anchor had dragged and was walking away. At this point we headed back to the boat.

Last Friday we were intending to go to the Neptune followed by Mike’s Tug – well Mike was marshall and he decided he hadn’t seen his boat for a while. Unfortunately the sea state was uncooperative and after a while with the journey time getting longer and longer we changed plans and headed for the Taha instead. This has been down nearly two years now and is no longer quite so new. A lot of the diesel engine oil has been taken off and the 5-litre cans have long since rotted through so now any environmental damage has either been done or been averted. Most of the tyres seem to have gone as well so if you get offered a cheap tyre with barnacles you know where it came from. While we were relaxing after the dive we had a brief glimpse of some dolphins about 200m away.

For the second dive we went to Karen’s dhow which is on the way back. We dive this quite a lot as it’s always a good plan B in the event of rougher than expected seas – as with this week. It’s not spectacular as a wreck but it’s usually home to some good marine life. In this case Geoff had barely got off the anchor line when he found himself staring a turtle in the eye. It seemed to want to get up close and personal but wisely changed its mind. There were also some baby barracuda and the usual jacks. Peter’s video of this dive can be seen above. Also featured are a goby and shrimp who share the same burrow in the sand – dug by the shrimp and inhabited by the goby which in turn provides the shrimp with a warning of impending danger.

Friday 21 September(evening) we will be having a barbecue round the pool. Cost is a mere Dhs 35. Flyers are going out as the main objective is to get a few more members. A copy is attached so if can usefully spread a few around please do so. Please though remember rules for entry into the Wanderers.

AL BOOM are offering BSAC406 members the following discounts:
20% off all PADI Courses Sunday – Thursday
20% off all Diving Sunday – Thursday at either Al Aqah/Atlantis/Musandam
20% off purchases (with some trade exceptions (Suunto, Go-Pro etc)
You just need to produce your Sharjah Wanderers Dive Membership card.
Al Boom Diving:  go to alboomdiving.com  & Youtube: Al Boom Diving Video & onFacebook
email: [email protected] • bookings: +971 4 3422993

Having dived little else but the Ajman Glory over the last few weeks we felt like a change and headed for the Jumbo and the Taha. The Jumbo was another wreck known to exist but not where until it finally turned up as a co-ordinate on a sea bed survey carried out prior to the dredging for the palm islands. Probably a deliberate sinking for the fisherman, it is nevertheless a good dive. The viz was good, the current was minimal and there were plenty of snappers and some friendly batfish swimming around us.

For the second dive we went to the Taha, a relatively recent addition to the UAE dive sites. The current had by now picked up and the viz had deteriorated but we were still able to have a good dive around the holds and the bridge section. Thanks to Wendy and Cathy (wo)manning the boat we were able to dive as a single wave and got back to the club for refreshments in double quick time.

To finish something new – an equipment review from our Training Officer, Mrs Janette Elphinstone. Having tested her new BCD extensively she offered the following considered critique:

“It’s ****ing sh***”

This, one must concede, falls short of the detailed analysis you would normally find in the regular diving magazines but for clarity of thought, economy of language and as a concise appraisal of the salient qualities of the piece of equipment, it must be hard to beat. And as Janette herself said (almost) ten minutes later: “If you can’t say anything positive, don’t say anything at all”. Quite. For next week we’re hoping for Janette’s thoughts on the future of civilization and the nature of reality.

It’s been quite a hectic week centred around our new friend, the Ajman Glory. The video tour taken the Friday before last was duly uploaded to the web site by Peter. Based on this and everything else, Nelson McEachan of the UK Hydrographic office has emailed us the following:

Subject: RE: Ajman Glory
Date: Tue, 21 Aug 2012 13:20:40 +0100
From: Mceachan Nelson
Ian,
I have looked at your dive report on the BSAC406 website and I agree that this is the long lost Ajman Glory. A first-class job, so please pass our thanks to all the divers involved.
I will forward the data to our Regional Team with a recommendation that the charted Dangerous Wreck, Position Doubtful be deleted and this wreck be inserted as Wk 20 metres (Ed: clear depth above wreck) from previous dive details. If the chart is corrected by a Notice to Mariners and Authority will be needed – who gets the credit! Or should it be the BSAC Branch?
Best regards
Nelson
N McEachan
Wrecks’ Officer
UK Hydrographic Office

(I requested Nelson to jointly credit BSAC 406 Sharjah and BSAC 1339 Dubai
Ian)

With the identification now confirmed, it occurred to us that the local press might be interested. Before sending anything out, it seemed like a good idea to get some good quality still photographs of the wreck – hence another trip out there last Friday. It didn’t look too hopeful at first. The forecast was 4-6 ft waves offshore, which is uncomfortable to say the least when you need to travel 32km. Fortunately, the sea-state was not as rough as predicted and you can travel half the distance by hugging the coast for 15km before heading north west.

Once there, although the sea was still choppy, it wasn’t that bad and there was very little current. The viz was also good and we left with some excellent quality images a few of which are attached. As well as PJ taking the pictures above, we also had a close encounter with a turtle which seems to be resident on the wreck. The turtle in turn had a close and inadvertent encounter with one of Mike Dalton’s fins. I hope he wasn’t upset (the turtle that is).

See also: The National Page 5 28th August 2012 on our Links page above, or go to: http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/glory-story-begins-to-unravel-off-ajman-coast utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Daily%2BNewsletter%2B28-08-2012

And below you can download the story as published in the September 2012 issue of OUTDOORUAE

Further to the publication of The National online article on the ‘Ajman Glory’ Marc de Ruyter forwarded the link to Mr Cor Dijk (crew member on the Dollard in 1961). His immediate reply (in Dutch) translates as follows:

“Dear Marc,

Thank you very much for sending me the link to the news article about the last resting place of M/S Dollard.

Reading the article and seeing the pictures and video was a quite an emotional experience. Fifty years ago this was my very first job [note: Cor joined the ship when he was only 15 years old]. The captain, who also owned the ship, was Poppo Dekker. ‪At the time I would have never have thought that the ship could sink.

I managed to save the news article to my computer. . . The diving video footage is extremely beautiful, especially considering the depth the ship is at. It appears that the sea is still very pristine there.

‪‬Please find the link of my website about M/S Dollard below, which I believe you must have found already:
http://home.versatel.nl/knelus2/msdollard.htm
[note: The link is listed by Google as hosting malware]

Best Regards,
‪Cor Dijk‬”

With the Eid holidays this week, we managed to get in an extra day’s diving. Both of them were on the Mullah 2 aka Ajman Glory about which the evidence continues to mount. Last week I speculated that some photographs of the vessel afloat might settle the issue but I didn’t really expect to see any. Within a couple of days both David De Marneffe and Marc De Ruyter had responded with not just pictures but a lot of good information that they had found on websites. One of these pictures is attached.

Anyway, what we can now confirm is as follows:
The “Dollard” was a 52.7m by 8.5m coaster with a draught of 3.0m, constructed in Haarlem, Netherlands in 1957. After ten years in Europe the ship was acquired by Indonesian owners and moved to the far east where it variously went by the names of “Pariaman”, “Maria Fortune” and “Lady Maya”. In 1989 the ship became the “Ajman Glory” when it was purchased by middle-eastern owners and brought to the Arabian Gulf. After less than a year under its new name, the vessel sank on 28 August 1989 whilst sailing from Hamriyah to Bandar Abbas in Iran carrying a cargo of vinyl acetate monomer. It had been abandoned by its crew at the time of the sinking making its final location highly uncertain. What caused it to go down we don’t know, but there was probably a combination of factors including bad weather and engine trouble (the engines were by now 32 years old), maybe possibly an inexperienced crew.

So is this the vessel that we’ve been diving? As reported last week, the dimensions match almost exactly and seeing the photographs, all of us who have dived the wreck were sure we had a positive identification. Nevertheless, something more systematic was needed so on Friday we headed out to the site, armed with the pictures and intent on having a closer look. PJ made a “video tour” which can be seen above, but we can confirm that the details visible in the picture were found on the wreck. The basic shape, the six drainage openings, the four vertical pipes in front of the bridge, the trapezoidal cut-out at the bow, the anchors, the masts, the two holds and other features were all present and correct. We’re now confident that the “Ajman Glory” has been discovered at last.

On Sunday we went back out there, this time as a joint trip with DSDC. Although it was us who came up with co-ordinates, it was Brian Lugg who realised the possible connection to the “Thinner Wreck” and thence to the “Ajman Glory”. After one dive we left them to it and did a second dive on the “Tek”, the small tug-boat about half way back to Hamriyah. By now the current was picking up so after clearing a few more nets from the boat and doing a few circuits, we headed back to the club for some hard-earned refreshment.

IN CONCLUSION:
From: Ian Hussey
Sent: 18 August 2012 05:49
To: Mceachan Nelson
Subject: Re: Ajman Glory
Nelson
We dived the wreck again yesterday. Peter is putting together a “video tour” which will be uploaded to youtube shortly but I can tell you that every detail matches what can be seen in the photos and there’s no doubt in my mind that we have a positive i.d. Would you agree with this or is more required from a hydrographic office point of view?
Regards
Ian

Below are pictures of the Ajman Glory in her first life as the Dutch MS Dollard, hosted on the net by a former crew member Mr Cor Dijk – clearly its Engineer and visible in some of the images (see pages from his merchant “ticket”!). While a few of his images may not be of the Dollard/Ajman Glory, they very well capture life on a small freighter. 

Some interesting news this week. It seems that the Mullah 2 that we’ve been diving for a few weeks now could be the elusive Ajman Glory – much sought after but never found. The wreck has been known about for some time but its location defeated some concerted efforts to track it down. Brian King in particular put a lot of effort into finding it when he was here. Fast forward a few years and a chance encounter with some divers from Umm Al Quwain provided us with some co-ordinates of two wrecks we’d never heard of, one of which they called the Mullah 2 (probably not its real name). Having dived it a few times, we passed the co-ordinates on to Brian Lugg, once of this parish but now Diving Officer of DSDC in Dubai (how the mighty are fallen!)

Brian checked his records and noticed that the location was very close to a wreck identified by Chris Lobel 10 – 15 years ago. Chris called it the “MV Isobel” or the “Thinner wreck” because of barrels of what he described as paint thinner in the holds. He made a sketch which is attached below. Seeing the sketch it was clear to us that the Mullah 2 and the Thinner wreck are the same vessel. The difference in co-ordinates is probably because in those days the US military were still scrambling the GPS signal. 

Brian then contacted the UK Hydrographic Office and their response was as follows:
“Brian,
The ‘thinner wreck’ is an interesting one. AJMAN GLORY was lost on 28.8.89 on passage Hamriyah for Bandar Abbas. She was initially reported as having sunk in 25 58N, 55 38E but this was later revised to being her last known position and as she was abandoned afloat she could have drifted a considerable distance. The wreck was inserted on charts as a Dangerous Wreck, Position Doubtful in response to US charting action. She was 52.7mtrs by 8.5mtrs, with a draught of 3.0mtrs. 497 gross tons and carried a cargo of vinyl acetate monomer – which I believe is a feedstock for the manufacture of PVA glue – but I imagine that you have some good chemists to hand! Later in 1989 it was reported that ‘>1000 drums of toxic and inflammable chemicals has broken free from the wreck and have washed up on the UAE coastline,’ however I have no information whether the cargo was in drums or in bulk. With the reported length of 50mtrs and beam 7mtrs it seems likely that your colleagues have finally located her.
I think that the scanned diagram notes ‘small motor vessel – 2 hulls’. This may be a double hull vessel but I have no details of her construction. Could I ask that you contact the divers again and see if they have any further data which could confirm the identification? If they can it would be of great value as we could remove the Dangerous Wreck symbol from the chart.
I won’t take any charting action yet in case you can uncover more details.
Thanks and regards,
Nelson”
N McEachan 
Wrecks’ Officer 
UK Hydrographic Office

Naturally last Friday we went back to the wreck to take some measurements (and therein lies a story) and the vessel measured exactly 8.5m across the beam. The length was more difficult to measure accurately but it’s between 50m and 55m – clearly in the right ballpark for the Ajman Glory.

So have we found it? Maybe too soon to say absolutely but if we could find some photos of the AG when it was floating and it appeared the same as the Mullah 2 then that must be fairly certain I’d have thought. Anyone out there have any pictures?

Going back to that story – if you were laying a line from one end of a wreck to the other would you tie off at the stern and make your way to the bow? Or would you tie off and head off on a theoretical compass bearing hoping to find the bow? Needless to say our new Chairman selected the latter option and soon found himself in mid-water, nowhere near the wreck with a couple of bewildered buddies behind him. Never mind we got the measurement eventually, as PJ’s video below shows.

PJ concludes: After all this detective work and some well-measured diving, not to forget our second dive:  De-gassing after the Mullah/Ajman Glory, with the first wave down on the Dara, those of us doing boat cover were treated first to a large barnacle encrusted  turtle catching breath on the surface, followed by a 2012 Olympic high-jumping Eagle-ray., which between them made up for fairly limited fish life seen below the waves 

The Dara as ever an interesting dive, but the wreck continues to disintegrate. While offering a good number of dramatic swim throughs, it is obvious that there has been significant deterioration of the hull over the past year.  Derek’s dramatic photo below captures a view into the “Cathedral” from the deck below.

And while mentioning corrosion, on the equipment side, we have just had to junk a cylinder because it was too badly corroded around the base. If using Club (or your own) steels, please make sure that you rinse inside the boot after your dives.