A team of British divers have spoken of their dramatic escape after breaking through protester barricades at the port
of Cherbourg, northern France.
A team of British divers have spoken of their dramatic escape after breaking through protester barricades at the port
of Cherbourg, northern France.
Rob Allen and fellow divers aboard UK dive boat ChannelDiver, captained by Steve Johnson, had beer bottles thrown at them as they stormed barricades of protesting French fishing vessels.
The group of rebreather divers were on the last day of a trip to dive the Leopoldville wreck, a 11,500-tonne Belgian liner that lies at 60m, 10km north of Cherbourg. They were among several British vessels trapped by French fishing boats as part of
a protest against rising diesel costs.
The angry fishermen had roped off the area. However, the divers were one of the first vessels to try to break through.
'We planned to do a dive on the last day, but we were worried about the skipper's safety,' Allen, from Banbury in Oxfordshire, told DIVE.
'He said we were likely to have to stay until the next week. But we wanted to try to get through the blockade. Being ten fairly strong blokes, we thought we could handle it. We put our drysuits on and were preparing to cut the rope.'
While the divers prepared their escape plan, however, a small boat successfully made its way under the rope. 'As luck would have it, a little vessel got through and the fishing boats chased after them. We saw it as our chance,' Allen said. 'We heard lots of abuse. Then, as we got to the breakwater, a fishing vessel was trying to stop us from getting through, but we were too fast for them.'
Once the divers got past, Allen said, full half-litre bottles of beer were thrown at their boat by protesters.
'Luckily, their shots weren't that good,' he recalled. 'The bottles hit the fibreglass on the hull and one hit a cylinder bracket, but no one was hurt and no damage was done. When we first started, we thought we could handle ourselves, but in that situation you realise you could be sunk in the harbour.'
Cherbourg port control called the boat following the attack to see if any damage had been caused.
'Most of us were shaken up and won't be going back for a while,' Allen added. 'The skipper returns to the area regularly, so we hope there will not be any problems for him.'
shoulda caught the bottles chilled them down and had a free drink on the cheese eating surrender monkeys! remember we are the dominant sea faring race (or were until g brown became pm!) stand up and be british for gods sake . read our history, nicko
