This week’s video is a fantastic insight into the efforts required to document and survey wrecks.
On the 14th October 1939, HMS Royal Oak was torpedoed by German U-Boat 47 while she sat at anchor in Scapa Bay, Orkney. Of the 1259 men on board, 835 were killed. Over 100 of them were boy sailors between 15-17 years old. The event still resonates with the relatives of those lost and the people of Orkney, a painful loss for an island community witness to such tragedy at what was believed to be a safe anchorage.
This film chronicles the extensive visual survey efforts of a small international team of volunteer civilian divers. The team uses pioneering underwater survey and visualization techniques to document the wreck as she rests on the seabed today.
Fallen Oak is a fantastic documentary showing some amazing visuals as well as historical background to this wreck.
