A British-led team of technical divers has successfully completed a survey of the Titanic's rescue ship, the Carpathia, which lies at 160m in the north Atlantic. The team, led by Ric Waring and including Rich Stevenson and Jeff Cornish, penetrated the wreck situated 200 miles from the Irish Coast.

RMS Carpathia was on her way to the Mediterranean on the night of 14 April 1912 when it received the Titanic's SOS call. Negotiating 58 miles of iceberg-strewn water, the liner recovered 712 survivors. Six years later a German U-boat sank her.

The wreck was first found by the famous author and adventurer Clive Cussler in 1999, however, because it lies 200 miles from the nearest land and lies at depths of more than 150m, only a few dives have been completed at the site.

Technical divers Rich Stevenson, Ric Waring, Zaid Al-Obaidi and Bruce Dunton carried out a short dive in 2001. Bad weather prevented further exploration by the team and hampered two following attempts until now. Using rebreathers the ten-strong team comprised of British, Italian and German divers dived the site for six days.

'We did a total of six days diving on the wreck with both teams doing three dives each,' said Waring. 'Bottom times ranged from 20 to 27 minutes, with total in water times of between four and a half and six hours. All divers used rebreathers as the logistics to conduct an expedition on open circuit would be impractical, not only carrying the gas on the dive, but also carrying enough gas on the boat.'

He added: 'The wreck has seen better days and after 95 years under water is in an advanced state of collapse.' According to the team, the wreck stands upright, however, its deteriorating condition made it difficult to identity particular sections.

'Visibility on the wreck was fantastic albeit it slightly dark,' explained Stevenson. 'You can see without lights and can clearly see divers 30m away, although we used powerful torches on the dive. There is crockery strewn all over the place and lots of artefacts, such as gauges, portholes, sinks and even three toilets in a row are plainly visible.'

While Waring's team was diving the Carpathia in August this year, the owners of the wreck, Titanic INC, were conducting surveys using remotely operated vehicles (ROV).

'We were buzzed a couple of times by the ROV from Titanic INC as it carried on its survey work and its recovery of artefacts for the forthcoming Titanic exhibition. It only stopped when it came over to film us,' said Cornish. 'As the Titanic INC team was out there at the same time as us, we handed over the crockery we had found and also the double-headed telegraph as soon as we had raised them.'

Cornish believes that the expedition is the first to be conducted by a sport diving team so far from shore and so deep. 'I guess we have conducted the deepest, independently verified [by ROV] wreck dive in the world,' said Cornish.

The Titanic INC exhibition is expected in the UK in 2008 following restoration of the Carpathia exhibits. For more information on the Carpathia expedition, see the dive team's website www.provenvcts.com/carpathia/index.php.